DiscoursevsIncus
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Discourse | Incus | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 | 75/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #3 of 44 in Container Management |
| GitHub stars | 48 027 | 6 520 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +131 | +274 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 16 |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | v7.0.2 · 16 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Advanced |
| 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 75/100 for Incus, so it is the safer default.
Incus ships more often: 16 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for Discourse.
If you want the quickest setup, Discourse is easier to run; Incus needs more configuration.
Incus is growing faster right now (+274 stars in 30 days).
Discourse details →Incus details →