head to head · open source
Flarum vs Spirit
Flarum has 16,443 GitHub stars, 1,678 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. Spirit has 1,187 stars, 329 forks, 40 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Flarum leads on adoption by 1,285% (16,443 vs 1,187 stars). Flarum is written in PHP under MIT; Spirit is written in Python under MIT. Flarum has attracted 10% 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
| Flarum | Spirit | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | PHP | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-06 | 2026-11-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 329 |
| 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 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 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 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 Flarum or Spirit more popular?
Flarum has 16,443 GitHub stars and Spirit has 1,187. Flarum has the larger community by that measure.
Are Flarum and Spirit free?
Both are open source. Flarum is licensed under MIT and Spirit under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Flarum and Spirit?
Flarum is written in PHP 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, Flarum or Spirit?
Choose Flarum if you want the larger community (16,443 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Spirit if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.