Discourse vs Heartbeat
Discourse
discourse.org
Heartbeat
heartbeat.chatSide by side
| Figure | Discourse | Heartbeat |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $100/mo | $19/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 5 | 14 |
| Spec score · Community Platforms | 9.0 (#8) | 8.9 (#11) |
| Spec score · Social Networking Software | 8.8 (#2) | 8.7 (#3) |
| Spec score · Online Community Platforms | 8.8 (#5) | 8.7 (#9) |
| Custom domain | Yes | Custom domain is included on every plan. |
| Event hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Available integrations | Integrations include GitHub, chat providers, Zendesk, and authentication providers. | Integrations include Zapier, Zoom, Outlook Calendar, Google Calendar, Slack, Circle, and Peerboard imports. |
| Mobile apps | both | Heartbeat includes iOS and Android apps. |
| Moderation tools | Yes | Yes |
| Private spaces | Yes | Yes |
| Starting price | Paid hosting starts at $100 per month for Pro. | Paid plans start from $49 per month. |
Plans
Discourse
- FreeFree
- Pro$100 a month
- Business$500 a month
- EnterprisePriced on request
- Free planFree
Heartbeat
- Build$49 a month
- Build$490 a year
- Grow$149 a month
- Grow$1,490 a year
- Scale$849 a month
- Scale$9,200 a year
- Native video hosting add-on$19 a month
- Build annual$40 a month
- Build monthly$49 a month
- Grow annual$124 a month
In their own words
Discourse
Discourse is community software for hosting discussions, with options to self-host or use managed hosting. It supports private spaces, event hosting, custom domains and moderation tools, and its codebase is freely available on GitHub. The free plan costs nothing and includes unlimited members, 2 staff seats, 500k monthly page views, 20k monthly emails, 10 categories and 5GB storage. Pro costs $100 a month and includes 5 staff seats, 500k monthly page views, 100k monthly emails, unlimited categories and 20GB storage. Business costs $500 a month, with 15 staff seats, priority support, standard migration services and 100GB storage. Enterprise pricing is custom; it includes unlimited staff seats, 1M+ monthly page views, 1.5M+ monthly emails and 200GB+ storage. Enterprise also includes SSO, SAML, enterprise authentication and a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Paid plans have a 14-day trial, and hosting plans require no credit card up front. Integrations include GitHub, chat providers, Zendesk and authentication providers. Support options range from community help to email support and professional services.
Heartbeat
Heartbeat is a paid platform for running online communities, with Android and iOS apps. Its listed features include private spaces, event hosting, moderation tools and custom domains. Plans vary by community size: Build supports up to 350 members, Grow up to 5,000 and Scale has unlimited members. Build costs $49 a month billed monthly; Grow costs $149 a month billed monthly; Scale costs $849 a month billed monthly. Build includes five automation workflows and one custom landing page. Grow includes unlimited automation workflows and 50 hours of native video hosting. Scale includes 50 custom landing pages, 200 hours of native video hosting and a white-label branded mobile app. Native video hosting is also available as a $19 a month add-on for 50 hours of storage. Integrations include Zapier, Zoom, Outlook Calendar, Google Calendar, Slack, Circle and Peerboard imports. The 14-day trial does not become a continuing free plan: communities are deactivated if they are not upgraded afterward, and inactive communities are automatically deleted after 30 days.