head to head · open source
Misago vs nimforum
Misago has 2,781 GitHub stars, 557 forks, 171 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. nimforum has 786 stars, 71 forks, 129 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. Misago leads on adoption by 254% (2,781 vs 786 stars). Misago is written in Python under GPL-2.0; nimforum is written in Nim under MIT. Misago has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, nimforum 9%. 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
| Misago | nimforum | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 2.8K | ★ 786 |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Nim |
| Last push | 2026-10-31 | 2026-07-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 557 | ⑂ 71 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Misago if
- You weight community size — 2.8K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick nimforum if
- You want the nimforum feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Nim
- You evaluated both and nimforum fits your workflow better
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🍌 Bananas 🍌 Misago aims to be complete, featured and modern forum solution that has no fear to say 'NO' to common and outdated opinions about how forum software should be made and what it should do.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 →
About nimforum
nimforum NimForum is a light weight forum implementation with many similarities to Discourse. It is implemented in the Nim programming language and uses SQLite for its database. Examples in the wild forum.nim lang.org Features Efficient, type safe and clean single page application developed using the Karax and Jester frameworks. Utilizes SQLite making set up much easier. Endlessly customizable using SASS. Spam blocking via new user sandboxing with great tools for moderators. reStructuredText enriched by Markdown to make formatting your posts a breeze. Search powered by SQLite's full text search. Context aware…
read the full nimforum overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Misago or nimforum more popular?
Misago has 2,781 GitHub stars and nimforum has 786. Misago has the larger community by that measure.
Are Misago and nimforum free?
Both are open source. Misago is licensed under GPL-2.0 and nimforum under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Misago and nimforum?
Misago is written in Python and nimforum in Nim. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Misago or nimforum?
Choose Misago if you want the larger community (2,781 stars) or its GPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose nimforum if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.