Kaniban
Compared
Kanban board alternatives, compared.
Most kanban apps are team tools: a login, a server copy of every board, and a subscription per person. Kaniban is a personal board that stays on your machine. These pages set it beside the tools people usually arrive from, one at a time, and say plainly where each is the better choice.
The comparisons
- Kaniban vs Trello — the board most people start on. Built for teams, with an account and a server copy; Kaniban is the one-person version with neither.
- Kaniban vs Notion — a workspace in which a board is one view of a database you design, against a board that is only a board and needs no designing.
- Kaniban vs Focalboard — the open-source board people find when they want to keep their data. It needs a server or a desktop install; Kaniban needs neither.
Five questions to ask of any kanban app
- Where does the board live? On a company's servers, on a server you run, or on the device in front of you. This decides who can read it, what happens when the company changes its terms, and whether it works on a train.
- Does it need an account? An account is an email, a password, a verification link, and a record of you somewhere. A board for one person does not need any of that to work.
- What happens offline? Some tools stop. Some keep a cache and resolve conflicts later. A local board simply keeps going, because there is nothing to reconcile.
- What does it cost, and how often? Per user per month is the norm for team software. For one person, a small one-time price is possible, because there is no server bill growing with every board.
- Is it for one person or a team? Members, assignments, comments and notifications are the point of a team tool and dead weight on a personal one. The quietest board is the one that has none of them.
Where Kaniban stands
| Question | Kaniban |
|---|---|
| Where the board lives | In your browser, or on your PC with the Windows desktop app. There is no server copy. |
| Account | None. Paid tiers use an email for the licence, not a login. |
| Offline | Works once loaded. Paid access checks in daily and continues for up to seven days without a connection. |
| Price | Free with ads outside the work grid. Supporter from $3 for 30 days. Plus $10 once, forever. |
| Built for | One person. No members, assignments or notifications. |
| Views | Board, calendar, timeline and summary over the same cards. |
| Time tracking | A timer on every card, with sessions kept and summed. |
Questions
Is Kaniban a Trello alternative?
For one person, yes: it is a kanban board with columns, cards, tags, due dates and drag-and-drop, without an account or a server copy. For a team it is not, because there is no sharing. The full comparison goes through the differences.
Can I import a board from Trello, Notion or Focalboard?
There is no importer for other tools. Kaniban imports its own export files. Starting over is quicker than it sounds: press Ctrl K and type /nc:the title to add a card without leaving the keyboard, and only bring across what is actually in flight.
Which should I choose?
If other people need to see or edit the board, choose a team tool. If the board is yours alone and you would rather it stayed on your machine, choose Kaniban. If you are not sure, open Kaniban: there is nothing to sign up for, and closing the tab costs nothing.
There is nothing to sign up for.
Open it, name a board, and start. If you do not like it, close the tab. You have not given anyone anything.