The lighter Jira alternative for teams that just want to ship
Jira can run a 500-person org, but most teams just want to plan and ship work without the weight. Kaneo is a simple, open-source project manager you can self-host or let us run for you.
Short answer: is Kaneo a good Jira alternative?
Kaneo is a Jira alternative for teams that want to plan and ship without the weight, and Kaneo Cloud runs it for you from $4 a month, or $5 per user for teams, with every feature included. It covers boards, backlog, workflows, roles, time tracking, and a public API, and it deliberately leaves out the configuration layer that makes Jira heavy. It is also MIT-licensed open source, so you can self-host it for free with Docker and PostgreSQL.
- License
- MIT, versus a proprietary licence for Jira
- Hosting
- EU-hosted Kaneo Cloud, or self-host anywhere
- Single sign-on
- Free on every Kaneo build. Jira needs Atlassian Guard or Enterprise
- Pricing
- Cloud from $4 / month, or $0 self-hosted
| Feature | Kaneo | Jira |
|---|---|---|
| Open source (MIT) | Yes | No |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Data Center only |
| Own your data | Yes | No |
| Free to self-host | Yes | No |
| SSO included | Free | Guard or Enterprise |
| Setup | Minutes | Involved |
| Learning curve | Minutes | Steep |
| Cloud pricing | From $4/mo | Per user, higher |
Jira details checked on 19 August 2026. Jira pricing, Kaneo pricing.
Why teams choose Kaneo
No bloat
Boards, backlog, and workflows that work out of the box. No admin console to configure for a week before you can create a task.
Own your data
Self-host Kaneo on your own servers under the MIT license, or use our EU-hosted cloud. Either way you can export everything, anytime.
Fair, honest pricing
Free forever to self-host, including SSO. Managed cloud starts at $4/month with no per-feature paywalls.
Kaneo imports Jira Cloud and Jira Data Center projects from the app with an API token: board columns, issues with their keys, priorities, labels, assignees, sub-tasks, issue links, and comments. Jira is only read, never changed. Read the import guide.
When Jira is the better choice
If you're a large organization that needs deep enterprise workflows, advanced permission schemes, and a big marketplace of add-ons, and you have the time to configure it, Jira is built for exactly that. Kaneo is for teams who want to manage work, not administer a tool.
Kaneo vs Jira, answered
Is there a free and open-source alternative to Jira?
Yes. Kaneo is MIT licensed and free to self-host with no user limits, and there are others worth knowing about, including Redmine, OpenProject, Taiga, and Plane. Kaneo is the closest match if you want something small and fast rather than something you configure.
Can I self-host Jira?
Only through Jira Data Center, which is sold as an annual subscription sized by user tier. Atlassian ended new Jira Server licence sales, so a small team that wants an on-premise tracker generally has to pay Data Center pricing or move to a different tool.
Does Kaneo have Jira features like sprints and workflows?
Kaneo has backlog planning, configurable workflow columns, integration-driven workflow rules, Gantt and calendar views, custom fields, task relations, time tracking, and workspace roles. It does not have dedicated sprints with story points and burndown reports, Jira's schemes, custom issue-type hierarchies, or marketplace apps.
How much does Kaneo cost compared to Jira?
Self-hosting Kaneo costs nothing beyond your server. Kaneo Cloud is $4 a month for a single user and $5 per user a month for teams. Jira Cloud is free for up to 10 users and then charged per user, with SAML single sign-on requiring an Atlassian Guard subscription or the Enterprise tier that includes it.