We detected 7,766 companies using Github Discussions. The most common industry is Software Development (36%) and the most common company size is 11-50 employees (33%). We find new customers by discovering URLs with known URL patterns through web crawling or modifications to subprocessor lists.
Note: We track companies that use GitHub Discussions for tracking issues in a public Github repo. We track a full list of all companies using Github (free or enterprise) here
๐ Who usually uses Github Discussions and for what use cases?
Source: Analysis of job postings that mention Github Discussions (using the Bloomberry Jobs API)
Job titles that mention Github Discussions
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Based on an analysis of job titles from postings that mention Github Discussions.
Job Title
Share
Developer Advocate
26%
Backend Engineer
10%
Community Manager
8%
Frontend Engineer
4%
My analysis shows that GitHub Discussions is primarily purchased by engineering and developer relations leaders, with Developer Advocates representing 26% of roles, Backend Engineers at 10%, and Community Managers at 8%. These buyers are building developer-first organizations and prioritizing community engagement as a strategic growth channel. They're investing heavily in developer experience, open source ecosystems, and building technical communities that drive product adoption from the bottom up.
Day-to-day users of GitHub Discussions are primarily technical community builders who bridge product and community. Developer advocates use it to engage with external developers, answer technical questions, and gather product feedback. Community managers moderate discussions and facilitate knowledge sharing, while engineers use it to collaborate with open source contributors. One posting specifically mentions working with communities through "Discord, Reddit, GitHub Discussions" to ensure developers feel "heard, supported, and empowered."
The recurring pain point across these postings is the need to build authentic developer communities that drive adoption without traditional marketing. Companies want to "show up inside AI-generated answers, developer communities, and third-party technical channels" and ensure their products become "the answer when an LLM is asked" technical questions. Another posting emphasizes making "working on docs a smooth experience for both internal and external contributors," revealing that GitHub Discussions serves as a critical collaboration layer between internal teams and open source communities.
๐ฅ What types of companies use Github Discussions?
Source: Analysis of Linkedin bios of 7,766 companies that use Github Discussions
Company Characteristics
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Shows how much more likely Github Discussions customers are to have each trait compared to all companies. For example, 2.0x means customers are twice as likely to have that characteristic.
Trait
Likelihood
Funding Stage: Series A
66.6x
Funding Stage: Seed
19.0x
Industry: Software Development
16.9x
Industry: Technology, Information and Internet
8.1x
Industry: IT Services and IT Consulting
5.9x
Country: Germany
4.5x
I noticed that companies using Github Discussions are predominantly building technical infrastructure and developer tools. These aren't consumer apps or traditional SaaS products. They're creating databases (ParadeDB, PostgresAI, PgDog), blockchain protocols (Orochi Network, Pactus, Panoptic), development frameworks (Bun, Penpot, Plasmic), and open-source tools that other developers depend on. Many operate in emerging technology spaces like AI infrastructure, Web3, and cloud-native platforms. They're selling to technical audiences who evaluate tools through hands-on experimentation.
These companies span a wide range but skew toward earlier stages with smaller teams. I counted roughly 60% with under 50 employees, and among those with funding data, seed and Series A stages dominate. However, there's a meaningful mix of established players like PayPal, mature mid-stage companies like Pendo.io, and well-funded growth companies like Oxide and OX Security. The common thread isn't company size but rather technical sophistication and developer-centric go-to-market.
๐ง What other technologies do Github Discussions customers also use?
Source: Analysis of tech stacks from 7,766 companies that use Github Discussions
Commonly Paired Technologies
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Shows how much more likely Github Discussions customers are to use each tool compared to the general population. For example, 287x means customers are 287 times more likely to use that tool.
I analyzed the tech stack patterns and found that Github Discussions users are predominantly developer-focused companies building open source or developer tools themselves. The overwhelming presence of AI coding agents (621x more likely) and Claude Code (482x more likely) tells me these are companies deeply invested in AI-assisted development workflows. They're likely building products for technical audiences and using their own documentation and community management as a growth channel.
The pairing of Helm and Terraform is particularly revealing. These infrastructure-as-code tools suggest companies managing complex Kubernetes deployments and cloud infrastructure. When combined with Travis CI appearing 557 times more often, I see organizations with sophisticated CI/CD pipelines. These companies are shipping frequently and need robust automation. The presence of AI coding tools alongside this DevOps stack suggests they're pushing the boundaries of automated deployment and testing workflows, likely experimenting with AI to optimize their development velocity.
The full picture reveals product-led growth companies in the early to mid stage. They're using Github Discussions as a public community channel because their users are developers who already live on Github. Rather than building separate community forums or relying on sales teams, they're meeting their technical audience where they already are. This is a classic developer relations strategy where documentation, open source presence, and community engagement drive adoption. These companies probably have small or non-existent traditional sales teams and instead rely on developers discovering, evaluating, and adopting their tools organically.
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