Vikunja vs Plane: which self-hosted tool replaces Jira in 2026

Connect to your VPS and create a dedicated directory: mkdir -p /opt/vikunja && cd /opt/vikunja. This directory will hold the docker-compose.yml file, the config.yml configuration file, and persistent data.

Create a docker-compose.yml file with two services: the database and Vikunja itself. Minimal example with PostgreSQL:

services:
  db:
    image: postgres:16
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: vikunja
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: changeme
      POSTGRES_DB: vikunja
    volumes:
      - vikunja-db:/var/lib/postgresql/data
  vikunja:
    image: vikunja/vikunja:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:3456:3456"
    environment:
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_TYPE: postgres
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_HOST: db
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_USER: vikunja
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_PASSWORD: changeme
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_DATABASE: vikunja
      VIKUNJA_SERVICE_PUBLICURL: https://vikunja.your-domain.com
    volumes:
      - vikunja-files:/app/vikunja/files
    depends_on:
      - db
volumes:
  vikunja-db:
  vikunja-files:

Start the stack with docker compose up -d. On first start, Vikunja applies database migrations automatically. The interface is available on port 3456 within seconds — Vikunja starts very quickly thanks to its Go binary.

Point Nginx or Caddy to 127.0.0.1:3456. With Caddy, the configuration is:

vikunja.your-domain.com {
    reverse_proxy 127.0.0.1:3456
}

Caddy manages the Let's Encrypt certificate automatically. With Nginx, add Upgrade and Connection headers to proxy WebSockets correctly if you use real-time notifications.

Open your subdomain in a browser. Vikunja displays a registration screen: the first account created automatically receives administrator rights. Then enable two-factor authentication (TOTP) from the account settings — essential if the instance is publicly exposed.

Schedule a daily backup of the PostgreSQL volume and the vikunja-files volume. A sufficient command: docker exec vikunja-db-1 pg_dump -U vikunja vikunja | gzip > /backup/vikunja-$(date +%Y%m%d).sql.gz. Test restoration on a test environment before migrating your production data.

Plane CE requires at least 4 vCPU and 8 GB of RAM for a comfortable production deployment. Below this threshold, Celery workers compete for memory with PostgreSQL and Redis, causing unexpected restarts. Verify that Docker Engine ≥ 24 and Docker Compose ≥ 2.20 are installed: docker --version && docker compose version.

Plane CE provides an installation script that generates the docker-compose.yml and .env files with random secrets:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/makeplane/plane/master/deploy/selfhost/install.sh | bash

The script creates an /opt/plane directory and places all required files there. Review the generated .env before continuing: SECRET_KEY, DATABASE_URL and REDIS_URL variables are pre-filled with secure random values.

Open /opt/plane/.env and set WEB_URL=https://plane.your-domain.com. If you use MinIO for file storage, also set AWS_S3_ENDPOINT_URL, AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID and AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY. Disable MinIO storage if you prefer to store files on the local volume — set USE_MINIO=0.

From /opt/plane, run docker compose up -d. The five main services start: web (React interface), api (Django REST), worker (Celery), beat (Celery periodic tasks), and db (PostgreSQL). Redis is included as a sixth service for caching and message queuing. Wait approximately two to three minutes for Django migrations to complete before opening the interface.

Plane exposes the web service on port 3000 and the API on port 8000 internally. Your reverse proxy must route both: the React interface on / and API requests on /api/ and /auth/. With Nginx, use two location blocks in the same server block pointing to 127.0.0.1:3000 and 127.0.0.1:8000 respectively. WebSockets are used for real-time updates — forward the Upgrade and Connection headers.

Open your domain in a browser. Plane displays a registration screen: create an administrator account, then follow the workspace creation wizard. Import your first project from Jira or create a blank project to validate the installation. Invite members from Settings > Members > Invite Members — each member receives an email invitation link.

Plane has five stateful services to back up: PostgreSQL (volume pgdata), Redis (volume redisdata), and MinIO if enabled (volume uploads). Schedule daily PostgreSQL dumps (pg_dump from the db container), and archive Docker volumes with your preferred backup tool. Systematically test restoration on a test VPS before putting the main instance into production.