Flarum vs Khoros Communities
Flarum
flarum.orgKhoros Communities
khoros.comSide by side
| Figure | Flarum | Khoros Communities |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | — |
| Free plan | — | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 0 | 1 |
| Spec score · Forum Software | 7.9 (#6) | 8.2 (#5) |
| Spec score · Online Community Platforms | 7.8 (#29) | 7.9 (#28) |
| Spec score · Community Platforms | 7.6 (#86) | 8.3 (#36) |
| Integrations | Flarum's documentation describes a REST API for consuming forum data. | The Aurora Salesforce integration can escalate community threads to cases, provide a private support case portal, and enable federated search; it requires a full Salesforce license. |
| Intended users | Flarum describes itself as suitable for communities ranging from small hobby groups to large enterprise forums. | Khoros positions Communities for brands seeking customer self-service, peer support, engagement, and collaboration at enterprise scale. |
| Moderation tools | Yes | Yes |
| Private spaces | Yes | Yes |
| Purpose | Flarum is a free, open-source discussion platform for websites and online communities. | Khoros Communities provides a brand-owned space where customers can engage, self-serve, collaborate, and educate one another. |
| Security | The installation guide says Flarum's default public directory keeps sensitive source code files inaccessible from the web root. | Khoros's security overview says its applications use role-based permissions, CSRF protections, and activity logging, and that it conducts annual third-party application penetration tests. |
| Support | Flarum directs users with questions to its community forum, where users can get help with their instances. | Khoros provides separate support knowledge bases for Community Classic and Community Aurora, with support resources accessed by signing in or signing up. |
Plans
In their own words
Flarum
Flarum is free, open-source forum software for running discussions on websites and online communities. It provides group permissions, category access controls, moderation and flagging. Administrators can adjust settings, themes, CSS and extensions, and disable unneeded features. Members can write with lightweight Markdown or WYSIWYG editors. Notifications include in-browser alerts and email digests, while extensions can provide real-time notifications. A REST API lets external scripts interact with the forum and follows JSON:API practices. The extension manager discovers and installs add-ons, most of which are open source and free. Self-hosting requires Apache or Nginx, PHP 8.3 or later, a supported database and SSH access for some maintenance. Flarum is MIT-licensed and directs support questions to its community forum. Its documentation describes version 2.0 as a release candidate, not a final stable release. The project serves communities from small hobby groups to large enterprise forums.
Khoros Communities
Khoros Communities gives brands a space for customers to find answers, collaborate, and engage with one another. Communities can take the form of forums, blogs, knowledge bases, events, idea spaces, private messaging, and contests. Templates support initial setup, while no-code drag-and-drop tools let teams adjust page design and navigation. Operators can create private spaces, use a custom domain, and moderate activity with workflow automation and AI-driven content filters.
A rank and reputation engine scores activity across more than 80 triggers. Customizable analytics dashboards, widgets, and a bulk-data API support reporting. Khoros describes the product as API-first, with a GraphQL layer. Aurora early-access capabilities include AI moderation, appeals, generated answers for unanswered posts, and event-driven workflow automation; these require enablement. The Aurora Salesforce connector can escalate threads to cases, provide a private case portal, and support federated search, but requires a full Salesforce license. The product is available on web, Android, and iOS. Pricing is on request.