The best open source alternative to Monday.com
If you are looking for a project management software and compare different solutions, you will eventually stumble upon Monday.com. We took a closer look at the software and compared it with the free open source software OpenProject to provide a comprehensive overview.
Monday.com was founded in February 2012 as daPulse. After various previous big funding rounds, the company raised another $150 million in Series D round, becoming Israel’s New Top Unicorn. Monday.com offers a suite of tools for process management, project management, productivity, and team management. The platform’s features are diverse and continually evolving. But what about data sovereignty?!
OpenProject on the other hand is free and open source software developed by an active community. Originating as a fork of the open source project management software Redmine in 2011 as an open source project, OpenProject emphasizes data security and privacy. The core development team created OpenProject to address these concerns, licensing it under GNU GPL V3 to ensure software freedom. The software code is published on GitHub. OpenProject is continuously developed and actively maintained by an international community.
Let’s talk about data sovereignty
Monday.com is a cloud-based solution available exclusively as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). As a company primarily operating in the United States, the handling of your data is not entirely transparent. Being proprietary software, users are subject to Monday.com’s terms and decisions, creating potential vendor lock-in issues. Here are some excerpts from Monday.com’s terms of service regarding YOUR CUSTOMER DATA:
- “[…]Subject to these Terms, Customer grants us a worldwide, royalty-free, limited license to access, use, process, copy, distribute, perform, export, and display the Customer Data… This license also includes the right to make modifications and derivative works.[…]” [1]
Additionally, Monday.com’s data policies state:
-
Data Location:”[…]Your Personal Data may be maintained, processed, and stored by us and our authorized Service Providers in multiple locations, including the United States.[…]”[2]
-
Data Sharing: “[…]In exceptional circumstances, we may disclose or allow government and law enforcement officials access to your Personal Data.[…]” [2]
What constitutes exceptional circumstances? The ambiguity around terms like “exceptional circumstances” raises real concerns about data privacy.
OpenProject, being open source project management software, can be installed on-premises, providing full control of your data. As an open source software the software code is published on GitHub, being openly monitored by the Community. With a free software, you have the flexibility to use and modify it as needed. The Cloud version is hosted by OpenProject on servers in the European Union, compliant with GDPR and German data privacy and security regulations. For ultimate data sovereignty, you can opt for the on-premises version, maintaining full control within your infrastructure.
Feature comparison
Both Monday.com and OpenProject offer robust collaboration features to meet your project management needs. Monday.com is often praised for its user-friendly design and intuitive interface. However, many of its functionalities rely on third-party integrations, which can introduce dependencies on external updates.
In conclusion, Monday.com is a powerful, web-based project management tool known for its usability and design. However, if data security and sovereignty are top priorities, OpenProject stands out as the preferred choice. As a free and open-source software with a comprehensive feature set, OpenProject ensures greater control over your data.
For a detailed comparison, visit this page to see why OpenProject is the best open source alternative for Monday.com.
