Discoursevsscalar
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Discourse | scalar | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 | 76/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #3 of 13 in API |
| GitHub stars | 48 028 | 16 337 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +132 | +148 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 46 |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | release-2026-10-28-0d01943 · 28 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Easy |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Main language | Ruby | Typescript |
Which one should you pick?
Discourse scores 83/100 against 76/100 for scalar, so it is the safer default.
scalar ships more often: 46 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for Discourse.
If you want the quickest setup, scalar is easier to run; Discourse needs more configuration.
Discourse details →scalar details →