Leantime
✓ Verified by EU AltsOpen-source project management system for non-project managers — a lean alternative to Asana.
Overview
Leantime is a Hamburg, Germany-based European company building open source and project management software since 2019. Despite its EU base, EU Alts has verified that Leantime independently owned, with its ultimate ownership based in United States, and hosts customer data with Amazon Web Services (AWS), so it may still fall under the reach of the US CLOUD Act — worth weighing against well-known US incumbents on this specific point.
Why European teams pick Leantime
Teams in Europe still consider Leantime for its open source product and Germany presence, operating since 2019, but unlike a fully EU-owned provider, Leantime independently owned, with its ultimate ownership based in United States, and hosts customer data with Amazon Web Services (AWS) — so it does not fully avoid US CLOUD Act exposure the way some other alternatives to well-known US incumbents do.
See more EU open source tools or browse other startups from Germany.
About
Leantime is a German open-source project management platform designed for startups and non-project-manager teams, incorporating lean methodology into its workflow. It covers strategic planning, idea management (ideation board), project roadmaps, Kanban boards, time tracking, and retrospectives — all in one self-hosted tool. Leantime is available under the AGPL licence and can be deployed on any EU server. Its strategic planning features — OKR tracking and lean canvas integration — differentiate it from standard Kanban tools and make it particularly useful for early-stage product teams. Leantime offers a hosted cloud version on EU infrastructure as well.
Details
- Founded
- 2019
- Headquarters
- Hamburg, Germany
- Ownership
- Independently owned (United States)
- Hosting
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- CLOUD Act
- Exposed
Categories
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Frequently asked questions
What is Leantime?
Leantime is a German open-source project management platform designed for startups and non-project-manager teams, incorporating lean methodology into its workflow. It covers strategic planning, idea management (ideation board), project roadmaps, Kanban boards, time tracking, and retrospectives — all in one self-hosted tool. Leantime is available under the AGPL licence and can be deployed on any EU server. Its strategic planning features — OKR tracking and lean canvas integration — differentiate it from standard Kanban tools and make it particularly useful for early-stage product teams. Leantime offers a hosted cloud version on EU infrastructure as well.
What does Leantime do?
Leantime is open-source project management system for non-project managers — a lean alternative to asana. It is listed under open source and project management on EU Alts because its core functionality serves teams looking for a European open source tool with EU data residency, typically as a switch away from well-known US incumbents.
Is Leantime a good European open source alternative?
Leantime is a fit for European businesses evaluating open source options where data residency and GDPR alignment matter — typical buyers include EU-based SaaS teams, public-sector projects, regulated industries (healthcare, finance, legal), and any organisation that needs to demonstrate that customer data does not leave the EU. It also overlaps with project management use cases.
Is Leantime GDPR compliant?
Leantime is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany and processes user data under the GDPR by default. Customer data processing is supervised by Germany's data protection authority, the Bundesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit (BfDI). However, EU Alts has verified that Leantime independently owned, with its ultimate ownership based in United States, and hosts customer data with Amazon Web Services (AWS), which means — unlike a fully EU-owned provider — it may still be reachable under the US CLOUD Act, similar to well-known US incumbents in that respect.
How do teams switch from well-known US incumbents to Leantime?
Teams evaluating a move from well-known US incumbents to Leantime should note: Leantime independently owned, with its ultimate ownership based in United States, and hosts customer data with Amazon Web Services (AWS), so this switch narrows but may not fully close the US CLOUD Act gap. Weigh that against the open source workflow fit before treating it as a complete Schrems II fix.
Where is Leantime based?
Leantime is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. The company was founded in 2019. Its main website is https://leantime.io.