What Murof runs on

The stack, the server you need, which hosts fit, and what your forum does and doesn't send anywhere.

Murof is built to be small, so it runs well on the cheapest server you can rent and keeps running without a database administrator. This page covers what's inside, what it needs, and how it treats your data.

The stack

• Python: Murof is one Python program that uses only Python's standard library. There's no pip install, no packages to keep patched and no build step. Python 3.11 or newer runs it.
• SQLite: your whole forum lives in one database file, with full-text search built in. There's no MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis or Elasticsearch to install or look after.
• A built-in web server: Murof serves its own pages. Put Caddy, nginx or Apache in front if you like, or let the included Docker setup do it for you.
• A little plain JavaScript: about 100 KB of hand-written script with no framework, so pages work and stay fast on phones.
• One-click Docker: the included docker-compose.yml starts Murof with Caddy in front for automatic HTTPS. Set your domain in .env and run docker compose up -d.

Server needs

• Memory: a server with 1 GB of RAM or more. Murof itself uses about 65 to 90 MB when quiet, and about 160 MB at full load on a 10-million-post forum in our tests.
• Disk: a new forum takes a few megabytes. The database grows by roughly 780 MB per million posts, search included. Leave room for uploads and for the nightly backups Murof makes for you.
• Operating system: any current 64-bit Linux, such as Ubuntu 24.04 or Debian 12, plus Windows 10 and 11, Windows Server and macOS. With Docker, anything Docker runs on, on x86-64 or 64-bit ARM, including a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5.
• CPU: one core is plenty. On a single core Murof served 50 page views a second on a 10-million-post forum.
• Network: a domain pointed at your server, and ports 80 and 443 open. Nothing else needs to be public.

The full list of supported systems is under Where Murof runs, and every number above is on the stats page.

Which hosts fit

• A small VPS is the best fit: a $4 to $6 a month server at DigitalOcean, Hetzner, Vultr, Linode, OVH and similar runs a busy forum. Any host that gives you SSH access to a Linux server works.
• Cheap shared hosting usually doesn't: plans that only run PHP, such as most cPanel and Plesk shared plans, Porkbun Easy PHP, GoDaddy and Hostinger shared plans and WordPress hosting, can't keep a program running. If your host only gives you a file manager and a PHP version picker, choose a VPS instead.
• App platforms need a lasting disk: hosts that wipe files on every restart work only with a persistent volume for Murof's data folder.
• Static and serverless hosts don't fit: GitHub Pages, Netlify, Vercel, AWS Lambda and Cloudflare Workers can't run a forum that keeps its database on disk.

New to servers? Install on a VPS over SSH takes you from renting a server to a live forum, step by step.

Why it's light

• One process, one file: there's no database server, cache server or search server running beside it, so there's less to use memory and less to break.
• Fast pages: half of all pages are ready in 6 ms on the server, even on a 10-million-post forum, and Murof starts in about 150 ms.
• Simple backups: back up one folder and you've backed up your whole forum. A full backup of a 10-million-post forum took 9 seconds in our tests.
• Nothing to rebuild: updates install in one click from your Admin CP, with no compiling or asset build.

Privacy and your licence

• Your licence is checked offline: the key is signed, and your forum checks the signature itself. Your forum never needs our servers to run, and it keeps working whatever the key says.
• It only calls us when you ask: Murof contacts murof.lol when you press Check for updates or use Admin › Store. It sends your licence key, your domain, your Murof version and a random install number, and nothing about your members or posts.
• No tracking: there's no analytics, no ads and no outside fonts or scripts in your forum. Your members' data stays on your server and belongs to you.
• Members' IPs stay private: images linked from other sites load through your forum, so those sites never see your members' IP addresses. Videos from YouTube or Twitch only load once a member presses play.
• Outside services are your choice: Discord, Google sign-in, Stripe and your email provider are only contacted once you set them up.

Code and add-ons

• Murof is closed source: the code isn't published, and your licence covers running Murof, not changing or sharing its files.
• Add-ons are first-party only: every plugin and theme is made and signed by us. Murof checks the signature before it loads one and never runs unsigned code, which keeps your forum safe and every update smooth.
• Plugins are free: every official plugin is included with your licence. Free official plugins lists them all.
• Make it yours: your logo, colours, themes and custom CSS change the whole look without touching any code.