Quick answer
Yes — for the part of Asana covered on this page, Boardly is a one-time-purchase alternative. It costs $49 once, while Asana lists from $10.99/mo. Self-hosted kanban — drag & drop boards, checklists, labels, attachments, full JSON export. It is not a 1:1 replacement for everything Asana does — the honest limits are spelled out below.
The verdict
Switch to Boardly if the slice of Asana you actually pay for is the slice Boardly covers — and a $49 one-time price beats from $10.99/mo for as long as you use it.
Stay with Asana if this sounds like you — Asana's timelines, workload views, portfolios and 200+ integrations are built for coordinating large organizations. Boardly is deliberately just boards; portfolio reporting is not in it.
Head to head
| Boardly | Asana | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $49 once | from $10.99/mo |
| Where it runs | Your own machine | Vendor cloud (hosted service) |
| Renewal | None — the license never expires | Recurring — access ends when you stop paying |
| 5-year cost | $49 | ~$659.4 |
About Asana: Asana is a work-management platform with projects, timelines and portfolios. Starter plans list from $10.99/user/mo billed annually (about $131.88/user/yr).
Where Asana still wins
Asana's timelines, workload views, portfolios and 200+ integrations are built for coordinating large organizations. Boardly is deliberately just boards; portfolio reporting is not in it.
Where Boardly wins
If your team's Asana usage is really boards with cards, checklists and labels, Boardly does exactly that — self-hosted kanban with drag & drop, attachments and full JSON export — for $49 once, total, instead of per user per month. A ten-person team stops paying $1,300/yr for a board.
- Price, permanently. $49 once versus from $10.99/mo for as long as you use it. There is no renewal, no seat count and no tier gate.
- 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.
The math
Asana lists from $10.99/mo. Boardly is $49, paid once:
- After 1 year: Boardly has cost you $49 total — Asana has cost ~$131.88.
- After 3 years: Boardly is still $49 — the subscription is at ~$395.64.
- After 5 years: Boardly is still $49 — the subscription is at ~$659.4.
Common questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes — MIT source at github.com/bensblueprints/boardly-kanban-mvp, always. $49 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.
Is there a mobile app?
No native app — the web UI works in a phone browser when you host it on a VPS. Desktop mode is Windows-first, and the MIT source builds anywhere Electron runs.
Try Boardly — $49, one time
Or get Boardly plus every other app in the suite: the OneTimeSuite bundle is currently $97, one time.