DiscoursevsOTOBO
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Discourse | OTOBO | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 | 54/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #5 of 9 in Helpdesk |
| GitHub stars | 48 024 | 338 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +135 | — |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 2 |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | rel-11_0_15 · 4 Feb 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Ruby | Perl |
Which one should you pick?
Discourse scores 83/100 against 54/100 for OTOBO, so it is the safer default.
OTOBO ships more often: 2 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for Discourse.
If you want the quickest setup, Discourse is easier to run; OTOBO needs more configuration.
Discourse is growing faster right now (+135 stars in 30 days).
Discourse details →OTOBO details →