Our verdict
Planka and Focalboard (Mattermost Boards) are both kanban tools for restaurants. On our independent rubric, Planka scores 3.8/5 versus 3.6/5 for Focalboard (Mattermost Boards). Choose Planka if you're Teams wanting a modern, real-time self-hosted Trello alternative or Self-hosters who like a single-Docker-image deployment; 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 | Planka | Focalboard (Mattermost Boards) |
|---|---|---|
| Editorial score | 3.8/5 | 3.6/5 |
| G2 rating | — | — |
| Capterra rating | — | — |
| Starting price | Free (self-hosted Community tier) | Free (self-hosted, open source) |
| Free tier | ||
| Free trial | ||
| Integrations | 4 · OIDC / SSO providers, 100+ notification providers (Apprise-style), Webhooks… | 3 · Mattermost, Webhooks, REST API… |
| Best for | Teams wanting a modern, real-time self-hosted Trello alternative, Self-hosters who like a single-Docker-image deployment, Organizations needing OIDC SSO on a Kanban board | 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 | 2019 | 2021 |
| HQ | Germany | 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.
Planka
- Modern UI with real-time multi-user sync
- Simple single-Docker-image self-hosting (PostgreSQL)
- OIDC single sign-on supported
- Widely used (12k+ stars, 8M+ Docker pulls); EU/GDPR-aligned vendor
- License is a custom "Fair Use License", not OSI-approved open source
- External collaboration, calendar, and recurring cards require paid Pro
- Kanban-focused; no Gantt or sprint tooling
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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