DiscoursevsUnderstudy
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Discourse | Understudy | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 | 48/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #110 of 209 in AI Agents |
| GitHub stars | 48 026 | 465 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +130 | +0 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 0 |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | — |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | No |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Main language | Ruby | Typescript |
Which one should you pick?
Discourse scores 83/100 against 48/100 for Understudy, so it is the safer default.
Discourse ships more often: 1 stable releases in the past year, against 0 for Understudy.
Discourse is growing faster right now (+130 stars in 30 days).
Discourse details →Understudy details →