Flarum vs phpBB
Flarum
flarum.orgphpBB
phpbb.comSide by side
| Figure | Flarum | phpBB |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 0 | 1 |
| Spec score · Forum Software | 7.9 (#6) | 7.5 (#13) |
| Spec score · Community Building Platforms | 7.8 (#13) | 7.3 (#21) |
| Spec score · Online Community Platforms | 7.8 (#29) | 7.4 (#44) |
| Customization | Flarum's extension-based design lets administrators disable unneeded features and add extensions. | Community-built extensions can add features, and styles can customize a board’s appearance. |
| Founded | 2014 | 2000 |
| License | Flarum is released under the MIT License. | phpBB is released under the GNU General Public License v2. |
| Purpose | Flarum is a free, open-source discussion platform for websites and online communities. | phpBB is an open-source bulletin board system for building online forums. |
| Support | Flarum directs users with questions to its community forum, where users can get help with their instances. | Support resources include documentation, knowledge base articles, community support forums, and limited-support Discord and IRC chats. |
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.