Guidon vs Plane: an alternative that remembers what was tried
Both are self-hostable boards with an MCP server. Guidon adds known dead ends, verified-vs-AI knowledge and an AGENTS.md export.
Checked 2026-11-09. Features change - see Plane's site for theirs. All comparisons
The short answer
Plane is a broad, open-source project tool - cycles, modules, many views and a large community. Guidon is narrower on purpose: a task board that keeps the reasoning and the failed attempts next to each task, and keeps what people verified apart from what AI guessed.
Choose Guidon if
- You work with AI agents and want them to see what already failed before they start
- You want human-verified facts kept apart from AI-written notes
- You want your project context in your repository as AGENTS.md
- You self-host and want every feature without plan limits
Choose Plane if
- You need cycles, modules and many views out of the box
- You want the larger community and ecosystem
At a glance
Guidon is better on 3 of 8 topics below; Plane is better where it says so.
| Topic | Guidon | Plane |
|---|---|---|
| Self-hosting | Docker Compose with plain PostgreSQL; every feature, no plan limits on your own install. | Self-hostable Community Edition; some features are in paid editions. |
| Source code | Open source (AGPL-3.0). | Open source (AGPL-3.0). |
| What was already tried | Better: attempts are part of every task - approach, outcome and why it failed. An agent starting the task gets the dead ends with start_task, and is reminded to record its own. | Not a built-in feature in their docs (as of 2026-11-09); attempts end up in comments, if anywhere. |
| Verified vs AI-guessed knowledge | Better: project memory keeps what a person verified apart from what an AI wrote; anything an agent adds or changes waits in a review queue. | No separate verified-vs-AI status in their docs (as of 2026-11-09). |
| Context in your repository | Better: export the project as AGENTS.md - approved brief, verified facts, known dead ends - for Claude Code, Codex and Cursor. | No AGENTS.md export in their docs (as of 2026-11-09). |
| AI agents (MCP) | MCP server and REST API; works with Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Codex and any MCP client. You bring the AI - no AI credits. | MCP server and its own agents. |
| Planning | Board, roadmap phases, calendar, recurring tasks. | Better: cycles, modules, more views. |
| Community | Young project. | Better: large community and ecosystem. |
Switching from Plane
Export your Plane tasks to CSV and use Import on a Guidon board: titles, descriptions, statuses, priorities, labels, assignees and due dates are matched to your columns, with a preview of anything that doesn't match. Nothing on the board changes until you confirm.
Questions
Can I move from Plane to Guidon?
Yes - Plane's CSV export imports directly, including state, priority, labels, assignees and target dates.
Is Guidon open source like Plane?
Yes - both are AGPL-3.0. Guidon's self-hosted install has every feature, with no paid edition.
More comparisons
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- Guidon vs ClickUp
- Guidon vs Trello
- Guidon vs monday.com
- Guidon vs GitHub Projects
- Guidon vs Codecks
- Guidon vs HacknPlan
Try Guidon free - start a project or explore the sandbox. Self-hosted with every feature: self-hosting guide.