DiscoursevsPufferPanel
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Discourse | PufferPanel | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 | 63/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #15 of 62 in Game Servers |
| GitHub stars | 48 025 | 1 762 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +136 | +15 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 10 |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | v3.0.9 · 14 Jul 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | GPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Ruby | Go |
Which one should you pick?
Discourse scores 83/100 against 63/100 for PufferPanel, so it is the safer default.
PufferPanel ships more often: 10 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for Discourse.
Discourse is growing faster right now (+136 stars in 30 days).
Discourse details →PufferPanel details →