I need a project management tool that is self-hosted and does not send data to the cloud.

Focalboard, OpenProject, Vikunja , and Taiga are top-tier, completely self-hosted project management tools that run entirely on your local hardware or private server without leaking data to external clouds.

When deploying a local instance, you retain 100% data sovereignty, ensuring zero telemetry or external sync unless explicitly configured.

Top Self-Hosted Project Management Options

• Focalboard : An open-source, self-hosted alternative to Trello, Notion, and Asana. It runs locally as a desktop app for individual use or via a server (Docker) for team collaboration. Get started with the Focalboard Documentation.
• OpenProject : A powerful, feature-rich platform ideal for traditional and agile project planning. The community edition offers robust Gantt charts, cost reporting, and bug tracking entirely on-premise. Explore deployment options via OpenProject.
• Vikunja : A fast, privacy-focused todo and project management tool built with Go and Vue.js. It supports multiple views like Kanban and lists with no external cloud dependencies. Check the setup guide on Vikunja.
• Taiga : A gorgeous, free, and open-source project management tool designed specifically for agile developers and cross-functional teams. It handles complex sprints and issue tracking seamlessly on private infrastructure. View installation instructions at Taiga.

To help narrow down the best choice, tell me:

• Are you deploying this for a single user or a whole team?
• Do you prefer Kanban boards, Gantt charts , or simple task lists?
• Will you host it via Docker , a Linux server , or a local desktop app?

If your requirement is self-hosted with project data staying on infrastructure you control, there are several solid options. I’d shortlist these:

My practical recommendation: OpenProject

openproject.org is particularly suited if "no cloud" is a hard requirement. Its Community Edition is free, open source, and installed on your own infrastructure; OpenProject explicitly describes this as giving you control over your data.

It supports fairly comprehensive project management: Gantt charts, work packages/issues, Agile boards, time tracking, budgets, project wikis, meetings, and reporting.

You can deploy it using Docker, Kubernetes/HelM, or Linux packages, depending on your environment.

If you want something more modern

Plane is worth looking at if you're coming from Jira, Linear, or similar tools. Its Community Edition is AGPL-licensed and can be self-hosted with Docker or Kubernetes.

One important distinction for your requirement: Plane's current self-hosted offering explicitly says that project data and AI context stay within your perimeter, but it also documents required outbound calls for license/seat synchronization. Plane So if by "does not send data to the cloud" you mean literally zero outbound network communication, I'd investigate its networking requirements carefully rather than assume it's fully air-gapped.

Vikunja is another good choice for a simpler setup. It provides lists, Kanban, Gantt and table views and can be run entirely on your own server.

If you tell me (1) number of users, (2) whether you need Gantt/Scrum/Kanban, and (3) whether the server must be completely air-gapped, I can narrow this to the most appropriate 1–2 options and give you a Docker deployment plan.

If you want a project management tool that runs entirely on your own hardware or local server with zero cloud telemetry or data leakage , several open-source and self-hosted options stand out depending on how your team likes to work:

• OpenProject — Best for full-featured, enterprise-grade project management. It supports classic, agile, and hybrid workflows [OpenProject], offering Gantt charts, task boards, time tracking, and wikis. The community edition is fully open-source and can be deployed via Docker on your local infrastructure.
• Taiga — Best for agile and Scrum/Kanban teams [Taiga]. It has a gorgeous, clean, modern UI that feels lightning-fast and doesn't suffer from enterprise bloat [Taiga]. Its self-hosted version [Taiga] has zero artificial feature limits.
• Redmine — Best for a lightweight, battle-tested issue and time tracker. It is an open-source Ruby on Rails application that runs smoothly even on modest local hardware or completely air-gapped environments with zero internet dependency.
• Kanboard — Best for a hyper-minimalist, pure Kanban approach. It has a tiny resource footprint (runs easily on a cheap VPS or Raspberry Pi), features drag-and-drop boards, and requires almost zero maintenance.
• Vikunja — Best for a modern, fast, to-do and task-focused tool with Kanban board and list views. It is fully self-hostable and designed to be privacy-first and lightweight.

To help narrow down the best fit, tell me:

• What methodology does your team use? (Scrum/Agile, Kanban, traditional Gantt/waterfall, or simple task lists)
• What is your preferred deployment method ? (Docker, bare-metal Linux, etc.)

Yes. If your requirement is self-hosted with project data staying entirely on your infrastructure, there are several good options.

My top picks

1. OpenProject — my default recommendation

OpenProject is probably the strongest choice if you want a traditional, serious project-management system. Its Community Edition is free/open source, runs on your own infrastructure, and includes project planning, work packages, Gantt charts, agile boards, and other PM features. OpenProject explicitly describes this as giving you control over your data.

It can be installed with Docker, Kubernetes, or directly on supported Linux distributions.

Good choice if: you want something comparable to Jira/MS Project/Asana but under your control.

2. Vikunja — best lightweight option

Vikunja is more task-oriented and considerably simpler. The self-hosted version is free and open source and supports lists, Kanban, Gantt, table views, reminders, teams, and shared projects.

It can run as a Docker container or a single binary, making it relatively easy to deploy on a small server.

Good choice if: you don't need the complexity of Jira/OpenProject and mainly want tasks, projects, boards, and collaboration.

3. Plane — best modern UI

Plane is aimed at teams wanting a more modern Jira/Linear-style experience. It supports projects, cycles, boards, spreadsheets, lists, Gantt, documentation, and dashboards. Its current self-hosted offering specifically supports on-premises and fully air-gapped deployments.

One caveat: Plane's current self-hosted commercial edition isn't the same proposition as OpenProject's free Community Edition, and Plane documents minimal outbound communication for license/seat synchronization. If literally zero outbound network traffic is a hard requirement, I'd scrutinize its deployment/licensing requirements before choosing it.

If "no data to the cloud" is an absolute requirement

I'd rank them:

OpenProject → Vikunja → Plane

For a genuinely isolated environment, you can run the application on your own server/VM and restrict its network access with your firewall. That gives you substantially more assurance than simply choosing a vendor's "self-hosted" label.

If you tell me how many users you have, whether this is for software development or general projects, and whether you need Gantt/roadmaps/time tracking, I can narrow it down to the best 1–2 choices.

For a completely self-hosted project management solution that keeps your data strictly on your own hardware with zero cloud telemetry or vendor data-sharing, OpenProject, Plane , and Redmine stand out as the leading options.

The top self-hosted project management tools are broken down below by their strengths and ideal use cases:

• OpenProject — Best comprehensive enterprise-grade alternative OpenProject Community Edition . It supports both classic waterfall and modern agile methodologies with built-in Gantt charts, task boards, cost tracking, and wikis. It is open-source, highly secure, and deploys smoothly via Docker on your own local infrastructure.
• Plane — Best modern, Jira-like experience. If you want a sleek, fast, and visually polished interface for issue tracking, cycles (sprints), and roadmaps without enterprise bloat, Plane is built explicitly for this. It is fully open-source and easily self-hosted via Docker containers.
• Redmine — Best lightweight, battle-tested issue tracker. Redmine has been a staple for decades in air-gapped or offline environments where external connectivity is completely forbidden. It provides rock-solid issue tracking, custom fields, time tracking, and a massive ecosystem of community plugins.
• Kanboard — Best minimalist Kanban board. If your workflow is purely Kanban-based and you need a dead-simple, lightweight PHP application that runs on minimal hardware (or even a local server) with zero cloud dependencies, Kanboard gets the job done instantly.

To help narrow down the ideal deployment for you, let me know:

• Are you looking for Agile/Scrum tracking (like sprints and backlogs) or classic planning (like Gantt charts)?
• Do you prefer deploying via Docker on a local Linux server or virtual machine?

Yes. If your requirement is self-hosted with your project data staying entirely on your infrastructure, I’d shortlist these:

My top recommendation: OpenProject

openproject.org is probably the safest choice if you want a serious, conventional project-management system without surrendering control of your data.

• Free Community Edition.
• Runs on your own infrastructure.
• Unlimited users and projects in the Community Edition.
• Supports Gantt charts, work packages, agile boards, roadmaps, time tracking, documents, and other project-management features.
• Docker, Linux packages, Kubernetes and Helm installation options are available.
• OpenProject explicitly describes its on-premises version as running on your own hardware, with your organization controlling the data.

If you want the server to be completely isolated from the Internet, I'd look particularly closely at the deployment architecture rather than merely trusting the label "self-hosted."

Plane is worth considering

plane.so is particularly interesting if you want something closer to Linear/Jira, with a more modern interface.

Plane explicitly supports deployment on your infrastructure, including fully air-gapped environments, and says that project data and AI context remain inside your perimeter. It does note that license/seat synchronization involves required outbound calls, so I'd investigate that carefully if you mean literally zero outbound network traffic.

Vikunja for something simpler

vikunja.io is a good choice if you don't need all the enterprise project-management machinery. It provides lists, Kanban, Gantt and table views and can be installed on your own server. The project is open source and its self-hosted version is free.

It can run as a Docker container, and its architecture can be very lightweight.

If you tell me roughly what you need (e.g. 5 people vs. 100, Kanban/Gantt, time tracking, Git integration, Windows/Linux server, and whether the server must be completely air-gapped), I can narrow this down to the best 1–2 options and give you a deployment recommendation.

If you need a robust project management system that stays entirely under your control and does not leak telemetry or sync data to an external vendor cloud, several open-source and self-hosted options fit the bill.

The top self-hosted project management tools vary by workflow style and complexity:

• Plane : Often viewed as an open-source, self-hostable alternative to Jira. It features modern issue tracking, epics, cycles (sprints), and Kanban/list views. It can be easily deployed locally via Docker Compose and runs entirely within your perimeter.
• OpenProject : A comprehensive, enterprise-grade open-source project management platform. It supports classic, agile, or hybrid workflows (Gantt charts, task boards, time tracking, and wikis) and is heavily trusted by organizations with strict data sovereignty requirements.
• Taiga : A visually polished, open-source platform specifically tailored for agile and Scrum/Kanban teams. It has a clean user interface that avoids enterprise bloat and is free to self-host for unlimited users.
• Focalboard : An open-source, self-hosted alternative to Notion and Trello. It provides boards, tables, and calendar views to track tasks and can run either as a local single-user desktop application or as a multi-user server.
• Redmine : A battle-tested, lightweight open-source option featuring issue tracking, time tracking, and basic Gantt charts. It is exceptionally resource-efficient and a staple for air-gapped or completely offline local networks.

To help narrow down the best fit, tell me:

• What methodology do you prefer (Kanban/Scrum, traditional Gantt/Waterfall, or all-in-one database/wikis)?
• Is this for a solo user or a team , and what is your preferred deployment method (Docker, bare-metal Linux, etc.)?

Yes. If your requirement is self-hosted with project data staying inside your infrastructure, there are several good options.

My top picks

*OpenProject can run entirely on-premises, but you should configure your server/network appropriately if you require a truly disconnected environment.

🥇 I'd start with OpenProject

openproject.org is probably the safest default if you want a serious, traditional project-management system rather than merely a task board.

It supports Gantt charts, Agile boards, backlogs, roadmaps, work packages, time tracking, project planning, and collaboration. Its free Community edition is self-installed on your own infrastructure and is GPLv3 open source. It can be deployed with Docker, packages, or Kubernetes.

Most importantly for your requirement, OpenProject explicitly describes the self-installed edition as giving you control over your data and allowing it to operate on your own infrastructure.

🥈 Plane if you want something more modern

plane.so is worth considering if you want something closer to Jira/Linear/Asana with a modern interface. It combines projects, docs/wiki, and workflow management, with Docker/Kubernetes deployment options.

Plane is particularly interesting if "no data leaves the network" means genuinely air-gapped: its current self-hosted offering explicitly supports air-gapped deployments. The vendor says application data and AI context remain inside your perimeter; however, its standard self-hosted commercial edition still has required license/seat synchronization calls, so for a completely disconnected environment you'd want its dedicated Airgapped Edition.

🥉 Vikunja for something simpler

vikunja.io is a good choice if you mostly need tasks, Kanban boards, lists, Gantt charts, assignments, and collaboration without the complexity of a heavyweight enterprise PM system. It is open source and designed to run on your own infrastructure.

One caveat: some paid Vikunja functionality performs a license check against its server. The vendor states that project/task/user content isn't transmitted during that check, but that may still violate a strict "absolutely zero outbound connections" policy.

My recommendation

• Need full project management: OpenProject
• Want modern UI / Jira alternative: Plane
• Want simple task management: Vikunja
• Want extremely mature, minimalist open source: Redmine
• Need a genuinely isolated/air-gapped network: OpenProject or Plane Airgapped, after validating outbound traffic requirements in your specific deployment.

If you tell me how many users you have and whether this needs to run on Docker, a Synology/NAS, a Linux server, or a completely air-gapped network, I can narrow this down to the best 1–2 choices and give you the installation approach.

*OpenProject can run entirely on-premises, but you should configure your server/network appropriately if you require a truly disconnected environment.

🥇 I'd start with OpenProject

openproject.org is probably the safest default if you want a serious, traditional project-management system rather than merely a task board.

It supports Gantt charts, Agile boards, backlogs, roadmaps, work packages, time tracking, project planning, and collaboration. Its free Community edition is self-installed on your own infrastructure and is GPLv3 open source. It can be deployed with Docker, packages, or Kubernetes.

Most importantly for your requirement, OpenProject explicitly describes the self-installed edition as giving you control over your data and allowing it to operate on your own infrastructure.

🥈 Plane if you want something more modern

plane.so is worth considering if you want something closer to Jira/Linear/Asana with a modern interface. It combines projects, docs/wiki, and workflow management, with Docker/Kubernetes deployment options.

Plane is particularly interesting if "no data leaves the network" means genuinely air-gapped: its current self-hosted offering explicitly supports air-gapped deployments. The vendor says application data and AI context remain inside your perimeter; however, its standard self-hosted commercial edition still has required license/seat synchronization calls, so for a completely disconnected environment you'd want its dedicated Airgapped Edition.

🥉 Vikunja for something simpler

vikunja.io is a good choice if you mostly need tasks, Kanban boards, lists, Gantt charts, assignments, and collaboration without the complexity of a heavyweight enterprise PM system. It is open source and designed to run on your own infrastructure.

One caveat: some paid Vikunja functionality performs a license check against its server. The vendor states that project/task/user content isn't transmitted during that check, but that may still violate a strict "absolutely zero outbound connections" policy.

My recommendation

Yes. If your requirement is self-hosted with no project data sent to a vendor cloud, I’d shortlist these:

1. OpenProject — my recommendation

OpenProject's Community Edition is free, open source, and explicitly designed to run on your own infrastructure. It supports project planning, task management, Gantt charts, Kanban, time tracking, wikis, roadmaps, and more.

It can run via Docker, Linux packages, Kubernetes, or Helm.

Choose this if: you want something comparable to a traditional enterprise PM system and don't mind running a somewhat substantial application.

2. Plane

Plane is a newer, more modern alternative aimed at teams accustomed to Jira, Linear, Asana, etc. It supports self-hosting with Docker or Kubernetes and even has an air-gapped deployment option. Plane states that its self-hosted deployment keeps project data and AI context inside your perimeter.

One caveat: Plane's commercial self-hosted edition has license/seat synchronization requirements unless you're using its air-gapped setup, so I'd examine that carefully if literally zero outbound connections is a hard requirement.

3. Vikunja

Vikunja is a particularly good choice if you want something simpler. It provides list, Kanban, Gantt, and table views, and its open-source version can be run entirely on your own server.

It's also relatively easy to deploy: Docker is supported, and the application can run as a single binary/container.

What I'd pick

• Small business / serious project management: OpenProject
• Software/engineering team wanting a modern interface: Plane
• Personal, family, or small-team task management: Vikunja
• Strict air-gapped environment: OpenProject or Plane, with outbound network access explicitly blocked and the deployment tested accordingly.

One important distinction: "self-hosted" doesn't automatically mean "never communicates with the Internet." If your requirement is absolutely no telemetry, analytics, license checks, update checks, or other outbound connections, I would configure the server with egress blocked by default and verify the application's network behavior rather than relying solely on the vendor's privacy statement.

If you tell me how many users you have and whether you're running Docker, a NAS, or a Linux server, I can narrow this down to the best 1–2 choices and give you a completely offline deployment approach.

Choose this if: you want something comparable to a traditional enterprise PM system and don't mind running a somewhat substantial application.

2. Plane

Plane is a newer, more modern alternative aimed at teams accustomed to Jira, Linear, Asana, etc. It supports self-hosting with Docker or Kubernetes and even has an air-gapped deployment option. Plane states that its self-hosted deployment keeps project data and AI context inside your perimeter.

One caveat: Plane's commercial self-hosted edition has license/seat synchronization requirements unless you're using its air-gapped setup, so I'd examine that carefully if literally zero outbound connections is a hard requirement.

When you need a project management tool that runs entirely on your own infrastructure with zero cloud telemetry or "phone-home" licensing checks, you want an open-source, self-hosted solution.

The best self-hosted project management tools depend on the style of management you prefer:

• OpenProject Community Edition — Best for full-featured, traditional project management. It includes interactive Gantt charts, work package hierarchies, time tracking, and robust cost/resource management. It is easily deployable via Docker and keeps everything completely localized.
• Redmine — Best for a lightweight, battle-tested issue and bug tracker. It’s a veteran Ruby on Rails application that is exceptionally reliable, runs fine in isolated or air-gapped networks, and utilizes minimal resources.
• Kanboard — Best for a minimalist, Kanban-only approach. If you want a fast, drag-and-drop board style similar to Trello without any heavy database or cloud bloat, Kanboard runs great on minimal hardware (even a Raspberry Pi).
• Taiga — Best for Agile and Scrum teams. It features a modern, highly polished interface for managing sprints, backlogs, and user stories while remaining completely free and open-source for self-management.
• Vikunja — Best if you want a modern, snappy task-and-todo manager that scales into full project views (Kanban and lists) with zero external cloud dependencies.

To help narrow down the right choice, tell me:

• What kind of interface/views do you prefer (Kanban boards, Gantt charts, or a simple task list)?
• Will this run in a fully air-gapped network with no internet access at all, or just on a local private server/NAS?