Laravel.io vs Mouthful
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?
Laravel.io
Self-hosted forum built on the Laravel framework
VS
Mouthful
Lightweight self-hosted commenting engine
| Feature | Laravel.io | Mouthful |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Forums & Community | Forums & Community |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | PHP | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,497 | ★ 774 |
| First released | 2014 | 2018 |
| Replaces | phpBB | Disqus |
Why pick each one
Choose Laravel.io if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (2.5k GitHub stars)
- Written in PHP
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Choose Mouthful if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is Laravel.io or Mouthful better?
Neither is universally better. Laravel.io has the larger community, while Mouthful is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Laravel.io and Mouthful free and open-source?
Yes. Laravel.io is licensed under MIT and Mouthful under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Laravel.io and Mouthful with Docker?
Laravel.io: check the project docs for container support. Mouthful: yes.