head to head · open source
Discourse vs Spirit
Discourse has 48,083 GitHub stars, 9,064 forks, 221 open issues and last shipped today. Spirit has 1,187 stars, 329 forks, 40 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Discourse leads on adoption by 3,951% (48,083 vs 1,187 stars). Discourse is written in Ruby under GPL-2.0; Spirit is written in Python under MIT. Discourse has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, Spirit 28%. 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Discourse | Spirit | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 48K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Ruby | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-14 | 2026-11-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.1K | ⑂ 329 |
| 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 Spirit if
- You want the Spirit feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Spirit fits your workflow better
About Discourse
The online home for your community. 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. With Discourse, you can: 💬 Create discussion topics to foster meaningful conversations. ⚡️ Connect in real time with…
read the full Discourse overview →
About Spirit
Spirit Spirit is a Python based forum built using the Django framework. Documentation Docs can be found at spirit.readthedocs.io Compatibility Python 3.9, 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, 3.13 Django 4.2 LTS, 5.2 LTS PostgreSQL (recommended), MySQL, Oracle Database and SQLite Constrained by "What Python version can I use with Django?" Usage Visit For detailed setup docs, see spirit.readthedocs.io Dev Use uv tooling. Testing Lint & Format License MIT
read the full Spirit overview →
More in Content & Publishing
Related comparisons
More Community Platforms projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Community Platforms field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Discourse or Spirit more popular?
Discourse has 48,083 GitHub stars and Spirit has 1,187. Discourse has the larger community by that measure.
Are Discourse and Spirit free?
Both are open source. Discourse is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Spirit under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Discourse and Spirit?
Discourse is written in Ruby and Spirit 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 Spirit?
Choose Discourse if you want the larger community (48,083 stars) or its GPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose Spirit if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.