Kanban boards are becoming popular online project collaboration tools for digital marketing programs, software development, and social gaming techniques. Having started as a visual scheduling system in the Toyota manufacturing process, Kanban boards work well in any environment involving a steady workflow of tasks.
Here are five free or low-cost Kanban tools to consider for your team.
Kanbanize
Businessmap’s Kanbanize is entirely focused on lean collaboration and tracking. Notifications and board messaging in real-time help teams manage constant workflow and communication. Managed roles also give added flexibility for fine-tuning permissions on projects and tasks.
Emphasis on lean management.
Excellent model for task dependencies.
Free 30-day trial period.
Expensive license model.
Probably too much for small teams and light projects.
Flexible pricing plans range from free to $99 per month, with optional add-ons available.
KanbanFlow
CodeKick AB, developers of the KanbanFlow app, offers a basic visual Kanban workflow tool. Teams interested in a gaming tool to create incentives would use the Pomodoro timer, a technique to focus work in intervals of 25 minutes, followed by a 5-minute break.
Light app, no extra bells and whistles.
API integrations with other popular apps.
Limited free version.
A per-user/per-month license model gets pricey for large teams with light requirements.
KanbanFlow offers a powerful free version and a $5 per-user per-month premium version with additional features.
Kanban Tool
Shore Labs developed Kanban Tool with extensive board templates and a sales pipeline, along with custom fields that can match workflow requirements. The Dashboard is a workspace for notes and status updates. Shore Labs demonstrates a useful HR workflow along with standard analytic tools (breakdown, burndown, and other charts) that are accessed from the navigation menu.
Interesting approach to managing agile projects.
Three tiers of accounts, including a free tier.
Antiquated-looking user interface.
Must register for a trial account to understand the service’s capabilities.
Pricey on a per-user basis.
Kanban Tool offers a limited free plan along with a $5 per-user per-month Team plan and a $9 per-user per-month Enterprise plan, which includes expanded features.
LeanKit
Planview LeanKit combines Lean and Agile methods. It uses base work-in-process (WIP) limits, with lanes lighting up when exceeding the limit. LeanKit demonstrates a 20-person Audit group with finely detailed criteria for managing their publication process.
Optimized for technically complex workflows.
Thoughtful site design.
API-fed integrations designed for engineers and developers.
Expensive.
Some may find the emphasis on engineering to be distracting.
Two-week trial period.
LeanKit offers a free trial and paid versions: LeanKit for Teams is $19 per month per user, and LeanKit for Scaled Teams is $29 for each user per month. Enterprise custom options are also available.
Trello
Ideal for students and teams, Trello offers great overviews of card information, attachment detail, activity streams, and checklists. Trello uses boards, which contain lists, which are made up of cards. Boards can represent projects, lists can be used for tasks, and cards can contain sub-tasks or options. Windows 8, iPhone, and iPad apps are available.
One of the original and best-known online kanboard sites.
Generous free accounts.
Great for small teams and individuals.
True collaboration requires a paid account.
Not as powerful for technical, dependency-driven work.
All of Trello’s core features are free; the paid Trello Gold is $5 per month or $45 per year and adds some perks. Trello’s Business Class version is $9.99 for each user per month, and its Enterprise version is $20.83 for each person per month.
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