Apache Answer vs Scoold
Apache Answer
answer.apache.org
Scoold
scoold.comSide by side
| Figure | Apache Answer | Scoold |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 3 |
| Spec score · Customer Community Software | 9.1 (#1) | 7.9 (#14) |
| Deployment | Installation options include Docker Compose, Docker, binaries, and aaPanel, and the project provides a Docker image for each release. | Scoold can be deployed as a JAR or Docker setup, and the maker says it can run on any operating system with Java 21 or higher and a Para backend. |
| Founded | 2022 | 2008 |
| Integrations | Official plugins connect services including Google, DingTalk, Slack, WeCom, Redis, Algolia, Elasticsearch, Meilisearch, S3, and Tencent COS. | The maker lists Slack, Microsoft Teams, Mattermost, Zapier, and n8n integrations; chat integrations are marked Pro. |
| Q&A features | Members can ask and answer questions, comment, vote, and earn reputation and badges. | Users can ask and answer questions, vote on posts, earn badges and reputation, and view edit history. |
| Support | Support is offered through community discussions, documentation, issues, mailing lists, and Discord, with no guarantee of an instant Discord response. | Scoold Pro licenses include free updates and support for 12 months after purchase; the maker offers a 14-day money-back guarantee. |
| What it does | Apache Answer is software for running community forums, help centers, or knowledge-management Q&A sites. | Scoold is a self-hosted Q&A platform, forum, and knowledge base for teams. |
Plans
In their own words
Apache Answer
Apache Answer is a free, open-source Q&A platform for community forums, help centers, and knowledge management. Members can ask and answer questions, comment, vote, and earn reputation and badges. Tags, advanced search filters, and live suggestions help organize discussions and find relevant questions. Administrators can manage admin, moderator, and user roles, add users in bulk, and inspect edits in revision history. Themes and layouts can be customized, and plugins can add capabilities such as Google or generic OAuth2 login, Slack notifications, Redis caching, Algolia or Elasticsearch search, and S3 storage. Deployment options include Docker Compose, Docker, binaries, and aaPanel. The project lists binaries for Darwin ARM64, Linux AMD64 and ARM64, and Windows AMD64, and supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite. Documentation describes controls for registration, login methods, allowed email domains, and member access to content. Apache Answer is licensed under Apache License, Version 2.0. Its security guarantee covers official repository plugins only, not third-party plugins.
Scoold
Scoold is a self-hosted Q&A platform, forum, and knowledge base for teams. It can support team knowledge bases, community forums, developer hubs, support centers, Q&A platforms, and issue trackers. Members can ask and answer questions, vote on posts, earn badges and reputation, and review edit history. Full-text search covers indexed content, while posts can include Markdown, media, files, code snippets, and syntax highlighting.
Scoold provides a RESTful JSON API described with an OpenAPI specification. Listed integrations include Slack, Microsoft Teams, Mattermost, Zapier, and n8n; chat integrations are Pro features. Identity options include LDAP, social login, and two-factor authentication, while Pro adds SAML 2.0 SSO, SCIM, and custom authentication. It can be deployed as a JAR or Docker setup on an operating system with Java 21 or higher and a Para backend. The free plan allows up to 10 spaces, 1 admin, and 1 whitelisted identity domain. Scoold Pro is €499, paid once; Pro + Source is €1,999, paid once.