commonlyvsDiscourse
Two self-hosted Slack alternatives, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| commonly | Discourse | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 54/100 | 83/100 |
| Rank in category | #74 of 209 in AI Agents | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums |
| GitHub stars | 1 372 | 48 024 |
| Stars, last 30 days | — | +135 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 3 | 1 |
| Latest release | v3.0.0 · 28 Oct 2026 | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 |
| Setup | Easy | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Main language | Typescript | Ruby |
Which one should you pick?
Discourse scores 83/100 against 54/100 for commonly, so it is the safer default.
commonly ships more often: 3 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for Discourse.
If you want the quickest setup, commonly is easier to run; Discourse needs more configuration.
Discourse is growing faster right now (+135 stars in 30 days).
commonly details →Discourse details → All Slack alternatives →
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