Lainchan 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?
Lainchan
Image board engine forked from vichan
VS
Spectrum
Open-source platform for building online communities
| Feature | Lainchan | Spectrum |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Forums & Community | Forums & Community |
| License | Tinyboard | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 594 | ★ 10,837 |
| First released | 2014 | 2017 |
| Replaces | 4chan-style boards | Discord, Discourse |
Why pick each one
Choose Lainchan if…
- Released under the Tinyboard license
- Written in JavaScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
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 Lainchan or Spectrum better?
Neither is universally better. Spectrum has the larger community, while Lainchan is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Lainchan and Spectrum free and open-source?
Yes. Lainchan is licensed under Tinyboard and Spectrum under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Lainchan and Spectrum with Docker?
Lainchan: check the project docs for container support. Spectrum: yes.