Discourse
Advanced forum / community solution based on Ruby and JS.
Discourse vs Flarum
Two self-hosted Communication - Social Networks and Forums apps, compared on the facts we track: GitHub popularity and activity, license, language, Docker images and a rough hosting estimate.
Side by side
| Discourse | Flarum | |
|---|---|---|
| Description | Advanced forum / community solution based on Ruby and JS. | Delightfully simple forums. Next-generation forum software that makes online discussion fun again. |
| GitHub stars | 48,083 | 16,442 |
| Forks | 9.1k | – |
| Open issues (incl. PRs) | 311 | – |
| Commits (12 months) | 7.2k | 16 |
| Last activity | 2026-11-10 | 2026-11-06 |
| Latest release | _gh-attach-assets (2026-07-15) | v2.0.0 (2026-10-09) |
| Maintenance health | Active | Active |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Language / platform | Docker | PHP |
| Docker Hub image | discourse/discourse | – |
| Docker pulls | 175.5k | – |
| Est. server size | ~2 GB, 1 vCPU | ~4 GB, 2 vCPU |
| Est. hosting from | $10/mo | $20/mo |
| Categories | Communication - Social Networks and Forums | Communication - Social Networks and Forums |
| Links | Website · Source | Website · Source |
What the numbers say
- Discourse is more popular on GitHub: 48.1k stars vs 16.4k for Flarum.
- Discourse had more commits in the last 12 months (7,240 vs 16).
- Flarum published a release more recently (v2.0.0 on 2026-10-09; Discourse's latest is _gh-attach-assets on 2026-07-15).
- Discourse is licensed under GPL-2.0, Flarum under MIT. Flarum's license is permissive; Discourse's is copyleft (changes you distribute must stay open).
- Flarum is written in PHP; the language of Discourse is not listed upstream.
- Deployment options listed upstream: Discourse: Docker; Flarum: none listed.
- Only Discourse has a Docker Hub image that we detected (discourse/discourse).
- Our rough hardware estimate is lighter for Discourse (~2 GB server) than Flarum (~4 GB); this is an estimate from the stack and category, not a benchmark.
Summary: Discourse leads on GitHub popularity, commit activity and Docker Hub availability. The right choice depends on the features you need — read both project descriptions and docs.
This summary is generated from GitHub, Docker Hub and awesome-selfhosted data as of 2026-11-15. It does not rate features or quality.
Get the Docker images
Discourse
docker pull discourse/discourseImage on Docker Hub. Ports, volumes and environment variables differ per app; follow the official docs.
Frequently asked questions
Is Discourse or Flarum more popular?
Discourse has more GitHub stars (48,083 vs 16,442 for Flarum, as of 2026-11-15). Stars measure interest, not quality.
Which is more actively maintained, Discourse or Flarum?
Discourse had more commits over the last 12 months (7,240 vs 16). The last recorded activity was 2026-11-10 for Discourse and 2026-11-06 for Flarum. Releases in the past year: Discourse 10+, Flarum 10+. Our health labels: Discourse is “Active”, Flarum is “Active”.
What licenses do Discourse and Flarum use?
Discourse: GPL-2.0. Flarum: MIT. Flarum's license is permissive; Discourse's is copyleft (changes you distribute must stay open).
Can I run Discourse and Flarum with Docker?
Discourse has a Docker Hub image (discourse/discourse). We did not find one for Flarum; check its documentation for install options.
Read more
Flarum
Delightfully simple forums. Next-generation forum software that makes online discussion fun again.
Browse all self-hosted Communication - Social Networks and Forums apps.