# Discourse vs polar

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

| | Discourse | polar |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 ✓ | 71/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #1 of 13 in Billing |
| GitHub stars | 48 029 ✓ | 10 436 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +133 | +157 ✓ |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 1 |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | @polar-sh/cli@3.0.0 · 16 Oct 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Moderate ✓ | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | Yes ✓ | No |
| License | GPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Ruby | Python |

## Which one should you pick?

Discourse scores 83/100 against 71/100 for polar, so it is the safer default.

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

## Details

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

## Related comparisons

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

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