Flarum Tags Extension vs Spectrum
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?
Flarum Tags Extension
Official tagging extension for Flarum forums
VS
Spectrum
Open-source platform for building online communities
| Feature | Flarum Tags Extension | Spectrum |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Forums & Community | Forums & Community |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | PHP | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 38 | ★ 10,837 |
| First released | 2015 | 2017 |
| Replaces | vBulletin categories | Discord, Discourse |
Why pick each one
Choose Flarum Tags Extension if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in PHP
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Choose Spectrum if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 10.8k GitHub stars
- Written in JavaScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Flarum Tags Extension or Spectrum better?
Neither is universally better. Spectrum has the larger community, while Flarum Tags Extension is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Flarum Tags Extension and Spectrum free and open-source?
Yes. Flarum Tags Extension is licensed under MIT and Spectrum under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Flarum Tags Extension and Spectrum with Docker?
Flarum Tags Extension: check the project docs for container support. Spectrum: yes.