AnsPress vs Shapado
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted forums & community options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | AnsPress | Shapado |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 15 · At risk | 13 · At risk |
| Status | Archived | Actively maintained |
| Category | Forums & Community | Forums & Community |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 295 | ★ 527 |
| First released | 2014 | 2009 |
| Replaces | Stack Overflow, Quora | Stack Overflow, Quora |
What are AnsPress and Shapado?
AnsPress
AnsPress is an open-source question-and-answer community plugin for WordPress that turns a site into a Q&A forum. It supports voting, best-answer selection, reputation, and tag-based organization.
- Q&A inside WordPress
- Voting and best answers
- Reputation system
- Tag-based topics
Shapado
Shapado is an open-source Q&A software written in Ruby that allows hosting multiple question-and-answer communities. It supports tags, voting, and badges in a StackOverflow-like format.
- Multi-community Q&A hosting
- Voting and reputation
- Tag-based browsing
- Badges and gamification
AnsPress vs Shapado: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: AnsPress's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Shapado is actively maintained. AnsPress is written in PHP, while Shapado is built with Ruby. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for AnsPress versus AGPL-3.0 for Shapado. AnsPress is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Shapado. Shapado is the more established project (first released 2009), while AnsPress arrived in 2014.
Why pick each one
Choose AnsPress if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in PHP
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Choose Shapado if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Written in Ruby
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Watch out for
- Project is dormant
- Outdated Ruby stack
Frequently asked questions
Is AnsPress or Shapado better?
Neither is universally better. Shapado has the larger community, while AnsPress is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are AnsPress and Shapado free and open-source?
Yes. AnsPress is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Shapado under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run AnsPress and Shapado with Docker?
AnsPress: check the project docs for container support. Shapado: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, AnsPress or Shapado?
AnsPress has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Shapado. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.