Let's be honest: task management in a lot of SMBs is still a mix of forwarded emails saying "can you take care of this?", Excel lists that are never up to date, and sticky notes that fall behind the monitor.
Some teams have adopted Trello. It works well, until the day you realize the free plan is limited to 10 boards, attachments can't exceed 10 MB, and the paid version costs between $5 and $10 USD per person per month. For a team of 15, that's between $1,000 and $2,000 USD a year. For Kanban cards.
If your organization already uses Nextcloud, there's a built-in app that does exactly this. No extra cost, no external account, and no project data passing through American servers.
What is Nextcloud Deck?
Deck is a Kanban app built into Nextcloud. You create boards, define columns (lists), and place cards that represent tasks or items to track. It's the same principle as Trello, Planka, or a physical board with sticky notes: you drag cards from left to right as work progresses.
The app is available for free in the Nextcloud App Store and can be activated with one click from the admin panel. It's part of Nextcloud's Groupware suite, alongside the calendar and contacts.
What sets Deck apart is its native integration with the rest of the Nextcloud ecosystem. It's not an isolated tool: it's a module that lives in the same environment as your files, your calendar, and your conversations.
What you can do with a card
A Deck card is more than a digital sticky note. Here's what you can put in it:
Markdown description: rich text with headings, lists, links, and even code. Enough to document a task without opening another document.
Due date: a deadline that shows up directly in the assigned person's Nextcloud calendar. No need to create a separate reminder.
Assignment: assign the card to one or more board members. Everyone sees their cards in their Nextcloud activity feed.
Color labels: for categorizing (priority, task type, department). One glance at the board and you see the breakdown.
Checklists: checkboxes right inside the card. Handy for tasks with multiple steps.
Attachments: you can attach files directly from Nextcloud. No artificial size limit: it's your server, your rules.
Comments: a discussion thread built into each card. The history stays attached to the task, not lost in an email chain.
The integration that changes everything
Deck's real strength isn't the Kanban itself: it's that everything is connected to the rest of Nextcloud. Specifically:
Calendar: card due dates automatically appear in the Nextcloud calendar. If you sync your calendar to your phone (via CalDAV), your Deck tasks show up there too. No double entry.
Files: you attach a Nextcloud file to a card in two clicks. The file stays in its place in the file tree, but is also accessible directly from the task. When someone updates the file, the card always points to the latest version.
Nextcloud Talk: from a Talk conversation, you can turn a message into a Deck card. The idea discussed in a meeting becomes a concrete task in one click, assigned to the right person, with a due date.
Activity feed: all card changes appear in the activity feed. You see who did what, when, without digging through each board.
REST API: for more technical teams, Deck exposes a full API. You can create cards automatically from a form, a script, or an automation tool like n8n.
This integration is what makes the difference with an external tool. With Trello, your tasks live in a silo. With Deck, they're part of the same environment as your files and your calendar.
What it replaces
Deck doesn't claim to replace a full project management tool like Odoo Projects or Microsoft Project. It's not a Gantt chart or a resource management tool. But for the most common use cases in an SMB, it covers the need:
| Current practice | With Deck |
|---|---|
| Task list in a shared Excel file | Kanban board with columns, assignments, and due dates |
| Sticky notes on a wall or a monitor | Digital cards accessible from anywhere, even on mobile |
| Emails saying "can you take care of this?" | Assigned card with comments and built-in tracking |
| Trello (free or Standard plan) | Same Kanban concept, no artificial limits, data stays with you |
| Whiteboard with colored magnets | Labels, filters, change history |
The comparison with Trello
Let's be honest: Trello is still an excellent tool. The interface is more polished, Power-Ups offer integrations with dozens of services, and the mobile experience is superior. But when you compare with a Quebec SMB context in mind:
| Criteria | Nextcloud Deck | Trello |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Included in Nextcloud ($0) | Limited free / $5-10 USD per user per month |
| Hosting | Self-hosted (Quebec) | Atlassian Cloud (USA) |
| Board limit | Unlimited | 10 on free, unlimited on paid |
| Attachments | Nextcloud files (no artificial limit) | 10 MB on free, 250 MB on paid |
| Calendar integration | Native (CalDAV) | Power-Up required |
| File integration | Native (same platform) | Via Google Drive / Dropbox |
| Interface | Functional, clean | Polished, intuitive |
| Advanced views (Gantt, Timeline) | No | Premium only ($10 USD/month) |
| Data sovereignty | Full | No |
| Source code | Open (AGPL-3.0) | Closed |
Note on Trello pricing: the Standard plan costs $5 USD/user/month and the Premium plan $10 USD/user/month (annual billing, March 2026). The free plan is limited to 10 boards, 10 users, and 10 MB per attachment.
Concrete usage examples
To make this tangible, here are some boards we regularly see at our clients:
Internal request management. A "IT Requests" board with columns: New request, Waiting, In progress, Done. Any employee can create a card to report an issue or request access. The IT team sorts and prioritizes without losing emails.
Project tracking. One board per project with columns tailored to the team's workflow. Progress is visible at a glance, related files are attached to cards, and due dates appear in everyone's calendar.
New employee onboarding. A board template with all the steps: create accounts, set up the workstation, schedule training, hand over equipment. Duplicate the board for each new hire, assign the people responsible, and nothing falls through the cracks.
Editorial planning. For teams that produce content (blog, newsletter, social media): a board with Idea, Writing, Review, Published. Draft files are attached directly from Nextcloud.
Where Deck falls short
Transparency matters. Here are the limitations to be aware of:
The interface is functional, not spectacular. Trello has invested years in its user experience. Deck gets the job done, but drag-and-drop is sometimes less fluid, and the mobile interface isn't as polished.
No advanced views. No Timeline view, no Gantt, no Dashboard. It's pure Kanban. If your team needs to visualize task dependencies or plan resources, you'll need a more complete project management tool.
Performance degrades with many cards. For a board with 20 to 50 active cards, it's perfectly fine. But if you pile up hundreds of cards on a single board without archiving, it can slow down. Best practice: archive completed cards regularly.
No Power-Ups or extension ecosystem. Trello has hundreds of Power-Ups to connect external tools. Deck integrates with the Nextcloud ecosystem, but not beyond (except via the API). It's enough for most SMBs, but heavily-tooled teams might find it limiting.
The mobile app goes through Nextcloud. There's no standalone Deck app on mobile. You access Deck through the Nextcloud app or the browser. It works, but it's less convenient than a dedicated app.
Our recommendation for adopting Deck in your team:
- Start with a single board for a concrete need (e.g.: IT requests or tracking a current project)
- Limit yourself to 4-5 columns maximum to start: simplicity drives adoption
- Enable calendar integration so due dates appear on phones
- Archive completed cards every week to keep the board readable
Chez Blue Fox
At Blue Fox, we include Deck in all our Nextclouddeployments. It's an app that our clients often discover after adopting file sharing and the calendar, and that ends up becoming a daily tool for many teams.
We don't claim that Deck replaces an enterprise project management tool. For organizations that need advanced planning, time tracking, or integrated billing, there are better-suited solutions. But for coordinating the work of a 5 to 30-person team with a simple, visual tool that's already part of your infrastructure: it's exactly what you need.
The best task management tool is the one the team actually uses. And a tool integrated into the daily environment is much more likely to be adopted than yet another external service with another password to remember.
Your Nextcloud is already in place but Deck isn't activated? We can activate it and set up your first boards in less than an hour.
Are your team's tasks still living in emails and Excel files? Parlons de votre gestion de tâches.
Sources
Nextcloud Deck: official page on the App Store
Nextcloud Deck: official documentation and REST API
Nextcloud Deck: GitHub repository (AGPL-3.0)