# Discourse vs Koha

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | Discourse | Koha |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 ✓ | 61/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #1 of 4 in Library Management |
| GitHub stars | 48 028 ✓ | 596 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +132 ✓ | +7 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 ✓ | 0 |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | — |
| Setup | Moderate ✓ | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | Yes ✓ | No |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Ruby | Perl |

## Which one should you pick?

Discourse scores 83/100 against 61/100 for Koha, so it is the safer default.

Discourse ships more often: 1 stable releases in the past year, against 0 for Koha.

If you want the quickest setup, Discourse is easier to run; Koha needs more configuration.

Discourse is growing faster right now (+132 stars in 30 days).

## Details

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

## Related comparisons

- [Discourse vs Rocket.Chat](https://selfhost.directory/compare/discourse-vs-rocketchat)
- [Discourse vs Zulip](https://selfhost.directory/compare/discourse-vs-zulip)

---
Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/discourse-vs-koha