Commento vs Shapado
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted forums & community options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Commento
Privacy-friendly embeddable discussion widget
VS
Shapado
Open-source question and answer community software
| Feature | Commento | Shapado |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Forums & Community | Forums & Community |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,781 | ★ 527 |
| First released | 2017 | 2009 |
| Replaces | Disqus, Facebook Comments | Stack Overflow, Quora |
Why pick each one
Choose Commento if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.8k GitHub stars)
Choose Shapado if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Written in Ruby
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Commento or Shapado better?
Commento is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Shapado if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Commento and Shapado free and open-source?
Yes. Commento is licensed under MIT and Shapado under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Commento and Shapado with Docker?
Commento: yes. Shapado: check the project docs for container support.