Opensource.com has surveyed the landscape of popular open source project management tools. We’ve done this before—but this year we’ve added a twist. This time, we’re looking specifically at tools that support agile methodology, including related practices such as Scrum, Lean, and Kanban.

The growth of interest in and use of agile is why we’ve decided to focus on these types of tools this year. A majority of organizations—71%—say they are using agile approaches at least sometimes. In addition, agile projects are 28% more successful than projects managed with traditional approaches.

For this roundup, we looked at the project management tools we covered in 2014, 2015, and 2016 and plucked the ones that support agile, then did research to uncover any additions or changes. Whether your organization is already using agile or is one of the many planning to adopt agile approaches in 2018, one of these seven open source project management tools, in no particular order, may be exactly what you’re looking for.

MyCollab

MyCollab is a suite of three collaboration modules for small and midsize businesses: project management, customer relationship management (CRM), and document creation and editing software. There are two licensing options: a commercial “ultimate” edition, which is faster and can be run on-premises or in the cloud, and the open source “community edition,” which is the version we’re interested in here.

The community edition doesn’t have a cloud option and is slower, due to not using query cache, but provides essential project management features, including tasks, issues management, activity stream, roadmap view, and a Kanban board for agile teams. While it doesn’t have a separate mobile app, it works on mobile devices as well as Windows, MacOS, Linux, and Unix computers.

The latest version of MyCollab is 5.4.10 and the source code is available on GitHub. It is licensed under AGPLv3 and requires a Java runtime and MySQL stack to operate. It’s available for download for Windows, Linux, Unix, and MacOS.

Odoo

Odoo is more than project management software; it’s a full, integrated business application suite that includes accounting, human resources, website & e-commerce, inventory, manufacturing, sales management (CRM), and other tools.

The free and open source community edition has limited features compared to the paid enterprise suite. Its project management application includes a Kanban-style task-tracking view for agile teams, which was updated in its latest release, Odoo 11.0, to include a progress bar and animation for tracking project status. The project management tool also includes Gantt charts, tasks, issues, graphs, and more. Odoo has a thriving community and provides user guides and other training resources.

It is licensed under GPLv3 and requires Python and PostgreSQL. It is available for download for Windows, Linux, and Red Hat Package Manager, as a Docker image, and as source on GitHub.

OpenProject

OpenProject is a powerful open source project management tool that is notable for its ease of use and rich project management and team collaboration features.

Its modules support project planning, scheduling, roadmap and release planning, time tracking, cost reporting, budgeting, bug tracking, and agile and Scrum. Its agile features, including creating stories, prioritizing sprints, and tracking tasks, are integrated with OpenProject’s other modules.

OpenProject is licensed under GPLv3 and its source code is available on GitHub. Its latest version, 7.3.2. is available for download for Linux; you can learn more about installing and configuring it in Birthe Lindenthal’s article “Getting started with OpenProject.”

OrangeScrum

As you would expect from its name, OrangeScrum supports agile methodologies, specifically with a Scrum task board and Kanban-style workflow view. It’s geared for smaller organizations—freelancers, agencies, and small and midsize businesses.

The open source version offers many of the features in OrangeScrum’s paid editions, including a mobile app, resource utilization, and progress tracking. Other features, including Gantt charts, time logs, invoicing, and client management, are available as paid add-ons, and the paid editions include a cloud option, which the community version does not.

OrangeScrum is licensed under GPLv3 and is based on the CakePHP framework. It requires Apache, PHP 5.3 or higher, and MySQL 4.1 or higher, and works on Windows, Linux, and MacOS. Its latest release, 1.6.1. is available for download, and its source code can be found on GitHub.

]project-open[

]project-open[ is a dual-licensed enterprise project management tool, meaning that its core is open source, and some additional features are available in commercially licensed modules. According to the project’s comparison of the community and enterprise editions, the open source core offers plenty of features for small and midsize organizations.

]project-open[ supports agile projects with Scrum and Kanban support, as well as classic Gantt/waterfall projects and hybrid or mixed projects.

The application is licensed under GPL and the source code is accessible via CVS. ]project-open[ is available as installers for both Linux and Windows, but also in cloud images and as a virtual appliance.

Taiga

Taiga is an open source project management platform that focuses on Scrum and agile development, with features including a Kanban board, tasks, sprints, issues, a backlog, and epics. Other features include ticket management, multi-project support, wiki pages, and third-party integrations.

It also offers a free mobile app for iOS, Android, and Windows devices, and provides import tools that make it easy to migrate from other popular project management applications.

Taiga is free for public projects, with no restrictions on either the number of projects or the number of users. For private projects, there is a wide range of paid plans available under a “freemium” model, but, notably, the software’s features are the same, no matter which type of plan you have.

Taiga is licensed under GNU Affero GPLv3, and requires a stack that includes Nginx, Python, and PostgreSQL. The latest release, 3.1.0 Perovskia atriplicifolia, is available on GitHub.

Tuleap

Tuleap is an application lifecycle management (ALM) platform that aims to manage projects for every type of team—small, midsize, large, waterfall, agile, or hybrid—but its support for agile teams is prominent. Notably, it offers support for Scrum, Kanban, sprints, tasks, reports, continuous integration, backlogs, and more.

Other features include issue tracking, document tracking, collaboration tools, and integration with Git, SVN, and Jenkins, all of which make it an appealing choice for open source software development projects.

Tuleap is licensed under GPLv2. More information, including Docker and CentOS downloads, is available on their Get Started page. You can also get the source code for its latest version, 9.14, on Tuleap’s Git.

---

The trouble with this type of list is that it’s usually out of date as soon as it’s published. Are you using an open source project management tool that supports agile that we forgot to include? Or do you have feedback on the ones we mentioned? Please leave a comment below.