Showing 5 results
Discourse
Modern community forum — trust levels, real-time, and 100+ plugins.
GPL-2.0 discussion platform with SSO, OAuth, webhooks, and custom themes. Docker deployment with automatic spam detection and moderation tools.
Fluxer
Discord-style chat for communities — messaging, voice, and video, self-hostable.
Fluxer is a free, open-source instant messaging and VoIP platform for friends, groups, and communities, styled after Discord. AGPL-3.0 licensed with self-hosting support.
Cinny
Elegant Matrix client — end-to-end encrypted, clean interface.
Cinny is an open-source Matrix client focused on a simple, elegant interface for end-to-end encrypted conversations. AGPL-3.0 licensed, it connects to any Matrix homeserver.
Stoat
Self-hostable Discord alternative (formerly Revolt) — servers, channels, voice.
Stoat (formerly Revolt) is an open-source, self-hostable group chat platform styled after Discord — servers, channels, voice, and moderation — built in the EU with no ads or data mining. Self-hosted components are AGPL-3.0 licensed.
Quiet
Peer-to-peer team chat over Tor — no servers, no phone number, no metadata.
Quiet is an open-source, peer-to-peer team chat that syncs messages directly between devices over Tor, with no central server, no phone number, and no metadata collection. GPL-3.0 licensed.
This category covers community and forum platforms. Discourse is currently the only tool listed — a modern, widely adopted open-source forum with trust levels, real-time updates, and a large plugin ecosystem.
FAQ
What's the best open-source alternative to vBulletin or Vanilla Forums?
Discourse is the most widely adopted modern forum platform. See alternatives to vBulletin and alternatives to Vanilla Forums for the full comparison, including Flarum and NodeBB.
Is Discourse free to self-host?
Yes — it's GPL-2.0 licensed; you pay only for your own hosting unless you use Discourse's managed hosting.
What are the top open-source community tools?
Browse alternatives to vBulletin above for more forum software options.