Answer vs Flarum

Two self-hosted Communication - Social Networks and Forums apps, compared on the facts we track: GitHub popularity and activity, license, language, Docker images and a rough hosting estimate.

Side by side

AnswerFlarum
DescriptionKnowledge-based community software. You can use it to quickly build your Q&A community for product technical support, customer support, user communication, and more.Delightfully simple forums. Next-generation forum software that makes online discussion fun again.
GitHub stars15,71016,441
Forks––
Open issues––
Commits (12 months)24715
Last activity2026-09-222026-10-09
Latest releasev2.0.3 (2026-10-09)v2.0.0 (2026-10-09)
Maintenance healthActiveActive
LicenseApache-2.0MIT
Language / platformDocker, GoPHP
Docker Hub imageapache/answer–
Docker pulls3914.2k–
Est. server size~4 GB, 2 vCPU~4 GB, 2 vCPU
Est. hosting from$20/mo$20/mo
CategoriesCommunication - Social Networks and ForumsCommunication - Social Networks and Forums
LinksWebsite · SourceWebsite · Source

What the numbers say

Summary: Answer leads on commit activity and Docker Hub availability; Flarum leads on recent activity. The right choice depends on the features you need — read both project descriptions and docs.

This summary is generated from GitHub, Docker Hub and awesome-selfhosted data as of 2026-11-05. It does not rate features or quality.

Get the Docker images

Answer

docker pull apache/answer

Image on Docker Hub. Ports, volumes and environment variables differ per app; follow the official docs.

Frequently asked questions

Is Answer or Flarum more popular?

They are close: Answer has 15,710 GitHub stars and Flarum has 16,441 (as of 2026-11-05).

Which is more actively maintained, Answer or Flarum?

Answer had more commits over the last 12 months (247 vs 15). The last recorded activity was 2026-09-22 for Answer and 2026-10-09 for Flarum. Releases in the past year: Answer 10+, Flarum 10+. Our health labels: Answer is “Active”, Flarum is “Active”.

What licenses do Answer and Flarum use?

Answer: Apache-2.0. Flarum: MIT.

Can I run Answer and Flarum with Docker?

Answer has a Docker Hub image (apache/answer). We did not find one for Flarum; check its documentation for install options.

Read more

Answer

Knowledge-based community software. You can use it to quickly build your Q&A community for product technical support, customer support, user communication, and more.

Active ★ 15.7k Apache-2.0 🐳 Docker~$20/mo

Flarum

Delightfully simple forums. Next-generation forum software that makes online discussion fun again.

Active ★ 16.4k MIT ~$20/mo

Browse all self-hosted Communication - Social Networks and Forums apps.

Related comparisons

Answer vs MastodonAnswer vs DiscourseFlarum vs MastodonDiscourse vs Flarum