Discourse vs SocialEngine
Discourse
discourse.orgSocialEngine
socialengine.comSide by side
| Figure | Discourse | SocialEngine |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $100/mo | $29/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 5 | 15 |
| Spec score · Community Platforms | 9.0 (#8) | 7.5 (#89) |
| Spec score · Social Networking Software | 8.8 (#2) | 6.7 (#24) |
| Spec score · Community Building Platforms | 8.8 (#3) | 6.8 (#26) |
| Event hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Founded | 2013 | 2007 |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Mobile apps | both | both |
| Moderation tools | Yes | Yes |
| Private spaces | Yes | Yes |
| Starting price | Paid hosting starts at $100 per month for Pro. | 29 |
Plans
Discourse
- FreeFree
- Pro$100 a month
- Business$500 a month
- EnterprisePriced on request
- Free planFree
SocialEngine
- Development$29 a month
- Early Stage$49 a month
- Startup$99 a month
- Growth$149 a month
- Expanding$199 a month
- Professional$349 a month
- EnterprisePrice not published
- EnterprisePriced on request
- Essential$199 a month
- Essential$199, paid once
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.
SocialEngine
SocialEngine is a paid platform for building online communities on the web, iOS, and Android. It provides event hosting, private spaces, and moderation tools, with mobile apps for members. Cloud plans are billed monthly. Development costs $29 a month and allows five active users with 1 GB memory, 2 TB transfer, 40 GB SSD disk, and a two-core processor. Higher cloud tiers include Early Stage at $49 a month, Startup at 99.00 USD, Growth at 149.00 USD, Expanding at 199.00 USD, and Professional at 349.00 USD, each with different infrastructure allocations and, on some plans, staging sites. Self-hosted Essential and Advanced licenses are listed at $199 a month and $399 a month respectively, each for one domain; the fee is described as one-time. SocialEngine was founded in 2007. There is a 14-day trial and no free plan.