Answer vs SMF
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?
Answer
Modern Q&A platform for building knowledge communities
VS
SMF
Simple Machines Forum community bulletin board
| Feature | Answer | SMF |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Forums & Community | Forums & Community |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | Go | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 15,635 | ★ 745 |
| First released | 2022 | 2004 |
| Replaces | Stack Overflow, Confluence | vBulletin, phpBB |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Answer or SMF better?
Neither is universally better. Answer has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Answer and SMF free and open-source?
Yes. Answer is licensed under Apache-2.0 and SMF under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Answer and SMF with Docker?
Answer: yes. SMF: yes.