DiscoursevsHiClaw
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Discourse | HiClaw | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 | 67/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #31 of 209 in AI Agents |
| GitHub stars | 48 027 | 5 889 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +131 | +220 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 15 |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | v1.2.5 · 16 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Easy |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | GPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Ruby | Go |
Which one should you pick?
Discourse scores 83/100 against 67/100 for HiClaw, so it is the safer default.
HiClaw ships more often: 15 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for Discourse.
If you want the quickest setup, HiClaw is easier to run; Discourse needs more configuration.
Discourse details →HiClaw details →