head to head · open source
answer vs Spirit
answer has 15,711 GitHub stars, 1,386 forks, 137 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Spirit has 1,187 stars, 329 forks, 40 open issues and last shipped yesterday. answer leads on adoption by 1,224% (15,711 vs 1,187 stars). answer is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Spirit is written in Python under MIT. answer has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Spirit 28%. Spirit was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (forum), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| answer | Spirit | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-12 | 2026-11-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 329 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick answer if
- You weight community size — 16K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Spirit if
- You want the Spirit feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Spirit fits your workflow better
About answer
Apache Answer Build Q&A platform A Q&A platform software for teams at any scales. Whether it’s a community forum, help center, or knowledge management platform, you can always count on Answer. To learn more about the project, visit answer.apache.org. Screenshots Quick start Running with docker For more information, see Installation. Plugins Answer provides a plugin system for developers to create custom plugins and expand Answer’s features. You can find the plugin documentation here. We value your feedback and suggestions to improve our documentation. If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to…
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About Spirit
Spirit Spirit is a Python based forum built using the Django framework. Documentation Docs can be found at spirit.readthedocs.io Compatibility Python 3.9, 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, 3.13 Django 4.2 LTS, 5.2 LTS PostgreSQL (recommended), MySQL, Oracle Database and SQLite Constrained by "What Python version can I use with Django?" Usage Visit For detailed setup docs, see spirit.readthedocs.io Dev Use uv tooling. Testing Lint & Format License MIT
read the full Spirit overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is answer or Spirit more popular?
answer has 15,711 GitHub stars and Spirit has 1,187. answer has the larger community by that measure.
Are answer and Spirit free?
Both are open source. answer is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Spirit under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between answer and Spirit?
answer is written in Go and Spirit in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, answer or Spirit?
Choose answer if you want the larger community (15,711 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Spirit if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.