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Flarum vs Discourse: catalog facts
Flarum	Discourse
Free Free and open source under the MIT licence.	Freemium Self-hosting is free; hosted plans are paid and start with a free trial.
Self-hosted	Android, iOS, Web, Self-hosted
Large ecosystem of community extensions Group permissions and built-in moderation	Can be self-hosted from the public source code Covers forums, voting on ideas and team chat in one place
Needs a PHP server to host Version 2.0 is still a release candidate	Self-hosting needs a server and ongoing maintenance Hosted plans are paid after the trial
Self-hosted	Downloadable app, Self-hosted, Hosted service
Open source	Open source
License: MIT	License not stated
No account needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Needs internet	Needs internet
Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 1, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.