Kaniban
Compared
Kaniban vs Trello
Trello is where most people first meet a kanban board, and it is good at what it was built for: a team, sharing boards, in the cloud. Kaniban was built for the other case, one person keeping their own work in view, and it makes different choices for that reason.
The short version
Trello needs an Atlassian account, keeps every board on Atlassian's servers, and sells its extras per user per month. Kaniban has no account, keeps the board in your browser or on your PC, and its top tier is $10 once. If you need to share a board with colleagues, use Trello. If the board is yours alone, Kaniban is the smaller, quieter tool for it.
Side by side
| Trello | Kaniban | |
|---|---|---|
| Account | Atlassian account required | None |
| Where the board lives | Atlassian's servers | Your browser, or your PC with the desktop app |
| Offline | Online first; the mobile apps keep some boards available offline | Works once loaded |
| Built for | Teams, from two people up | One person |
| Views | Board free; calendar, timeline and other views on paid plans | Board and calendar free; timeline and summary on Supporter |
| Time tracking | Through third-party Power-Ups | A timer on every card, sessions kept |
| Price | Free plan; paid plans per user, per month | Free; Supporter from $3 for 30 days; Plus $10 once |
| Sharing | Members, comments, notifications | None; export a copy as a file |
What you give up
Be clear-eyed about this part. Kaniban has no members, no comments, no notifications and no integrations, because a board for one person has no use for them. It does not sync between devices: the board is on the machine in front of you, and moving it is an export and an import. It is designed for a desk and a wide screen, not for a phone. If any of that is a dealbreaker, Trello is the right tool and there is no shame in it.
What you get instead
- Nothing to sign up for. The board opens in a second, and it is already yours.
- The board stays on your machine. No server copy exists to leak, be subpoenaed, or go down on a Monday morning. Read the local-first page for what that means in practice.
- A timer on every card. Time tracking is on the card, not in a second app, and the summary view says where the hours went.
- Four views of one set of cards. Board, calendar, timeline and summary, with drag-and-drop in the first two.
- One price, once. Plus is $10 and it is yours. There is no per-month bill for a board with one person on it.
- A command deck. Ctrl K, a few letters, and you are on any card, in any view, or on any board.
Moving from Trello
There is no importer, and that is partly deliberate: a Trello board that has been running for years carries a lot that is no longer in flight. Start with what is.
- Open Kaniban and name a board. It comes with three columns; rename them to match yours, or add one with
/ncl:Waitingin the command deck. - Add the cards that are actually in progress or due soon.
/nc:the titlemakes one without leaving the keyboard. - Tag by project or client, and put a due date on anything that has one. Dated cards appear on the calendar on their own.
- Leave the rest in Trello for a fortnight. If you do not go back for it, you did not need it.
Questions
Can Kaniban import a Trello board?
No. Kaniban imports its own export files only. Trello can export a board's data for your records, but there is no importer on this side. Bring across what is in flight by hand; the command deck's /nc:title makes that fast.
Does Kaniban have a free plan like Trello?
Yes. The free tier has the board and calendar views, two workspaces, notes, tags, due dates, timers, the command deck, filters, and export and import. It shows ads, kept out of the work grid. Nothing you have saved is ever locked behind a payment.
Is Kaniban a Trello alternative for teams?
No. There is no sharing, no members and no server copy, on purpose. Kaniban is a personal kanban board. For a team, Trello and tools like it are the right shape.
Can I use Kaniban on my phone?
It opens in a phone's browser, but it is designed for a desk and a wide screen, ideally a second monitor you can glance at all day. Trello's mobile apps are the better phone experience.
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.