head to head · open source
Flarum vs Misago
Flarum has 16,441 GitHub stars, 1,675 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 25 days ago. Misago has 2,781 stars, 558 forks, 171 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Flarum leads on adoption by 491% (16,441 vs 2,781 stars). Flarum is written in PHP under MIT; Misago is written in Python under GPL-2.0. Flarum has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Misago 20%. Misago 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
| Flarum | Misago | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 2.8K |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | PHP | Python |
| Last push | 2026-10-09 | 2026-10-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 558 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Flarum if
- You weight community size — 16K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Misago if
- You want the Misago feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Misago fits your workflow better
About Flarum
About Flarum Flarum is a delightfully simple discussion platform for your website. It's fast and easy to use, with all the features you need to run a successful community. It is designed to be: Fast and simple. No clutter, no bloat, no complex dependencies. Flarum is built with PHP so it’s quick and easy to deploy. The interface is powered by Mithril, a performant JavaScript framework with a tiny footprint. Beautiful and responsive. This is forum software for humans. Flarum is carefully designed to be consistent and intuitive across platforms, out of the box. Powerful and extensible. Customize, extend, and…
read the full Flarum overview →
About Misago
Misago ====== Development Status: 🍌 Bananas 🍌 Misago aims to be complete, featured and modern forum solution that has no fear to say 'NO' to common and outdated opinions about how forum software should be made and what it should do. Homepage: Documentation: Code & BugTracker: Screenshots Production use Misago implements all features considered "must have" on live internet forum: Your users may register accounts, set avatars, change options and edit their profiles. They have the option to reset a forgotten password. Sign in with Facebook, Google, Github, Steam, Blizzard.net or any other over 50 supported OAuth…
read the full Misago overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Flarum or Misago more popular?
Flarum has 16,441 GitHub stars and Misago has 2,781. Flarum has the larger community by that measure.
Are Flarum and Misago free?
Both are open source. Flarum is licensed under MIT and Misago under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Flarum and Misago?
Flarum is written in PHP and Misago 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, Flarum or Misago?
Choose Flarum if you want the larger community (16,441 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Misago if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.