Kaneo vs YouTrack
The open-source YouTrack alternative
YouTrack is free until your eleventh teammate, and self-hosting it means buying a JetBrains server licence. Kaneo is MIT licensed, so running it yourself is free at any size.
Short answer: is Kaneo a good YouTrack alternative?
Kaneo is an open-source alternative to JetBrains YouTrack. YouTrack is proprietary: free for up to 10 users in cloud and server form, then per-user cloud pricing or a paid annual server licence. Kaneo is MIT licensed with no user cap when self-hosted, and its cloud starts at $4 a month.
- License
- MIT, versus a proprietary JetBrains licence
- Hosting
- Self-host free. YouTrack Server needs a paid licence past the free tier
- Single sign-on
- Free on every Kaneo build
- Pricing
- $0 self-hosted, cloud from $4 / month
YouTrack details checked on 19 August 2026. YouTrack pricing, Kaneo pricing.
Why teams choose Kaneo
No licence to renew
Self-hosted Kaneo is MIT licensed with no seat count, no annual renewal, and no licence server. You run the container and that is the arrangement.
Simpler by design
YouTrack is deep: custom fields, a query language, and JavaScript workflows. Kaneo's boards, backlog, and workflow rules are meant to be understood in an afternoon.
Everything in every build
SSO, roles, time tracking, integrations, API keys, and MCP access come with Kaneo wherever you run it.
When YouTrack is the better choice
YouTrack is a serious issue tracker with an excellent query language, powerful workflow scripting, and tight integration with the rest of the JetBrains toolchain. If your team already lives in JetBrains IDEs and you want that depth, Kaneo will feel small next to it.
Kaneo vs YouTrack, answered
Is YouTrack open source?
No. YouTrack is proprietary JetBrains software. It has a free tier for up to 10 users in both cloud and server editions, but the source is not published and larger deployments need a paid licence.
What does YouTrack cost after the free tier?
YouTrack Cloud is priced per user for teams of 11 or more, starting around $4.50 per user a month billed annually. YouTrack Server is sold as an annual licence, starting at roughly $600 a year.
What is the best open-source YouTrack alternative?
Kaneo if you want something light and MIT licensed, Redmine if you want a mature tracker with a large plugin ecosystem, or Plane if you want a Linear-style interface under AGPL.
Does Kaneo have a query language?
No. Kaneo has search plus filters on boards and the backlog, which covers day-to-day use. It has no equivalent to YouTrack's saved queries and issue-query syntax.