Plane
Open-source project management, free to 12 users and $6 a seat, or self-hosted under AGPL-3.0.
- Productivity
- Development
- from $6/mo
Plane is an open-source project management platform available as a managed cloud or self-hosted on your own infrastructure, with the same published ladder either way - free to 12 users, then $6 a seat a month on Pro and $13 on Business, both billed annually. The community edition is AGPL-3.0 and carries no seat minimum.
Plane: the short answer
Every line below is drawn from facts verified on 19 August 2026.
- What it is
- Open-source project management, free to 12 users and $6 a seat, or self-hosted under AGPL-3.0
- Best for
- Teams who want to own the tracker rather than rent it
- Starts at
- Free to 12 users; Pro $6 per seat/month and Business $13, both billed annually
- Free option
- Free plan available, Two-week free trial on paid plans trial
- Biggest strength
- Open source under AGPL-3.0, with self-hosting as a first-class route
- Biggest drawback
- Self-hosted paid licences require a minimum of 10 seats
- Based on
- Primary-source research, not hands-on use
- Closest alternative
- Jira - The market default for software delivery, with a far larger ecosystem and no self-hosting for new cloud buyers
- True annual cost
- from $72 a year on Pro, the cheapest paid tier ($6 a month)
Plane at a glance
| Best for | Teams who want to own the tracker rather than rent it, Small teams under 12 people, who pay nothing on the cloud, Organisations with data-residency or air-gapped requirements |
|---|---|
| Category | Productivity, Development |
| Starting price | Free to 12 users; Pro $6 per seat/month and Business $13, both billed annually |
| Free plan | Yes |
| Free trial | Two-week free trial on paid plans |
| Pricing model | subscription |
| Company | Plane Software, Inc. |
| Founded | 2022 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, United States, with a second base in Hyderabad, India |
| Founders | Not disclosed |
| Platforms | Web, Self-hosted |
| Public API | Yes |
| Browser extension | No |
| Mobile apps | None |
| Self-hosting | Yes |
| Affiliate programme | No |
| Data source | Vendor pricing page and public records |
| Last checked | August 2026 |
Plane pricing
Prices below were read from the vendor's own pricing page on 19 August 2026. Pricing model: subscription. Free trial: Two-week free trial on paid plans.
| Plan | Price | Billing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | per month | Up to 12 users - Projects and work items, cycles and modules, five layouts with unlimited views, work item intake, estimates and project pages, with 500 AI credits per seat a month. Available on the cloud and self-hosted |
| Pro | $6 | per month | per seat, billed annually - 1,000 AI credits per seat a month, work item types and properties, workspace wiki, time tracking, templates, dashboards, initiatives and teamspaces. One seat can be bought on the cloud, and the page advertises 25% off for annual billing |
| Business | $13 | per month | per seat, billed annually - 2,000 AI credits per seat a month, project templates, recurring work items, intake by email and form, nested pages, workflow control and customer records |
| Enterprise Grid | Quote on request | Negotiated | Private and managed deployments, granular access control, multiple workflows with approvals, LDAP, API-enabled audit logs and migration services |
| Community edition, self-hosted | $0 | per month | The open-source core under AGPL-3.0, run on your own infrastructure with no licence key and no seat floor |
| Commercial licence for self-hosting | Same per-seat rates as the cloud | Negotiated | Pro and Business cost the same per seat when you host them yourself, but a paid self-hosted licence is sold from 10 seats up. The free Community edition has no such floor |
What Plane actually costs over a year
A monthly price is not the same thing as a monthly contract. These are the plans above resolved both ways, per seat or unit where the plan is charged that way. Where a vendor quotes only a yearly figure it is divided by twelve rather than left out, and the Quoted column says which figure the vendor actually publishes.
| Plan | Quoted | Monthly | Over 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proper seat, billed annually | per month | $6 | $72 |
| Businessper seat, billed annually | per month | $13 | $156 |
Which Plane plan should you buy?
| Your situation | Recommended | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You are 12 people or fewer | Free | Twelve users at no cost on the managed cloud, with 500 AI credits a seat a month and no project cap. |
| You want the cheapest capable paid tracker | Pro | $6 a seat a month billed annually, with time tracking, dashboards and a workspace wiki. |
| You must run it on your own infrastructure at no licence cost | Community edition | AGPL-3.0, self-hosted, no seat minimum and no licence key. |
| You want supported self-hosting | Pro or Business, self-hosted | Same per-seat prices, but licences start at 10 seats, so budget from there. |
| You need approvals, LDAP or audit logs | Enterprise Grid | Quote on request. Start the conversation early, because no figure is published. |
| You are tracking a large software organisation on Jira today | Price the migration, not just the licence | Native importers exist on every edition, but ecosystem and reporting parity is the real cost. |
Verdict by who you are
Startup under 12 peopleYes
Free on the cloud with no project cap, and nothing to migrate off later if you outgrow it.
Team with data-residency requirementsYes
Self-hosting an AGPL-3.0 codebase, with an air-gapped option that makes no external calls.
Cost-driven team of 20Yes
$1,440 a year on Pro, against $6,000 for Wrike Business at the same size.
Five-person team wanting supported self-hostingCompare first
The 10-seat licence minimum means paying for twice the team, or running the community edition.
Enterprise needing a proven track recordCompare first
Founded 2022, with no published customer count. The technology is not the risk here; the institutional history is what you do not get.
Should you buy Plane?
Buy Plane if…
- Teams who want to own the tracker rather than rent it
- Small teams under 12 people, who pay nothing on the cloud
- Organisations with data-residency or air-gapped requirements
Do not buy Plane if…
- Teams with no engineering capacity who also need self-hosting
- Buyers who need a long adoption track record before committing
- Small teams wanting a self-hosted paid licence, which starts at 10 seats
Best Plane alternative for each job
Chosen by what you are trying to do rather than by which product is closest overall, because the right replacement depends on the job.
| If you mainly need to… | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Software delivery at scale | Jira | The category default for sprints and releases, with the ecosystem to match. |
| Fast, opinionated product tracking | Linear | Built for product teams who want fewer decisions, at $10 a user. |
| Consolidate several subscriptions | ClickUp | Docs, time tracking and tasks in one product at $7 a user, with more configuration to do. |
| Unlimited users on a flat fee | Basecamp | $299 a month for everybody, which wins above about 20 people. |
Key features
- Open source under AGPL-3.0, with the code public on GitHub
- The same price ladder on the managed cloud and self-hosted
- Free for up to 12 users, on either deployment
- Cycles and modules for timeboxing and breaking work down
- Workspace wiki and project pages, so docs live beside the work
- Time tracking and work logs from the Pro plan
- Air-gapped deployment with no external calls, on the commercial edition
- Native importers on every edition, including Community
Integrations
- Plane API
- Integrations and marketplace from the Pro plan
- Native importers from other trackers, on every edition
- LDAP directory authentication on Enterprise Grid
Plane screenshots
Captured by us in August 2026 at 1440px, unedited. Interfaces change, so these show the product as it looked on the date we verified this profile. Pricing pages are captured from a US vantage point, so the currency shown matches the USD figures recorded above.
Our assessment
Plane is the open-source answer in a category where every established option is a subscription you cannot leave with, and the licence is the argument. The community edition is AGPL-3.0 and self-hostable with no seat minimum, so a team with engineering capacity can run this indefinitely for the cost of a server. On the managed cloud the free tier covers 12 users with no project cap, which only ClickUp beats outright in our project management comparison - Basecamp allows twenty free users but one project - and Pro is $6 a seat a month billed annually, the cheapest paid tier we priced in the category. The ladder is identical whether you host it or they do, which is unusual and removes the usual penalty for wanting control. Two honest limits. Paid self-hosted licences require a minimum of 10 seats, so a five-person team wanting supported self-hosting pays for ten. And this is a 2022 company: no customer count is published, the ecosystem is a marketplace rather than an industry, and we have no evidence about whether teams keep it updated over years. Judge it as an ownership decision first.
What works in Plane
- Open source under AGPL-3.0, with self-hosting as a first-class route
- Free for 12 users on the cloud, and free without limit on the community edition
- Pro at $6 a seat a month is the cheapest paid tier in our project management comparison
- The same published ladder for cloud and self-hosted, with air-gapped deployment available
What doesn't
- Self-hosted paid licences require a minimum of 10 seats
- Founded 2022, with no published customer count and no long adoption record
- AI is metered in credits rather than unlimited, at every tier
- Enterprise Grid carries no published price
EveryAny Decision Score
3 of these 8 dimensions are calculated from verified facts; the rest are our judgement, shown as a band rather than a figure unless something specific sits behind them. How each score works.
- Cost position7.9/10
derivedentry tier at $6 a month against a category median of $9.99 a month across 28 comparable tools
- Portability9/10
derivedself-hostable, public API, open source
- Subscription flexibility8/10
derivedfree plan, free trial, subscription, monthly billing
- Feature depth7/10
editorialWork items, cycles, modules, wiki, time tracking, dashboards and initiatives, with approvals and multiple workflows reserved for Enterprise Grid.
- Ease of learningModerate
editorialour judgement, with no measurement behind it
- CollaborationHigh
editorialour judgement, with no measurement behind it
- AI capability7/10
editorialAI credits are included at every tier and metered: 500 a seat a month on Free, 1,000 on Pro and 2,000 on Business, with top-ups available.
- Professional adoption4/10
editorialThe GitHub repository shows 56,133 stars and the company was founded in 2022. No customer count or user count is published on the pricing or about pages.
What leaving Plane would cost
low lock-in
Plane scores on self-hostable, public API, open source. Portability 9/10 ; lock-in is the inverse. How this is calculated.
Plane competitors and alternatives
| Alternative | Why you might pick it instead |
|---|---|
| Jira | The market default for software delivery, with a far larger ecosystem and no self-hosting for new cloud buyers. |
| Linear | Faster and more opinionated for product teams, proprietary, and $10 a user. |
| ClickUp | Broader feature surface at $7 a user, with AI charged separately at $9 a user. |
Jira
Development
Issue tracking that scales to organisations nobody enjoys working in.
Checked Aug 2026
Linear
Development
An issue tracker fast enough that people actually keep it updated.
Checked Aug 2026
ClickUp
Productivity
One app to replace them all, which is both the pitch and the risk.
Checked Aug 2026
The same price whether you host it or they do
Most vendors treat self-hosting as an enterprise conversation with no published number. Plane publishes one ladder and applies it to both deployments:
| Plan | Cloud | Self-hosted | Seat minimum, self-hosted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0, up to 12 users | $0 | None |
| Pro | $6 a seat a month | $6 a seat a month | 10 seats |
| Business | $13 a seat a month | $13 a seat a month | 10 seats |
| Enterprise Grid | Quote on request | Quote on request | Not published |
Both paid figures are the rates the page shows with annual billing selected - we checked the switch rather than assuming, because a “Save 25%” badge beside a per-month figure does not say which period it is.
The community edition is the free tier of the same product, self-hosted under AGPL-3.0, with no licence key and no seat minimum. Native importers ship on every edition, including that one.
Free to 12 users is the headline for small teams
Twelve is a real team, not a demo. Set it against the free tiers in our project management guide: Asana allows two users, monday.com two seats, Trello ten collaborators, Teamwork.com five.
The free plan is not feature-gated to uselessness either - projects, cycles, modules, five layouts, intake, estimates and pages are all in it, with 500 AI credits a seat a month.
Where the ownership argument stops
- Paid self-hosting starts at 10 seats. A five-person team that wants a supported licence on its own server pays for ten, or runs the community edition unsupported.
- AI is metered everywhere. 500 credits a seat on Free, 1,000 on Pro, 2,000 on Business, with top-ups. That is more honest than most, and it is still a meter.
- Enterprise Grid has no published price, and it holds approvals, LDAP and audit logs.
What we cannot tell you
Whether teams stay on it. Plane was founded in 2022, publishes no customer count, and its ecosystem is a marketplace rather than an industry. The repository shows 56,133 stars, which measures attention rather than retention.
Nobody here has used Plane and no self-hosted deployment was attempted. What is checked is the price ladder on both deployment routes, the free tier’s limits, the seat minimum and the licence - read on 19 August 2026.
Plane questions, answered
- Is Plane worth it?
- Plane is the open-source answer in a category where every established option is a subscription you cannot leave with, and the licence is the argument.
- How much does Plane cost?
- Free to 12 users; Pro $6 per seat/month and Business $13, both billed annually. The cheapest paid tier we recorded is Pro, published at $6 a month, which works out at $6 a month or $72 over a year. Verified against the vendor's pricing page.
- Does Plane have a free plan or free trial?
- Plane has a free plan. A free trial is available: Two-week free trial on paid plans.
- What is the best Plane alternative?
- It depends on the job. Jira: The market default for software delivery, with a far larger ecosystem and no self-hosting for new cloud buyers. Linear: Faster and more opinionated for product teams, proprietary, and $10 a user. ClickUp: Broader feature surface at $7 a user, with AI charged separately at $9 a user.
- Can I self-host Plane?
- Yes. Plane can be run on your own infrastructure, so the data stays under your control.
What this profile is based on
Every claim below is about our work, not about Plane. A "no" is recorded rather than omitted, because the difference between a tested review and careful desk research is the reader's to weigh. How we research a profile.
-
Prices read from the vendor : yes
Read from Plane's own pricing page on 19 August 2026
-
Plans and terms recorded : yes
6 rows, each with its billing period
-
Original screenshots : yes
1 captured by us: pricing page
-
Sources cited and dated : yes
4 primary sources, each with the date it was read
-
Product used first-hand : no
Not tested. This profile is desk research from primary sources
-
Alternatives used first-hand : no
None, so comparisons here rest on published facts rather than use
-
Vendor contacted : no
Not contacted for this profile
Desk research from Plane's own pricing, self-hosting and about pages, read on 19 August 2026 through a United States egress, plus the repository licence and star count from the GitHub API. The billing switch was inspected in the page rather than assumed, because "$6 per seat per month" beside a "Save 25%" badge does not say which of the two periods it is. Nobody here has used Plane, no self-hosted deployment was attempted, and no AI credit was spent.
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Provenance and freshness
When each fact was last checked
- Pricing ·
- Plans ·
- Free trial
- Features
- Platforms
- Integrations
- Affiliate programme
- Company details ·
Individually sourced claims
-
Pro is $6 per seat a month and Business $13, both shown with the annual toggle selected, on cloud and self-hosted alike
Plane pricing ↗ · checked
-
The free plan covers up to 12 users, with 500 AI credits per seat a month
Plane pricing ↗ · checked
-
Self-hosted licences require a minimum of 10 seats
Plane pricing, self-hosted view ↗ · checked
-
Plane is open source and can be self-hosted on your own infrastructure, with native importers on every edition including Community
Plane self-hosting page ↗ · checked
-
The repository is licensed AGPL-3.0 and shows 56,133 stars
makeplane/plane on GitHub ↗ · checked
-
Plane Software, Inc. was founded in 2022 and is based in San Francisco, backed by OSS Capital
Plane structured data, about page ↗ · checked
What has changed
-
August 2026
- First published, with the cloud and self-hosted ladders read from the vendor's own pricing page
- Confirmed by reading the page's billing switch that $6 and $13 are the annual rates, not the monthly ones
- Recorded the 10-seat minimum on self-hosted paid licences
Sources & verification
Facts on this page were read from the sources below on the dates shown. Where a vendor does not publish a figure, we record it as not disclosed rather than estimating it.
- Plane pricing - checked 19 August 2026
- Plane self-hosting - checked 19 August 2026
- About Plane - checked 19 August 2026
- makeplane/plane on GitHub - checked 19 August 2026
Spotted something out of date? Email [email protected] and we will re-check it. Corrections are logged on the page.
