Planning
Planning tools are for planning roadmaps and sprints — the kind of work every indie hacker eventually hits and would rather not build from scratch. 6 tools are listed here, each picked and written up individually rather than pulled from an affiliate feed. Basecamp is usually the first one people try: no sprints, no story points — just to-dos, schedules, and messages in one place for small teams who find Jira exhausting. GitHub Projects takes a different angle — free roadmap and kanban boards that live right next to your code and PRs — the obvious pick if you're already on GitHub. And Linear is worth a look too: the roadmap and sprint tool most fast-moving startups reach for first — fast, opinionated, and allergic to Jira-style bloat. Every listing below includes the actual tradeoff, not marketing copy, so you can pick based on what you're building instead of what ranks highest in a sponsored roundup elsewhere.
No sprints, no story points — just to-dos, schedules, and messages in one place for small teams who find Jira exhausting.
Free roadmap and kanban boards that live right next to your code and PRs — the obvious pick if you're already on GitHub.
The roadmap and sprint tool most fast-moving startups reach for first — fast, opinionated, and allergic to Jira-style bloat.
Open-source, self-hostable answer to Linear — pick it if you want roadmaps and cycles without handing your data to anyone.
Purpose-built for software teams doing sprint planning — less flashy than Linear, but it's been quietly solid for years.
The simplest kanban board there is — drag cards, done. Still the fastest way to plan a small project without any setup.