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Discourse
Discourse · founded 2013
What it is
Discourse is community software for hosting discussions, with options to self-host or use managed hosting. It supports private spaces, event hosting, custom domains, and moderation tools, and its full codebase is available on GitHub. The free plan includes unlimited members, two staff seats for admins and moderators, 500k monthly page views, 20k monthly emails, 10 categories, and 5GB of upload storage. Pro costs $100 per month and includes five staff seats and 20GB storage. Business costs $500 per month and includes 15 staff seats, priority support, and standard migration services. Enterprise uses custom pricing and includes unlimited staff seats, SSO, SAML, enterprise authentication, and a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Paid plans can be tried for 14 days, and hosting plans do not require a credit card up front. Integrations include GitHub, chat providers, Zendesk, and authentication providers. Support options include community help, dedicated or priority email support, and professional services. Discourse says users own their communities and data and can export everything at any time.
For and against
For
- Self-hosting and managed hosting options
- Free plan includes unlimited members
- Private spaces, events, and moderation tools
- Paid plans include a 14-day trial
- Community data can be exported
Against
- Free plan has two staff seats
- Free plan includes 5GB of upload storage
- Pro starts at $100 per month
- Enterprise pricing is custom
The verdict
Discourse offers community hosting with a free tier, self-hosting, and multiple paid tiers. Compare the listed staff, storage, and support provisions with the needs of your community.
Who it suits
Discourse may suit organizations that want to run a discussion community through self-hosting or managed hosting. Its free plan has two staff seats, while larger teams can consider paid tiers.
Plans and prices
Free
Unlimited members · 2 staff seats · 500k monthly page views · 20k monthly emails
Read 21 Sep 2026 · discourse.org
Pro
Unlimited members · 5 staff seats · 500k monthly page views · 100k monthly emails
Read 27 Sep 2026 · discourse.org
Business
Unlimited members · 15 staff seats · 500k monthly page views · 300k monthly emails
Read 27 Sep 2026 · discourse.org
Enterprise
Unlimited members · Unlimited staff seats · 1M+ monthly page views · 1.5M+ monthly emails
Read 27 Sep 2026 · discourse.org
Free plan
Read 27 Sep 2026 · discourse.org
On the record
- Community scale
- Discourse powers more than 22,000 communities.discourse.org · read 27 Sep 2026
- Payment requirement
- No credit card is required up front for hosting plans.discourse.org · read 27 Sep 2026
- Custom domain
- Yesdiscourse.org · read 21 Sep 2026
- Data ownership
- Discourse says users own their community and data and can export everything anytime.discourse.org · read 27 Sep 2026
- Uptime guarantee
- Enterprise includes a 99.9% uptime guarantee.discourse.org · read 27 Sep 2026
- Event hosting
- Yesdiscourse.org · read 21 Sep 2026
- Free page views
- The free plan includes 500k monthly page views.discourse.org · read 27 Sep 2026
- Free staff seats
- The free plan includes 2 staff seats for admins and moderators.discourse.org · read 27 Sep 2026
- Free storage
- The free plan includes 5GB of storage for uploads.discourse.org · read 27 Sep 2026
- Available integrations
- Integrations include GitHub, chat providers, Zendesk, and authentication providers.discourse.org · read 27 Sep 2026
- Mobile apps
- bothdiscourse.org · read 21 Sep 2026
- Moderation tools
- Discourse provides built-in moderation tools and AI-assisted community management.discourse.org · read 27 Sep 2026
- Moderation tools
- Yesdiscourse.org · read 21 Sep 2026
- Open source
- The entire Discourse codebase is freely available on GitHub.discourse.org · read 27 Sep 2026
- Private spaces
- Yesdiscourse.org · read 21 Sep 2026
- Security options
- Enterprise includes SSO, SAML, and enterprise authentication.discourse.org · read 27 Sep 2026
- Self hosting
- Users can self-host Discourse or use managed hosting.discourse.org · read 27 Sep 2026
- Staff seat limits
- Pro has 5 staff seats, Business has 15, and Enterprise has unlimited staff seats.discourse.org · read 27 Sep 2026
