# Discourse vs hometown

> Two self-hosted [Social Networks & Forums projects](https://selfhost.directory/social-networks-forums), 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).

## Details

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