Focalboard
Windmill
| Feature | Focalboard | Windmill |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free only | Free / from $10/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4 / 5 | 4.4 / 5 |
| Best For | self-hosters, mattermost-users, small-teams, open-source-advocates | developers, devops-teams, internal-tools, data-pipelines |
| Founded | 2021 | 2022 |
| Kanban Boards | ✓ | ✗ |
| Table View | ✓ | ✗ |
| Calendar View | ✓ | ✗ |
| Templates | ✓ | ✗ |
| Filters | ✓ | ✗ |
| Self Hosting | ✓ | ✗ |
| Workflow Editor | ✗ | ✓ |
| Script To Ui | ✗ | ✓ |
| Scheduling | ✗ | ✓ |
| Approval Flows | ✗ | ✓ |
| Multi Language | ✗ | ✓ |
| Self Hostable | ✗ | ✓ |
| Audit Logs | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ 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
✓ Windmill Pros
- Open-source and self-hostable
- Supports Python, TypeScript, Go, Bash, SQL natively
- Auto-generates UI from script parameters
- Excellent scheduling and workflow orchestration
✗ Windmill Cons
- Smaller community than Zapier/n8n
- Self-hosting requires infrastructure knowledge
- Less polished documentation for beginners
The Verdict
Focalboard is built for self hosters and mattermost users, with a focus on kanban-boards and table-view. Windmill targets developers and devops teams and leads with workflow-editor and script-to-ui.
Focalboard uses custom enterprise pricing, while Windmill starts at $10/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.
Windmill edges out on user ratings (4.4 vs 4). While both are well-regarded, that gap reflects real differences in user satisfaction worth considering.
Feature-wise, Windmill offers broader built-in capabilities (7 features vs 6), while Focalboard takes a more focused approach — which can mean a simpler, faster onboarding experience.
Bottom line: Windmill has a slight overall edge — but if completely free and open-source matters most to you, Focalboard may still be the right call.