Discoursevsrsyslog
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Discourse | rsyslog | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 | 67/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #2 of 8 in Logging |
| GitHub stars | 48 025 | 2 343 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +136 | +7 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 4 |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | v8.2610.0 · 20 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | GPL-2.0 | LGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Ruby | C |
Which one should you pick?
Discourse scores 83/100 against 67/100 for rsyslog, so it is the safer default.
rsyslog ships more often: 4 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for Discourse.
If you want the quickest setup, Discourse is easier to run; rsyslog needs more configuration.
Discourse is growing faster right now (+136 stars in 30 days).
Discourse details →rsyslog details →