Collaboration & Productivity

Flarum

Run your own community forum on your VPS — Flarum, MIT licence, extensible, no ads or third-party tracking.

Official documentation

About Flarum

Flarum is an open-source (MIT) community forum software built in PHP with an Ember.js SPA frontend. Unlike phpBB or Vanilla Forums, the entire interface updates in real time — new posts, likes and notifications appear without page reloads, giving your community a modern experience without the SaaS subscription.

Deployed on a ServOrbit VPS, Flarum runs in two Docker containers: MariaDB 10.11 for data and crazymax/flarum for the PHP application. The first startup automatically installs the database, creates the admin account and anchors your domain URL. Everything is managed from the built-in admin panel.

Flarum's Composer-based extension system gives you hundreds of community packages: polls, badges, SSO (OAuth2, LDAP), private messaging, Markdown extensions, custom pages and much more — installed in one click or one command, no code changes required.

What gets installed

Ready when the VPS starts

Compatible OS
Choice of Linux distributions
Application
Flarum
Tech stack
DockerPHP 8.3MariaDB 10.11Nginxs6-overlay
Minimum RAM
512 MB (1 GB recommended)
Minimum CPU
1 vCPU
Default port
8000
Access
root over SSH

Key features

  • Real-time updates without page reloads — new posts, notifications and likes appear instantly.
  • Powerful extension system — install community extensions for polls, badges, SSO, private messaging and more.
  • Built-in full-text search — find discussions and posts instantly across your entire forum.
  • Granular permissions — configure public, semi-private or fully private access per user group.
  • Email notifications and digest emails — keep your community engaged without constant log-ins.
  • Mobile-optimised single-page app — smooth, fast experience on any device.
  • Built-in JSON:API — connect Flarum to your existing tools and automations.

When to use this solution?

Developer community forum

Host a support and discussion space for your open-source project, SaaS product or developer tool — on your own domain, with full control over moderation and data.

Customer support community

Let customers help each other, reduce your support ticket volume and build a searchable, evergreen knowledge base of solved problems — all on your own server.

Private team discussion board

Use Flarum as an internal async discussion board for your team — private groups, per-project tags and email digests keep everyone aligned without constant meetings.

Guide

Deploy Flarum on your VPS

  1. Attach a domain before deploying

    Flarum locks its public URL (FLARUM_BASE_URL) at first startup. It cannot be changed without recreating the volumes. Attach your domain from your ServOrbit client area before clicking Deploy.

  2. Deploy from the Marketplace

    Marketplace → Collaboration → Flarum → Deploy. Two containers start: MariaDB 10.11 and the Flarum application. The full installation takes 60 to 90 seconds.

  3. Change the default password

    Go to your domain /admin, log in as flarum / flarum and immediately change the password from Administration → Profile.

  4. Configure your forum

    Set the forum title, description and cover image in the admin panel. Enable public registration or restrict it to invitations.

  5. Install extensions

    From Administration → Extensions, enable polls, markdown-editor, SSO and other community extensions in one click, or install any Composer package via SSH.

Frequently asked questions

Questions about Flarum

← Back to Collaboration & ProductivityAll applications
Yes. Flarum locks FLARUM_BASE_URL at first startup — it cannot be changed without recreating the volumes. Attach your domain before deploying.

Embed the deploy button

Maintaining a project that uses Flarum? This button lets your readers deploy it on a VPS in one click, without reading Docker documentation.

Deploy Flarum on ServOrbit
Markdown
[![Deploy Flarum on ServOrbit](https://servorbit.com/brand/deploy/button.svg)](https://servorbit.com/vps-cloud?template=flarum&utm_source=deploy-badge&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=flarum)
HTML
<a href="https://servorbit.com/vps-cloud?template=flarum&utm_source=deploy-badge&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=flarum"><img src="https://servorbit.com/brand/deploy/button.svg" alt="Deploy Flarum on ServOrbit" height="40"></a>

The button points to a VPS order with the template preselected. The image is served from servorbit.com — nothing to host on your side.

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Need help?

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