Discoursevsoctelium
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Discourse | octelium | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 | 59/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #22 of 56 in VPN |
| GitHub stars | 48 029 | 4 134 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +133 | +64 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 21 |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | v0.47.0 · 24 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | GPL-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Ruby | Go |
Which one should you pick?
Discourse scores 83/100 against 59/100 for octelium, so it is the safer default.
octelium ships more often: 21 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for Discourse.
If you want the quickest setup, Discourse is easier to run; octelium needs more configuration.
Discourse is growing faster right now (+133 stars in 30 days).
Discourse details →octelium details →