# Discourse vs Winter CMS

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | Discourse | Winter CMS |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 ✓ | 62/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #16 of 42 in Content Management |
| GitHub stars | 48 026 ✓ | 1 522 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +137 ✓ | +2 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 7 ✓ |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | v1.2.14 · 19 Aug 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes ✓ | No |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Main language | Ruby | PHP |

## Which one should you pick?

Discourse scores 83/100 against 62/100 for Winter CMS, so it is the safer default.

Winter CMS ships more often: 7 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for Discourse.

Discourse is growing faster right now (+137 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [Discourse](https://selfhost.directory/project/discourse) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/discourse.md)
- [Winter CMS](https://selfhost.directory/project/winter-cms) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/winter-cms.md)

## Related comparisons

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

---
Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/discourse-vs-winter-cms