{
"id": "plaky-vs-plane",
"ids": [
"plaky",
"plane"
],
"title": "Plaky vs Plane: free team size, private boards and project workflows",
"kicker": "SOFTWARE BUYING DECISIONS",
"heading": "Plaky vs Plane:
free team size, private boards and project workflows",
"deck": "Compare Plaky and Plane for hosted free access, user and guest limits, private work areas, activity history and paid workflow tools.",
"description": "Compare Plaky and Plane for hosted free access, user and guest limits, private work areas, activity history and paid workflow tools.",
"answerHeading": "Start with the workload.
Price the retained plan.",
"answer": "Plaky suits a team starting with shared task boards and broad free participation. Plane combines work items, cycles and project documentation, but its hosted Free tier has a 12-seat boundary. Start with the actual participants, privacy requirements and records the team needs to retain, then test the package that continues after evaluation.",
"researchTag": "Plaky / Plane",
"researchLimit": "Illustrative buying briefs and capacity arithmetic, not a measured product trial or performance ranking.",
"checkedAt": "2026-10-15",
"type": "workflow-buying",
"rows": [
[
"Work organisation",
"Boards, items and custom fields",
"Work items, cycles, modules and project pages"
],
[
"Hosted free people",
"Unlimited users",
"Up to 12 seats, including guests and pending invitations"
],
[
"Structured work",
"Free boards have six fields",
"Work items and project documentation; verify required field configuration"
],
[
"Private work requirement",
"Private boards and views require Pro or Enterprise",
"Demonstrate the intended project access in the retained package"
],
[
"History and reporting",
"Free activity history is seven days",
"Check required activity history and report retention in the selected edition"
],
[
"Paid workflow step",
"Pro lists 1,000 monthly automation actions",
"Pro adds time tracking; recurring work items and intake are Business"
],
[
"Trial and self-hosting",
"Free hosted package; paid features have separate scope",
"Opening Business trial is separate from retained Free; self-hosted editions also exist"
]
],
"scenarios": [
{
"name": "Fifteen colleagues need a shared board",
"question": "Does hosted Free fit the whole team?",
"left": "Unlimited Free users do not impose a 15-person ceiling.",
"right": "Fifteen people exceed the 12-seat hosted Free cap.",
"note": "The required workflow still needs to fit; people capacity does not establish feature fit."
},
{
"name": "Eight staff, four guests and two invitations",
"question": "Which participants count?",
"left": "Check the actual roles and board visibility; Free has no user-count cap.",
"right": "Fourteen seats exceed Free because guests and pending invitations count.",
"note": "Count invitations before rollout, not just active employees."
},
{
"name": "A client project must stay private",
"question": "What needs a paid edition or demonstration?",
"left": "Private boards and views require Pro or Enterprise.",
"right": "Demonstrate the exact private-project and guest permissions in the intended plan.",
"note": "A workspace-wide board and a client-isolated area are different privacy requirements."
},
{
"name": "The team needs recurring work and time records",
"question": "Which retained plan should be tested?",
"left": "Confirm the automation and time-recording workflow rather than assuming a task board includes it.",
"right": "Time tracking starts in Pro; recurring work items are Business.",
"note": "End or downgrade the trial before accepting the ongoing package."
}
],
"exampleTable": {
"caption": "Four hypothetical buying briefs; plan capacity does not measure performance",
"headers": [
"Buying brief",
"Plaky",
"Plane"
],
"rows": [
[
"Fifteen colleagues need a shared board",
"Unlimited Free users do not impose a 15-person ceiling.",
"Fifteen people exceed the 12-seat hosted Free cap."
],
[
"Eight staff, four guests and two invitations",
"Check the actual roles and board visibility; Free has no user-count cap.",
"Fourteen seats exceed Free because guests and pending invitations count."
],
[
"A client project must stay private",
"Private boards and views require Pro or Enterprise.",
"Demonstrate the exact private-project and guest permissions in the intended plan."
],
[
"The team needs recurring work and time records",
"Confirm the automation and time-recording workflow rather than assuming a task board includes it.",
"Time tracking starts in Pro; recurring work items are Business."
]
]
},
"sections": [
{
"id": "participants",
"navLabel": "Count every participant and the intended access",
"title": "Count every participant and the intended access",
"paragraphs": [
"Write a role list that includes staff, occasional clients, reviewers and people still waiting to accept invitations. Match each role to the product’s seat definition. A workspace that appears to have eight employees can still exceed a free seat cap once other participants are included.",
"Next describe which records each role may see. Use a synthetic client and a second project to check isolation. For Plaky, price private boards explicitly. For Plane, verify the intended project and guest permissions on the retained plan instead of assuming the opening trial defines free access."
]
},
{
"id": "retention",
"navLabel": "Keep the required history with the workflow",
"title": "Keep the required history with the workflow",
"paragraphs": [
"Choose a real management question: who changed the delivery date last month, which tasks repeat and how much effort was recorded? Establish the retention and reporting needed to answer it. A seven-day activity window cannot answer every longer-term audit question.",
"During an authorised evaluation, create a change, find its history, record effort and configure one recurring item. Then recheck the continuing edition. Keep the actual paid tier, participant count and automation usage in the purchase brief so a working trial does not hide the retained subscription boundary."
]
}
],
"faqs": [
{
"question": "Can Plane Free support fifteen team members?",
"answer": "No. Its hosted Free tier permits up to 12 seats, including guests and pending invitations. A fifteen-person workspace needs a different arrangement."
},
{
"question": "Are private boards included in Plaky Free?",
"answer": "No. Plaky places private boards and views in paid Pro or Enterprise."
},
{
"question": "Is Plane’s opening Business trial the same as its free package?",
"answer": "No. New cloud workspaces receive a temporary Business trial; the retained Free tier has its own seat and feature limits."
}
],
"sources": [
{
"url": "https://plaky.com/pricing",
"facts": "Free fields/history/upload limits, paid private boards and automation allowance."
},
{
"url": "https://plaky.com/help/administration/billing/plaky-subscription-plans-and-extra-features/",
"facts": "Unlimited hosted Free users and paid private work areas."
},
{
"url": "https://plane.so/pricing",
"facts": "Project workflows, time tracking and recurring-work edition scope."
},
{
"url": "https://docs.plane.so/workspaces-and-users/billing-and-plans",
"facts": "Free seat counting, guests, invitations and opening Business trial."
}
],
"relatedLinks": [
{
"path": "/categories/project-management/",
"title": "Explore project management software"
},
{
"path": "/guides/project-management-trial/",
"title": "Plan the next buying step"
}
],
"datasetDescription": "Compare Plaky and Plane for hosted free access, user and guest limits, private work areas, activity history and paid workflow tools. Seven plan and workflow differences plus four hypothetical buying briefs, with dated limits and explicit assumptions."
}