Discourse vs XenForo
Discourse
discourse.orgXenForo
xenforo.comSide by side
| Figure | Discourse | XenForo |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $100/mo | $60/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 5 |
| Spec score · Discussion Forum Software | 8.9 (#1) | 7.1 (#9) |
| Spec score · Online Community Platforms | 8.8 (#5) | 7.1 (#48) |
| Spec score · Forum Software | 8.9 (#2) | 7.1 (#15) |
| Spec score · Customer Community Software | 8.9 (#4) | 7.2 (#30) |
| Spec score · Community Building Platforms | 8.8 (#3) | 7.1 (#22) |
| Available integrations | Integrations include GitHub, chat providers, Zendesk, and authentication providers. | Built-in payment processor options include PayPal, credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay, with add-ons available for custom processors. |
| Moderation tools | Discourse provides built-in moderation tools and AI-assisted community management. | Staff can edit content in place, moderate items in bulk, review an approval queue, and handle user reports. |
Plans
Discourse
- FreeFree
- Pro$100 a month
- Business$500 a month
- EnterprisePriced on request
- Free planFree
XenForo
- XenForo Cloud Starter$60 a month
- XenForo Cloud Standard$100 a month
- XenForo Self-hosted$195, paid once
- XenForo Cloud Business$250 a month
- XenForo Cloud EnterprisePriced on request
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.