Why Your Team Should Ditch Trello for a Self-Hosted Kanban Board

You know that moment when your entire marketing team is staring at a blank screen because Trello is down? Or when finance asks why you're paying $12.50 per user per month for what's essentially a digital sticky note board?

I've been there. And after helping dozens of teams migrate away from Trello, I can tell you: there's a better way.

What Kanban Boards Actually Do

If you're not familiar, a Kanban board is simply a visual way to manage work. Picture three columns: "To Do," "In Progress," and "Done." Tasks move from left to right as they get completed.

It sounds basic, but this simple visualization transforms how teams work. Instead of endless email threads asking "what's the status on X?", everyone can see exactly where everything stands. Marketing campaigns, client projects, hiring pipelines, content calendars—all visible at a glance.

Trello made this concept accessible. But accessibility came with strings attached.

The Hidden Costs of Trello

Here's what Trello doesn't tell you upfront:

The Free Tier Trap: Sure, you can start free. But try to add more than 10 boards, use automations, or get decent security features? That's $5-12.50 per user, per month.

The Per-User Problem: A team of 20 people on Trello Premium costs $3,000 per year. Add contractors, interns, or external collaborators? More charges. Every. Single. Person.

The Data Question: Where do your project details live? On Atlassian's servers. Your client information, internal processes, strategic plans—all sitting in someone else's data center, subject to their terms of service changes.

The Export Nightmare: Ever tried exporting everything from Trello? Good luck. Your data goes in easily but comes out in pieces. That's not an accident—it's designed to keep you locked in.

Enter Wekan: Same Power, You Own It

Wekan is an open-source Kanban board that does everything Trello does, except it runs on your servers. Your data stays yours. No per-user fees. No surprise price increases.

The interface will feel instantly familiar if you've used Trello. Drag-and-drop cards, customizable columns, labels, due dates, checklists—it's all there. But with some advantages Trello doesn't offer:

Unlimited Everything: Boards, users, cards, attachments. No artificial limits.

Your Data, Your Rules: Host it where compliance requires. GDPR? HIPAA? SOC 2? You control the infrastructure.

One-Time Cost Structure: Instead of perpetual per-user fees, you pay for hosting. That's it.

Real Cost Comparison

That's not a typo. With self-hosted Wekan, you're paying for server resources, not seats. Add your entire company, contractors, clients—the cost stays flat.

Who's Actually Switching?

I've seen this pattern across industries:

Marketing Agencies managing client campaigns needed to add external collaborators without paying per head. They switched to Wekan and saved $800/month while giving clients direct board access.

HR Departments tracking hiring pipelines realized candidate information shouldn't live on third-party servers. Self-hosted Wekan gave them the same workflow with complete data control.

Software Teams running sprints wanted deeper customization than Trello allowed. Wekan's open-source nature meant they could modify it to fit their exact process.

Small Businesses watching Trello prices creep up year after year finally asked: "Why are we paying this much for a task board?" The answer was: they didn't have to.

The Honest Trade-Offs

I won't pretend switching is without considerations:

Power-Ups: Trello has an ecosystem of integrations. Wekan covers the essentials, but if you rely on specific Trello Power-Ups, verify alternatives exist.

Mobile Apps: Trello's mobile experience is polished. Wekan's mobile access works but isn't as refined.

Setup: Someone needs to deploy it. Though with managed hosting, this takes about 10 minutes, not days.

Getting Started Without the Headache

The traditional barrier to self-hosting was complexity. Server setup, maintenance, updates, backups—it required dedicated IT resources.

That's changed. Platforms like Elestio handle the infrastructure side. You click deploy, and five minutes later you have a running Wekan instance. Updates happen automatically. Backups run on schedule. SSL certificates renew themselves.

You get the benefits of self-hosting (data ownership, flat pricing, no per-user fees) without needing a DevOps team.

Making the Move

If you're considering the switch:

1. Export your Trello data (JSON format works best)
2. Deploy Wekan through Elestio or your preferred hosting
3. Import your boards using Wekan's built-in Trello importer
4. Invite your team to the new URL

Most teams complete migration in an afternoon. The interface is similar enough that retraining is minimal.

The Bottom Line

Trello is a good product that became expensive. Wekan is a good product that respects your budget and your data.

If your team has outgrown Trello's free tier, or you're tired of per-user pricing that scales with your success, self-hosted Kanban isn't just an alternative—it's an upgrade.

The question isn't whether you can afford to switch. At $7,000+ per year in savings for a 50-person team, the question is whether you can afford not to.

Thanks for reading! See you in the next one.