head to head · open source
Flarum vs Nameless
Flarum has 16,441 GitHub stars, 1,676 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 25 days ago. Nameless has 656 stars, 316 forks, 149 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Flarum leads on adoption by 2,406% (16,441 vs 656 stars). Flarum is written in PHP under MIT; Nameless is written in PHP under MIT. Flarum has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Nameless 48%. Nameless was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (forum, php), 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 | Nameless | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 656 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | PHP | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-10-09 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 316 |
| 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 Nameless if
- You want the Nameless feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and Nameless 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 Nameless
NamelessMC version 2 NamelessMC is a free, easy to use & powerful website software for your Minecraft server, which includes a large range of features. The official project website, providing support and additional downloads such as modules and templates, can be found at The following list is a brief summary of the features available in v2: 🙋 Forums 📃 Custom pages: create your own HTML pages and even restrict access to them depending on group. 👥 Social logins: allow your users to register/login with services such as Discord and Google. 🎮 Minecraft integration Display your Java edition or Bedrock servers…
read the full Nameless overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Flarum or Nameless more popular?
Flarum has 16,441 GitHub stars and Nameless has 656. Flarum has the larger community by that measure.
Are Flarum and Nameless free?
Both are open source. Flarum is licensed under MIT and Nameless under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Flarum and Nameless?
Flarum is written in PHP and Nameless in PHP. 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 Nameless?
Choose Flarum if you want the larger community (16,441 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Nameless if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.