Redmine and Lalabase, compared honestly.
For software companies sitting on a grown Redmine instance who want to know what a switch buys them and what it does not.
This page is ours, so it is not neutral. That is why it also states when Redmine stays the better choice, with the same three points we use to talk customers out of switching on the phone.
Guido Boyke, founder
What Redmine does well
GPL licence, no subscription cost, a large plugin ecosystem. For many teams that was the right choice for years.
Redmine runs on your server and your data stays entirely with you. We share that standard, which is why we will not talk it down.
In use for more than 15 years, with dependable basics: tickets, wiki, time tracking, mail intake.
The comparison in detail
The table compares Redmine without plugins. With plugins it can do more, at the price of your own selection, maintenance and update compatibility.
| Feature | Redmine | Lalabase | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tickets and projects | Yes, proven | Yes, with kanban, smart folders and per-project configurable statuses | Lalabase ahead |
| Wiki and docs | Yes | Yes, versioned and searchable with AI | Lalabase ahead |
| Time tracking | Yes, basic | Yes, right on the ticket, with reports and billing of hours | Lalabase ahead |
| AI answers with sources | No | Yes, across tickets, docs, time and client conversations. You choose the provider and jurisdiction, AI is off by default | Lalabase ahead |
| Client access | Possible, you configure the roles yourself | Built in, with dedicated permissions for clients | Lalabase ahead |
| Operations, updates, backups | You do it yourself | We do it: daily backups, updates, security patches | Depends on you |
| GDPR and DPA | You are the operator yourself | DPA included, hosted in Germany | Depends on you |
| Support | Community and forums | Email and phone, directly with the founder | Lalabase ahead |
| Licence cost | None, GPL licensed | Subscription, tiered by team size | Redmine ahead |
| Open source | Yes, you can change anything and run it yourself | No, hosted by us | Redmine ahead |
| Extensions | A large plugin ecosystem, grown over years | No plugins, and so nothing that breaks on update | Redmine ahead |
When Redmine stays the better choice
If your budget is zero and someone on the team takes over operations: updates, backups, security patches, plugin maintenance.
If your data has to stay on your own servers today. Lalabase runs as a cloud hosted in Germany; self-hosting is available from us on request only.
If your workflows depend on specific Redmine plugins that have no replacement elsewhere.
When switching is worth it
If your last upgrade was years ago and you keep putting off the next one, because nobody can say what will stop working afterwards.
If operations rest on one single person, and that person would rather not do it any more.
If clients are meant to work in the system and you have to think twice every time about what they get to see.
If you want to analyse your own project data with AI, asking questions of tickets, wiki, time entries and notes instead of searching through them.
Send us your dump.
Send us a database dump and you will see your own projects in Lalabase before you decide. Not an import wizard but hands-on work by us; which is exactly why you will know afterwards what your data looks like in the new tool.
Send a dumpDatabase export or SQL dump, by mail or link.
By hand, in an environment just for you.
On your own material, and decide afterwards.
Or just have a look yourself.
No migration. Productive in under 5 minutes.