# Discourse vs MeiliSearch

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

| | Discourse | MeiliSearch |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 ✓ | 82/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #3 of 41 in Search Engines |
| GitHub stars | 48 029 | 59 704 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | +133 | +300 ✓ |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 33 ✓ |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | v1.56.0 · 26 Oct 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate ✓ |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | GPL-2.0 | Other |
| Main language | Ruby | Rust |

## Which one should you pick?

Discourse scores 83/100 against 82/100 for MeiliSearch, so it is the safer default.

MeiliSearch ships more often: 33 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for Discourse.

MeiliSearch is growing faster right now (+300 stars in 30 days).

## Details

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

## Related comparisons

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

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