23 Free Kanban Software Options for 2023

As the world of project management continues to evolve, the demand for efficient and accessible (& free!) Kanban software solutions have never been greater. After all, in a world where every minute counts, having reliable, user-friendly, and cost-effective Kanban software at your fingertips can be the key to unlocking productivity and success.

After experimenting with various Kanban software options, I’ve compiled a list of free alternatives that I found particularly noteworthy.

I’ve put together a breakdown of the pros and cons of various Kanban boards, along with their pricing options. Plus, I’ve included some handy links to free Kanban boards you can check out. And to make things super easy for you, I’ve even created a nifty comparison table that gives you an overview of all the free Kanban tools I’ve reviewed.

All free Kanban boards are in the productivity category. Here at Teamhood, we strive to recommend the absolute best free Kanban board available. Rest assured, we also provide a comprehensive list of Kanban features available for each tool.

Best free kanban Tools Summary

1. Teamhood

Capterra score: 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Best free Kanban software in 2023

Why Teamhood is the best free Kanban Board out there?

1. Modern and intuitive interface
2. A unique approach to Kanban project management
3. Has Swimlanes and also sub-swimlanes
4. WIP Limits
5. Classes of service
6. Statuses and sub-statuses
7. Commitment points
8. Actionable Agile metrics
9. Powerful dependencies management
10. Supports Agile, Waterfall, Hybrid, and Kanban methods
11. Integrated workload management for human and machinery resources

Teamhood is the better way to manage projects and teamwork. It has a new approach towards kanban project management, and we consider it to be the best kanban board free priced.

The best part is that Teamhood does not push users to use a specific methodology, and it is very easy to change from one to another. That is probably why so many positive reviews are found on review sites such as Capterra or G2.

Teamhood helps reduce complexity by structuring your project data in neat Kanban boards. Teamhood offers a design that fits more actionable information into one screen than any other software. For clarification, you can compare it to alternative free Kanban board tools such as Monday, Asana, or Trello.

Teamhood offers fundamental and advanced collaboration features aimed at the hybrid or even fully remote teams to foster asynchronous collaboration.

Teamhood’s free Kanban boards have features such as custom statuses, status groups, rows, and downstream sub-workflows, allowing you to visualize both high-level and lower-level processes in a single board. 

Swimlanes or sub-workflows can be added to major process stages to unfold sub-tasks as standalone kanban cards. Such a flexible structure can be called a three-dimensional or even an advanced Kanban board.

The next major advantage of Teamhood as a free Kanban board is its professional project management features such as Gantt, task dependencies, Timeline, and time tracking. A single coherent system for the full project lifecycle.

Everything is native and integrated, bringing the best user experience.

The biggest challenge always is to choose the right tool for your type and size of the company. Best tools usually are flexible enough to be adapted, and so is Teamhood. 

You have numerous options for dividing teams, departments, or projects among workspaces and Kanban boards, while management can use reports to collect data from relevant parts and present it conveniently in a single view. Teamhood offers standard Kanban lead and cycle times metrics, burndown charts, dashboards, and a few more neat reporting features. 

Teamhood is a fully functional free Kanban tool. It is the new standard of Kanban-driven project management and collaboration.  

Pros: 

• Fully featured free Kanban board software
• Flexible and customizable task boards
• Intuitive and easy daily collaboration features
• Task dependencies, synchronized items, time tracking
• Office365 suite integration
• Deep Outlook, MS project and Azure Devops Integrations

Cons: 

• Integrates to many other tools, but only via Zapier. It means you will need extra time to set up your integrations.
• Mobile web view but not a dedicated mobile app

Website: https://teamhood.com

Price: Free for unlimited users or $9/month per user for the pro plan.

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2. Trello

Capterra score: 4.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Trello is a popular simple Kanban board. Many small teams or individuals choose Trello to work in simple to-do type kanban. It is basic in Kanban features, so it is not suited for professional work management. Trello cards can store various data like descriptions, comments, and attachments.

The most famous Trello feature is card cover images. Trello has a power-up ecosystem where users can purchase additional add-ons. Though this means the cost of the tool can grow rapidly.

Pros: 

• Easy to use simple Kanban
• Decent free version functionality

Cons: 

• Lacks professional project management features
• Does not suit larger teams or professional Kanban practitioners
• Kanban metrics/reporting only via plugins or no native support

Price: Free or $17.50 user/month for the enterprise package.

Website: https://trello.com/

3. Asana

Capterra score: 4.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Asana is the older task management solution that has been present in the market for quite some time. Still used by many teams as a Kanban board. It helps collaborate and visualize project work. Teams can create standard column-only Kanban boards in Asana.

Asana offers a free option for small teams. It is a good option for those looking to use something that is mature and polished but does not expect modern productivity features. Also, Asana is quite expensive if you decide to go for paid plan eventually. It is not a full Kanban system, just the board. Multiple teams can use it. Has enterprise plan and features.

Pros: 

• Visual and easy to understand
• Project oriented
• Good collaboration features

Cons: 

• Limited Kanban board with no proper Kanban features
• No proper Kanban metrics and analytics
• Very limited free version

Price: Free or $24.50 per user/month for a business plan.

Website: https://asana.com/

4. Monday.com

Capterra score: 4.6/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Monday is famous for its automation and list view. If you want to use Kanban briefly, then you could consider Monday as an option. Though it has no Kanban system features, its Kanban board is very limited. You should pick a free Kanban board based on capabilities and monday.com lacks here.

Monday’s list view is far more useful and flexible. You can integrate with many tools and automate tedious daily tasks. But do not expect to find kanban swimlanes, reports, or WIP limits. Monday makes Kanban free only with its limited max 2 users plan. So it means the free version is just a marketing thing. You most definitely will need to pay eventually.

Pros: 

• Flexible list view
• Numerous integrations
• Easy workflow automations

Cons: 

• Poor Kanban view and not even actual Kanban board
• No fundamental Kanban features such as swimlanes or WIP limits

Website: https://monday.com/

Price: Free for max 2 users or €16 per user/month for the Pro plan.

5. Wrike 

Capterra score: 4.3/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Enterprise-focused PM tool, which has a Kanban board. If your company is project-first, then it could be a good option. Kanban features are not that developed, though. The main users of Wrike are from the marketing and engineering industries.

You can add WIP limits to Kanban columns in Wrike which is at least a good starting point. No swimlanes or metrics, though. You should pick Wrike as a project task visualization tool.

Consider other alternatives if you seek a more thorough free Kanban software.

Pros: Enterprise PM tool with various features.

Cons: Basic Kanban board view, no proper Kanban features or metrics.

Website: https://www.wrike.com/

Price: Free or $24.80 user/month for a business plan.

6. Jira 

Capterra score: 4.4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Jira is the defacto choice for IT teams working in an Agile approach. It is a task management and project management solution aimed at Agile practitioners, usually tech companies, financial institutions such as banks, etc. Jira offers a variety of features, making it easier for dev teams to track work. All Jira features are focused on the IT process.

Jira aims to allow users to plan, execute and release products/projects and track issues. Kanban boards in Jira are used to visualize tasks that are being planned, in progress, or finished. Jira offers kanban columns with WIP limits, and some standard metrics can be added via purchased add-ons.

The biggest downside of Jira is its complexity and many configuration options. Teams who need something easy and lightweight might want to consider other options than Jira.

Jira is a complex tool that supports free Kanban boards, and it aims at IT organizations.

Pros: Feature-rich solution for tech companies, Kanban features available.

Cons: Complicated configuration and time-consuming to set up. It can be hard to scale outside the IT organization.

Website: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira

Price: Free or $14 user/month for the Premium plan.

7. Kanban tool 

Capterra score: 4.8/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

One of the older generation free kanban tools, it’s kanban board free and straightforward. Has columns and sub-columns, also rows/swimlanes. Its collaboration features are quite basic, and many modern options are missing. So if you need a kanban board to structure something for temporary use – the kanban tool can be a good option.

If you were to collaborate with a team on projects, it will be quite limited. The Kanban tool can be used as a starting point when transitioning from a physical Kanban board to a digital one.

Editing Kanban cards in the Kanban tool is a bit clunky because of its outdated user interface and user experience solutions.

Pros: Free, simple kanban board with good structure.

Cons: Archaic and lacking in many collaboration features.

Website: https://kanbantool.com/

Price: Free or €9 user/month for the Enterprise plan.

8. Teamwork

Capterra score: 4.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Teamwork is a Kanban board tool focused on collaboration and digital content creation projects. Meaning its most targeted audience is marketers or marketing agencies. Good collaboration features for content editing, commenting, and attaching materials. On the kanban side, it does have a simple column-only board, though proper kanban features are not present, so you should consider whether you want to use a true kanban system or just a kanban columns tool.

Pros: Optimized for marketing agencies with decent collaboration features.

Cons: Not the strongest Kanban implementation because of missing features such as swimlanes, WIP limits, and metrics.

Website: https://www.teamwork.com/

Price: Free or €13 per user/month.

9. Redmine 

Capterra score: 4.1/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Redmine is an older-generation PM tool that merges traditional and Agile approaches. Redmine offers some standard Kanban features such as columns only board work-in-progress limits. It also offers sprints and agile ways of working built into the system.

Alongside agile, Redmine does offer classical risk management, earned value management, and project management features in one setup. It is a complicated tool suitable for larger enterprises. Kanban is not their main feature, which can be easily recognized, though it can be used as free kanban software.

Pros:  For larger companies or more complicated project management workflows.

Cons:  Kanban is just a sub-feature which limited possibilities.

Website: https://www.easyredmine.com/

Price: Free or €19 per user/month.

10. Miro 

Capterra score: 4.7/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Miro is a visual whiteboard with a loose structure of graphical forms. But we have decided to include it in our best free Kanban software list because it has a dedicated figure for Kanban. There is nothing more besides columns and kanban cards, but it can still be used for quick brainstorming sessions to map out work progress. Miro is recognized for its real-time collaboration capabilities and is used by many remote teams worldwide. The biggest tradeoff will be not having a strict kanban structure and kanban metrics.

Pros: Easy whiteboard interface with real-time collaboration.

Cons: Almost no Kanban features, just columns and cards.

Website: https://miro.com/

Price: Free or $16 user/month for businesses.

11. Jetbrains Youtrack 

Capterra score: 4.4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Youtrack by Jetbrains offers an issue tracker, a free Kanban software option. The tool focuses on bug tracking and issue logging so your team can ensure product or service quality once launched. It is targeting IT teams due to techie features. Kanban board has simple columns and rows structure. It has a nice feature to calculate time in status. It also has a cumulative flow diagram as the main Kanban report.

If you are in a tech team and you need issue tracking visualized as a free Kanban tool – YouTrack is an option.

Pros: Flexible task board with free Kanban board features.

Cons: Limited outside the IT industry, can take time to configure.

Website: https://www.jetbrains.com/youtrack/

Price: Free or 5$ user/month for the business plan.

12. Swift Kanban 

Capterra score: 4.4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

SwitfKanban is one of the kanban pm tools targeted for small to medium enterprises. This tool is a free Kanban software that is also a Kanban system. Many free kanban boards have just a few features related to the kanban method, but this one has more.

Swiftkanban supports columns and column groups, has WIP limits, and can break down work into subtasks as smaller pieces. It is not suitable for enterprise companies but mainly for remote collaborating teams. This tool’s reporting capabilities are not developed enough, and the graphical user interface is already outdated. Yet, it still stands among free kanban tools firmly.

Pros: Nicely featured Kanban board.

Cons: Not suitable for medium or larger teams. The graphical user interface is outdated

Website: https://www.digite.com/swiftkanban/

Price: Free or $7 user/month.

13. KanbanFlow 

Capterra score: 4.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Kanbanflow combines good kanban board free features as well as integrated time tracking. For those who work on an hourly basis or track their time spent, KanbanFlow can be a good choice. Easy to modify task board, time tracker, estimates, subtasks, and WIP limits. It is not as modern as other alternatives but still a valid contender in the best free Kanban software list.

We believe KanbanFlow is best suited for small teams or organizations starting with Kanban and requiring a time-tracking feature on top.

Pros: Kanban reports and time tracker.

Cons: Suited only to small teams and already outdated design.

Website: https://kanbanflow.com/

Price: Free or $5 user/month.

14. Taskworld 

Capterra score: 4.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Taskworld is one of the options for visual task management, and it uses the Kanban board as its task view. You can manage tasks, collaborate on initiatives and write comments on each card. Taskworld offers fundamental Kanban board features like columns and task cards. But apart from that, it is quite a limited kanban solution. Kanban cards can display checklist-style subtasks right on the card itself. Also, you can assign more than one user to a card.

Pros: Good task management tool, the closest alternative to MS Planner.

Cons: Only basic Kanban board, best for small teams or individuals.

Website: https://taskworld.com/

Price: Free or $22 user/month for a business plan.

15. Taiga

Capterra score: 4.4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Taiga is an open-source PM tool for agile practitioners. It is easy to use and has a basic interface for the Kanban board – columns and Kanban cards. It also offers sprints and WIP limits. It is more of a scrum tool than Kanban but, nonetheless, can belong to the free Kanban tools list.

Pros: Focused on Agile methodologies.

Cons: Becomes slow to use when many tasks are added. Old design and UX.

Website: https://www.taiga.io/

Price: Free or 5 $ user/month

16. Eylean

Capterra score: 4.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Eylean is a free personal use Kanban board based on a Windows desktop app. It has all the essential features of a Kanban board and System. The main limitation is the platform.

Tool comes from the older era of desktop-first apps but delivers some of the better Kanban ideas which got forgotten in the webworld such as swimalnes, nested columns or column groups, multilevel WIP limits.

Eylean is the predecessor for Teamhood and have a nice data transfer/integration so if you would consider this tool as a refresh user, just simply go with Teamhood for fresher/more feature rich experience.

Pros: 

• Good suite of metrics such as cycle time, lead time, CFD
• Flexible state picking for lead/cycle time calculation
• Very robust desktop app for Windows.
• Infinite hierarchical relation between parent / child items
• Multi level WIP limits

Cons: 

• No Gantt view
• No web/browser version
• No dependencies, just parent/child item hierarchical relation

Website: https://www.eylean.com/

Price: Free or 9 $ user/month

17. Pipefy

Capterra score: 4.6/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Pipefy is a workflow solution. Members can automate tasks, integrate tools, and easily update relevant stakeholders about their requests for on-time delivery. Simple workflows are necessary for businesses that want to scale. Pipefy also offers essential project management features to get teams up and running. 

Such tools are well suited for small teams or personal professional use, but according to public user comments are not capable to support larger teams or workflows. This is a core problem which becomes obvious only after full onboarding and some intensive product use. Meaning that invested effort is significant. If tools fails to deliver it will be very hard to push the team to a new one. Hence reading and comparing detailed side by side tables is the preferred starting point.

Pros: Good native integrations to IT tools like Github, and Slack.

Cons: Expensive paid plans for larger teams.

Website: https://www.pipefy.com/

Price: Free or >19$ user/month

18. Flow-e

Capterra score: 4.7/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Flow-e is a visualization layer on top of your Outlook inbox. It provides an elegant Kanban-like workflow that’s combined with the ideas behind Inbox Zero and GTD. Flow-e is not a standalone app but requires Outlook inbox. Has integration to Kanbanize

In general it is one more example of a personal or small team tool use. The weirdest part is that it is not standalone and requires another tool’s license if you want to go with a team. So flow-e should be considered only among Kanbanize user base.

Pros: Deep integration to Outlook and Kanbanize.

Cons: Limited around email, not suitable for proper project management. Requires Kanbanize license for teams.

Website: https://www.flow-e.com/

Price: Free for individuals but requires a Kanbanize license for teams

19. Blossom

Capterra score: N/A

Blossom gives each member of the team a clear overview of who’s doing what & why, and at the same time, it helps you to focus on what matters most. With Blossom, you can efficiently manage your whole development process in one place, built with simplicity in mind.

Simplicity is the key here, personal users will have enough value from this tool, but teams or larger organizations should avoid due to earlier mentioned problem about late stage problem when tool does not scale well. Please review other more capable options if you are consider a free kanban software for at least a team of 5 people.

Pros: 

• Cycle time is shown right on item cards
• Offers decent metrics for Kanban method
• Simple solution for small teams or individual use

Cons: 

• Limited customization options for Kanban board
• No swimlanes
• No advanced analytics such as Monte Carlo simulation

Website: https://blossom.co/

Price: Free trial but requires non-transparent sales contact

20. Nuclino

Capterra score: 4.7/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Nuclino is a data view / second brain tool with an intuitive and user-friendly Kanban board, allowing you to drag and drop cards on your board to visualize your progress. Each item card in Nuclino can have additional properties such as due dates, assignees, tags, and other essential information that is important to your workflow. It is more than just a Kanban tool; its board view is only one of many available visualization options.

Pros: Good integration options and visualization.

Cons: Not a true Kanban system and lacks essential Kanban features.

Website: https://www.nuclino.com/

Price: Free with unlimited users or 5$ user/month

21. Kanboard

Capterra score: 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

One of the standout advantages of Kanban is its cost-effectiveness, as it is free and open-source. Hosting it on my computer or server gives me complete control over my data and allows customization to meet my specific needs.

The rich API integration capability is particularly valuable, as it seamlessly connects Kanban with my other systems, enhancing overall efficiency. Setting up, administering, and upgrading is easy, saving me time and effort. I can create boards that are specifically tailored to my unique requirements, accommodating different project workflows and objectives.

On the downside, I have noticed that the user interface of Kanban could benefit from a more modern and polished design. While it is functional, it lacks the visual appeal of other project management tools.

Pros:

• Free and open source with self-hosting capability
• Rich API for easy integration with other systems
• Easy to use, administer, and set up

Cons: 

• The user interface could benefit from a more modern design
• Difficulty in getting an overview of a large number of tasks and tracking priorities and progress
• Limited documentation availability for issue resolution

Website: https://kanboard.org/

Price: Free open-source Kanban project management software

22. Kanbanize

Capterra score: 4.8/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Kanbanize offers several significant advantages, making it a compelling project management choice. Firstly, it provides cost savings in reporting and administrative tasks at a lower price than alternative providers. The ease of use, wide range of features, analytics capabilities, portfolio kanban, regular updates, and integration options were noticed.

However, while using the tool, I have encountered a few drawbacks. The rules surrounding archived and done cards can be unclear, leading to confusion at times. The interpretation of the analytics module can also be challenging, especially when it comes to understanding the impact of completed or archived cards on the metrics.

Moreover, I have noticed that the focus of the IT team seems to be primarily on functionality, potentially neglecting interface design and comprehensive reporting, which are crucial for tracking projects from a CEO’s perspective.

Pros:

• Cost savings for reporting and administrative tasks
• Affordable pricing compared to previous providers
• Quick resolution of technical issues and responsive product team

Cons:

• Lack of clear rules for archived and done cards, causing confusion
• Difficulty in interpreting analytics module based on card status
• IT focus more on functionality, outdated/not optimized user interface
• Hard to use for reporting needs for project tracking, particularly from a CEO’s perspective

Website: https://kanbanize.com/

Price: Free or $10 per user.

23. Meister Task

Capterra score: 4.7/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

MeisterTask offers several noteworthy advantages that have greatly benefited my task management process. One of the standout features is its user-friendly interface, which allows me to effortlessly organize and prioritize my tasks, providing a clear structure for my thoughts and enabling more efficient action.

I appreciate the flexibility of MeisterTask, as it accommodates both complex projects and simple 1-liner tasks with ease. The program excels in collaboration and task assignment, allowing seamless progress tracking.

However, updating comments in the web version can be a concern. Compared to Trello, MeisterTask’s interface has unnecessary negative space, making it difficult to view all my tasks at once comprehensively. The reporting and analytics capabilities are somewhat limited and sometimes frustrating. Additionally, the inability to access MeisterTask offline can be a drawback when an internet connection is unavailable.

Pros:

• User-friendly features for easy task organization and improved thought clarity
• Ability to handle both complex projects and simple one-liner tasks
• Excellent collaboration, task assignment, and progress-tracking capabilities

Cons:

• Concerns about updating comments in the web version
• Trello is perceived as easier to use compared to MeisterTask
• Unnecessary negative space in MeisterTask hampers comprehensive task visibility

Website: https://www.meistertask.com/

Price: Free or $11 per user.

Best Kanban Tools Summary 

When it comes to choosing the right Kanban solution for your organization, it’s important to consider the pros and cons of each option. While free Kanban boards are available that may suit your needs, if you’re looking for the most versatile and adaptable solution, a true Kanban system, Teamhood stands out as the clear winner.

With its comprehensive features and capabilities, Teamhood empowers you to optimize your workflow and achieve greater efficiency. Don’t settle for anything less than the best – choose Teamhood for your Kanban needs.

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Teamhood

• Modern project and teamwork management the free Kanban way
• Flexible board structure, board zooming, Swimlanes, WIP Limits, Classes of service, Commitment points,
• Modern and unique data visualization, built for speed
• Customizable work item details and fields
• Kanban Metrics, Agile metrics, customizable dashboards
• Time tracking 
• Prepared Kanban templates

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Vidas Vasiliauskas

Website

2019 - Present Co-founder and CEO @ Teamhood.
2015-2019 Head of software engineering department at Danske Bank.
2017-2018 Partner Associate Professor at Vilnius University. Lecturer of Software Architecture course
2011 - 2015 Managed numerous smaller IT teams at Prewise.
Co-founder of RaveIT, Eylean, No Brakes Games

Certified Agile product owner and practitioner. Managed large scale enterprise projects as well as launch of small startup products.
MSc of Software Engineering at Vilnius University.

Hobbies: Racing, MTB cycling, Windsurfing