Discoursevshometown
Two self-hosted Social Networks & Forums projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Discourse | hometown | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 | 48/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #52 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums |
| GitHub stars | 48 025 | 819 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +136 | — |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 11 |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | v4.6.9+hometown-1.3.1 · 14 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | No |
| License | GPL-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Ruby | Ruby |
Which one should you pick?
Discourse scores 83/100 against 48/100 for hometown, so it is the safer default.
hometown ships more often: 11 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for Discourse.
Discourse is growing faster right now (+136 stars in 30 days).
Discourse details →hometown details →All Social Networks & Forums projects →