Should I self-host Trello?

What you lose

• Trello's power-ups, butler automations and mobile apps
• The free tier — seriously, check if you even pay

What you're paying Trello for

• kanban boards
• cards & checklists
• labels & due dates
• power-ups

Ranked alternatives

1. WeKan

Trello-shaped boards with swimlanes, checklists and attachments, on a hostname you own and a database you can dump.

wekan/wekan · ★ 21,026 · last commit 0d ago · MIT

Hardware

Runs comfortably on a real VPS (2 GB+).

The tested compose file (our evidence, CI-booted)

# Wekan — kanban; meteor app + mongo. Sidecar probe.
services:
  wekan:
    image: wekanteam/wekan:latest
    container_name: wekan
    restart: unless-stopped
    depends_on:
      wekan-db:
        condition: service_healthy
    environment:
      ROOT_URL: http://localhost:8106
      MONGO_URL: mongodb://wekan-db:27017/wekan
      WITH_API: "true"
    ports:
      - "8106:8080"

  probe:
    image: busybox:stable
    network_mode: "service:wekan"
    depends_on:
      - wekan
    command: sh -c 'while true; do sleep 30; done'
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "nc -z localhost 8080 || exit 1"]
      interval: 5s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 60
      start_period: 30s

  wekan-db:
    image: mongo:6
    restart: unless-stopped
    command: mongod --oplogSize 128
    volumes:
      - wekan-db:/data/db
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "mongosh --quiet --eval 'db.runCommand({ping:1}).ok' | grep -q 1"]
      interval: 5s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 12
volumes:
  wekan-db:

Want a guided install instead? caniselfhostit.com/trello has AI-agent prompts that assume a bare machine — that's their half of the stool, and it's good.

Verification

# Trello — verdict log

- **Date:** 2026-08-10
- **Verdict:** KINDA — worth it if…
- **Protocol:** v1 (2GB reference env, Docker preinstalled, AI assistant: claude-code)

## Setup evidence

- Compose: `compose/trello-wekan.yml`
- Boot to healthy: **52s** measured this session
- Setup time recorded: 11 min (boot + configuration to first working workflow)

## What broke / notes

- Boot to healthy measured at 52s on the 2GB reference env

## The call

Wekan does kanban fine (verified boot) and per-seat Trello money is real money for teams. For individuals, Trello's free tier already covers you — don't self-host what's free. Worth it for paying teams comfortable with a plainer board.

Verdict history

• 2026-08-10: unscored → KINDA — Initial verdict: Wekan does kanban fine (verified boot) and per-seat Trello money is real money for teams.