Taiga

Taiga is an open-source agile project management platform developed by Kaleidos Ventures in Madrid, Spain. Unlike many project management tools that feel utilitarian and complex, Taiga was designed with user experience as a primary focus, resulting in a beautiful and intuitive interface that makes agile project management a pleasure. The platform supports both Scrum and Kanban methodologies and is used by thousands of teams worldwide.

Spanish Roots and Open Source Values

Taiga was born in Spain's thriving tech scene, developed by Kaleidos Ventures, a company known for its commitment to open-source software and design excellence. The project launched with a successful Kickstarter campaign that demonstrated strong community support for an open-source alternative to proprietary project management tools. This community-driven origin continues to influence Taiga's development philosophy.

As a Spanish company operating within the EU, Taiga is subject to GDPR and European data protection laws. For organizations using the cloud-hosted version, data is stored within Europe. For those requiring complete control, the open-source nature allows self-hosting on any infrastructure, including EU-based cloud providers.

Beautiful Design and User Experience

Taiga stands out in the project management space for its exceptional design. The interface is clean, modern, and intuitive, with thoughtful animations and a color palette that makes working with the tool enjoyable. This attention to design isn't just aesthetic - it translates into better usability and faster onboarding for team members.

The platform uses a card-based interface that feels natural for agile workflows. Drag-and-drop functionality makes it easy to move tasks between columns, prioritize backlogs, and manage sprints. The design scales well from small team projects to complex enterprise implementations.

Full Agile Support: Scrum and Kanban

Taiga provides comprehensive support for both Scrum and Kanban methodologies. For Scrum teams, the platform offers backlog management with user stories and story points, sprint planning with capacity tracking, burndown charts and velocity metrics, and retrospective tools. You can create epics to group related user stories and track progress across multiple sprints.

For Kanban teams, Taiga provides flexible board customization with swim lanes and WIP limits. The same beautiful interface adapts to Kanban workflows, making it easy to visualize work in progress and identify bottlenecks. Teams can also combine approaches, using Scrum for development work and Kanban for support or operations.

Issues and Bug Tracking

Beyond agile project management, Taiga includes a robust issue tracking system. Issues can be categorized by type (bug, enhancement, question, etc.), priority, and severity. They can be linked to user stories or exist independently, making Taiga suitable for managing both planned development and incoming support requests.

The issue tracker includes commenting, attachments, and activity history. Integration with version control systems allows linking issues to commits and branches, providing traceability from bug report to code fix.

Wiki and Documentation

Each Taiga project includes a built-in wiki for team documentation. The wiki supports Markdown formatting and allows teams to maintain project documentation, onboarding guides, and knowledge bases alongside their work items. This reduces the need for separate documentation tools and keeps information close to where work happens.

Open Source and Self-Hosting

Taiga is released under the Mozilla Public License 2.0, making it free to use, modify, and self-host. The codebase is available on GitHub, where an active community contributes improvements and plugins. Self-hosting is well-documented, with Docker containers making deployment straightforward.

For organizations that want the benefits of Taiga without managing infrastructure, the cloud-hosted version provides a hassle-free option with automatic updates and European data hosting. The pricing is competitive, starting at 5 euros per user per month.

Integrations and API

Taiga provides a REST API that allows integration with other tools and custom workflows. Native integrations exist for GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket, enabling automatic linking between code commits and Taiga tasks. Webhooks allow triggering actions in other systems when events occur in Taiga.

The import/export functionality makes it relatively straightforward to migrate from other tools like Trello, Jira, or Asana. This lowers the barrier to adoption for teams switching from other platforms.

Pricing Structure

Taiga's pricing reflects its open-source philosophy. Self-hosting is completely free with no user limits or feature restrictions. For the cloud-hosted version, pricing starts at 5 euros per user per month, which includes all features and European data hosting. There are no artificial feature tiers or enterprise gatekeeping.

For open-source projects and non-profits, Taiga offers free cloud hosting, making it accessible to organizations that might not have budget for project management tools.

Limitations to Consider

Taiga is focused on agile project management, so it may not be the best fit for teams doing traditional waterfall project management or those needing Gantt charts (though plugins exist). The platform is designed for software development and similar creative work; teams in construction or manufacturing might find OpenProject a better fit.

Some advanced enterprise features like SSO and audit logs are only available in the cloud version. Self-hosted installations require technical expertise to set up and maintain, though Docker simplifies deployment significantly.

Who Should Use Taiga

Taiga is ideal for software development teams using Scrum or Kanban who want a beautiful, intuitive tool that doesn't require extensive training. It's also excellent for organizations that prioritize open-source software and want control over their data. Startups and small teams appreciate the free self-hosted option, while larger organizations benefit from the affordable cloud hosting with EU data residency.