Teamwork Alternatives 2026: 5 Free Options
Teamwork alternatives: Vikunja, OpenProject, Kanboard, Trello and 1 more. Prices and licenses checked October 23, 2026.
•3 min read•Project & Task Management
Verdict:Leave Teamwork when seat count is the real cost, not the features. Basics is $9.99 per user a month billed annually with a three-user minimum, and Accelerate is $24.99, so every person who needs edit access adds a line to the bill. The free plan stops at five users and five projects, which is fine for a trial but tight for a growing team. If you want a free tier that never expires, Vikunja and Kanboard are the strongest picks. Both are open source, Vikunja under AGPL-3.0 and Kanboard under MIT, and both run on a small server you already own. The trade-off is that you become the administrator: backups, upgrades and accounts are yours, and neither gives you Teamwork's time tracking or client views. OpenProject is the closest match when you need Gantt charts, since its community edition has no minimum user count. Pick Trello or Asana when the team is not technical and you want a hosted board with no server work. Both have free plans, and neither copies Teamwork's built-in time tracking. A simple test decides it. If most people need edit access but nobody needs billable hours, leave for a free or self-hosted tool. If you bill clients by the hour, stay on Teamwork until you find a replacement that tracks time the same way.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vikunja | Free (Self-host free forever); paid from EUR 4 per month, Vikunja Cloud Personal (Organization EUR 5 per user/month) | Web, Self-hosted | Self-hosted task lists | 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 plans | Docs only |
| Kanboard | Free (Free self-hosted Kanban) | Web, Self-hosted | Simple Kanban boards | 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 | Visual boards for small teams | 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 | Cross-team work with goals | Docs only |
| ClickUp | Free (Free Forever plan with unlimited members, 60 MB of storage, 5 Spaces and 100 automation actions a month) | Web, iOS, Android | Project management | Docs only |
| Smartsheet | Paid from $9 per member/month, billed yearly ($12 billed monthly; Pro, 1-10 members, new customers only) | Web, iOS, Android | Project management | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- You want free self-hosting and no user cap (Vikunja is the pick)
- You need Gantt charts on your own server (OpenProject is the pick)
- You only need a Kanban board (Kanboard is the pick)
- Your team is not technical and wants a hosted board (Trello is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Teamwork features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Teamwork today: Free (Free plan: up to 5 users, 5 projects, 100 MB storage, 100 automations); paid from $9.99 per user/month, billed annually (Basics, minimum 3 users) (Teamwork pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Why people look for Teamwork alternatives
Teamwork's free plan stops at 5 users, 5 projects, 100 MB of storage and 100 automations. Basics is $9.99 per user per month billed annually with a 3-user minimum, and Accelerate is $24.99 with a 5-user minimum; workload planning, client invoicing and the HubSpot and QuickBooks integrations start there. Quotes and Salesforce and NetSuite integrations need Optimize, SSO needs Enterprise, and both are priced through sales. Usage-based AI credits launch in November 2026.
Vikunja
Compared with Teamwork: Free to self-host under AGPL-3.0 with no user cap on your own server. You lose Teamwork's time tracking, client views and Desk, and you run the server yourself. Cloud Personal starts at EUR 4 a month.
Price: Free (Self-host free forever); paid from EUR 4 per month, Vikunja Cloud Personal (Organization EUR 5 per user/month) (Vikunja pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. AGPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 5.9k GitHub stars · latest release v2.7.1 (Oct 20, 2026) · last commit Oct 28, 2026
Best for: Self-hosted task lists.
OpenProject
Compared with Teamwork: Community edition is free with no minimum users, but support is community-only. Gantt charts and work packages without a per-seat bill, while Teamwork's hosted onboarding and Desk are gone. Basic is EUR 5.95 per user a month.
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 plans.
Kanboard
Compared with Teamwork: MIT-licensed, free self-hosted Kanban board. It is far lighter than Teamwork, with no Gantt charts, time tracking or client billing, so it suits a small team that only needs cards and columns.
Price: Free (Free self-hosted Kanban) (Kanboard pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. MIT (open source).
Project activity: 9.9k GitHub stars · latest release v1.2.56 (Oct 21, 2026) · last commit Oct 24, 2026
Best for: Simple Kanban boards.
Trello
Compared with Teamwork: Free plan allows 10 boards and 10 collaborators per Workspace. Paid starts at $5 per user a month, below Teamwork's $9.99 Basics, but you lose Teamwork's native time tracking and resource planning.
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: Visual boards for small teams.
Asana
Compared with Teamwork: Personal plan covers up to 2 users with unlimited tasks and projects. Paid plans start at $10.99 per user a month billed annually. You gain a wider app ecosystem and goal tracking, and lose Teamwork's built-in time tracking.
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: Cross-team work with goals.
Other popular options (paid)
ClickUp
Compared with Teamwork: Free Forever plan has unlimited members, 60 MB of storage, 5 Spaces and 100 automation actions a month, against Teamwork's free plan limit of 5 users, 5 projects and 100 MB.
Price: 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).
Smartsheet
Compared with Teamwork: Pro is $9 per member per month billed yearly ($12 monthly) for 1-10 members, new customers only. No free plan, 30-day trial, against Teamwork Basics at $9.99 with a 3-user minimum.
Price: Paid from $9 per member/month, billed yearly ($12 billed monthly; Pro, 1-10 members, new customers only) (Smartsheet pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Which one to pick
- You want free self-hosting and no user cap: Vikunja
- You need Gantt charts on your own server: OpenProject
- You only need a Kanban board: Kanboard
- Your team is not technical and wants a hosted board: Trello
Limits of this review
Docs-only for Vikunja, OpenProject, Kanboard, Trello, Asana: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Teamwork. 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 between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-23: Teamwork, Vikunja, OpenProject, Kanboard, Trello, Asana, ClickUp, Smartsheet. 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.