Our verdict
Kanboard and Focalboard (Mattermost Boards) are both kanban tools for restaurants. On our independent rubric, Kanboard scores 4.0/5 versus 3.6/5 for Focalboard (Mattermost Boards). Choose Kanboard if you're Teams that want a no-frills, fast Kanban board on a tiny server or Self-hosters who value MIT licensing and minimal dependencies; choose Focalboard (Mattermost Boards) if you're Mattermost users wanting integrated boards alongside team chat or Small teams wanting a self-hosted Trello/Notion-style board.
Side-by-side comparison
| Metric | Kanboard | Focalboard (Mattermost Boards) |
|---|---|---|
| Editorial score | 4.0/5 | 3.6/5 |
| G2 rating | — | — |
| Capterra rating | — | — |
| Starting price | Free (self-hosted, MIT license) | Free (self-hosted, open source) |
| Free tier | ||
| Free trial | ||
| Integrations | 6 · LDAP / Active Directory, GitLab, Slack… | 3 · Mattermost, Webhooks, REST API… |
| Best for | Teams that want a no-frills, fast Kanban board on a tiny server, Self-hosters who value MIT licensing and minimal dependencies, Workflows that benefit from strict WIP limits and automation | Mattermost users wanting integrated boards alongside team chat, Small teams wanting a self-hosted Trello/Notion-style board, Self-hosters comfortable with a community-maintained project |
| Category | kanban | kanban |
| Founded | 2014 | 2021 |
| HQ | — | Palo Alto, California, USA |
A teal check marks the stronger option on each measurable row. Ratings are sourced from G2/Capterra with attribution on each listing.
Kanboard
- Extremely lightweight and easy to self-host (PHP + SQLite)
- Permissive MIT license with no paid tiers
- WIP limits and rule-based automation built in
- Plugin system and JSON-RPC API for extension
- No Gantt charts, backlogs, or sprint tooling
- Minimalist UI may feel too bare for some teams
- Release cadence is slow (v1.2.42, Nov 2024)
Focalboard (Mattermost Boards)
- Free and self-hosted with multiple board/table/calendar views
- Integrates tightly with Mattermost as Boards
- Mature codebase with broad adoption (~26k stars)
- Standalone Personal Server option for non-Mattermost use
- Community-maintained since 2023; limited new feature development
- No Gantt, sprints, or reporting suite
- Future direction depends on community contributors
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