Lainchan vs vichan
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted forums & community options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Lainchan | vichan |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 73 · Good | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Forums & Community | Forums & Community |
| License | Tinyboard | Tinyboard |
| Language | JavaScript | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 599 | ★ 769 |
| First released | 2014 | 2012 |
| Replaces | 4chan-style boards | 4chan-style boards |
What are Lainchan and vichan?
Lainchan
Lainchan is an image board software derived from vichan with additional features and theming, used to run anonymous discussion boards. It supports multiple boards, captchas, and moderation.
- Anonymous image board engine
- Theming and extra features
- Captcha and moderation
vichan
vichan is a free image board software, a fork of the Tinyboard project, supporting multiple boards, threading, and a wide range of moderation tools. It is fully self-hostable on PHP and MySQL.
- Self-hosted image board
- Multiple boards and threading
- Extensive moderation tools
Lainchan vs vichan: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: vichan's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Lainchan is actively maintained. Lainchan is written in JavaScript, while vichan is built with PHP. Vichan is the more established project (first released 2012), while Lainchan arrived in 2014.
Why pick each one
Choose Lainchan if…
- Released under the Tinyboard license
- Written in JavaScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Choose vichan if…
- Released under the Tinyboard license
- Written in PHP
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Lainchan or vichan better?
Neither is universally better. vichan has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Lainchan and vichan free and open-source?
Yes. Lainchan is licensed under Tinyboard and vichan under Tinyboard. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Lainchan and vichan with Docker?
Lainchan: check the project docs for container support. vichan: check the project docs for container support.