SHSelfHostIndex

Flarum vs Loomio

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted social networks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FL Flarum Simple, fast, free forum software VS LO Loomio Collaborative decision-making tool that makes it easy for anyone to
FeatureFlarumLoomio
CategorySocial NetworksSocial Networks
LicenseMITAGPL-3.0
LanguagePHPRuby
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcedocker
GitHub stars★ 6,739★ 2,588
First released20152026
ReplacesphpBB, vBulletin—

Why pick each one

Choose Flarum if…

  • Fast and clean interface
  • Easy to extend
Flarum details

Choose Loomio if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (2.6k GitHub stars)
  • Written in Ruby
Loomio details

Frequently asked questions

Is Flarum or Loomio better?

Neither is universally better. Flarum has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Flarum and Loomio free and open-source?

Yes. Flarum is licensed under MIT and Loomio under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Flarum and Loomio with Docker?

Flarum: yes. Loomio: yes.

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