Huly and Kanboard are open-source, self-hostable tools aimed at teams that want to own their infrastructure, while Wrike is a mature commercial cloud platform…
freemium · From Free plan available; Team plan starts at 9.80 US dollars per user per month billed annually
Best for: Cross-functional teams needing deep Gantt, dashboard, and resource management plus hundreds of integrations without managing their own servers.
At a Glance
Huly
Kanboard
Wrike
Primary category
Project Management
Project Management
Project Management
Rating
Not documented
Not documented
Not documented
Pricing model
Freemium
Open Source
freemium
Starting price
Free
Free
Free plan available; Team plan starts at 9.80 US dollars per user per month billed annually
Free plan
Yes
Yes
Yes
Free trial
Not documented
Not documented
Not documented
Platforms
Web
Web
Web
Team collaboration
Not documented
Not documented
Not documented
AI features
Not documented
Not documented
Yes
Public API
Yes
Yes
Yes
Standout Differences
Open source and self-hostable
Huly and Kanboard can both be deployed on a team's own infrastructure at no licensing cost, an option Wrike does not offer.
Huly, Kanboard
Free plan for unlimited users
Kanboard is entirely free to self-host with no user limits, and Wrike's cloud free plan also supports unlimited users on basic boards and tables.
Kanboard, Wrike
Deep resource and workload management
Wrike offers dedicated resource management for visualizing team capacity and rebalancing assignments across concurrent projects, a module neither open-source tool documents.
Wrike
Extensive third-party integrations
Wrike connects to more than 400 external tools, including Slack, Salesforce, Jira, and a deep Adobe Creative Cloud integration, far beyond what Huly or Kanboard document.
Wrike
All-in-one workspace
Huly bundles issue tracking with docs, chat, and video conferencing into one connected platform rather than requiring separate tools.
Huly
Feature-by-Feature
Deployment
Feature
Huly
Kanboard
Wrike
Self-hosted deployment
Available
Available
Unavailable
Official vendor-managed cloud
Available
Unavailable
Available
Planning and Visualization
Feature
Huly
Kanboard
Wrike
Gantt or timeline views with dependencies
Not documented
Limited
Available
Resource and workload management
Not documented
Not documented
Available
Collaboration
Feature
Huly
Kanboard
Wrike
Built-in chat or video conferencing
Available
Not documented
Not documented
Proofing and approval tools
Not documented
Not documented
Available
Integrations and Pricing
Feature
Huly
Kanboard
Wrike
Broad third-party integration library
Not documented
Not documented
Available
Free plan available
Available
Available
Available
Pricing Compared
Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.
Huly
Common — Free N/A
Rare — $19.99/month monthly, flat rate
Epic — $99.99/month monthly, flat rate
Legendary — $399.99/month monthly, flat rate
Kanboard
Self-Hosted (Open Source) — Free N/A
Managed Hosting (third-party) — From approximately $14/month monthly
Wrike
Free — $0 Free forever
Team — $9.80 per user per month Annual billing
Business — $24.80 per user per month Annual billing
Enterprise — Custom pricing Custom contract
Pinnacle — Custom pricing Custom contract
Pros & Cons
Huly
Pros
Fully open source and self-hostable at no licensing cost
Combines issue tracking, docs, chat, and video in one connected tool
Unlimited users and objects on every plan, including free
Flat monthly pricing on hosted tiers rather than per-seat fees
Native GitHub integration for two-way issue and PR sync
Smaller company and community than Linear, Jira, or Notion
Hosted cloud availability has been in flux as the company shifts focus toward self-hosting
UI and feature depth in each module (docs, chat, video) can lag best-in-class single-purpose tools
Documentation and third-party integration ecosystem are less mature than larger competitors
Kanboard
Pros
Completely free and open source with no feature paywalls
Lightweight PHP/SQLite stack is cheap and easy to self-host on modest hardware
Simple, distraction-free interface with a low learning curve
Full data ownership since nothing is stored on a vendor's servers
Extensible via a public API and community plugin ecosystem
Cons
No official cloud-hosted version from the maintainer, so self-hosting is required for zero cost
Development pace has slowed as the project sits in maintenance mode
Lacks built-in real-time collaboration features like chat or video calls
Mobile experience is a responsive web view rather than dedicated native apps
Requires basic server administration knowledge to install, secure, and back up
Wrike
Pros
Deep Gantt chart and dependency management rivaling dedicated scheduling tools
Highly configurable, real-time dashboards with shareable external views
AI Agents and Priority Inbox included on all plans rather than sold as a paid add-on
Very strong Adobe Creative Cloud integration for creative teams
Free plan supports unlimited users for basic use cases
Cons
Business and higher tiers can get expensive per user compared to lighter competitors
Feature depth and configurability create a steeper learning curve for new users
Resource management and proofing are locked behind the Business plan or higher
Complex ownership history (Vista to Citrix and back to Vista) has occasionally raised questions about long-term product direction
Use Cases
Choose Huly: Teams wanting a self-hosted, all-in-one alternative combining issue tracking, docs, chat, and video.
Choose Kanboard: Developers who want the lightest possible self-hosted kanban board at zero cost.
Choose Wrike: Cross-functional teams needing deep Gantt, dashboard, and resource management plus hundreds of integrations without managing their own servers.
Huly
Software development project management — Engineering teams track issues, sprints, and pull requests in one tool tied directly to docs and chat.
Startup all-in-one workspace — Small teams replace several separate SaaS subscriptions (issue tracker, docs, chat, video) with one connected platform.
Self-hosted, privacy-conscious deployments — Organizations that must keep data on their own infrastructure self-host the full open-source stack.
Kanboard
Solo developer task tracking — A developer self-hosts Kanboard on a home server or VPS to track personal coding projects without paying for a SaaS subscription.
Small technical team workflow — A small engineering or IT team runs Kanboard behind their VPN to manage sprints and support tickets with LDAP-based single sign-on.
Privacy-conscious project management — Organizations with strict data residency or compliance requirements self-host Kanboard to keep all task data on infrastructure they control.
Wrike
Marketing and Creative Project Management — Marketing and creative teams use Wrike's proofing tools and Adobe Creative Cloud integration to manage campaign production and review.
Cross-Functional Portfolio Tracking — Operations and PMO teams use Gantt charts and dashboards to track multiple projects and dependencies across departments.
Resource and Capacity Planning — Managers use workload views to balance task assignments and prevent overallocation across team members.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Wrike be self-hosted like Huly and Kanboard?
No. Wrike is a cloud-only SaaS platform, while Huly and Kanboard are both open source and can be deployed on a team's own infrastructure.
Which of these three has the deepest resource management?
Wrike, which includes dedicated workload and capacity management for balancing assignments across teams, a feature neither Huly nor Kanboard documents.
Does Kanboard offer any integrations?
Yes, through a REST or JSON-RPC API and a community plugin ecosystem, but it does not document anywhere near the 400-plus integrations Wrike offers.
Is there a free plan for each of these tools?
Yes. Kanboard is free to self-host, Huly offers a free hosted Common plan plus free self-hosting, and Wrike has a free cloud plan with unlimited users for basic use cases.
Which tool includes native chat and video calls?
Huly, through its built-in messaging and virtual office video rooms; Kanboard and Wrike do not document native chat or video conferencing.
Which is better suited to marketing or creative teams needing proofing?
Wrike, which includes dedicated proofing and approval tools for reviewing creative assets, a feature not documented in Huly or Kanboard.