# chatwoot vs Discourse

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | chatwoot | Discourse |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 84/100 ✓ | 83/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 14 in Customer Support | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums |
| GitHub stars | 38 505 | 48 024 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | +1 383 ✓ | +135 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 18 ✓ | 1 |
| Latest release | v4.19.1 · 24 Oct 2026 ✓ | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 |
| Setup | Advanced | Moderate ✓ |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | Other | GPL-2.0 |
| Main language | Ruby | Ruby |

## Which one should you pick?

chatwoot scores 84/100 against 83/100 for Discourse, so it is the safer default.

chatwoot ships more often: 18 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for Discourse.

If you want the quickest setup, Discourse is easier to run; chatwoot needs more configuration.

chatwoot is growing faster right now (+1 383 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [chatwoot](https://selfhost.directory/project/chatwoot) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/chatwoot.md)
- [Discourse](https://selfhost.directory/project/discourse) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/discourse.md)

## Related comparisons

- [Discourse vs Rocket.Chat](https://selfhost.directory/compare/discourse-vs-rocketchat)
- [Discourse vs Zulip](https://selfhost.directory/compare/discourse-vs-zulip)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/chatwoot-vs-discourse