Discourse review (2026): is the free plan enough?
Open-source discussion forum software with hosted plans
Black Friday: is there a Discourse sale?
Discourse report card
Good · out of 4.0 · graded Nov 12, 2026
Best for a discussion forum, hosted or self-run
Discourse is open-source forum software with hosted plans, including a free one for small forums. The free plan caps you at 2 staff seats and 10 categories, and SSO, events and gamification wait on the $500 Business plan.
Who Discourse is for
- Fits if you want a discussion forum where members ask and answer questions
- Works for small communities that can stay inside 2 staff seats and 10 categories
Who Discourse is not for
- Tight if you grow: the free plan stops at 2 staff seats and 10 categories
- Pricey if you need SSO or events, which start at $500 a month
- Skip it if you want to sell courses, because it has no course checkout
- Watch out: plans are sold by staff seat, not by member count
Why Discourse gets a 2.6
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- BValue for moneyA free hosted plan exists, and Pro is $100 a month, above the $49 middle of courses and communities tools. SSO and events need Business at $500.
- BFree plan and trialThe free plan gives 2 staff seats, 10 categories, 5GB of storage and unlimited members, which a small forum can live on.
- CFeaturesTopic forum, trust levels, chat, AI and translation, plugins and an API. The listing's gap: SSO, workflows, events and gamification need Business, and there is no course checkout.
- CEase of useNo store rating on record. A hosted forum needs categories, settings and moderation set up before it feels like yours.
- BPlatforms and integrationsWeb, iOS and Android apps, with plugins and an API. No desktop app.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Discourse's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
Make Discourse? Put this grade on your site
Paste this where you want the badge. It links here and follows the grade if it changes. About badges
<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/discourse#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/discourse.svg" alt="Discourse: 2.6 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Discourse stands among course and community platforms
Discourse's GPA of 2.6 is higher than 35 of the 41 other course and community platforms we grade, and level with 2.
It stands best on value for money (B, above 35 of 41) and worst on features (C, above 0).
Its paid plans start at $100 a month, against a middle price of $49 for the category: 30 of the 36 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 12 tools score higher and cost less.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 42 course and community platforms we grade, cut by the letter each got. Discourse’s own letter is outlined.
- BValue for moneyAbove 35 of 41, level with 4
- BFree plan and trialAbove 35 of 41, level with 6
- CFeaturesAbove 0 of 41, level with 26
- CEase of useAbove 4 of 41, level with 34
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 6 of 41, level with 34
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 39 course and community platforms. Further left costs less, and higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Point at a dot to see which tool it is.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Keep Discourse, or make your own?
Keep it
To replace Discourse you would be making chat that a whole team counts on staying up. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
It is one of the better ones too: its GPA of 2.6 is higher than 35 of the 41 other course and community platforms we grade. It costs $1,200 a year. Discourse is open source, so there is a third way: take its code and run it yourself.
What you could not
- Chat that a whole team counts on staying up.
- A members' space with posts, chat and events that people keep coming back to.
- A real app for iOS and Android. Something home-made would be a web page.
- An API that other software can build on.
- AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
What this rests on. Discourse’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
What is Discourse?
Discourse is forum software for communities, customer support and product feedback, built around topics, categories, trust levels and badges. It is open source and also sold as hosted plans that include chat, AI features and plugins. Plans scale by staff seats, storage and email volume rather than by member count.
Worth knowing
- The free plan caps staff seats at 2 and categories at 10.
- SSO, workflows, events and gamification are on Business ($500 a month) and above.
- Plans are sold by staff seats, not by members; members are unlimited.
- It is a discussion forum, not a course platform, so it has no built-in course checkout.
Key features
- Topic-based forum
- Organizes discussion into categories and tags with unlimited members on every hosted plan.
- Trust levels and badges
- Members earn abilities as they participate, and badges reward chosen behaviors.
- Built-in chat
- Adds channels for short-form conversation alongside long-form topics.
- AI and translation
- Uses daily AI credits and translates content into a plan-dependent number of languages: 2 on Free up to 10 on Enterprise.
- Plugins and API
- Official plugins plus an API that covers what the interface does; API and webhook access starts at Pro.
- Mobile apps
- Free iOS and Android apps with push notifications for hosted communities.
Discourse pricing
As of Nov 12, 2026, Discourse has a free plan, and paid plans start at $100 per month.
- Starts at
- $100 per month
- Free plan
- Free hosting plan: 2 staff seats, 10 categories, 5GB of storage, 20k emails a month and 500k page views a month.
- Free trial
- Free trial on Pro and Business, no credit card required up front
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 2 staff seats, 10 categories, 5GB storage, 20k monthly emails and 100k AI daily credits. |
| Pro | $100per month | 5 staff seats, unlimited categories, 20GB storage, 100k monthly emails, API and webhook access, 15+ plugins. |
| Business | $500per month | 15 staff seats, 100GB storage, SSO, workflows, events, gamification and priority support. |
| Enterprise | Custom | Unlimited staff seats, 99.9% uptime guarantee, custom migration and design services; sold through sales. |
Read from discourse.org on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Discourse before you buy.
Discourse alternatives
- Discourse vs Bettermode
Free trial · from $149/mo
- Discourse vs Circle
Free trial · from $89/mo
- Discourse vs Mighty Networks
Free trial · from $79/mo
- Discourse vs Disciple Media
Free trial · from $599/mo
Common questions
Does Discourse have a Windows app?
No Windows app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. Discourse is listed for Web, iOS and Android.
Does Discourse have a macOS app?
No macOS app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. Discourse is listed for Web, iOS and Android.
Is Discourse open source?
Yes. Discourse is open source, according to its own site.
Does Discourse have an API?
Yes. Discourse offers a public API, according to its own site.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026.