head to head · open source
Discourse vs Misago
Discourse has 47,852 GitHub stars, 9,017 forks, 221 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Misago has 2,776 stars, 557 forks, 171 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Discourse leads on adoption by 1,624% (47,852 vs 2,776 stars). Discourse is written in Ruby under GPL-2.0; Misago is written in Python under GPL-2.0. Discourse has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, Misago 20%. Discourse was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (forum), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Discourse | Misago | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 48K | ★ 2.8K |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Ruby | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.0K | ⑂ 557 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Discourse if
- You weight community size — 48K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Misago if
- You want the Misago feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Misago fits your workflow better
About Discourse
Discourse is a free, open source community discussion platform, built in Ruby on Rails and licensed under GPL 2.0, for organisations and communities that want complete control over how and where their forum is run rather than renting a hosted service.
read the full Discourse overview →
About Misago
Misago is a Python and Django forum application for building online community forums. It lives in the Python and Django web ecosystem and presents itself as a modern forum platform that challenges outdated forum software opinions.
read the full Misago overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Discourse or Misago more popular?
Discourse has 47,852 GitHub stars and Misago has 2,776. Discourse has the larger community by that measure.
Are Discourse and Misago free?
Both are open source. Discourse is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Misago under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Discourse and Misago?
Discourse is written in Ruby and Misago in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Discourse or Misago?
Choose Discourse if you want the larger community (47,852 stars) or its GPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose Misago if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.