DiscoursevsFlarum
Two self-hosted Social Networks & Forums projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Discourse | Flarum | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 | 69/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #6 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums |
| GitHub stars | 48 024 | 6 764 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +135 | +13 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 12 |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | v1.8.21 · 23 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | No |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Main language | Ruby | PHP |
Which one should you pick?
Discourse scores 83/100 against 69/100 for Flarum, so it is the safer default.
Flarum ships more often: 12 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for Discourse.
Discourse is growing faster right now (+135 stars in 30 days).
Discourse details →Flarum details →All Social Networks & Forums projects →