ElkArte vs Forem
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?
| Feature | ElkArte | Forem |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Forums & Community | Forums & Community |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 187 | ★ 22,760 |
| First released | 2013 | 2019 |
| Replaces | SMF, phpBB, vBulletin | Discourse, Reddit |
Why pick each one
Choose ElkArte if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in PHP
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Choose Forem if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 22.8k GitHub stars
- Written in Ruby
Frequently asked questions
Is ElkArte or Forem better?
Neither is universally better. Forem has the larger community, while ElkArte is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are ElkArte and Forem free and open-source?
Yes. ElkArte is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Forem under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run ElkArte and Forem with Docker?
ElkArte: check the project docs for container support. Forem: yes.