DiscoursevsOpenEMR
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Discourse | OpenEMR | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 | 72/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #1 of 5 in Healthcare |
| GitHub stars | 48 028 | 5 556 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +132 | +88 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 6 |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | v8_5_0 · 27 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Ruby | PHP |
Which one should you pick?
Discourse scores 83/100 against 72/100 for OpenEMR, so it is the safer default.
OpenEMR ships more often: 6 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for Discourse.
If you want the quickest setup, Discourse is easier to run; OpenEMR needs more configuration.
Discourse details →OpenEMR details →