Discourse vs pump.io
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted social networks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Discourse
Modern open-source community discussion platform
VS
pump.io
Streams server for the social web
| Feature | Discourse | pump.io |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | GPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Ruby | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 47,619 | ★ 2,239 |
| First released | 2013 | 2013 |
| Replaces | phpBB, Reddit |
Why pick each one
Choose pump.io if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Active community (2.2k GitHub stars)
- Written in JavaScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Discourse or pump.io better?
Neither is universally better. Discourse has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Discourse and pump.io free and open-source?
Yes. Discourse is licensed under GPL-2.0 and pump.io under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Discourse and pump.io with Docker?
Discourse: yes. pump.io: check the project docs for container support.