Coral vs Lainchan
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?
Coral
Open-source commenting platform for newsrooms
VS
Lainchan
Image board engine forked from vichan
| Feature | Coral | Lainchan |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Forums & Community | Forums & Community |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Tinyboard |
| Language | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,996 | ★ 594 |
| First released | 2016 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Disqus, Facebook Comments | 4chan-style boards |
Why pick each one
Choose Coral if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
Choose Lainchan if…
- Released under the Tinyboard license
- Written in JavaScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Coral or Lainchan better?
Neither is universally better. Coral has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Coral and Lainchan free and open-source?
Yes. Coral is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Lainchan under Tinyboard. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Coral and Lainchan with Docker?
Coral: yes. Lainchan: check the project docs for container support.