FUDforum vs Utterances

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?
FeatureFUDforumUtterances
CategoryForums & CommunityForums & Community
LicenseGPL-2.0MIT
LanguagePHPTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM256 MB32 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, sourcebare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 80★ 9,696
First released20012018
ReplacesphpBB, vBulletinDisqus

Why pick each one

Choose FUDforum if…

  • Released under the GPL-2.0 license
  • Written in PHP
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
FUDforum details

Choose Utterances if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Mature project with 9.7k GitHub stars
  • Written in TypeScript
Utterances details

Frequently asked questions

Is FUDforum or Utterances better?

Utterances is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider FUDforum if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are FUDforum and Utterances free and open-source?

Yes. FUDforum is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Utterances under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run FUDforum and Utterances with Docker?

FUDforum: check the project docs for container support. Utterances: check the project docs for container support.

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