DiscoursevsNightingale
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Discourse | Nightingale | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 | 58/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #15 of 54 in Media Streaming |
| GitHub stars | 48 029 | 1 522 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +133 | +0 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 9 |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | v1.3.0 · 15 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Ruby | Typescript |
Which one should you pick?
Discourse scores 83/100 against 58/100 for Nightingale, so it is the safer default.
Nightingale ships more often: 9 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for Discourse.
If you want the quickest setup, Discourse is easier to run; Nightingale needs more configuration.
Discourse is growing faster right now (+133 stars in 30 days).
Discourse details →Nightingale details →