Kaneo is an open source project management platform you can self-host — a lightweight Jira, Linear, and Trello alternative that gives teams kanban boards, task tracking, and labels without the feature bloat.

What is Kaneo?

Kaneo is an open source project management platform you can self-host, built around the idea of “all you need, nothing you don’t.” It gives teams kanban boards, task tracking, priorities, and labels in a deliberately minimal interface — a lighter alternative to heavyweight tools like Jira and Linear.

What is Kaneo best for?

Small teams and developers who want a fast, focused way to plan work without the process overhead of enterprise tools. It suits people who value data ownership — you run it on your own infrastructure — and who find tools like Jira or Asana overloaded with features they never use.

What can Kaneo do?

Track work on synchronized kanban board and list views
Assign tasks with owners, due dates, and priorities
Organize initiatives with labels and projects
Sync issues with development through native GitHub integration
Connect AI tools (Claude, Cursor) via Model Context Protocol (MCP) support
Deploy your way — Docker Compose, Kubernetes (Helm), or Coolify

Where does Kaneo fall short?

It’s minimal by design, so it lacks the advanced features larger orgs expect — no built-in SSO, sprints, time tracking, or detailed audit trails you’d find in Jira.
Development is community-driven, so new features arrive slower than in commercially backed tools like Linear.
The scope is basic-to-intermediate project management; teams needing deep reporting, roadmaps, or portfolio management will outgrow it.

Is Kaneo free?

Yes — Kaneo is free and open source under the MIT license, and self-hosting costs only your own server. A managed cloud version, Kaneo Open Cloud (cloud.kaneo.app), is available for teams that don’t want to run infrastructure, and the project is funded through community sponsorship.

What does Kaneo replace?

Kaneo is a self-hosted alternative to Jira, Linear, Trello, and Asana. It covers the same core job — boards, tasks, and issue tracking — but strips away the complexity and keeps your data on your own servers instead of a vendor’s cloud.

FAQ

Is Kaneo open source? Yes. Kaneo is fully open source under the permissive MIT license, which allows commercial use, modification, and redistribution.

Can I self-host Kaneo for free? Yes. Self-hosting is free — you only pay for the server it runs on. Kaneo Open Cloud is the paid-convenience managed option.

Is Kaneo a good Jira alternative? For small teams that find Jira bloated, yes — it delivers boards and issue tracking without the setup and admin overhead. Teams needing sprints, advanced workflows, or enterprise features will still prefer Jira.

What do I need to run Kaneo? A server with Docker and a PostgreSQL database. It also ships Kubernetes (Helm) and Coolify deployment options.