# Discourse vs Orca

> 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 | 48 025 | 108 815 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | +136 | +8 908 ✓ |
| 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 (+8 908 stars in 30 days).

## Details

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

## Related comparisons

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

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/discourse-vs-orca