Answer vs Shapado
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted forums & community options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Answer | Shapado |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | ≈5-minute setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 95 · Excellent | 13 · At risk |
| Category | Forums & Community | Forums & Community |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 15,682 | ★ 527 |
| First released | 2022 | 2009 |
| Replaces | Stack Overflow, Confluence | Stack Overflow, Quora |
What are Answer and Shapado?
Answer
Answer is an open-source knowledge-based community platform that combines Q&A, articles, and documentation. It is built in Go and designed to be a modern Stack Overflow alternative.
- Q&A with articles and docs
- Single binary deployment
- Reputation and badges
- Plugin system
Shapado
Shapado is an open-source Q&A software written in Ruby that allows hosting multiple question-and-answer communities. It supports tags, voting, and badges in a StackOverflow-like format.
- Multi-community Q&A hosting
- Voting and reputation
- Tag-based browsing
- Badges and gamification
Answer vs Shapado: key differences
Answer is written in Go, while Shapado is built with Ruby. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Answer versus AGPL-3.0 for Shapado. Shapado is the more established project (first released 2009), while Answer arrived in 2022. Answer has the considerably larger community, at 15,682 GitHub stars versus 527. Answer lists first-class Docker deployment; Shapado does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Answer if…
- Modern interface
- Easy to deploy
Watch out for
- Younger project
- Smaller plugin library
Choose Shapado if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Written in Ruby
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Watch out for
- Project is dormant
- Outdated Ruby stack
Frequently asked questions
Is Answer or Shapado better?
Answer is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Shapado if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Answer and Shapado free and open-source?
Yes. Answer is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Shapado under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Answer and Shapado with Docker?
Answer: yes. Shapado: check the project docs for container support.