Migrating from Planio to RedminePRO

This page covers what you can get out of Planio, what you cannot, what changes on the other side, and what the same capacity costs. It is written for the customer doing the leaving. If you want the feature-by-feature comparison rather than the migration mechanics, that is on RedminePRO vs Planio. RedminePRO migrates from Planio as part of our done-for-you Redmine migration service.

If you are on HostedRedmine.com, this page is also for you

HostedRedmine.com has been acquired by Planio. Its homepage headline today reads “HostedRedmine.com has joined Planio!” It is no longer an independent option, and the free tier that made it the default recommendation in Redmine forums for years is now part of a commercial vendor's funnel. A market where the well-known free host and one of the largest paid hosts are the same company has less vendor independence in it than it appears to have. The migration path is the same either way — it is a Redmine instance, and Redmine instances move.

What Planio lets you export

Planio is built on Redmine, and Redmine's data model is open. In practice the core of your instance is portable:

• Issues, projects, users and time entries export as CSV from Redmine's own list views on any Redmine-based host, and are reachable through the Redmine REST API.
• Attachments can be retrieved through the API or a backup export where one is offered.
• Wiki pages have export options in core Redmine.

For a complete migration we want more than CSV — a database-level dump plus the files directory produces a byte-for-byte equal instance, including full journal history, workflow definitions and custom-field configuration. If a full dump is available to you, the migration is straightforward; if it is not, an API extraction still recovers projects, issues with journals, users, attachments, time entries, wiki pages, versions and custom-field values. Either route ends with your data on RedminePRO — the second one takes longer, and we do that work.

What does not come across

• Planio-specific features that are not Redmine features. Planio layers products on top of Redmine — help desk, team chat, file sync and CRM-style capability among them. Data created in a Redmine module travels because it is in Redmine's tables; data created in a vendor-specific layer has no target schema and needs a separate extraction or a decision to leave it. Scope this in the assessment before anything moves.
• Plugins you never had access to install. If a capability came from a plugin Planio operates, it exists on their instance and not in your data. On RedminePRO you can install the equivalent yourself, but it is a rebuild rather than a transfer.
• Anything version-locked. Plugins that do not run on the target Redmine version, themes that override views, and custom-field types provided by plugins you are not carrying over.
• Integration configuration. Webhooks, connected repositories, SSO configuration and mail routing are rebuilt on the new instance. Fast, but not automatic.

The plugin-access difference

This is the structural difference between the two products and the reason most technical evaluators switch.

On RedminePRO you get full Redmine administrator access on every plan: trackers, statuses, workflows, custom fields, roles and permissions, enumerations, and plugin configuration. Compatible third-party plugins can be installed and supported, and bringing your own or a custom plugin (BYOP) is listed from the Business plan. On Planio's managed tiers, plugin installation is not customer-controllable — you use the plugin set Planio operates. That is a defensible product decision; a curated set is easier to keep stable and support. It is also the thing that ends evaluations: if the plugin your finance team needs is not on the list, there is no path to it that does not involve changing vendor. Read that as the verifiable, narrower claim — plugin installation is restricted or not customer-controllable on their managed tiers — not as “Planio doesn't allow plugins”.

What the same capacity costs

Prices as published on plan.io/pricing and redminepro.com/pricing, both checked 28 July 2026. Planio publishes in EUR and RedminePRO in USD; no conversion is applied. Compare the user counts first — that is where the gap is.

Two things people get wrong: Planio Diamond is 20 users, not 25 — there is no 25-user tier, so 25 users means Platinum at €199/mo; and project counts are capped on every Planio tier, while RedminePRO has unlimited projects on every plan including the $24 one. For teams that spin up a project per client or per release, the project cap binds before the user cap does. Annual billing on RedminePRO is exactly 10× the monthly price — Startup $240/year, Plus $490/year, Business $1,690/year.

When Planio is still the better choice: they offer a free 2-user tier, which RedminePRO does not, and if your instance is genuinely two people and will stay that way, that is a real answer. Their curated-plugin model also suits teams who would rather have fewer decisions. We would rather tell you that than have you find out after switching.

How the migration runs

1. Assessment. Tell us your Planio plan, user count, project count, roughly how much file storage you use, and which Planio-specific modules you rely on.

2. Extraction. A full database dump plus files archive if that route is available to you; otherwise a scripted API extraction covering projects, issues with journals, users, attachments, time entries, wiki pages, versions and custom fields. We do this work either way.

3. Rebuild and audit. Your instance is built on RedminePRO. Anything that came from a Planio-operated plugin gets a decision: closest Redmine equivalent, a third-party plugin you now control, or dropped.

4. Validation. Working dry-run instance, admin login, as many iterations as you need. Your Planio instance is untouched and still running.

5. Cutover. Final delta, DNS switch. Typical downtime: minutes, scheduled when you choose.

6. Cancel on your own schedule. Keep Planio for a billing cycle after cutover. It is cheap insurance. RedminePRO vs Planio.