ITSM & Project Management Tooling

Open source alternatives to ServiceNow, Jira, Confluence, and Remedy for IT Service Management, project delivery, and programme governance.

The US Tooling Problem

Most government IT operations depend on US-controlled tools: ServiceNow (US), Atlassian Jira/Confluence (US/Australia, US-listed), BMC Remedy (US). These create the same sovereignty risks as cloud infrastructure. A sovereign cloud running on US-controlled ITSM tools is not truly sovereign.

Quick Reference: Recommended Alternatives

US Incumbent Recommended Alternative Origin License Maturity
ServiceNow (ITSM) Zammad Germany AGPL-3.0 Mature
Jira (Project/Issue) OpenProject Germany GPL-3.0 Mature
Confluence (Wiki) BookStack UK MIT Mature
Remedy (CMDB/ITSM) GLPI + iTop France GPL-3.0 Mature
MS Project (PPM) OpenProject Germany GPL-3.0 Mature
GitHub (Source Control) GitLab CE Netherlands (origin) MIT Mature

1. IT Service Management (ITSM)

ITSM tools manage incident tickets, service requests, change management, and service catalogues. These are mission-critical for government IT operations.

Zammad

Replaces: ServiceNow, Zendesk, Freshdesk

Origin: Berlin, Germany | AGPL-3.0 | Mature

Modern, web-based helpdesk and ticketing system built in Germany. Used by German federal agencies, universities, and enterprises. Full ITIL support.

Key Features

  • Incident management with SLA tracking
  • Service request fulfilment
  • Knowledge base integration
  • Multi-channel (email, phone, chat, social)
  • LDAP/SAML/OIDC authentication
  • REST API for integration
  • Automated workflows and triggers
  • Time tracking and reporting
  • Asset linking (via integration)
  • German GDPR compliance built-in

Deployment Options

  • Self-hosted: Docker, Kubernetes, or bare metal
  • Hosted: Zammad GmbH offers EU-hosted SaaS
  • Support: Commercial support from Zammad GmbH (Germany)

Reference deployments: German federal agencies, European universities, Siemens, Deutsche Telekom subsidiaries

https://zammad.org

GLPI + FusionInventory

Replaces: Remedy, ServiceNow CMDB

Origin: France | GPL-3.0 | Mature

Full ITSM suite with integrated CMDB, asset management, and service desk. The most feature-complete open source alternative to Remedy. Used extensively in French government and EU institutions.

Key Features

  • Full CMDB with relationship mapping
  • Automated asset discovery (FusionInventory)
  • Incident, problem, change management
  • Service catalogue and request fulfilment
  • Contract and license management
  • Financial management (TCO, budgets)
  • Software deployment
  • Project management module
  • Reporting and dashboards
  • 150+ plugins available

Deployment Options

  • Self-hosted: LAMP stack, Docker available
  • Support: Teclib (France) provides enterprise support
  • Training: Official certification programme

Reference deployments: French Ministry of Education (1M+ assets), European Commission, numerous French local authorities

https://glpi-project.org

iTop

Replaces: Remedy CMDB, ServiceNow CMDB

Origin: France (Combodo) | AGPL-3.0 | Mature

ITIL-aligned ITSM platform with exceptional CMDB capabilities. Designed specifically for enterprise IT operations management. Strong in configuration management and impact analysis.

Key Features

  • ITIL v3/v4 compliant processes
  • Powerful CMDB with impact analysis
  • Change management with CAB workflow
  • SLA management with escalation
  • Data model completely customizable
  • Graphical relationship visualization
  • Multi-organization support
  • REST/JSON API

https://www.itophub.io

2. Project & Programme Management

OpenProject

Replaces: Jira, MS Project, Asana

Origin: Berlin, Germany | GPL-3.0 | Mature

Enterprise project management platform developed in Germany. The most mature open source Jira alternative with additional Gantt/MS Project capabilities. Extensively used in German public sector.

Key Features

  • Agile boards (Scrum, Kanban)
  • Gantt charts with dependencies
  • Work packages (issues/tasks)
  • Time tracking and cost reporting
  • Resource management
  • Document management
  • Meeting management
  • Git/SVN integration
  • Custom workflows and fields
  • Programme/portfolio views
  • BIM integration (construction)
  • LDAP/SAML authentication

Deployment Options

  • Self-hosted: Docker, packaged installers, Kubernetes Helm
  • Hosted: OpenProject GmbH EU cloud (Germany)
  • Support: Enterprise support from OpenProject GmbH

Reference deployments: German Federal Government (BAAINBw), Siemens, Audi, European Space Agency, numerous German municipalities

https://www.openproject.org

Taiga

Replaces: Jira (Agile), Trello

Origin: Madrid, Spain | MPL-2.0 | Mature

Beautiful, intuitive Agile project management platform. Excellent for teams transitioning from Jira who want a cleaner, more modern interface. Strong Scrum and Kanban support.

Key Features

  • Scrum with backlog, sprints, burndown
  • Kanban with WIP limits
  • User stories, tasks, issues
  • Wiki per project
  • Custom fields and attributes
  • Webhooks and API
  • Importers from Jira, Trello, Asana
  • Modern, responsive UI

https://www.taiga.io

Plane

Replaces: Jira, Linear, Asana

Origin: Open source (international) | AGPL-3.0 | Growing

Modern issue tracking and project management designed as a direct Jira replacement. Clean interface inspired by Linear. Fastest-growing open source project management tool.

Key Features

  • Issues with cycles (sprints)
  • Modules (epics/features)
  • Multiple views (list, board, calendar)
  • Custom views and filters
  • Pages (documentation)
  • GitHub/GitLab integration
  • Time tracking
  • REST API

https://plane.so

3. Documentation & Knowledge Management

BookStack

Replaces: Confluence, Notion, SharePoint Wiki

Origin: United Kingdom | MIT | Mature

Simple, self-hosted wiki platform with a book-like hierarchy (Shelves → Books → Chapters → Pages). The cleanest Confluence alternative with excellent search and permissions.

Key Features

  • Intuitive book/chapter/page hierarchy
  • WYSIWYG and Markdown editing
  • Full-text search
  • Granular permissions
  • Page templates
  • Drawing/diagram support
  • PDF export
  • LDAP/SAML/OIDC auth
  • Webhooks and API
  • Audit logging

Deployment Options

  • Self-hosted: PHP/Laravel, Docker available
  • Requirements: PHP 8.0+, MySQL/MariaDB/PostgreSQL

https://www.bookstackapp.com

Wiki.js

Replaces: Confluence, MediaWiki

Origin: Canada (open source) | AGPL-3.0 | Mature

Modern, fast, and beautiful wiki built on Node.js. Supports multiple editors (Markdown, WYSIWYG, code) and multiple storage backends.

Key Features

  • Multiple editor modes
  • Git-based storage option
  • Full-text search (built-in or Elasticsearch)
  • Multi-language support
  • Diagrams (draw.io, PlantUML, Mermaid)
  • Math equations (KaTeX)
  • Comments and ratings
  • 40+ authentication modules

https://js.wiki

Outline

Replaces: Notion, Confluence

Origin: Open source | BSL 1.1 | Growing

Beautiful, fast knowledge base with Notion-like editing experience. Best choice for teams who love Notion's UX but need self-hosting.

Key Features

  • Block-based editor (Notion-style)
  • Real-time collaboration
  • Collections and nested documents
  • Full-text search
  • Slack integration
  • API and webhooks
  • SSO (Google, Slack, OIDC)
  • Import from Notion, Confluence

https://www.getoutline.com

4. Source Control & DevOps

GitLab Community Edition

Replaces: GitHub, Azure DevOps, Bitbucket

Origin: Netherlands (originally) | MIT | Mature

Complete DevOps platform covering the entire software development lifecycle. The most feature-complete self-hosted alternative to GitHub, with built-in CI/CD.

Key Features

  • Git repository hosting
  • Merge requests with review
  • Built-in CI/CD pipelines
  • Container registry
  • Package registry (npm, Maven, etc.)
  • Security scanning (SAST, DAST)
  • Issue tracking
  • Wiki per project
  • Kubernetes integration
  • Auto DevOps

Deployment Options

  • Self-hosted: Omnibus packages, Docker, Kubernetes Helm
  • Scale: Proven at 100,000+ users, 1M+ repositories
  • Support: Enterprise subscriptions available (not required for CE)

Reference deployments: CERN, NASA JPL, Goldman Sachs, Siemens, numerous government agencies

https://about.gitlab.com

Gitea / Forgejo

Replaces: GitHub (lightweight)

Origin: International / EU (Forgejo fork) | MIT / GPL-3.0 | Mature

Lightweight, self-hosted Git service. Single binary deployment, minimal resources. Forgejo is a community-governed fork focused on sustainability.

Key Features

  • Git repository hosting
  • Pull requests
  • Issue tracking
  • Actions (CI/CD) - Gitea
  • Package registry
  • Wiki
  • Single binary (~100MB RAM)
  • SQLite or PostgreSQL/MySQL

https://gitea.io | https://forgejo.org

5. Integration Matrix

Compatibility between recommended tools for a sovereign ITSM/DevOps stack:

Tool GitLab CE OpenProject Zammad BookStack Keycloak SSO
GitLab CE - ✓ Native ~ Webhooks ~ Links ✓ OIDC
OpenProject ✓ Native - ~ API ~ Links ✓ OIDC/SAML
Zammad ~ Webhooks ~ API - ~ Links ✓ OIDC/SAML
BookStack ~ Links ~ Links ~ Links - ✓ OIDC/SAML
GLPI ~ Plugins ~ API ~ API ~ Links ✓ OIDC/LDAP

✓ = Native integration | ~ = Via API/webhooks/plugins | ✗ = Not available

6. Recommended Sovereign Stack

SCAB Recommended Toolchain

Function Tool Why
Source Control & CI/CD GitLab CE Most complete, proven at scale, built-in CI/CD
Project Management OpenProject German origin, Gantt + Agile, government references
Service Desk Zammad German origin, modern UI, full ITSM
CMDB GLPI French origin, most complete CMDB, used by EU
Documentation BookStack UK origin, MIT license, clean hierarchy
Identity/SSO Keycloak Red Hat backed, CNCF, comprehensive IAM

Total cost: €0 license fees. Support contracts available from EU vendors.
Sovereignty: All tools self-hostable on SCAB infrastructure. No US dependencies.

Document Status

Version: 1.0 | Last updated: January 2026
Classification: Official

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