DiscoursevsOrca
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Discourse | Orca | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 | 91/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #1 of 209 in AI Agents |
| GitHub stars | 48 024 | 108 739 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +135 | +8 832 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 15 |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | v1.4.243 · 28 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Easy |
| Official Docker image | Yes | No |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Main language | Ruby | Typescript |
Which one should you pick?
Orca scores 91/100 against 83/100 for Discourse, so it is the safer default.
Orca ships more often: 15 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for Discourse.
If you want the quickest setup, Orca is easier to run; Discourse needs more configuration.
Orca is growing faster right now (+8 832 stars in 30 days).
Discourse details →Orca details →