SHANKS I think some of the points you raise are valid and worth discussing. At the same time, I feel like a few things might be getting a bit overemphasized.
One of the main reasons I personally chose Flarum instead of platforms like XenForo, vBulletin, or MyBB is actually because those platforms tend to include too many built-in features. At first glance that sounds like an advantage, but in practice it often means dealing with functionality you never use, and sometimes can’t even properly disable. Over time this leads to heavier, more complicated systems.
Another major factor is the modern web itself. A large portion of internet traffic now comes from mobile devices, and in my experience no forum software handles mobile as cleanly and flexibly as Flarum does. Many traditional forums have slowly turned into technical support hubs just to maintain their own complexity. Flarum, on the other hand, makes it possible to build something closer to a modern, Discord-like community experience while still keeping the openness and customizability of a forum.
Regarding translations specifically, Flarum already has a very strong solution: FoF Linguist. This extension allows administrators to override or customize any translation string directly from the admin panel, without touching language files. You can change a single word, a sentence, or entire phrases in seconds, and those changes persist across updates. In many ways this solves the exact problem you’re describing editing text quickly without dealing with files or GitHub.
The ecosystem is also much larger than it might appear at first glance. There are 100+ well-maintained extensions supported by the community, many of them actively maintained by the Friends of Flarum team and other long-time contributors. If a feature you need doesn’t exist yet, the extension architecture makes it relatively affordable to build one.
Compared to something like Discourse, developing an extension for Flarum is often 5-10 times cheaper. I’ve personally seen developers spend a month building an extension and receive only $100-$200 in donations for their work. The reason this happens is simple: many contributors here are not motivated by profit, but by a genuine interest in improving the platform and the open web.
It’s also important to remember that not every feature belongs in the core. Especially with SPA-based software like Flarum, adding everything directly into the core would slow down the initial load time and make the system harder to maintain. The extension system exists precisely to keep the core lightweight while allowing communities to build exactly what they need.
Another point worth mentioning is accessibility for non-technical users. Not everyone wants to manage a server or deal with Composer. That’s completely understandable. For that reason, there are solutions like freeflarum.com, which is a fully managed hosting platform funded by donations. It allows you to run a Flarum forum for free under a custom domain, without needing SSH, Composer, or server knowledge. You simply create your forum and start using it.
If someone needs even more convenience, there are also premium hosting providers that manage everything for you. Installation, updates, maintenance, and sometimes even extension development funded through their own budgets.
Because of all these options, I don’t think the situation is as restrictive as it might seem. Most things people are looking for already exist in one form or another.
I’ve seen several messages that sounded quite frustrated, which is why I wanted to respond once. Instead of focusing only on what cannot be done, it’s usually more productive to ask “how can this be achieved?”. The community here is largely made up of volunteers who spend their personal time trying to improve the platform and help others.
If anything I said comes across the wrong way, I sincerely apologize, that isn’t my intention. I simply wanted to share my perspective. And to be clear, none of this represents the official position of the Flarum team, these are only my personal thoughts.
I spend more than 5 hours of my free time almost every day contributing to this community, and I don’t receive any payment for it. Like many others here, I’m just someone who cares about the project and about making the web a little better.
I genuinely hope you’ll be able to explore Flarum’s potential and build a great community with it.
