Focalboard
Height
| Feature | Focalboard | Height |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free only | Free / from $8.5/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4 / 5 | 4.3 / 5 |
| Best For | self-hosters, mattermost-users, small-teams, open-source-advocates | engineering-teams, product-teams, startups, ai-forward-teams |
| Founded | 2021 | 2019 |
| Kanban Boards | ✓ | ✗ |
| Table View | ✓ | ✗ |
| Calendar View | ✓ | ✗ |
| Templates | ✓ | ✗ |
| Filters | ✓ | ✗ |
| Self Hosting | ✓ | ✗ |
| Ai Agents | ✗ | ✓ |
| Cross Project Views | ✗ | ✓ |
| Lists And Boards | ✗ | ✓ |
| Forms | ✗ | ✓ |
| Automations | ✗ | ✓ |
| Integrations | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Focalboard Pros
- Completely free and open-source
- Self-hostable for data control
- Multiple view types (board, table, gallery)
- Integrates with Mattermost
✗ Focalboard Cons
- Limited to basic project tracking
- No built-in time tracking
- Smaller community than alternatives
✓ Height Pros
- AI automates repetitive PM tasks
- Cross-project task management
- Beautiful modern interface
- Spreadsheet-like batch editing
✗ Height Cons
- Newer tool with smaller community
- AI features can over-categorize
- Limited reporting depth
The Verdict
Focalboard is built for self hosters and mattermost users, with a focus on kanban-boards and table-view. Height targets engineering teams and product teams and leads with ai-agents and cross-project-views.
Focalboard uses custom enterprise pricing, while Height starts at $8.5/mo — a tangible advantage for teams with a fixed budget.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Bottom line: Height has a slight overall edge — but if completely free and open-source matters most to you, Focalboard may still be the right call.