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Comparison · PM

Backlog vs Wakapi

A side-by-side editorial comparison of Backlog and Wakapi — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Backlog vs Wakapi: at a glance

FeatureBacklogWakapi
SectorPMPM
Velocity score0.02.5
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesgantt-charts, issue-tracking, mobile-parity, plan-tierstime-tracking, self-hosted, oidc, auth-bypass
Last editorial update9d ago1h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is Backlog?

Backlog ships steady Gantt and chart refinements, but the feed is mostly Nulab site furniture.

Only two entries in this window carry actual release content, and both are monthly digests: chart groups gaining a start/end date bar with issue counts and status breakdown on hover, personal charts dropping the parent-subtask relationship, an Android 3.0.1 redesign, Markdown in iOS custom-field text areas, plus quarterly-scale Gantt charts for Premium and Platinum plans and child-issue status filtering. The rest of the window is navigation, support links and marketing copy scraped from nulab.com — including rows that belong to sibling products Cacoo and Nulab Pass rather than to Backlog.

Read the full Backlog trajectory →

What is Wakapi?

A critical auth bypass lands in the middle of Wakapi's slow identity rebuild.

Wakapi's recent releases cluster around identity and deployment rather than time tracking itself: OpenID Connect login, then an OIDC-only mode, multiple API keys per user, and a switch from Alpine to a distroless nonroot container image. The 2.17.x line has carried two security fixes now — a responsibly disclosed issue in 2.17.3, and a critical authentication bypass in 2.17.6 caused by a shared cache key namespace. Release notes are mostly bare issue numbers, so several entries state that something changed without saying what.

Read the full Wakapi trajectory →

Backlog vs Wakapi: editorial side-by-side

Backlog logo0.0

Backlog ships steady Gantt and chart refinements, but the feed is mostly Nulab site furniture.

◆ Current state

Only two entries in this window carry actual release content, and both are monthly digests: chart groups gaining a start/end date bar with issue counts and status breakdown on hover, personal charts dropping the parent-subtask relationship, an Android 3.0.1 redesign, Markdown in iOS custom-field text areas, plus quarterly-scale Gantt charts for Premium and Platinum plans and child-issue status filtering. The rest of the window is navigation, support links and marketing copy scraped from nulab.com — including rows that belong to sibling products Cacoo and Nulab Pass rather than to Backlog.

◆ Where it's heading

The real work is concentrated on planning views — Gantt scale, chart grouping, issue filtering — and on closing gaps between the web app and the mobile clients. Several changes are explicitly gated to Premium and Platinum plans, so view sophistication is being used as tier differentiation. Nothing here suggests a change of direction; it is a mature tracker refining how work is visualised.

◆ Prediction

Given the run of chart and Gantt scale work, the next planning-view change is likely another axis of aggregation or filtering rather than a new surface. The scraped entries make cadence unreliable, so any stronger call would not be grounded.

W2.5

A critical auth bypass lands in the middle of Wakapi's slow identity rebuild.

◆ Current state

Wakapi's recent releases cluster around identity and deployment rather than time tracking itself: OpenID Connect login, then an OIDC-only mode, multiple API keys per user, and a switch from Alpine to a distroless nonroot container image. The 2.17.x line has carried two security fixes now — a responsibly disclosed issue in 2.17.3, and a critical authentication bypass in 2.17.6 caused by a shared cache key namespace. Release notes are mostly bare issue numbers, so several entries state that something changed without saying what.

◆ Where it's heading

The direction is a self-hosted tool making itself deployable somewhere other than one developer's server. External identity providers, an option to disable local login entirely, per-key credentials and a container that runs as a nonroot user are the requirements that come from someone else's security review. The 2.17.6 bypass sits awkwardly against that: a cache keyed without proper namespacing is exactly the class of bug that multi-tenant deployment surfaces, which suggests the auth work is now being exercised harder than the code was written for. Releases have also thinned to roughly one a month from a much faster earlier cadence.

◆ Prediction

The identity and packaging thread is the only sustained one in this feed, so further hardening in that area is the most likely continuation; the sparse release notes make anything more specific guesswork.

Alternatives to Backlog and Wakapi

Other PM products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Backlog or Wakapi.

See all Backlog alternatives → · See all Wakapi alternatives →

Recent activity from Backlog and Wakapi

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 7h agoWakapiCritical auth bypass from a shared cache key namespace
  2. 1mo agoWakapiRelease 2.17.5
  3. 2mo agoWakapiRelease 2.17.4
  4. 4mo agoBacklogBacklogAll-in-one project management
  5. 4mo agoBacklogCacooReal-time visual collaboration
  6. 4mo agoWakapiSecurity fix, relay endpoint dropped, summaries may need regenerating
  7. 4mo agoBacklogNulab PassEnterprise-grade security
  8. 5mo agoWakapiDistroless nonroot container image; SQLite permissions need fixing
  9. 5mo agoBacklogChart groups gain date-range bars; Android 3.0.1 redesign lands
  10. 6mo agoBacklogSupportNulab AccountCacooBacklogNulab PassView Nulab Help Center
  11. 6mo agoBacklogLearnProject ManagementSoftware DevelopmentCollaborationDesign & UXStrategy & PlanningView all topics
  12. 6mo agoWakapiOIDC-only login mode disables local accounts

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Backlog and Wakapi?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Wakapi is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is Backlog better than Wakapi?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Wakapi is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other PM products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to Backlog?

Top Backlog alternatives in PM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Backlog alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/backlog for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to Wakapi?

Top Wakapi alternatives in PM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Wakapi alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/wakapi for the full list with editorial commentary on each.