Skip to content

Start a forum · Editorial review

Flarum review: free forum software for shared hosting

flarum.org

Flarum is free forum software under the MIT license that installs on shared hosting by unpacking an archive. The 1.8 branch now gets security fixes only, and 2.0 is still a release candidate, so picking a version is the first decision.

Open sourceFree, no paid tierShared hosting friendlyMembers-only forumsOne-click extensions

Our verdict on Flarum

Flarum suits an adult webmaster who wants a modern, mobile-friendly forum on the shared hosting they already pay for. The MIT license sets no limits on use, and no company can shut down a forum you host yourself.

The catch is a volunteer project mid-transition: the old branch is down to its last fixes and the new one has no final release yet.

Flarum home page, the open source forum platform, with its get started button
Flarum

Which Flarum version to install

Flarum 1.x is “officially on life support”: it gets critical and security fixes only, and the project asks every 1.x forum to plan an upgrade. The latest stable release is 1.8.20. The next branch is on its eighth release candidate, and the docs say many forums already run it in production. The archive table in the main docs lists only 2.0.0-rc.8. For a new forum, we would start on the new branch once your must-have extensions support it, and keep 1.8 only for a forum that must not change before the final release.

Installing Flarum without a shell

Flarum installs on shared hosting by unpacking an archive, with no SSH or Composer. Archives come per PHP version, with or without a public folder. Upload, open the address in a browser, and the installer does the rest. The archive bundles the extension manager, which installs and updates extensions and Flarum itself from the admin panel. The docs warn that it lets an admin install any Composer package, so only enable it if you trust every admin.

Flarum server requirements

ItemFlarum 2.xFlarum 1.x
PHP8.3+7.3+, 8.3 recommended
DatabaseMySQL 5.7, MariaDB 10.3, SQLite 3.35 or PostgreSQL 10MySQL 5.6 or MariaDB 10.0.5
Web serverApache with mod_rewrite, or NginxApache with mod_rewrite, or Nginx

Making a Flarum forum members-only

Flarum does not care what gets posted, and permissions are enough to lock the forum. Remove “View forum” from guests and discussions and profiles disappear for anyone not logged in. Remove “Sign up” and open registration is gone. Permissions can also be set per tag, so part of the forum can stay public. There is no built-in age verification, so you add your own.

Flarum extensions

The core is deliberately lean, and many features come as extensions, mostly open source and free. The admin panel flags any installed extension on the community list of abandoned extensions. To move an old forum over, Flarum has no official migrator and recommends a third-party tool that reads phpBB, MyBB, vBulletin, XenForo and others.

Strengths and limits of Flarum

Strengths

  • Free software under MIT.
  • Shared hosting is enough.
  • Four databases supported on 2.x.
  • A private forum in two permissions.

Limitations

  • 1.8 on life support.
  • No final 2.0 yet.
  • A very powerful extension manager.
  • A lean core that relies on extensions.

Flarum vs Discourse

Discourse ships chat and private categories in its core but needs a full server with Docker and 2 GB of RAM recommended. Flarum runs on shared hosting with PHP, at the cost of a leaner core and a new version that is not final yet. Without a VPS, pick Flarum. With one, pick Discourse.

Discourse

Discourse is free GPL forum software that installs with Docker on a server you control, with 2 GB of RAM recommended. Its developer also sells hosting from $100 a month.

Read the review Discourse →Lemmy

Lemmy is free Reddit-style community software with votes and threaded comments, licensed AGPL-3.0 and light at about 150 MB of RAM.

Read the review Lemmy →MyBB

MyBB is free forum software under LGPL-3.0, a 2.22 MB download that runs on the most basic shared hosting.

Read the review MyBB →XenForo

XenForo sells a forum license for $195 before tax per installation, with twelve months of support and updates. Security fixes after that cost $60 a year.

Read the review XenForo →
Sources