DiscoursevsSimpleX Chat
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Discourse | SimpleX Chat | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 | 74/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #4 of 110 in Chat |
| GitHub stars | 48 024 | 19 612 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +135 | +142 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 12 |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | v7.0.4 · 3 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | GPL-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Ruby | Haskell |
Which one should you pick?
Discourse scores 83/100 against 74/100 for SimpleX Chat, so it is the safer default.
SimpleX Chat ships more often: 12 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for Discourse.
Discourse details →SimpleX Chat details →