head to head · open source
Discourse vs symphony
Discourse has 48,046 GitHub stars, 9,058 forks, 221 open issues and last shipped yesterday. symphony has 2,952 stars, 507 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 18 days ago. Discourse leads on adoption by 1,528% (48,046 vs 2,952 stars). Discourse is written in Ruby under GPL-2.0; symphony is written in Java under AGPL-3.0. Discourse has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, symphony 17%. 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 | symphony | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 48K | ★ 3.0K |
| License | GPL-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Ruby | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.1K | ⑂ 507 |
| 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 symphony if
- You want the symphony feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and symphony 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 symphony
下一代的社区系统，为未来而构建 English 💡 简介 Symphony（[ˈs ɪmf əni]，n.交响乐）是一个现代化的社区平台，因为它： 实现了面向内容讨论的论坛 实现了面向知识问答的社区 包含了面向用户分享、交友、游戏的社交网络 100% 开源 欢迎到 Sym 官方讨论区了解更多。同时也欢迎关注 B3log 开源社区微信公众号 B3log开源 ： ⚡ 动机 很多社区论坛系统： 界面风格老式，没有跟上时代发展的步伐 缺少创新、好玩的特性，缺少现代化的交互元素和用户体验 缺乏考虑实际运营需求，管理功能过于单一 细节不够精致、缺乏长期维护 ✨ 特性 Sym 简介幻灯片 Sym 功能点脑图 内容编辑器 Markdown（GFM） Emoji 上传文件 图片 文件 单独渲染 MP3 单独渲染视频 支持录音 剪贴板处理 粘贴内容处理为 Markdown 粘贴图片自动重新上传 @用户 数学公式（LaTeX）、流程图支持 快捷键支持 工具栏 表情 粗体 斜体 引用 无序列表 有序列表 链接 上传 预览 全屏 编辑模式 传统的 Markdown 分屏编辑预览 保留 Markdown 标记符的即时渲染 类富文本编辑器的所见即所得 注册 用户名 Email 邀请码（如果管理员启用） 邀请链接 验证码 邮件验证 新手向导 上传头像 关注标签 关注用户 帮助指引 登录 账户（用户名/Email） 密码 忘记密码 Email 验证码…
read the full symphony overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Discourse or symphony more popular?
Discourse has 48,046 GitHub stars and symphony has 2,952. Discourse has the larger community by that measure.
Are Discourse and symphony free?
Both are open source. Discourse is licensed under GPL-2.0 and symphony under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Discourse and symphony?
Discourse is written in Ruby and symphony in Java. 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 symphony?
Choose Discourse if you want the larger community (48,046 stars) or its GPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose symphony if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.