Project Management for Ops Teams

For developer-focused issue tracking (Linear, GitHub Projects, Jira) see your engineering tooling — that's a different shape of work. This page is for non-engineering project management: marketing campaigns, professional-services projects, agency client work, ops backlogs.

For OKRs / goals see OKRs & Goal Tracking. For time tracking that rolls up to projects see Time Tracking. The personal / homelab side of these tools also lives in Self-Hosted Personal Apps.

Open source / self-host

• ★ Plane — modern Jira / Linear-shape OSS; AGPLv3; cloud option. The default for "we want Linear-look but self-hosted." Maturing fast in 2025–26.
• ★ OpenProject — heavyweight, mature; GPLv3; classic PM (Gantt, work packages, BCF, agile boards). Default for "real PM with Gantt + portfolio + budget."
• ★ Vikunja — clean, fast; tasks / Kanban / lists; AGPLv3. Default for personal + small-team todos. See Self-Hosted Personal Apps.
• Leantime — "PM for makers," ADHD-friendly; AGPLv3.
• Taiga — agile-flavored Scrum / Kanban; GNU AGPL.
• Focalboard (Mattermost) — Trello / Notion-board alternative; MIT.
• Wekan — Trello clone; MIT.
• Kanboard — minimalist Kanban; MIT.
• Redmine — venerable; GPLv2; still widely deployed.
• Phorge (Phabricator fork) — code review + tasks; popular in some shops.
• Restyaboard — Trello clone.
• Plandex — newer; AGPL; AI-flavored ops planning.

Hosted (free tiers)

• ★ Notion Free — fluid docs + databases; covers a lot of project-management need at small scale; very generous free tier.
• ★ ClickUp Free Forever — full feature set; aggressive free tier.
• Asana Free — up to 10 users; no Gantt.
• Trello Free — limited Power-Ups; classic.
• Jira Free — up to 10 users.
• Monday.com — small free tier.
• Airtable Free — for table-shaped projects; 1,000 records / base.
• Coda Free — docs + tables hybrid.
• Linear Free — for engineering teams; 10 users / 250 issues.
• Height — modern PM with built-in chat; free trial.
• Basecamp — paid; one flat fee; loved by service businesses.

Specialized / verticals

• Agency / client services: Productive, Teamwork, Scoro, Float (resourcing).
• Marketing project management: Asana / ClickUp / Monday cover this; Wrike is paid alternative; CoSchedule for content calendars.
• Construction / engineering: Procore, BuilderTrend, Fieldwire — paid.
• Creative / design ops: Notion, Asana + Figma; ClickUp; Adobe Workfront for enterprise.
• Resource planning: Float, Resource Guru, Runn, Forecast App.
• Roadmap / portfolio: Productboard, Aha!, ProductPlan; paid.

Inside an ERP

• ★ ERPNext Projects — projects + tasks + timesheets + invoicing in one DB.
• Odoo Project — Community is free; very capable.

Notion vs. ClickUp vs. dedicated tool

• Notion for docs-heavy teams; project tracking is OK, less powerful at portfolio.
• ClickUp for max-feature; can become overwhelming.
• Asana / Monday for marketing / non-tech teams that want simplicity.
• Plane / Linear / Jira for engineering-shape work (sprints / cycles).
• OpenProject when you genuinely need Gantt + budget + work-packages.

Patterns to know

• One tool per shape of work. Trying to make the engineering Jira hold marketing campaigns is a permanent fight.
• WIP limits > assignees. Limit in-progress per person to 2–3.
• Date discipline. Choose either due dates or sprint dates; not both at once.
• Async > standups. A daily written check-in beats a 9am call for distributed teams.
• Archive aggressively. A 3-year-old "todo" is not a todo.

License watch-outs

• Plane, OpenProject, Vikunja, Leantime, Taiga — AGPL-family.
• Focalboard, Wekan, Kanboard — MIT.
• Redmine — GPLv2.

Pick this if…

• Modern OSS, Linear / Jira shape: Plane.
• Real PM (Gantt + portfolio): OpenProject.
• Maker / ADHD-friendly: Leantime.
• Personal / small team todos: Vikunja.
• Marketing / non-tech team, free hosted: ClickUp Free or Asana Free.
• Docs-heavy, fluid: Notion.
• Service business / agency: Productive or Teamwork (paid).
• Enterprise PM with budgets: OpenProject (OSS) or Workfront (paid).