Shortcut alternatives: 5 free & open-source picks
Curated, verified, and actually free. No trials, no crippled tiers. Star counts and last-activity dates checked by hand, not scraped and forgotten.
Linear-and-Jira-shaped work tracking without the subscription; the stack behind it is not small
The enterprise project suite; free in money, expensive in menus
Project tracking, time sheets, Gantt, and wikis from the era when software admitted it needed configuration
Proper Scrum and kanban, with a cleaner UI and a stack that still wants a real admin
A full project tracker for ten people; user eleven is where JetBrains remembers billing
last updated 2026-08-06 · no votes, no pay-to-list · just what's real
| tool | license | running it | platforms | stars | active |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plane | open source | self-host, real ops | web, self-hosted | 55,600 | 2026-08 |
| OpenProject | open source | docker to self-host | web, self-hosted | 15,200 | 2026-08 |
| Redmine | open source | self-host, real ops | web, self-hosted | 6,000 | 2026-08 |
| Taiga | open source | self-host, real ops | web, self-hosted | 844 | 2026-08 |
| YouTrack | free (closed) | they host it | web, ios, android | — | — |
People still pay for Shortcut because teams pay because project state has to remain authoritative through staff changes, outages, and years of accumulated workflow exceptions. The recurring cost buys auth, permissions, notifications, search, migrations, audit history, integrations, backups, and uptime, not just the visible interface. If none of that applies to you, any pick above saves $120 a year.
Is there a free alternative to Shortcut?
Yes: Plane, OpenProject, Redmine and 2 more. Every tool on this page is either open source or genuinely free to use long-term: no trials, no crippled tiers.
Should I just build my own Shortcut?
Our verdict is KINDA. The core loop is buildable, but a dependable replacement becomes a real weekend or multi-day project. For Shortcut, manage software stories, epics, iterations, roadmaps, and engineering workflows. The hard boundary is git integrations, reporting, collaboration, and mature agile project semantics, plus collaboration, integrations, and organizational trust. If you'd rather build, the exact one-shot prompt is free at canivibecodeit.com/shortcut.
