# Discourse vs rsyslog

> 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).

## Details

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

## Related comparisons

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

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