DiscoursevsZPan
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Discourse | ZPan | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 | 56/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #8 of 11 in Cloud Storage |
| GitHub stars | 48 024 | 2 080 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +135 | +2 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 10 |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets · 15 Jul 2026 | v2.9.0 · 30 Aug 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | GPL-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Ruby | Typescript |
Which one should you pick?
Discourse scores 83/100 against 56/100 for ZPan, so it is the safer default.
ZPan ships more often: 10 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for Discourse.
Discourse is growing faster right now (+135 stars in 30 days).
Discourse details →ZPan details →