Best Open Source Alternatives to Discourse Cloud

Compare the best free and open-source alternatives to Discourse Cloud — self-hosted and desktop replacements you fully control, ranked by GitHub stars, license and platform support.

Curated by open-source.store · Updated August 2026 · 4 alternatives

Discourse Cloud

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Discourse Cloud alternatives compared

Open-source alternatives to Discourse Cloud, compared by stars, license and platform
Tool		License	Platforms	Self-hosted
Discourse	47,575	GPL-2.0-or-later	LinuxDockerWeb	Yes	Aug 2026	Visit
NodeBB	15,170	GPL-3.0	LinuxmacOSWindowsDocker	Yes	Aug 2026	Visit
Lemmy	14,532	AGPL-3.0-or-later	LinuxDockerWeb	Yes	Jul 2026	Visit
Flarum	6,736	MIT	LinuxDockerWeb	Yes	Aug 2026	Visit