Discourse by discourse

A platform for community discussion. Free, open, simple.

Discourse interface screenshot from project README
discoursejavascriptrailsrubyemberforumpostgresql
Verdict 68/100 health $4.13/mo cheapest, hetzner 2/5 setup difficulty 56k docker pulls 14 open CVEs

Self-host Discourse on hetzner CAX11 for $4.13/mo.

Health score
68 /100
6-dim composite
Self-hosts from
$4.13 /mo
hetzner · CAX11
Difficulty
2 /5
Docker + read README
GitHub stars
47k
8.9k forks

About Discourse

From the project's README at github.com/discourse/discourse. Lightly cleaned for readability; for the full source see the upstream repo.

> You can self-host Discourse on your own infrastructure. But if you'd rather skip the setup, maintenance, and server management, we offer official Discourse hosting. > > Learn more about Discourse hosting

Discourse is a 100% open-source community platform for those who want complete control over how and where their site is run.

Our platform has been battle-tested for over a decade and continues to evolve to meet users’ needs for a powerful community platform.

Create discussion topics to foster meaningful conversations.

Health score breakdown

6-dimension composite. See methodology for formula and weights.

activity
100
maturity
30
community
77
security
85
sustainability
65
adoption
45

Adoption signals

Real-world usage data, pulled from each registry. The bigger the numbers, the more battle-tested the project.

SignalValueSource
GitHub stars 47k github.com/discourse/discourse
GitHub forks 8.9k github.com/discourse/discourse
Docker Hub pulls 56k hub.docker.com / discourse

Release & maintenance

Is this project actively maintained, or about to die? Check the recency of last commit and last release.

Project age13.3 yearssince Jan 2013
Last commit2 days agoMay 5, 2026
Security policySECURITY.mddeclared by maintainers

Self-hosting cost across providers

Detected requirements: 4GB RAM, 40GB disk minimum. Cheapest plan per provider that meets the requirement.

ProviderPlanSpecsMonthly
hetzner CAX11 2c · 4GB · 40GB $4.13 USD Deploy →
vultr VC2 1c · 1GB · 25GB $5 USD Deploy →
linode Nanode 1GB 1c · 1GB · 25GB $5.12 USD Deploy →
digitalocean Basic Regular 1GB 1c · 1GB · 25GB $6 USD Deploy →

Security advisories

236 known advisories tracked via OSV.dev. 14 currently open without a documented fix. Most recent: CVE-2026-33415.

What people say on Hacker News

Ready to self-host Discourse?

Spin up a hetzner CAX11 (4GB RAM, 40GB disk) for $4.13/mo and follow the project's official install docs.

Data last refreshed May 7, 2026.

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Frequently asked questions

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