Discourse vs WriteFreely
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
WriteFreely
Minimalist federated blogging platform
| Feature | Discourse | WriteFreely |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | GPL-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Ruby | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 47,619 | ★ 5,216 |
| First released | 2013 | 2018 |
| Replaces | phpBB, Reddit | Medium, Tumblr |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Discourse or WriteFreely better?
Neither is universally better. Discourse has the larger community, while WriteFreely is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Discourse and WriteFreely free and open-source?
Yes. Discourse is licensed under GPL-2.0 and WriteFreely under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Discourse and WriteFreely with Docker?
Discourse: yes. WriteFreely: yes.