Spectrum 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?
Spectrum
Open-source platform for building online communities
VS
Utterances
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| Feature | Spectrum | Utterances |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Forums & Community | Forums & Community |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 32 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 10,837 | ★ 9,696 |
| First released | 2017 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Discord, Discourse | Disqus |
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
Choose Utterances if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Mature project with 9.7k GitHub stars
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Spectrum or Utterances better?
Neither is universally better. Spectrum has the larger community, while Utterances is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Spectrum and Utterances free and open-source?
Yes. Spectrum is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Utterances under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Spectrum and Utterances with Docker?
Spectrum: yes. Utterances: check the project docs for container support.