# Discourse vs penpot

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | Discourse | penpot |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 | 84/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #1 of 30 in Collaboration |
| GitHub stars | 48 024 | 61 801 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | +135 | +1 489 ✓ |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 12 ✓ |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | 2.18.5 · 26 Oct 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Moderate ✓ | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| Main language | Ruby | Clojure |

## Which one should you pick?

penpot scores 84/100 against 83/100 for Discourse, so it is the safer default.

penpot ships more often: 12 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for Discourse.

If you want the quickest setup, Discourse is easier to run; penpot needs more configuration.

penpot is growing faster right now (+1 489 stars in 30 days).

## Details

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

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