Bettermode vs Flarum (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Bettermode if

• Fits if you want a community on your own domain and have a budget above $149 a month
• Works for companies running a support or customer community with Q&A

Look elsewhere if

• Pricey if you outgrow Starter: it jumps from $149 to $1,500 a month
• Tight if you have a big group: Starter caps members at 10,000 and collaborators at 5
• Watch out: Premium has no published price and is sold through sales
• Skip it if you want to sell courses, as there is no built-in course checkout

Pick Flarum if

• Fits if you can run a server and want a forum you control
• Works for communities that want extensions and themes

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you can't manage PHP, a database and SSH access
• Not for you if you want courses, memberships or payments, as it has none
• Watch out: support comes from the volunteer community forum, not a paid vendor
• Watch out: no official migration tool, only the third-party Nitro Porter

Bettermode

• The jump from Starter ($149 a month) to Growth ($1,500 a month) is steep, and AI search and webhooks sit behind it.
• Plans cap members and collaborators: 10,000 and 5 on Starter.
• Premium has no published price and is sold through sales.
• There is no built-in course checkout; it is a community platform.

Flarum

• You run it yourself: the installer needs PHP 8.3 or newer, a supported database and SSH access, which rules out much shared hosting.
• No official migration tool; the docs point to Nitro Porter, a third-party import and export tool.
• It has no courses, memberships or payment features, only forums.
• Support comes from the volunteer community forum rather than a paid vendor.

Bettermode

Core community apps

Q&A, discussion, events and polls are included on every plan, plus private messaging and chat.

Your own domain

Runs on a custom domain, with the Bettermode credit removed, from the entry plan.

Ask AI and federated search

Growth adds AI-based answers and search across connected sources.

API, webhooks and sandbox

Starter has limited API access; Growth adds full API, webhooks and a sandbox environment.

Single sign-on options

Social login on Starter, OAuth2 and JWT on Growth, SAML on Premium.

Enterprise controls

Premium lists an audit log, a security and legal review and a SOC II claim.

Flarum

Groups and permissions

Assign permissions to groups, control member access across categories, and use built-in moderation and flagging.

Extensions

Hundreds of community-built extensions add features, and bundled ones include Tags, Messages, Realtime, Statistics and Markdown.

Themes and styling

Change the look through admin settings, install themes, or add custom CSS that applies across the whole forum.

Editors

Supports lightweight Markdown editors and full WYSIWYG editors, depending on the extensions you install.

Notifications

In-browser notifications and email digests, with real-time updates available through the bundled Realtime extension.

Choice of database

Flarum 2.0 runs on MySQL, MariaDB, SQLite or PostgreSQL, and search can be swapped to another engine through search drivers.

Bettermode

• Starter$149

  per month, billed yearly ($199 monthly)

  Up to 10,000 members and 5 collaborators; Q&A, discussion, events and polls, custom domain, limited API access.

• Growth$1,500

  per month, billed yearly ($1,750 monthly)

  Up to 25,000 members and 10 collaborators; adds Ask AI and federated search, webhooks, OAuth2 and JWT.

• PremiumCustom

  100,000+ members and 20+ collaborators; adds a design studio, custom CMS, SAML, a 99.9% uptime SLA and a customer success manager.

Flarum

• Flarum$0

  Free MIT-licensed software that you install and run on your own server.

Bettermode

• Annual discount

  Save up to 25% with yearly billing

  The pricing page lists yearly rates below monthly ones, for example $149 against $199 for Starter, and says savings are up to 25%.

Flarum

No public discounts listed.