There are free online Kanban tools available for teams running Kanban. In this article I have included what I think are best for teams of different sizes, rating them based on the functionality available for free. Most free products are limited either in the functionality available, or in the number of team members you can have registered to use the tool. The functionality you usually miss out on is reporting, but it varies between products.
Another point I’d like to make is that using a Kanban board doesn’t mean you’re using Kanban. Even the basic features I’ve included in my criteria are not, strictly speaking, enough. But, they are a good start.
The Best Free Online Kanban Tools
| For Teams Up to Ten People | Best for Larger Teams, or Multiple Teams |
 |  |
| YouTrack by JetBrains | KanbanFlow |
Best for Teams of Up to Ten People
YouTrack by JetBrains
I really like YouTrack. It is a tool built for developers, but it is customisable enough so that teams of any kind can use it. It has the features you need for Kanban in the free version, such as customisable columns, WIP limit, backlog management, and reporting on Kanban metrics.
The free version is limited to 10 users, but it does not limit the features provided in the free version.
Runner Up: Jira
Jira is a bit of an industry standard for development teams, and like YouTrack, it provides the features you would expect from a Kanban tool. It is the runner up because YouTrack has a better interface and is a bit easier to use.
The free version is limited to 10 users.
Best for Larger Teams, or Multiple Teams
KanbanFlow
With KanbanFlow you can create unlimited boards, and have unlimited users. However, you don’t get the time reporting, or metric reporting with the free version. But it is free, and for unlimited users. You can set the WIP limit, and customise the columns on the board. Kanban flow is a simple, easy to user solution if you want a basic setup for using Kanban across your teams.
Runner Up: Meister Task
Meister Task allows you to have up to three projects, with unlimited team members. The features are limited in the free plan – you can’t set a WIP limit, and the reporting is limited. But you can customise the Kanban board columns.
Best Free (At the Moment)
Quire is free at the time of writing. Free – you cannot pay for it. It is limited in the number of users – each account can only have up to 35 organisations, with 30 people in each, plus a maximum of 80 projects. But you can contact Quire if you need more.
It is a simple and easy to use tool that offers tasks management, a customisable Kanban board view of the project, and some basic reporting.
The company appears to be starting up, as they do not charge for the application yet (although they do plan to). It does lack some features – you can’t set a WIP limit, and the reporting is basic. But you can export the data, so you could build your own reports if you wanted to.
Most Versatile
Asana only just meets the criteria for a Kanban tool – it does have a Kanban board view in the free version. It is included here because it is highly configurable and the number of projects and users is unlimited. It does take a bit of configuration to start using it for a team running Kanban, but its sheer versatility warrants inclusion in this article.
Assessment Criteria
For comparison, I considered the following criteria:
- Is the basic functionality needed for Kanban included? This includes a Kanban board backlog management, a work-in-progress (WIP) limit, customisable columns.
- Is reporting on Kanban metrics available?
- Is it usable for a team? Some free options for online Kanban tools are limited to only a few users, making it unsuitable for a team to use. It might be a good option for one or two users, but not for a team.
- What other features are available in the free option?
Limited period free options are not included. Open source options are also not included, but a good article on open source options is here.
Main Image Photo by Giu Vicente on Unsplash
