# Discourse vs open-tag

> Two self-hosted [Slack alternatives](https://selfhost.directory/alternative-to/slack), compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | Discourse | open-tag |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 ✓ | 45/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #68 of 110 in Chat |
| GitHub stars | 48 024 ✓ | 213 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +135 | — |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 10 ✓ |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | v0.14.3 · 22 Aug 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Moderate ✓ | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | Yes ✓ | No |
| License | GPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Ruby | Typescript |

## Which one should you pick?

Discourse scores 83/100 against 45/100 for open-tag, so it is the safer default.

open-tag ships more often: 10 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for Discourse.

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

Discourse is growing faster right now (+135 stars in 30 days).

## Details

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

## Related comparisons

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

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/discourse-vs-open-tag