# Discourse vs LAN-Orangutan

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

| | Discourse | LAN-Orangutan |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 ✓ | 58/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #15 of 48 in Network Monitoring |
| GitHub stars | 48 029 ✓ | 1 141 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +133 ✓ | +2 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 7 ✓ |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | v3.4.2 · 18 Oct 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Moderate | Easy ✓ |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Main language | Ruby | Go |

## Which one should you pick?

Discourse scores 83/100 against 58/100 for LAN-Orangutan, so it is the safer default.

LAN-Orangutan ships more often: 7 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for Discourse.

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

Discourse is growing faster right now (+133 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [Discourse](https://selfhost.directory/project/discourse) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/discourse.md)
- [LAN-Orangutan](https://selfhost.directory/project/lan-orangutan) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/lan-orangutan.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-lan-orangutan