Forem vs Laravel.io
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?
Forem
Open source community platform behind DEV
VS
Laravel.io
Self-hosted forum built on the Laravel framework
| Feature | Forem | Laravel.io |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Forums & Community | Forums & Community |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Ruby | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 22,760 | ★ 2,497 |
| First released | 2019 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Discourse, Reddit | phpBB |
Why pick each one
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
Choose Laravel.io if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (2.5k GitHub stars)
- Written in PHP
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Forem or Laravel.io better?
Neither is universally better. Forem has the larger community, while Laravel.io is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Forem and Laravel.io free and open-source?
Yes. Forem is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Laravel.io under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Forem and Laravel.io with Docker?
Forem: yes. Laravel.io: check the project docs for container support.