Discoursevsmarchat
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Discourse | marchat | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 | 49/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #51 of 110 in Chat |
| GitHub stars | 48 024 | 139 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +135 | — |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 12 |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | v1.3.8 · 1 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Main language | Ruby | Go |
Which one should you pick?
Discourse scores 83/100 against 49/100 for marchat, so it is the safer default.
marchat ships more often: 12 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for Discourse.
Discourse is growing faster right now (+135 stars in 30 days).
Discourse details →marchat details →