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Discourse

Communication · discourse.org

Free plan · paid from $100/mobilled monthly

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Discourse is a forum and community platform for companies, open source projects and membership groups. Teams run public or private categories, chat, groups and AI features on a hosted plan or on their own server, and the software is released under an open source license.

Facts at a glance

FactValueSource
Launched2013. Founded in 2013 by Jeff Atwood, Robin Ward and Sam Saffrondiscourse.org/about, checked 10 Nov 2026
Free planFreemium: a free plan existsdiscourse.org/pricing, checked 10 Nov 2026
Free trialYes, no card requireddiscourse.org/pricing, checked 10 Nov 2026
Starting price$100/modiscourse.org/pricing, checked 10 Nov 2026
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, API, Self-hosteddiscourse.org/pricing, checked 10 Nov 2026

Discourse Free, in practice

What the free plan covers and where it stops.

Free plan limits

  • 2 staff seats
  • 10 categories
  • 5 GB of storage
  • 20,000 monthly emails
  • 500,000 monthly page views
  • Content translation in 2 languages

Sources: discourse.org/pricing

Pricing & plans

Pricing

Free plan · paid from $100/mo

USD, billed monthly

Model

Freemium

Free plan available

Trial

Yes

no card required

Price tiers

PlanPer monthUsage, as the vendor states it
FreeFreeHosted community with 2 staff seats, 10 categories and 5 GB of storage
Pro$100/mo5 staff seats, unlimited categories, custom domain, API and webhook access, 15+ plugins
Business$500/mo15 staff seats, priority support, SSO, gamification, events, 20+ additional plugins
EnterpriseCustom pricing with unlimited staff seats, 99.9% uptime guarantee and custom migration services

Prices are the vendor's list prices in USD.

Source: discourse.org/pricing, checked 10 Nov 2026

Features & platforms

  • Unlimited members on every hosted plan

  • Public and private categories

  • Chat for short-form conversation

  • AI spam detection

  • Custom groups and themes

  • API and webhook access

  • Web
  • iOS
  • Android
  • API
  • Self-hosted

Sources: discourse.org/pricing, checked 10 Nov 2026

Alternatives

  • Circle

    Starts with a 14-day free trial and no credit card, and lists a Business plan with workflows, APIs and an MCP.

    circle.so

  • Flarum

    Describes itself as free, open source forum software under the MIT license, with a live demo available.

    flarum.org

  • Slack

    Offers a free plan for chat and collaboration, with the Pro plan listed per user at 7.25 dollars when paying annually.

    slack.com

Sources: circle.so/pricing, flarum.org, slack.com/pricing

Also in Communication on Tools.us.org: Bubbles, Campsite, Circle, Clarityflow, Discord, Google Meet, Grain, Loom, Mimestream, Otter.ai, Shortwave, Slack, Supernormal, Thunderbird, Zoom

Sources and dates

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