head to head · open source
Flarum vs Valour
Flarum has 16,441 GitHub stars, 1,676 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 25 days ago. Valour has 399 stars, 43 forks, 88 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Flarum leads on adoption by 4,021% (16,441 vs 399 stars). Flarum is written in PHP under MIT; Valour is written in C# under AGPL-3.0. Flarum has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Valour 11%. Valour was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | Valour | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 399 |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | PHP | C# |
| Last push | 2026-10-09 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 43 |
| 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 Valour if
- You want the Valour feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and Valour 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 Valour
Valour Valour is an open source community platform built with .NET and Blazor. Communities are called planets. Each planet can have chat channels, thread feeds, wikis, voice and video calls, roles, an economy, and a village where members walk around and meet. The client supports tabs, splits, and multiple open conversations. Use the app at app.valour.gg or visit valour.gg for the public website. The documentation index covers development, hosting, and architecture. Codebase The web host references the shared client UI. The server serves API and SignalR requests and can serve the browser client and its static…
read the full Valour overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Flarum or Valour more popular?
Flarum has 16,441 GitHub stars and Valour has 399. Flarum has the larger community by that measure.
Are Flarum and Valour free?
Both are open source. Flarum is licensed under MIT and Valour under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Flarum and Valour?
Flarum is written in PHP and Valour in C#. 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 Valour?
Choose Flarum if you want the larger community (16,441 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Valour if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.