customer community platform · Civilized Discourse Construction Kit

Discourse

Open-source forum software with a free hosted plan and unlimited members from $100 a month.

93/100

#1 of 8 customer community platforms
Facts checked 9 Oct 2026

In short

A free hosted plan exists, with 2 staff seats, 500k page views a month and 5GB storage¹.
Pro costs $100 a month and adds a custom domain, API and webhook access, with unlimited members¹.
SSO with OpenID and OAuth2 is listed from the $500 Business plan; DiscourseConnect is offered to Pro, Business and Enterprise^1,6.
Discourse names SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001:2013 on its security page⁴.
The software is open source under GPL-2.0 and has an install guide for self-hosting³.

Discourse suits teams that want an open-source support forum with documented moderation, an API and webhooks^1,5,8. Pro at $100 a month covers a custom domain and unlimited members¹. It also names SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001⁴. The catch: no HubSpot integration is listed, and the written uptime guarantee is Enterprise only¹.

Best for: Companies that want a moderated, open-source support forum on their own domain.

Where the points come from

Price13 of 18

Members and access23 of 23

Moderation and answers13 of 13

Connections17 of 19

Your data13 of 13

Security14 of 14

Price 13 of 18 points

Rule	What is published	Points
Free plan	YesA free hosted plan is listed; the page does not describe it as a trial or give an end date¹.	6 / 6
Cheapest paid plan with a custom domain	$100/moPro, $100 a month, includes a custom domain. No yearly price shown¹.	7 / 12

Members and access 23 of 23 points

Rule	What is published	Points
Unlimited members	YesPro lists unlimited members at $100 a month¹.	6 / 6
Custom domain	YesCustom domain is listed on Pro¹.	3 / 3
Single sign-on	YesBusiness lists SSO (OpenID and OAuth2); DiscourseConnect, a signed-payload SSO, is offered to Pro and up^1,6.	10 / 10
Groups with their own permissions	YesPro lists custom groups and private categories; features page lists self-managing usergroups^1,2.	4 / 4

Moderation and answers 13 of 13 points

Rule	What is published	Points
Moderation tools	Report queue, Approve before posting, Ban or suspend members, Spam or word filtersFlag queue²; approval of new users' posts and Watched Words⁹; suspension of users¹⁰.	8 / 8
Accepted answers	YesDiscourse Solved lets authors and staff mark a reply as the solution; bundled with core⁷.	5 / 5

Connections 17 of 19 points

Rule	What is published	Points
Named integrations	Slack, Salesforce, ZendeskOfficial Zendesk and Salesforce plugins; official chat integrations plugin supports Slack. No HubSpot found^11,12,13.	6 / 8
Public API	YesPro lists API access; Discourse points to a documented API site^1,5.	8 / 8
Webhooks	YesPro lists webhook access; docs describe events such as post_created sent by HTTP POST^1,8.	3 / 3

Your data 13 of 13 points

Rule	What is published	Points
Export your community data	YesPricing FAQ says you can back up all data from your browser at any time¹.	6 / 6
Open source	YesLicensed under GPL-2.0 or later on GitHub³.	4 / 4
Self-hosting	YesThe repository links an install guide for production setups³.	3 / 3

Security 14 of 14 points

Rule	What is published	Points
SOC 2 Type II or ISO 27001	YesSecurity page names SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001:2013⁴.	8 / 8
Written uptime guarantee	YesEnterprise lists a 99.9% uptime guarantee¹.	3 / 3
Two-factor sign-in	YesFeatures page describes authenticator apps for account security².	3 / 3

The rule behind each line: how we score customer community platforms.

Plans and prices

As the vendor lists them, before tax. Prices are in US dollars unless the plan shows euros; the points use US dollars, with euros converted at the ECB rate.

Plan	Price as listed	Per month	Notes
FreeSmall community	Free¹	$0	2 staff seats, 10 categories, 5GB storage
ProUnlimited members	$100/month¹	$100	Custom domain, API and webhooks, 5 staff seats
BusinessUnlimited members	$500/month¹	$500	Adds SSO (OpenID and OAuth2), automation, 15 staff seats
EnterpriseUnlimited members	Quote¹	Quote	Adds 99.9% uptime guarantee and unlimited staff seats

The pricing page lists monthly prices only; no yearly billing is shown¹.

Strengths

Unlimited members on every plan, including Pro at $100 a month¹.
Names SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001:2013, with a public bug bounty on HackerOne⁴.
Documented REST API and webhooks for post, topic and user events^5,8.
Free to self-host under GPL-2.0, with an install guide³.
Official plugins for Zendesk and Salesforce, and chat integrations that include Slack^11,12,13.

Limits

The free plan has 2 staff seats, 10 categories and 5GB of storage¹.
Salesforce plugin is available on Enterprise plans only¹³.
The pricing page lists OpenID and OAuth2 SSO from the $500 Business plan, and SAML at an added cost¹.
The 99.9% uptime guarantee is listed only on the quote-priced Enterprise plan¹.

Other customer community platforms

2
NodeBBTeams that want a forum on their own domain with an API and the option to self-host
64/100
$20/mocheapest paid plan with a custom domain
3
BettermodeCompanies that want a branded customer community with CRM and support-desk integrations
63/100
$149/mocheapest paid plan with a custom domain
4
Mighty NetworksBrands that want a hosted community with courses and events, with an API on Scale and above
62/100
$79.17/mocheapest paid plan with a custom domain
5
FlarumTeams with a web host who want a free, lightweight forum they control
54/100
$0cheapest paid plan with a custom domain

Discourse vs NodeBB · Discourse vs Bettermode · All 8 customer community platforms

Sources

Discourse pricing, Discourse. Accessed 9 Oct 2026.
Discourse features, Discourse. Accessed 9 Oct 2026.
discourse/discourse, GitHub. Accessed 9 Oct 2026.
Discourse security, Discourse. Accessed 9 Oct 2026.
Discourse API documentation, Discourse Meta. Accessed 9 Oct 2026.
DiscourseConnect (official single sign-on), Discourse Meta. Accessed 9 Oct 2026.
Discourse Solved (accepted answer plugin), Discourse Meta. Accessed 9 Oct 2026.
What are webhooks and how to use them, Discourse Meta. Accessed 9 Oct 2026.
Tips for preventing spam, Discourse Meta. Accessed 9 Oct 2026.
Consequences of warnings, silencing and suspensions, Discourse Meta. Accessed 9 Oct 2026.
Discourse Zendesk, Discourse Meta. Accessed 9 Oct 2026.
Discourse Chat Integrations, Discourse Meta. Accessed 9 Oct 2026.
Discourse Salesforce, Discourse Meta. Accessed 9 Oct 2026.

Website: www.discourse.org · Markdown version · We are not affiliated with Civilized Discourse Construction Kit.