# Discourse vs YOURLS

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

| | Discourse | YOURLS |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 ✓ | 74/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #1 of 23 in URL Shortener |
| GitHub stars | 48 027 ✓ | 12 292 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +131 ✓ | +49 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 4 ✓ |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | 1.10.6 · 30 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 74/100 for YOURLS, so it is the safer default.

YOURLS ships more often: 4 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for Discourse.

Discourse is growing faster right now (+131 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [Discourse](https://selfhost.directory/project/discourse) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/discourse.md)
- [YOURLS](https://selfhost.directory/project/yourls) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/yourls.md)

## Related comparisons

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

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/discourse-vs-yourls