Forem

Open source alternative to Hashnode and Ghost

22.8K stars
AGPL-3.0
Active this week
Last commit today

Last verified Oct 30, 2026

Build self-hosted developer communities with article publishing, threaded discussions, and member profiles. Forem powers DEV Community under AGPL-3.0.

Visit website GitHub22.8K Deploy on Hostinger

Read the full breakdownWho it is for, how it works, trade-offs, the quick start and the FAQ

who it's for

Who Forem is for#

Open source project maintainers building a community hub

Publish project announcements, tutorials, and changelogs. Members follow the project's tag or author profile, react to posts, and start threaded discussions around issues or feature proposals, all on your own domain and database rather than a vendor's infrastructure.

Skip if:

Your project needs only a lightweight GitHub Discussions board or a simple forum. Forem's setup complexity (pgvector, Kamal 2, Docker registry) is not worth it for a small community that does not need custom-domain publishing.

Developer tool companies building customer communities

Host documentation discussions, changelog posts, and user success stories on a self-managed community running on your own server. AGPL-3.0 permits running Forem for your own customers' community. Member data stays in your database, and you control content moderation and community policies.

Skip if:

You need a managed community product with vendor support, uptime SLAs, and no infrastructure work. Hashnode and Ghost's hosted tiers are simpler for teams without DevOps capacity to maintain a Rails application.

Organizations running coding programs and bootcamps

Forem supports profiles, follows, tags, and article publishing, giving bootcamp students and alumni a place to build a public writing portfolio within a shared community space. Students can post learning journals, project writeups, and tutorials while instructors publish guides and respond in comments.

Skip if:

You need cohort management, progress tracking, or learning management features. Forem is a community publishing tool, not a learning management system.

the problem

The problem it solves#

Building a developer community on a managed service means accepting the vendor's pricing, content policies, and infrastructure constraints. Hashnode charges for custom domains, advanced analytics, and team features. Ghost's community interaction relies on third-party comment integrations; its native community tools are limited compared to its newsletter and paywall features. Neither service gives community administrators direct access to member data, moderation controls beyond what the vendor provides, or a migration path that preserves member accounts and content without vendor assistance.

Teams running coding programs, open source project hubs, or developer tool communities face a sharper version of this problem: they need custom branding, moderation controls, and confidence that the community will not disappear if a pricing change makes the service unaffordable. When a hosted community service raises prices or removes features, rebuilding a community's content, user accounts, discussion threads, and follow graphs on a new service is expensive and disruptive.

how Forem solves it

How it solves it#

Article publishing with reactions and threaded comments

Authors write in a markdown editor and publish articles that readers can react to and comment on in threaded discussions. The system supports cross-posting from external sources via canonical URL, letting developers republish content from their own blogs without creating duplicate search results. Posts support tag-based discovery, and the full article feed shown on DEV Community (dev.to) runs on this same system.

Member follow graph and personalized feed

Members follow other authors, tags, and organizations to build a personalized reading feed. Following a tag surfaces new articles in that subject, while following an author delivers their posts directly to your feed. Forem's feed incorporates AI-powered semantic recommendations using PostgreSQL's pgvector extension alongside the explicit follow signals.

AI feed recommendations via pgvector embeddings

Forem uses PostgreSQL's pgvector extension (HNSW indexing, version 0.8.0 or higher) to generate semantic embeddings for feed recommendations. This is a hard database requirement to run the app and migrate the schema. An optional Gemini API key generates the embeddings; without one, Forem runs normally without semantic recommendations and falls back to the explicit follow graph.

Kamal 2 deployment to any cloud or bare metal server

Forem ships with Kamal 2 configuration for deploying to AWS, DigitalOcean, Hetzner, GCP, or a bare metal server. The deployment requires Docker on the local machine and target server, SSH access, and a Docker container registry account. Kamal handles building the Docker image, pushing it to the registry, and rolling out the deployment.

Tag-based content organization and discovery

Content is organized with tags that authors apply to articles and discussions. Readers follow tags to filter their feed, and communities can build a custom tag taxonomy to reflect their domain's vocabulary. Tag pages aggregate all content for a given topic, making it straightforward for members to find writing in their area of interest.

strengths · trade-offs

Strengths and trade-offs#

Strengths

Production-proven at scale via DEV CommunityDEV Community (dev.to) runs on this codebase and has done so since 2016, giving Forem a decade-long production track record. The article, discussion, and member follow systems have handled real community load continuously. At 22,813 GitHub stars and 4,194 forks, the project also has a large contributor base behind it.
AGPL-3.0 self-hosting with full data ownershipRunning Forem on your own infrastructure means your member database, content, and community data never leave your servers. There are no per-seat licensing fees, no feature paywalls requiring a higher plan, and no vendor pricing changes to absorb. This is a direct contrast to Hashnode's commercial tiers and Ghost's Pro plans, which tie community features to subscription costs.
Active development with a manageable open issue countThe repository was last pushed on 2026-10-29 with weekly commit activity. The open issue count is 57 (pull requests excluded), a small number relative to the codebase's age and size. Active maintenance means security patches, dependency updates, and new features continue without requiring a community fork to stay current.

Trade-offs

-Self-hosting requires pgvector and Kamal 2 infrastructureForem's setup is not a single Docker run command. The database must have the pgvector extension installed (version 0.8.0 or higher, with HNSW indexing) before the schema migration can run, and the primary deployment path uses Kamal 2 with a Docker container registry and SSH server access. Teams without Rails infrastructure experience will face significant setup time before the community is live.
-AGPL-3.0 restricts commercial rehostingAGPL-3.0 allows self-hosting for your own community, including internal commercial use. What it restricts is running Forem as a managed hosted service and offering it to third-party customers without releasing your modifications under the same license. Organizations building a white-label community product on top of Forem and selling access to others should review the AGPL terms before committing.

versus alternatives

Forem vs alternatives#

Forem vs Hashnode

Forem and Hashnode both target developer publishing but operate on different infrastructure models. Hashnode is a managed SaaS service; Forem is self-hosted software you run on your own server under AGPL-3.0.

Feature	Forem	Hashnode
License	AGPL-3.0	Proprietary
Self-hosting	Yes	No
Data ownership	Full (your database)	Vendor-held
Community discussions	Articles, comments, follows	Articles, comments
Pricing	Free to self-host	Freemium with paid tiers

Forem is the stronger choice when your community needs full data ownership, custom moderation rules, or a developer hub with the feature set that powers dev.to. You control the database, the recommendation logic, and content policies without depending on a vendor roadmap.

Hashnode is the better fit when you want a managed publishing product with no infrastructure work. Teams without the capacity to maintain a Rails application and PostgreSQL database will find Hashnode's hosted tier removes that burden.

Forem vs Ghost

Ghost focuses on content creators with newsletter and membership monetization. Forem is built for community interaction with articles, discussions, follow graphs, and reactions.

Feature	Forem	Ghost
License	AGPL-3.0	MIT (self-hosted)
Self-hosting	Yes	Yes
Community discussions	Threaded comments and reactions	Comments via integrations only
Newsletter	No	Yes
Paid memberships	No	Yes
Member follow graph	Yes	No

Forem is the stronger choice for building an interactive community with user-generated articles and member follow graphs. Ghost is the stronger choice when your goal is newsletter monetization, paid content tiers, or a single-author publication with a subscriber base.

install · quick start

Quick start#

bash

Deploy Forem to your server using Kamal 2 with Docker and PostgreSQL (pgvector extension required).

```bash
git clone https://github.com/forem/forem.git
bundle exec kamal setup
```

tech stack · detected from GitHub

What it's built on#

Languages: JavaScriptRubyRust
Frameworks: Rails
Tooling: esbuild

frequently asked

FAQ#

Is Forem free to use?

Yes. Forem is AGPL-3.0 licensed and free to self-host on your own server with no licensing fees. You are responsible for providing and maintaining your own infrastructure: a server with Docker, PostgreSQL with pgvector (version 0.8.0 or higher), and a Docker container registry account.

What is the difference between Forem and dev.to?

DEV Community (dev.to) is a developer community that runs on the Forem software. Forem is the underlying open source codebase. Running Forem yourself gives you the same article publishing, discussion, and member follow systems as dev.to, on your own domain and server with your own database.

Does Forem support newsletters or paid memberships?

Forem does not include a built-in newsletter delivery or paid membership paywall in its documented feature set. It focuses on community publishing, threaded discussions, member follows, and tag-based content discovery. If you need newsletter delivery to subscribers or subscription monetization, Ghost's hosted or self-hosted options are a closer fit for that workflow.

What are the server requirements for self-hosting Forem?

Self-hosting requires a server with SSH access, Docker installed on both the local machine and target server, a Docker container registry account, and PostgreSQL with the pgvector extension at version 0.8.0 or higher with HNSW indexing enabled. The deployment tool is Kamal 2. A Gemini API key is optional and enables semantic feed recommendations; without one, Forem runs normally on the explicit follow graph.

What license does Forem use and what does it allow?

Forem is licensed under AGPL-3.0. You can run it on your own server for your community, including internal commercial use for a company's team or customer base. The AGPL restriction applies to building a managed hosting service for third-party customers: distributing Forem as a hosted product requires releasing your modifications under the same license. The project's license FAQ is at developers.forem.com/licensing.

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Hostinger

Self-host Forem on a Hostinger VPS

Keep it running 24/7, even when your laptop is off. A Hostinger VPS gives it a server of its own.

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Choose a plan
Starts from $6.49/mo
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Apply
Extra 10% off yearly plans
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Install Forem
On a server that stays on
04
Start building
Focus on the app, not the server

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Find open source alternatives to paid software

Forem vs Hashnode

Feature	Forem	Hashnode
License	AGPL-3.0	Proprietary
Self-hosting	Yes	No
Data ownership	Full (your database)	Vendor-held
Community discussions	Articles, comments, follows	Articles, comments
Pricing	Free to self-host	Freemium with paid tiers

Forem vs Ghost

Ghost focuses on content creators with newsletter and membership monetization. Forem is built for community interaction with articles, discussions, follow graphs, and reactions.

Feature	Forem	Ghost
License	AGPL-3.0	MIT (self-hosted)
Self-hosting	Yes	Yes
Community discussions	Threaded comments and reactions	Comments via integrations only
Newsletter	No	Yes
Paid memberships	No	Yes
Member follow graph	Yes	No