Discourse
A community platform combining discussion forums with real-time chat and collaboration tools
- Vendor
- Civilized Discourse Construction Kit, Inc.
- Also known as
- discourse
Available worldwide
What is Discourse?
A free, open-source platform for building online communities that can be self-hosted on your own infrastructure or run on official Discourse hosting, with built-in real-time chat and customizable themes.
Discourse pricing
Plans, per-tier features and add-ons, dated and linked to live pricing. Pricing changes often; always verify at source before you rely on it.
From $100/month. Free tier available.
Free
FreeBasic tier for exploring community features
- storage
- 5GB
- max_categories
- 10
- monthly_emails
- 20k
- ai_daily_credits
- 100k
- monthly_page_views
- 500k
- translation_languages
- 2
- Unlimited members and chat
- 2 staff seats
- Public and private categories
- Community support
Pro
For growing communities needing scaling and brand customization
- storage
- 20GB
- monthly_emails
- 100k
- ai_daily_credits
- 500k
- monthly_page_views
- 1000000+
- translation_languages
- 4
- Unlimited members and chat
- Unlimited public and private categories
- Unlimited tags
- Custom groups
- 5 staff seats
- Email support
- Custom and community themes
- Custom domain
- API and Webhook access
- 15+ plugins
Business
For established communities requiring advanced features and integrations
- storage
- 100GB
- monthly_emails
- 300k
- ai_daily_credits
- 1000000
- monthly_page_views
- 1000000+
- translation_languages
- 5
- All Pro features plus:
- Advanced reporting and analytics
- Automation
- Events
- Gamification
- 15 staff seats
- SSO (OpenID & OAuth2)
- 20+ additional plugins
- Priority support
- Migration services
Enterprise
Contact salesCustom infrastructure for mission-critical communities with dedicated support and deep customization
- storage
- 200GB+
- staff_seats
- Unlimited
- monthly_emails
- 1500000+
- ai_daily_credits
- 5000000
- translation_languages
- 10
- All Business features plus:
- Unlimited staff seats
- Expert design and development services
- 99.9% uptime SLA
- 50+ plugins
- GDPR and CCPA compliant hosting
- Dedicated infrastructure
- Custom development and integrations
- SAML and enterprise authentication
- White-glove onboarding
What Discourse does
The capabilities that matter for community platforms, normalised so it lines up with every alternative. “-” means we haven't confirmed it, not that it's missing.
- Gamification badges and leaderboards
- ✓
- Native live video streaming
- -
- Native paywalls and paid subscriptions
- ✓
- Event calendar and rsvp management
- ✓
- Member directory and direct messaging dm
- ✓
- Custom domain cname and white labeling
- ✓
- Custom css and html theme editing
- ✓
- Salesforce hubspot CRM contact sync
- -
- Mobile app ios android deployment
- ✓
- SOC2 type ii
- -
- ISO 27001
- -
- Pricing model
- Monthly subscription tiered
Platform & deployment
Independently observed- CLI
- iOS
- Web
- Android
- Cloud / SaaS
- Self-hosted
Integrations (30)
Independently observed- Amazon←•
- LinkedIn←•
- Microsoft←•
- OAuth2 and OpenID Connect←•
- SAML←•
- Learning Management Systems (LTI 1.3)←•
- Slack
- Telegram
- Discord
- Mattermost
- Matrix
- Zulip
- Rocket.Chat
- Gitter
- Stride
- Microsoft Teams
- Basecamp
- IRC Cloud
- Flock
- Webex
- GitHub
- Google Adsense
- Google Ad Manager
- Amazon Affiliates
- Patreon
- X
- Apple
- Mastodon
Discourse FAQ
Common questions about Discourse, answered from independent, dated evidence.
What is Discourse?
A free, open-source platform for building online communities that can be self-hosted on your own infrastructure or run on official Discourse hosting, with built-in real-time chat and customizable themes. It is indexed under Community Platforms.
Source: https://www.discourse.org
Is Discourse free?
Discourse offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans start at $100 per month. Prices are published openly on the vendor's own pricing page. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.
What platforms does Discourse support?
Discourse supports the web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.
Source: https://www.discourse.org
Can Discourse be self-hosted?
Yes. Discourse can be deployed cloud / SaaS and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.
Source: https://www.discourse.org
What does Discourse integrate with?
We have confirmed 22 integrations for Discourse, including Slack, Telegram, Discord, Mattermost, Matrix, Zulip, Rocket.Chat and Gitter, plus 14 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.
What security certifications does Discourse have?
We have independently confirmed GDPR for Discourse. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Discourse not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.
Where is Discourse available?
Discourse is available worldwide. The vendor is headquartered in the United States.
Discourse alternatives
Other community platforms we track, ranked by the same independent score.
- CircleAll-in-one platform for building branded communities, courses, and events with integrated payments and member engagement toolsmedium · 53%
- BettermodeA branded community platform that consolidates customer conversations and content to drive engagement and retention.medium · 73%
- NingBuild and manage custom social networks with flexible design and community toolslow · 26%
- HivebriteA web platform for building member communities with directories, events, messaging, groups, and payment management.low · 46%
- FlarumAn extensible, open-source forum and community discussion platformlow · 24%
- Mighty NetworksA platform for creating branded communities with courses and eventsmedium · 74%
Compare Discourse
Side by side against other community platforms, attribute by attribute, with a source on every value.
The vioscaleAI score: one lens on the evidence
Not user reviews and not a paid placement: a confidence-weighted blend of the independent signals below (adoption, activity, security posture, and more), which you can sort and re-weight yourself. Vendors can correct their listing but can never move their rank, and stars are weighted low as a vanity metric. It is one way to read the evidence for Discourse, not the verdict.
| Signal | Score | Weight | Contribution | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing transparency | 100 | 0.08 | 8.4 | ✓ |
| Capabilities | 87 | 0.05 | 4.2 | ✓ |
| Reliability | 45 | 0.07 | 3.3 | ✓ |
| Price level | 25 | 0.05 | 1.3 | ✓ |
| Integrations | 32 | 0.04 | 1.3 | ✓ |
| Security posture | 5 | 0.07 | 0.0 | - |
Computed . Re-weight it by intent, or see the full method.
All data & sourcesshow ↓
Every value we hold, with its source, retrieval date, and confidence. This is the evidence behind the score: don't trust it, verify it.
Content
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Faq | 7 items | mediumsource · 2026-09-10 · 64% |
Features
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Capabilities | Pricing model: monthly_subscription_tiered · Custom css and html theme editing: Yes · Mobile app ios android deployment: Yes · Event calendar and rsvp management: Yes · Gamification badges and leaderboards: Yes · Custom domain cname and white labeling: Yes | mediumsource · 2026-09-24 · 60% |
Integrations
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Count | 12 | mediumsource · 2026-09-24 · 60% |
Market
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | PrimaryMarkets: … · AvailabilityScope: global · AvailableCountries: … · NotAvailableCountries: … | highsource · 2026-09-24 · 75% |
Pricing
Reliability
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Sla pct | 99.9 | mediumsource · 2026-09-24 · 60% |
Security
Is Discourse the right choice for you?
Tell us the job, the constraints and what you weigh most, and we will rank Discourse against the rest of the community platforms we index, using the same dated evidence weighted your way.
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