Plane vs Proofyard
A Plane alternative for web design agencies
Plane is an open-source project tool with cycles, modules, a wiki, AI agents and self-hosting, at a lower price than ours. Proofyard is narrower: a production board where a client site goes from brief to launch in phases, the client approves in their own area, notes are pinned on designs and live sites, and Claude works the board while a person decides.
Free for 14 days, no credit card needed.
By Ali Demirci, Woofocus. Plane's pages read on 18 October 2026.
The short answer
Which one fits your agency
Pick Plane if you want an open-source tool you can self-host, you plan work in cycles and modules, you need importers and integrations such as GitHub, GitLab and Slack, or you want the lowest price: free for up to 12 users, then $6 a seat a month billed yearly. It is also the safer choice on size and track record.
Pick Proofyard if most of your work is client websites and you want the agency steps in the tool itself: phases from brief to launch, approvals that clients give in their own area with the design beside them, notes pinned on Claude Design boards and live sites, and Claude doing the connecting work while a person approves. You pay per team member, and clients are free.
We have not run Woofocus's client work in Plane. What follows about Plane comes from its own pages, docs and GitHub repository, read on the date above, and where those pages disagree with each other we say so. The agency side is what we know first-hand; our years with Asana and BugHerd are in the other two comparisons.
At a glance
Plane and Proofyard, feature by feature
From Plane's own pages, docs and repository, read on the date above, and from our app as it is today. Plane's pages do not always agree (whether time tracking starts on Pro or Business, for example, or whether AI is on every plan); we followed its pricing page and docs. Marks are short; the note beside each says what we mean.
| Feature | Plane | Proofyard |
|---|---|---|
| Planning the work | ||
| Phases that follow how a site is built | States you name yourself; moving between them under rules needs Business | A workflow per project, with a person, a checklist and a gate on each phase |
| List and board views | List, Board, Table and Calendar layouts | Yes |
| Calendar and Gantt views | Calendar layout; Gantt in saved views | Workload by day, week or month instead |
| Cycles and modules | Cycles are time-boxed sprints with burn-down; modules are smaller projects | No |
| Epics and initiatives | Pro and up | No |
| Wiki and pages | Project and wiki pages with version history; nested pages on Business | Flat studio pages that Claude can read; no nesting |
| Workload by person | Workload widgets on dashboards; a capacity view for teams is listed as coming next | A timeline per person, project or client, with capacity and Rebalance |
| Time tracking | Manual Log work entries, no timer; Pro and up | A Toggl Track button on a task; no built-in timer |
| Repeating tasks | Business and up | Yes |
| Working with clients | ||
| A client sees only their own work | Guests submit and follow their own requests; a Commenter can view every work item in the project | A client area shows only what you share |
| The client approves a design | No client approval step on its pages; approvals are part of Enterprise Grid workflows | Approve or Request changes in the client area or a review link, kept with the design version |
| Requests from outside the team | In-app intake on every plan; forms and email intake on Business | A support inbox, in early access |
| Free seats for clients | Five guests for each paid seat, pooled | Clients and reviewers are free |
| Design and site feedback | ||
| Pin a note on a live site | No pinned comments found; comments belong to work items | One script tag; each note keeps the page, device and a screenshot |
| Feedback on Claude Design boards | No | Each import is a version; clients pin from a review link |
| AI and tools | ||
| AI in the tool | Plane AI with Ask, Build and Autopilot modes; credits per seat on Pro and Business | Suggestions across the board, and Claude from any page |
| AI agents in the workspace | Agents triggered by a mention, an assignment, an event or the clock; Pro and up | Cowork, QA, Memory Expert and Skill Expert agents |
| MCP server | Open source, 30 tools and 207 actions; works with Claude Desktop, claude.ai and Claude Code | claude.ai, Claude Code and Cowork |
| Public API | 60 requests a minute per key | MCP is the only programmatic door |
| Import from other tools | Asana, ClickUp, Confluence, Jira, Linear and Notion; cloud and Commercial Edition | Asana, one project at a time; BugHerd's CSV for feedback |
| GitHub, GitLab and Sentry | Pro and up | No |
| Slack | Pro and up | Your Inbox reaches your Slack direct messages when an admin adds it |
| Export | Work items as CSV, Excel or JSON | A project's tasks as CSV; feedback as CSV, Excel, JSON or PDF |
| Hosting and security | ||
| Open source | AGPL-3.0 | No |
| Self-hosting | Docker Compose, Kubernetes and more | Cloud only |
| Single sign-on | SAML and OIDC on Business; LDAP and group sync on Enterprise | No |
| Compliance reports | SOC 2 and ISO 27001, per its security and healthcare pages | Not yet; our first line of code was written in October 2026 |
| Where the data lives | US by default, EU on request | Frankfurt, EU |
| Phones | ||
| Mobile apps | iOS and Android on every plan, plus a desktop app | Installs from the browser as an app, with notifications; not in the app stores |
Pricing
What a year costs, at list price
Plane is cheaper at every team size. Its Free plan covers up to 12 users, guests and pending invites included; Pro is $6 a seat a month billed yearly and Business $13. Only admins and members are billed, and guests are free, five for each paid seat. Proofyard costs $12 per team member a month billed yearly, with the whole board and Claude's AI credits included, and clients are free.
| Team | Plane Pro, yearly | Plane Business, yearly | Proofyard, yearly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 people | $216 | $468 | $432 |
| 5 people | $360 | $780 | $720 |
| 8 people | $576 | $1,248 | $1,152 |
| 10 people | $720 | $1,560 | $1,440 |
| 15 people | $1,080 | $2,340 | $2,160 |
| 25 people | $1,800 | $3,900 | $3,600 |
- Plane: Free for up to 12 users, Pro $6 a seat a month billed yearly ($8 monthly), Business $13 ($15 monthly). Enterprise Grid is by quote. New cloud workspaces start on a 14-day Business trial with no card.
- On Plane, time tracking and AI agents start at Pro; intake forms, intake email, a workflow with transitions and SSO start at Business. AI credits are 500 a seat a month on Pro and 1000 on Business.
- Five people on Plane Business pay $780 a year at list price, more than the $720 for Proofyard, so the Business features are not the cheap route either.
- Proofyard has no free plan: 14 days free with no card, then one price per team member.
What is different
Where the agency work goes
- 01
Phases that follow how a site is built
Each project runs in phases from brief to launch: brief, copy, design, approval, changes, build, testing. A phase can carry a default person, a checklist and a gate, such as an approval before the build starts. Plane's unit is the cycle, a time-boxed sprint with a burn-down chart, which fits a team shipping on a rhythm more naturally than a site with one launch date.
See how it works
- 02
The client approves, and it is on record
A client sees what waits for them with the design beside it, and presses Approve or Request changes. The answer is recorded with the design version and moves the task to its next phase. Clients are free in both tools; in Plane a guest can send and follow their own requests, and we found no client approval step on its pages.
See how it works
- 03
Notes pinned on designs and live sites
Clients pin notes on Claude Design boards from a review link, and on the staging or live site through one script tag. Each note keeps the page, the device and a screenshot, and lands on the project's Feedback board. We found nothing like it on Plane's pages: comments there belong to work items, and inline comments belong to pages.
See how it works
- 04
Claude works the board; a person decides
Claude suggests who, when and how urgent, drafts what it can and works the queue people hand it, through a connector from claude.ai, Claude Code or Cowork. It never approves, publishes or emails a client. Plane has serious AI too, listed below the screenshot.
See how it works
In Plane
- Plane AI answers in Ask mode, acts after you confirm in Build mode and executes straight away in Autopilot.
- Agents can be triggered by a mention, an assignment, an event or the clock, and since 30 September 2026 they can use skills, memory and MCP tools (Pro).
- An open-source MCP server under the MIT licence, with 30 tools and 207 actions, works with Claude Desktop, claude.ai and Claude Code.
- Intake forms and intake email let people outside the team send requests without a login (Business).
The screenshots are from the app with sample data: Acme, Maya and the team are made up.
To be fair
Where Plane is the better choice
We build Proofyard, so weigh this with that in mind. These come from Plane's own pages and its repository.
Price
Free for up to 12 users, then $6 a seat a month billed yearly. Guests cost nothing. Five people pay $360 a year for Pro, against $720 for Proofyard.
Open source and self-hosting
The Community Edition is AGPL v3.0 and free to self-host with no seat limits. Plane's repository had 61.1k stars on 18 October 2026. Ours is closed source and cloud only, hosted in Frankfurt.
Cycles, modules and wider views
If you ship in sprints, Plane has cycles with burn-down, modules, epics, initiatives, and calendar and Gantt views. We have none of these.
Importers, integrations and an API
Plane imports from Asana, ClickUp, Confluence, Jira, Linear and Notion, connects to GitHub, GitLab, Sentry and Slack, and has a public API. We import from Asana only and have no public API.
Security and compliance
Plane lists SOC 2 and ISO 27001, SSO with SAML and OIDC on Business, and audit logs since July 2026. We have optional two-factor sign-in and none of these.
Mobile apps
Plane has native iOS and Android apps and a desktop app. Ours installs from the browser.
Track record
Plane's home page names customers such as Sony, Aramco and Accenture. Our first line of code was written in October 2026.
Trying it
Run one client project next to Plane
- 1
Pick a client project that is just starting
Moving a running project is the hard part, and we import from Asana only. A new site is an easy test.
- 2
Keep Plane for what it does well
If a product or development team ships in sprints, leave that in Plane. Use Proofyard for the client's brief, designs, approvals and notes.
- 3
Count the emails after the first launch
Count the approvals and notes you did not have to chase by email, and decide from that.
Questions
Plane alternative
Is Plane free?
Plane has a Free cloud plan for up to 12 users, guests and pending invites included, and a free self-hosted Community Edition under AGPL v3.0. Paid cloud plans start at $6 a seat a month billed yearly. Proofyard has no free plan: 14 days free, no card.
Can Plane do client approvals?
Not as a client feature we could find. Guests can submit and follow their own requests, a Commenter can view work items and comment, and approvals appear in Enterprise Grid workflows. In Proofyard the client area has Approve and Request changes, kept with the design version.
Does Plane have an MCP server for Claude?
Yes: an open-source MCP server under the MIT licence with 30 tools and 207 actions, hosted at mcp.plane.so with OAuth, that works with Claude Desktop, claude.ai and Claude Code. Proofyard's connector works with claude.ai, Claude Code and Cowork.
Is Plane good for agencies?
Plane's own blog post on agencies (30 May 2024, updated 12 February 2026) suggests one workspace per client, guests for clients and publishing for feedback. That is a way to use it for client work; we found no pinned feedback on designs or sites and no client approval step.
Can I self-host Proofyard?
No. It is cloud only, hosted in Frankfurt. If you need to run your own tool on your own servers, Plane is the better choice.
Can I import my Plane projects?
Not directly. We import from Asana, one project at a time. Plane exports work items as CSV, Excel and JSON, but we have no importer for those files.
Who makes it
Made by Woofocus, a web studio, for its own work first
Woofocus has built and looked after client websites since 2010. We made Proofyard because our own production was spread across a task tool, a feedback tool and long chat threads, and we are moving our studio's work into it now. Any agency can open its own workspace.
Ali Demirci
Founder of Woofocus
Ali has designed, built and looked after client websites since 2010 and runs Woofocus, a small web studio. Proofyard is the board he built to run Woofocus's own production after years of carrying work between Asana, BugHerd and chat.
- 4.99/5rating on Codeable across 219 projects for 74 clientsSource: Codeable profile, October 2026
- Since 2010building and looking after client websitesSource: woofocus.com
- ~7,000tasks in our own Asana workspace, the work Proofyard was built to runSource: Woofocus Asana workspace, read 3 October 2026
“Communication was always clear and timely, making it easy to stay aligned on progress.”
“Ali delivered on time and worked tirelessly with us to make sure that we were satisfied.”
Sources
Where every Plane fact comes from
- Plane pricing, 18 October 2026
- Plane docs: billing and plans, 18 October 2026
- Plane docs: member roles and guests, 18 October 2026
- Plane docs: Plane AI credits, 18 October 2026
- Plane docs: Plane AI, 18 October 2026
- Plane docs: agents, 18 October 2026
- Plane developer docs: the MCP server, 18 October 2026
- Plane docs: intake forms, 18 October 2026
- Plane docs: workflows, 18 October 2026
- Plane docs: time tracking, 18 October 2026
- Plane docs: single sign-on, 18 October 2026
- Plane marketplace, 18 October 2026
- Plane docs: importers, 18 October 2026
- Plane docs: export, 18 October 2026
- Plane developer docs: editions and versions, 18 October 2026
- Plane on GitHub (stars, licence), 18 October 2026
- Plane security, 18 October 2026
- Plane for healthcare (compliance wording), 18 October 2026
- Plane docs: mobile apps, 18 October 2026
- Plane blog: marketing and design agencies, 18 October 2026
- Plane homepage, 18 October 2026
Our side: the app as built on 18 October 2026; screenshots use sample data.
Try it on your next client site
Open a workspace and start one new client project. 14 days free, no card.
Proofyard is not affiliated with Plane. Plane is a trademark of its owner. Facts about Plane were read from its own pages on 18 October 2026 and may have changed since.