DiscoursevsOpenWA
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Discourse | OpenWA | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 | 77/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #2 of 19 in API Management |
| GitHub stars | 48 023 | 16 328 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +134 | +322 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 3 |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | v0.26.0 · 28 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Easy |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Main language | Ruby | Typescript |
Which one should you pick?
Discourse scores 83/100 against 77/100 for OpenWA, so it is the safer default.
OpenWA ships more often: 3 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for Discourse.
If you want the quickest setup, OpenWA is easier to run; Discourse needs more configuration.
OpenWA is growing faster right now (+322 stars in 30 days).
Discourse details →OpenWA details →