Discourse review

Discourse is the open source forum behind many product and developer communities, and its hosted plans start with a free tier. The free plan includes unlimited members, 2 staff seats, 10 categories, 500k monthly page views, 20k monthly emails and 5 GB of storage. Pro, at $100 per month, adds unlimited categories and tags, custom groups, custom themes, a custom domain, API and webhook access, more than 15 plugins such as DiscourseConnect and Solved, 5 staff seats and email support. Business, at $500 per month, adds advanced reporting, workflows, events, gamification, SSO through OpenID and OAuth2, 15 staff seats, priority support and standard migrations from tools like Vanilla, phpBB and Slack. Enterprise adds custom design work, a 99.9% uptime guarantee and migrations from Khoros and Salesforce. The trade-off is design flexibility: the interface looks like a forum first, and brands that want event pages or gamification pay for Business.

Who it is for

Support-led product communities that want a proven forum at a low price

Price

Free hosted plan; Pro $100 per month, Business $500 per month, Enterprise custom.

pro $100 /month your community is growing and needs better tools to scale, manage spam, and support your brand.
Quoted from the vendor pricing page on November 12, 2026.

Key features

• Unlimited members, chat, categories and tags on Pro
• API and webhook access and a custom domain from Pro
• AI spam detection and a daily AI credit allowance on every plan
• Events, workflows, gamification and SSO through OpenID and OAuth2 on Business
• Free Discourse iOS and Android apps with push notifications for hosted communities

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: A free hosted plan with 2 staff seats and 500k monthly page views
• Strength: Pro covers unlimited members for $100 per month, with prices shown in USD
• Strength: Open source, so the same software can be self-hosted
• Weakness: Free plan is capped at 10 categories and 5 GB of storage
• Weakness: Events, gamification and SSO need the $500 Business plan
• Weakness: SAML authentication costs extra

Key facts

• Free plan: Yes, 2 staff seats and 10 categories
• Entry paid plan: Pro, $100 per month
• Staff seats: 2 Free, 5 Pro, 15 Business, unlimited Enterprise
• Monthly page views: 500k on Free, Pro and Business
• Mobile app: Free iOS and Android apps

Where it ranks

Discourse is No. 2 in our Best Community Platforms verdict.