OpenProject

What is OpenProject?

OpenProject is an open-source project management platform developed by OpenProject GmbH in Berlin, Germany since 2012. The product is published under AGPL v3 license as the free Community Edition, with paid Cloud and Enterprise editions offering additional features, hosted infrastructure, and commercial support.

The strongest positioning is data sovereignty and openness. For European organizations subject to GDPR, public sector buyers requiring data residency, defense and intelligence organizations needing air-gapped deployment, and any team that values open-source-first software, OpenProject is one of the leading project management options without sending data to US-based SaaS vendors.

Who OpenProject is built for

OpenProject fits three buyer profiles. First, European mid-market and enterprise organizations needing project management with EU data residency or on-premise deployment. Second, public sector and government agencies (federal, state, municipal) with data sovereignty mandates. Third, engineering and R&D teams running hybrid agile/classic project work who value open-source software for transparency and self-hosting.

Public sector buyers across the EU (especially Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands), defense contractors, universities, and large engineering organizations are common customers. Software development teams that find Jira too engineering-specific and want a broader project management platform also pick OpenProject.

It is less of a fit for marketing or creative teams (Asana or Monday fit better with their visual UI), for small teams under 25 users (the Basic plan minimum), or for organizations comfortable with US-hosted SaaS where Asana, Monday, ClickUp, and others offer broader features at similar pricing.

OpenProject pricing plans

The Community Edition is free under AGPL v3 license. Customers self-host on their own infrastructure with community support via forums and tickets. Paid editions are available as Cloud-hosted (managed by OpenProject GmbH) or On-Premise (self-hosted with commercial license).

Basic at €5.95/user/month adds enterprise add-ons and email support during weekday business hours (Mon-Fri, 9:30-16:00 CET). Professional at €10.95/user/month adds phone support. Premium at €15.95/user/month adds remote hands and installation assistance. Corporate at custom pricing covers 1,000+ users with dedicated support engineer and custom plugin support. BIM (Building Information Modeling) add-on adds €1.00/user/month across paid tiers.

Monthly subscriptions are available at higher rates than annual commitments. 14-day free Cloud trial via start.openproject.com or on-premises trial license through sales for evaluation.

OpenProject core capabilities

Work packages are the spine. Each work package has a type (task, milestone, bug, feature, user story, etc.), assignees, custom fields, status, priority, parent/child relationships, and conversation thread. Custom work package types let teams model their own work taxonomy rather than fitting work into a default schema.

Project structure supports hierarchy (parent projects with subprojects), inheritance of settings, and role-based permissions. Multi-project portfolios show status across the organization with drill-down to individual project detail.

Gantt and Kanban views

Gantt chart view shows the schedule as horizontal bars with dependencies, critical path, and milestones. Drag-and-drop reschedule moves dates with dependency propagation. Baseline comparison tracks schedule changes against original planned dates.

Kanban board view sits alongside the Gantt for teams that prefer card-based workflow. Sprint board supports Scrum agile teams with backlog, velocity, and burndown charts. Mixed teams running hybrid agile/classic project work use both views on the same project.

Time tracking and cost reporting

Time entries log against work packages. Timesheets aggregate by week for review. Cost reporting tracks actual vs budgeted cost across hourly rates, materials, and fixed costs. Budget burn projects to completion based on velocity trends.

For engineering and construction projects where cost tracking is critical, this is one of the differentiators from lighter PM tools that handle time tracking but not project budgets.

BIM add-on for construction

BIM (Building Information Modeling) add-on (+€1.00/user/month) integrates IFC model viewing, BCF issue tracking, and BIM model federation directly into the project workflow. Construction and engineering organizations use it alongside CAD tools like Revit, ArchiCAD, and AutoCAD to manage BIM models within OpenProject project structure.

Integrations

Native integrations cover GitHub, GitLab, BitBucket (linking commits and pull requests to work packages), Nextcloud (document storage with EU residency), Jenkins (CI/CD), Mattermost (open-source chat), Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Excel/CSV import. REST API and webhooks handle custom integrations.

The integration directory is smaller than Asana or Monday's but covers the common engineering and EU public sector stack. For organizations standardized on open-source tooling (Nextcloud, Mattermost, Jenkins, GitLab), the native integrations remove the need for proprietary US-hosted alternatives.

EU data residency and GDPR

OpenProject Cloud is hosted on infrastructure in Frankfurt, Germany with EU data residency by default for all customers. GDPR compliance is built in across all editions. On-Premise deployment gives full data residency in the customer's environment (Windows, Linux, Docker, Kubernetes).

For German federal agencies (BSI grundschutz certified deployment available), French public sector (SecNumCloud-aligned hosting), and other EU public sector buyers, OpenProject is one of the leading project management options.

Wiki and document management

Each project has a built-in wiki for documentation, decisions log, meeting notes, and team knowledge. Wiki pages support markdown, attachments, and version history. Document management uses Nextcloud integration for EU-residency-compliant file storage.

Open-source community

The Community Edition is downloaded 100,000+ times annually. Community contributions extend functionality through plugins and themes. For organizations valuing open-source transparency (auditable code, no vendor lock-in, ability to fork if needed), the AGPL v3 license is the strongest argument.

Mobile and offline

Mobile-responsive web interface works on phones and tablets. There is no dedicated mobile app. Offline mode is limited; most workflows require a connection.

Security and compliance

Cloud deployments use Frankfurt-based infrastructure with ISO 27001 controls. GDPR compliance is built in. On-Premise gives full data residency for organizations with strict requirements. BSI grundschutz-compliant deployment is available for German federal agencies. SSO via SAML, LDAP, and OAuth is supported on Enterprise editions.

OpenProject vs Jira

Jira is the engineering-focused agile project management leader with the largest community and broadest plugin ecosystem. OpenProject is the open-source alternative with broader project management scope (Gantt, cost reporting, BIM) beyond agile-only. Pick Jira for engineering-team agile workflows at scale. Pick OpenProject for hybrid agile/classic project work or for EU data residency.

OpenProject vs Asana and Monday

Asana and Monday are modern cloud work management leaders with strong UI and broad feature sets. OpenProject is open-source with EU hosting and on-premise option. Pick Asana or Monday for cross-functional work management with polished UI. Pick OpenProject for European public sector, engineering, or open-source-first organizations.

OpenProject vs Microsoft Project

Microsoft Project is the legacy enterprise PM tool with deep Gantt and resource leveling. OpenProject is the modern open-source alternative with cleaner UI. Pick MS Project for full Microsoft 365 ecosystem fit. Pick OpenProject for Linux and open-source-first environments or for EU public sector.

OpenProject vs Redmine

Redmine is the older open-source PM tool with a long-running community but less active development. OpenProject is a more modern, actively developed open-source alternative. Pick Redmine for teams already invested in it. Pick OpenProject for fresh open-source PM deployments.

Buyer pitfalls to avoid

Three patterns hurt OpenProject rollouts. First, picking Community Edition without commercial support: self-hosted Community works but requires in-house IT capacity for hosting, upgrades, and troubleshooting. Many organizations underestimate this and end up paying more in IT time than the paid Cloud subscription would cost.

Second, expecting Asana-level UI polish: OpenProject is functional but less visually refined. Teams used to modern SaaS UI may find it dated. Run a UI evaluation during the trial.

Third, treating it as Jira: agile features are solid but not as deep as Jira's. Engineering teams running formal Scrum at large scale may still prefer Jira. OpenProject excels at hybrid project work, not Scrum specialism.

Implementation and time to value

Community Edition: 1-2 weeks for self-hosted installation, configuration, and team training. Cloud Basic: 2-4 weeks for project structure setup, user onboarding, and integration to GitHub or GitLab. Cloud Premium with 100+ users: 4-8 weeks adding SSO, custom workflows, and team change management. Corporate: 3-6 months for 1,000+ user deployments with custom plugins. OpenProject GmbH provides direct customer success on paid editions.

Customer support

Community Edition gets community support via forums and tickets. Basic adds email support (Mon-Fri, 9:30-16:00 CET). Professional adds phone support. Premium adds remote hands and installation assistance. Corporate gets dedicated support engineer and custom plugin support. Documentation is in English and German.

The Bottom Line on OpenProject

OpenProject is the right call for European mid-market and enterprise organizations, public sector buyers, defense contractors, universities, and engineering teams that value open-source software with EU data residency or on-premise deployment.

Standout strengths: free open-source Community Edition under AGPL v3, EU data residency by default on Cloud, on-premise deployment for data sovereignty, hybrid Gantt-plus-Kanban-plus-Sprint board for mixed project styles, BIM add-on for construction and engineering, native open-source integrations (Nextcloud, Mattermost, GitLab), German-built with BSI grundschutz-compliant deployment for federal agencies.

Pricing fits various budgets: Community free (self-hosted), Basic €5.95/user/mo (25+ users), Professional €10.95/user/mo, Premium €15.95/user/mo (100+ users), Corporate custom (1,000+ users). BIM add-on +€1.00/user/mo. Annual billing recommended; monthly available at higher rates.

Trade-offs to weigh: UI is functional but less visually polished than Asana or Monday. Smaller integration directory than US-hosted leaders. No dedicated mobile app. 25-user minimum on paid tiers. Community Edition self-hosting requires IT capacity. Brand presence outside Europe is growing but smaller than US PM leaders.

Alternatives worth comparing: Jira for engineering agile at scale, Asana and Monday for modern cloud work management with polished UI, Microsoft Project for Microsoft 365 ecosystem fit, Redmine for legacy open-source PM, GitLab issue boards for GitLab-shop engineering teams, Plane for lightweight modern open-source PM, ClickUp for all-in-one breadth at lower cost. Pricing and capabilities verified on openproject.org/pricing on 2026-06-27.