Discoursevsrudder
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Discourse | rudder | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 | 55/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #4 of 8 in Configuration Management |
| GitHub stars | 48 025 | 719 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +136 | — |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 11 |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | 9.1.4 · 7 Aug 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | Yes | No |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Ruby | Scala |
Which one should you pick?
Discourse scores 83/100 against 55/100 for rudder, so it is the safer default.
rudder ships more often: 11 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for Discourse.
If you want the quickest setup, Discourse is easier to run; rudder needs more configuration.
Discourse is growing faster right now (+136 stars in 30 days).
Discourse details →rudder details →