Trello charges $5 per user per month — a 10-person team pays $600 every year, forever, for lists with cards on them. Boardly is the same kanban workflow on your hardware: unlimited boards, as many people as your server allows, and your data in a single SQLite file you can copy, back up and export any time.
If you've searched for a Trello alternative, Boardly is the pay-once option worth putting at the top of the list: Boardly is $19, one time, and covers the same core job Trello charges $5/user/mo for.
What makes Boardly the pick for 2026
- Multiple boards — Color themes, emoji icons, starred favorites — organize work, clients or your whole life.
- Drag & drop everything — Reorder lists, drag cards between lists — order persists exactly where you dropped it.
- Rich cards — Markdown descriptions, due dates with overdue highlighting, colored board-scoped labels.
- Checklists — With live progress bars right on the card front.
- Attachments — Upload files straight onto cards — stored on your disk, with your limits, not a 250 MB plan cap.
Boardly vs Trello, at a glance
| Boardly | Trello | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $19 once | $5/user/month (Standard) |
| 10-person team, 3 years | $19 total | $1,800 |
| Boards | Unlimited | Limited on free tier |
| Attachments | Your disk, your limits | 250 MB/file cap, plan-gated |
| Data ownership | SQLite file on your box | Atlassian's cloud |
| Works offline / air-gapped | Yes | No |
| Full JSON export | One click, attachments included | Plan-gated |
| Telemetry | None | Plenty |
Boardly costs less than four months of a single Trello seat — for a team it pays for itself the day you install it.
Common questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes — MIT source at github.com/bensblueprints/boardly-kanban-mvp, always. $19 buys the packaged installer, updates and setup support.
How do team members log in?
One shared password protects the whole install — there are no per-user accounts, permissions or assignee fields yet. That's fine for small teams on a trusted server or VPN; if you need granular roles and member management, Trello still wins there.
Does it have automations like Butler?
No — no rule engine, no scheduled commands. Boardly bets that most Trello boards never touch Butler, and most don't. If yours does, keep Trello.
The bottom line
Boardly won't out-feature Trello on every axis — no subscription tool with a bigger team and a bigger roadmap loses on everything. But for the core job, $19 once against $5/user/mo forever is a trade most people should at least look at. Boardly is part of OneTimeSuite, a catalog of pay-once apps that replace subscription SaaS.
Try Boardly — $19, once
Self-hosted kanban — drag & drop boards, checklists, labels, attachments, full JSON export.