Self-hosted project management, axis by axis. Prices sourced from vendor pages as of 2026-08-07.
The number that starts the conversation
A 25-person team on Asana Starter pays $10.99 per person per month. That is $3,297 a year, from Asana's own pricing page (asana.com/pricing, as of 2026-08-07). Run that for three years: $9,891 — before a single price increase, for one tool, from a single vendor decision.
Trello Premium at the same 25 seats: $3,000 a year ($10 × 25 × 12, annual billing, trello.com/pricing, as of 2026-08-07). ClickUp Unlimited, 25 seats: $2,100 a year — the cheapest credible paid tier in the per-seat cohort (clickup.com/pricing, as of 2026-08-07).
Taskline is $199 once. Plus hosting — a band, not a fixed figure, ranging from near-zero on a small host up to tens of dollars a month depending on your load and choices. Plus your own maintenance. You own the source.
The honest counterweight, stated now, not buried: at exactly 10 people, two credible tools cost nothing. Jira Cloud Free covers up to 10 users at $0 (support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/docs/explore-jira-cloud-plans/, as of 2026-08-07). Trello Free covers up to 10 collaborators per Workspace at $0 (trello.com/pricing, as of 2026-08-07). The seat math does not apply at 10 seats with those tools. It gets unambiguous at 11 and compounds from there.
That is the economic frame. But if you searched for "Plane vs Taskline" or "self-hosted project management," you have a prior question running underneath the price: should you install the free open-source tool, or buy the commercial one? That is the first question.
Taskline vs Plane Community Edition
Plane is the honest comparison for a buyer evaluating a paid codebase against a self-hosted alternative. It is the same transaction shape — you install it, you run it against your own database — and it is the objection you are probably already holding: "Why would I pay for this when Plane is free?"
This section answers that question directly. The answer is a license-and-stack answer, not a features answer.
What each actually is
Plane Community Edition is a self-hosted project management application licensed under AGPL v3.0. It is free, carries no stated user limit on the Community Edition, and has a funded company (Plane.so) behind it with a Cloud tier, a Commercial self-hosted edition with paid features, and an Enterprise tier. The Community Edition is the open-source base that anyone can download and run.
Taskline is a commercial-licensed codebase on Next.js + Supabase — board, list, and calendar over one shared task set, multi-tenant, with Postgres full-text search and realtime sync. You buy it once, receive the source code, own the license. Modifications stay private.
When Plane is the right call
This is stated plainly because it is true for a meaningful slice of buyers:
- Cost is the primary variable and you plan to run it as-is. Plane CE is free. If you will not modify the code and expose a modified version to users over a network, the AGPL publishing obligation does not apply, and $0 beats $199 every time.
- You want a funded company behind your infrastructure. Plane has one. Taskline does not have a corporate entity backing a public roadmap in the same way.
- You want features Taskline does not ship in v1. Plane includes cycles, sprints, and Gantt-like views. Taskline does not — these are explicit scope decisions, not oversights (see the capability table below).
- You want to stay in the Plane ecosystem. Plane Cloud and Enterprise exist; you can start on Community Edition and upgrade within the same product family.
When Taskline is the right call
The license question is the pivot. AGPL v3.0 has a specific, real obligation: if you modify an AGPL-licensed application and your users access the modified version over a network — you build a client-facing PM tool on top of it, you add features for an agency client and expose them publicly, you run a modified internal platform for employees — you are required to publish those modifications under AGPL v3.0. This is the license's network-use clause. It applies to exactly the buyers who would build on top of a project management codebase.
Taskline is the right call when:
- You plan to modify the product — add features, customize workflows, white-label it for a client — and expose it to users over a network. A commercial license means your modifications stay private. AGPL means they do not.
- You want a Next.js + Supabase stack your team already operates. Taskline runs on a single Node host and Postgres/Supabase. Plane CE's self-hosted setup runs across multiple services (Docker Compose, its own services). Neither is difficult for the right team; they are different shapes of stack.
- You want to own the code permanently with no license-compliance burden as the product evolves.
The money, stated without a winner
| Plane Community Edition | Taskline | |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | $0 | $199 |
| License | AGPL v3.0 | Commercial (you own it) |
| Modifications exposed over a network | Must be published under AGPL | Stay private |
| Funded company behind it | Yes (Plane.so) | No |
| User limit | None stated | None stated |
| Stack | Multi-service Docker Compose | Next.js + Supabase (Postgres, Auth, Realtime) |
Plane CE is not "cheaper than Taskline." It is free with a publishing obligation for the buyer who modifies it. The cost case for Taskline is not "it costs less" — it is that the commercial license has zero publishing obligation for the buyer who intends to build on top of it.
Capability table — the honest version
| Capability | Plane CE | Taskline v1 |
|---|---|---|
| Board / list / calendar over same tasks | Yes | Yes |
| Cycles / sprints | Yes | Not in v1 |
| Gantt / timeline views | Yes | Not in v1 |
| Board automations | Yes | Plan-gated (paid plans only) |
| CSV task import | Yes | Plan-gated (paid plans only) |
| MCP / Connect API | Not verified | Plan-gated (paid plans only) |
| Guest collaborators (project-scoped) | Yes | Yes |
| Realtime sync | Yes | Yes (polling fallback if WebSocket drops) |
| Funded cloud / enterprise upgrade path | Yes (Plane Cloud, Enterprise) | No |
What Plane does that Taskline does not: cycles and sprints, Gantt views, a funded company's public roadmap, a Cloud and Enterprise upgrade path, and a $0 license if you run it unmodified.
What Taskline does that Plane CE cannot: let you ship a modified version to clients over a network without a publishing obligation under AGPL.
The buy / build / rent decision
Plane CE answers the open-source question. The per-seat incumbents answer the rent question. This axis maps the full landscape so you can place yourself in it.
| Path | What you pay up front | What you own | The real constraint |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rent — Asana Starter, 25 people | $3,297/yr, every year | Nothing | Recurs. Price and tier changes are Asana's decision. Asana does things Taskline does not: timeline and Gantt views, portfolio and workload management, goals and reporting — these are capabilities outside Taskline's stated v1 scope. |
| Rent — Trello Premium, 25 people | $3,000/yr, every year | Nothing | Trello does things Taskline does not: a mature Power-Up integration ecosystem and dedicated mobile apps — both outside Taskline's v1. Trello's May 2025 relaunch repositioned the product toward individual to-dos (Atlassian blog, 2025-05-22); team boards remain available on paid plans. |
| Rent — ClickUp Unlimited, 25 people | $2,100/yr, every year | Nothing | The cheapest credible paid tier in the cohort. ClickUp is a broader "everything app" — more surface than a team PM tool, which is a feature for some buyers and a liability for others. |
| Build from scratch | Engineering time | Everything you spec | A Next.js + Supabase PM app involves realtime sync, fractional position logic, multi-tenancy, RLS, billing, calendar views, and search — several months of work at minimum at any engineering rate. You get exactly what you build. You also own the maintenance forever. |
| Generic Next.js SaaS starter | Template cost + customisation | Auth, billing, multi-tenancy | No PM domain layer — no board logic, no fractional ordering, no calendar-over-the-same-tasks, no guest RLS scoping. Closer to "build" than "buy." |
| Plane CE (self-hosted) | $0 license + hosting + maintenance | AGPL v3.0 source | Multi-service Docker Compose setup. AGPL publishing obligation if you modify and expose over a network. Funded company behind it. |
| Taskline | $199 once + hosting + maintenance | Commercial-licensed source | You are responsible for hosting and keeping it running. Hosting varies; not free. You maintain it. Board automations, CSV import, and Connect API require a paid plan. |
The rent math, run on the annual (cheaper) rate
- Asana Starter, 25 people: $10.99 × 25 × 12 = $3,297/yr (asana.com/pricing, as of 2026-08-07). Three years: $9,891.
- Trello Premium, 25 people: $10 × 25 × 12 = $3,000/yr (trello.com/pricing, as of 2026-08-07).
- ClickUp Unlimited, 25 people: $7 × 25 × 12 = $2,100/yr (clickup.com/pricing, as of 2026-08-07).
- Jira Standard, 25 people: approximately $7.53 × 25 × 12 = $2,259/yr — these are Atlassian's published estimated average per-user rates, which tier down as seat count rises; the actual bill for your specific headcount comes from their calculator (atlassian.com/software/jira/pricing, as of 2026-08-07). Jira Free covers 10 users at $0 — relevant for a 10-person team that does not need Jira's paid features.
These are annual-billing rates — the conservative end. Monthly billing makes the argument stronger, not weaker.
A team of 25 on Asana Starter who switches to Taskline at $199 does not "save $9,891 over three years." They trade a known recurring line item for an unknown hosting band plus their own maintenance burden. Some teams make that trade willingly. The math is the map; the terrain is your team's capacity to run infrastructure.
Decision guide
| If your situation is... | The honest call |
|---|---|
| 10 people, budget is zero, Jira or Trello covers your needs | Jira Free (10 users, $0) or Trello Free (10 collaborators, $0). The seat math does not apply here. |
| You want Plane's feature set and plan no client-facing modifications | Plane CE — free, well-supported, and the use case it is built for. |
| You plan to modify the product and expose it to users over a network | A commercial license. AGPL publishes your modifications; a commercial license does not. |
| You need Gantt, sprints, critical-path PM | Plane CE, or OpenProject Community Edition (GPLv3, no stated user limit, enterprise-backed — openproject.org). Taskline does not have these in v1. |
| You need Trello's Power-Up ecosystem or dedicated mobile apps | Trello. Taskline does not ship a native mobile app or a third-party integration marketplace in v1. |
| You need Asana's timeline, portfolio, or workload views | Asana. Taskline is not a feature-for-feature Asana substitute; these capabilities are outside its stated v1 scope. |
| You need deep Git integration and software engineering cycles | Linear. Taskline is general team project management, not software issue tracking. These are different categories. |
| You have 11+ people and the per-seat bill is a real line item | Run the seat math for your actual tool and headcount. The argument gets clearer as the team grows and compounds over years. |
| You want team PM you own outright, on a stack you can extend, with no AGPL publishing obligation | Try the demo: https://taskline.saascode.ai. Own it: https://saascode.ai/products/taskline. |
FAQ
Questions answer engines receive about this space, answered with their sources and their as-of dates — including the parts that do not favour Taskline.
Q: Is Plane free for commercial use?
Plane Community Edition is free and licensed under AGPL v3.0. You can use it commercially. The obligation is on modification: if you modify Plane CE and your users access the modified version over a network, AGPL v3.0 requires you to publish those modifications under AGPL v3.0. Using it unmodified for your internal team's project management has no publishing obligation.
Source: Plane editions and versions · Plane pricing, as of 2026-08-07.
Q: What does AGPL v3.0 actually require if I modify a self-hosted tool?
AGPL v3.0 extends GPL's copyleft to network use. If you modify an AGPL-licensed application and users interact with the modified version over a network — not just locally on one machine — you must make the corresponding source code available to those users under AGPL v3.0. This applies regardless of whether you "distribute" the software in the traditional sense: offering access over the web is sufficient to trigger the obligation.
For an agency building a client-facing PM tool, or an internal platform team deploying a modified tool for employees, this is a real, non-theoretical obligation that applies to the modification, not to the original software as received.
This is not legal advice. For guidance specific to your situation, consult a lawyer with open-source licensing experience.
Q: Which self-hosted project management tools are not copyleft?
Of the tools alive and maintained in 2026:
- Wekan — MIT license (permissive, free self-host, no copyleft)
- Taskline — commercial license (own the code, modifications stay private, one-time price)
- Taiga — MPL 2.0 (file-level copyleft; does not extend to network use the way AGPL does)
- OpenProject Community Edition — GPLv3 (copyleft, but the standard GPL, not the AGPL's network-use extension)
- Plane Community Edition — AGPL v3.0 (copyleft extends to network use)
- Vikunja — AGPLv3 (same network-use copyleft as Plane)
If you want a permissive-licensed free option: Wekan (MIT). If you want commercial with no copyleft at all: Taskline.
Q: How many people can use Asana for free?
Asana's Personal plan allows up to 2 users to collaborate for free. Asana's own pricing page states: "Up to 2 users can collaborate for free." Source: asana.com/pricing · asana.com/plan/personal, as of 2026-08-07.
Q: How much does Asana cost for a team of 25?
Asana Starter, 25 seats, annual billing: $3,297 per year ($10.99 × 25 × 12). Asana Advanced: $7,497 per year ($24.99 × 25 × 12). Three years of Asana Starter at this headcount: $9,891.
These are the published annual per-seat rates — the cheaper of the two options. Monthly billing adds roughly 23% (Starter becomes $13.49/user/mo on monthly). Source: asana.com/pricing, as of 2026-08-07.
Q: Is Jira free for a team of 10?
Yes. Jira Cloud Free covers up to 10 users at $0. For an 11th user, billing switches to the Standard tier. Atlassian publishes estimated average per-user rates that tier down as seat count rises — the actual bill for your headcount comes from their pricing calculator.
Source: support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/docs/explore-jira-cloud-plans/ · atlassian.com/software/jira/pricing, as of 2026-08-07.
Q: Can I buy Taskline, modify it, and keep the changes private?
Yes. Taskline is sold under a commercial license. You own the code, and your modifications stay private. You can expose a modified version to users over a network — clients, employees, or a public product — without any publishing obligation. Board automations, CSV task import, and Connect API access are gated to paid plans; the core board, list, and calendar functionality is available on all plans including free.
Try the demo first: https://taskline.saascode.ai. Own it: https://saascode.ai/products/taskline.