MyBB vs Spectrum
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?
MyBB
Free and extensible community forum software
VS
Spectrum
Open-source platform for building online communities
| Feature | MyBB | Spectrum |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Forums & Community | Forums & Community |
| License | LGPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | PHP | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,232 | ★ 10,837 |
| First released | 2005 | 2017 |
| Replaces | vBulletin, phpBB | Discord, Discourse |
Why pick each one
Choose Spectrum if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 10.8k GitHub stars
- Written in JavaScript
Frequently asked questions
Is MyBB or Spectrum better?
Neither is universally better. Spectrum has the larger community, while MyBB is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are MyBB and Spectrum free and open-source?
Yes. MyBB is licensed under LGPL-3.0 and Spectrum under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run MyBB and Spectrum with Docker?
MyBB: yes. Spectrum: yes.