Flarum vs WriteFreely
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?
| Feature | Flarum | WriteFreely |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 6,739 | ★ 5,216 |
| First released | 2015 | 2018 |
| Replaces | phpBB, vBulletin | Medium, Tumblr |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Flarum or WriteFreely better?
Neither is universally better. Flarum has the larger community, while WriteFreely is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Flarum and WriteFreely free and open-source?
Yes. Flarum is licensed under MIT and WriteFreely under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Flarum and WriteFreely with Docker?
Flarum: yes. WriteFreely: yes.