head to head · open source
Flarum vs scoold
Flarum has 16,441 GitHub stars, 1,676 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 25 days ago. scoold has 921 stars, 228 forks, 7 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. Flarum leads on adoption by 1,685% (16,441 vs 921 stars). Flarum is written in PHP under MIT; scoold is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Flarum has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, scoold 25%. Flarum 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Flarum | scoold | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 921 |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | PHP | Java |
| Last push | 2026-10-09 | 2026-09-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 228 |
| 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 scoold if
- You want the scoold feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and scoold 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 scoold
The most effective way to share knowledge within your team or organization Scoold is a Q&A and a knowledge sharing platform for teams, inspired by Stack Overflow. Scoold is enterprise ready, super customizable and lightweight. Scoold Pro , the premium version of Scoold, is the perfect knowledge sharing platform for your company or team. The pricing is flat, without limits, the license perpetual. Are you still paying per seat in 2026? Scoold Pro is the knowledge sharing platform to migrate to! Website Documentation Demo Compare Features API Scoold open source knowledge sharing platform Scoold is a Q&A and a…
read the full scoold overview →
More in Content & Publishing
Related comparisons
More Community Platforms projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Community Platforms field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Flarum or scoold more popular?
Flarum has 16,441 GitHub stars and scoold has 921. Flarum has the larger community by that measure.
Are Flarum and scoold free?
Both are open source. Flarum is licensed under MIT and scoold under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Flarum and scoold?
Flarum is written in PHP and scoold in Java. 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 scoold?
Choose Flarum if you want the larger community (16,441 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose scoold if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.