ClickUp Alternatives 2026: 6 Free Options
ClickUp alternatives: Plane, OpenProject, WeKan, Trello and 2 more. Prices and licenses checked October 22, 2026.
•4 min read•Project & Task Management
Verdict:ClickUp's Free Forever plan is generous on members but tight on space: 60 MB of storage, 5 Spaces and 100 automation actions a month, and its pricing page shows more than one set of paid plans, so check the numbers before comparing. People usually leave ClickUp because it does everything and feels slow or cluttered. If that is you, go simpler: Trello for boards, or Asana for lists, rather than another everything-app. If you want to avoid per-seat pricing and keep your data, self-host Plane for an issue-focused workflow or OpenProject for scheduling and Gantt charts. WeKan is the lightest choice if all you ever use is the board view. The cost to accept is breadth. ClickUp bundles docs, whiteboards, goals and time tracking, so leaving usually means picking a separate note tool. Another trade-off is migration: ClickUp's custom fields and nested subtasks do not map neatly to boards, so export a project first and see what survives. monday.com and Asana have free plans that stop at 2 users, so they only suit teams ready to pay. For a freelancer or a team under ten people, Trello's free plan or a self-hosted Plane is the practical place to start.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plane | Free (up to 12 users with basic roles and views); paid from $6 per user/month, billed annually ($8 billed monthly, Pro) | Web, Self-hosted | Open-source work tracking with cycles | Docs only |
| OpenProject | Free (Community edition with no minimum users and community-only support); paid from EUR 5.95 per user/month, 25-user minimum (Basic) | Web, Self-hosted | Self-hosted project planning | Docs only |
| WeKan | Free (MIT-licensed Kanban app you host yourself) | Web, Self-hosted | Pure self-hosted Kanban | Docs only |
| Trello | Free (up to 10 collaborators and 10 boards per Workspace, 250 Workspace command runs a month, 10 MB per file); paid from $5 per user/month, billed annually ($6 billed monthly) | Web, iOS, Android | Simple boards and light automation | Docs only |
| Asana | Free (Personal plan for up to 2 users with unlimited tasks and projects and list, board and calendar views); paid from $10.99 per user/month, billed annually ($13.49 billed monthly) | Web, iOS, Android | Teams who want cleaner task lists | Docs only |
| monday.com | Free (up to 2 seats, 3 boards and 3 docs); paid from $9 per seat/month, billed annually, 3-seat minimum for paid plans | Web, iOS, Android | Visual boards for small paying teams | Docs only |
| Notion | Free (unlimited pages and blocks for individuals but limited for workspaces of 2 or more members, 5 MB per file, 10 guests, 7-day page history); paid from $10 per member/month (Plus; check the pricing page for the billing term) | Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android | Knowledge base | Docs only |
| Linear | Free (unlimited members, 250 issues and 2 teams); paid from $10 per user/month, billed yearly (Basic) | Web, Desktop app, Mobile app | Project management | Docs only |
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Good fit if
- A simpler board-first tool (Trello is the pick)
- Open-source issue tracking (Plane is the pick)
- Self-hosted planning with Gantt (OpenProject is the pick)
- Lightest possible Kanban (WeKan is the pick)
- Small paying team that likes visual boards (monday.com is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on ClickUp features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
ClickUp today: Free (Free Forever plan with unlimited members, 60 MB of storage, 5 Spaces and 100 automation actions a month) (ClickUp pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Why people look for ClickUp alternatives
ClickUp's Free Forever plan caps storage at 60 MB and spaces at 5, with 5 active automation rules and 100 actions a month, 3 whiteboards, 1 form and 1 wiki, while Custom Fields and Dashboards are trial-only. Its pricing page also shows two overlapping price lists with different plan names, for example Unlimited at $7 and Core at $9 per user a month yearly. AI add-ons cost extra: Brain AI at $9 and Everything AI at $28 per user a month.
Plane
Compared with ClickUp: Plane is AGPL-3.0 and free for up to 12 users, with Pro at $6 per user per month billed annually. It is cleaner and more focused on issues, cycles and modules than ClickUp, so you give up docs, whiteboards and the everything-app breadth.
Price: Free (up to 12 users with basic roles and views); paid from $6 per user/month, billed annually ($8 billed monthly, Pro) (Plane pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. AGPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 61.6k GitHub stars · latest release v1.4.2 (Aug 23, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Open-source work tracking with cycles.
Worth knowing: SSO (SAML, OIDC), wiki, time tracking and intake forms are paid features.
OpenProject
Compared with ClickUp: OpenProject is GPL-3.0 with a free Community edition and no minimum users. It brings Gantt-style planning that ClickUp spreads across views, but its interface is plainer and paid plans have a 25-user minimum.
Price: Free (Community edition with no minimum users and community-only support); paid from EUR 5.95 per user/month, 25-user minimum (Basic) (OpenProject pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. GPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 16.7k GitHub stars · latest release v17.9.4 (Oct 26, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Self-hosted project planning.
WeKan
Compared with ClickUp: WeKan is MIT-licensed, self-hosted Kanban with no seat fees. It is only boards, so you lose ClickUp's task views, docs, automations and dashboards but gain a tool that is simple to run.
Price: Free (MIT-licensed Kanban app you host yourself) (WeKan pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. MIT (open source).
Project activity: 21.1k GitHub stars · latest release v12.65 (Oct 25, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Pure self-hosted Kanban.
Trello
Compared with ClickUp: Trello is free for up to 10 collaborators and 10 boards per Workspace, and paid is $5 per user per month billed annually. It is far simpler than ClickUp, with 250 Workspace command runs a month instead of ClickUp's 100 automation actions.
Price: Free (up to 10 collaborators and 10 boards per Workspace, 250 Workspace command runs a month, 10 MB per file); paid from $5 per user/month, billed annually ($6 billed monthly) (Trello pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, iOS, Android. Proprietary.
Best for: Simple boards and light automation.
Asana
Compared with ClickUp: Asana's Personal plan is free for up to 2 users, with paid from $10.99 per user per month billed annually. It trades ClickUp's flexibility for cleaner lists and timelines, but its free plan is tiny for a team.
Price: Free (Personal plan for up to 2 users with unlimited tasks and projects and list, board and calendar views); paid from $10.99 per user/month, billed annually ($13.49 billed monthly) (Asana pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, iOS, Android. Proprietary.
Best for: Teams who want cleaner task lists.
monday.com
Compared with ClickUp: monday.com is free for up to 2 seats and 3 boards, and paid starts at $9 per seat per month billed annually with a 3-seat minimum. It has a more visual board layout than ClickUp, but the free plan is too small for most teams.
Price: Free (up to 2 seats, 3 boards and 3 docs); paid from $9 per seat/month, billed annually, 3-seat minimum for paid plans (monday.com pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, iOS, Android. Proprietary.
Best for: Visual boards for small paying teams.
Other popular options (paid)
Notion
Compared with ClickUp: Free for individuals, and Plus is $10 per member a month. Combines docs, wikis and databases, with lighter task management than ClickUp's dedicated project views.
Price: Free (unlimited pages and blocks for individuals but limited for workspaces of 2 or more members, 5 MB per file, 10 guests, 7-day page history); paid from $10 per member/month (Plus; check the pricing page for the billing term) (Notion pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Linear
Compared with ClickUp: Free plan has unlimited members, 250 issues and 2 teams, and Basic is $10 per user a month billed yearly. Much faster and simpler for software teams, but narrower than ClickUp's all-in-one scope.
Price: Free (unlimited members, 250 issues and 2 teams); paid from $10 per user/month, billed yearly (Basic) (Linear pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Which one to pick
- A simpler board-first tool: Trello
- Open-source issue tracking: Plane
- Self-hosted planning with Gantt: OpenProject
- Lightest possible Kanban: WeKan
- Small paying team that likes visual boards: monday.com
Limits of this review
Docs-only for Plane, OpenProject, WeKan, Trello, Asana, monday.com: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from ClickUp. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked 2026-10-22: ClickUp, Plane, OpenProject, WeKan, Trello, Asana, monday.com, Notion, Linear. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.