Forem vs Tildes
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted forums & community options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Forem | Tildes |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Forums & Community | Forums & Community |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Ruby | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 22,779 | ★ 1,000 |
| First released | 2019 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Discourse, Reddit |
What are Forem and Tildes?
Forem
Forem is the open source social and forum platform that powers the DEV community. It supports articles, discussions, tags, podcasts, and listings, and can be self-hosted to run a niche community.
- Community platform behind DEV
- Articles, discussions, and tags
- Self-hostable for niche communities
Tildes
Tildes is the open-source code behind a non-profit, ad-free community discussion site organized into topic groups. It emphasizes thoughtful conversation through invite-based membership and gentle moderation tools.
- Topic-group structure
- Invite-based growth
- Comment tagging
- Ad-free by design
Forem vs Tildes: key differences
Forem is written in Ruby, while Tildes is built with Python. Tildes is the lighter option, starting around 1,024 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Forem. Forem has the considerably larger community, at 22,779 GitHub stars versus 1,000. Forem lists first-class Docker deployment; Tildes does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Forem if…
- Powers DEV community
- Rich community features
- Articles podcasts listings
Watch out for
- Heavy Rails stack
- Complex self-host setup
Choose Tildes if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Active community (1k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is Forem or Tildes better?
Neither is universally better. Forem has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Forem and Tildes free and open-source?
Yes. Forem is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Tildes under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Forem and Tildes with Docker?
Forem: yes. Tildes: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Forem or Tildes?
Tildes has the smaller minimum footprint at 1,024 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Forem. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.