NodeBB vs ProfileGrid
NodeBB
nodebb.orgProfileGrid
profilegrid.coSide by side
| Figure | NodeBB | ProfileGrid |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $20/mo | $79/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 6 | 5 |
| Spec score · Community Platforms | 9.3 (#3) | 8.6 (#24) |
| Spec score · Social Networking Software | 8.6 (#7) | 8.5 (#9) |
| Company | NodeBB says it was founded in 2014 by three developers and identifies the company as NodeBB, Inc. | Metagauss is a privately held information-technology company whose LinkedIn page lists 11–50 employees and headquarters in Mississauga, Ontario. |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Product | NodeBB is a community discussion platform for forums and online communities. | ProfileGrid is a WordPress plugin for creating user profiles, groups, communities, directories, and paid memberships. |
| Support | Paid hosting plans list priority support, and NodeBB also points users to its community support forum. | The maker lists support categories for free-version help, technical support, account administration, and paid customizations. |
Plans
NodeBB
- Starter$20 a month
- Hamlet$100 a month
- Village$250 a month
- City$750 a month
- Self-hostedFree
- Enterprise SolutionsPriced on request
ProfileGrid
- CoreFree
- Premium$79 a month
- Premium$79, paid once
- Premium+$139 a month
- Premium+$139, paid once
In their own words
NodeBB
NodeBB is a community discussion platform for forums and online communities, including brand communities and product support boards. Members can write topics and replies using a visual editor or Markdown, chat in real time, and receive notifications for follows, likes and topic subscriptions. They can form groups with activity feeds, tag topics and follow tags for updates. Administrators can create unlimited moderator and administrator accounts and set their permissions. More than 500 plugins and themes can be installed through the control panel, and public Read and RESTful Write APIs support integrations. Spam-prevention integrations include Akismet, StopForumSpam and Project Honeypot. Self-hosted NodeBB is free to download and install under GPLv3; hosted plans start at $20 a month and include priority support. Basic full-text search uses the bundled database engine; Solr and Elasticsearch search require third-party plugins. Installation guides cover Linux, macOS, Windows and cloud deployment options including Docker.
ProfileGrid
ProfileGrid is a WordPress plugin for building user profiles, groups, communities, directories, and paid memberships. Administrators can create groups with separate profile fields, registration forms, membership prices, member limits, and group leaders. Community features include user blogs, private messaging, notifications, and a friends system. Privacy settings can restrict posts, pages, profile data, and group content. Listed integrations include WooCommerce, bbPress, MailPoet, RegistrationMagic, EventPrime, and Elementor. PayPal is available in core, while Stripe is an extension. The free Core plan costs nothing and includes more than 90 core features plus free extensions. Premium costs $79 per month as listed, with one site and one year of updates and support. Premium+ costs $139 per month as listed, with a one-time payment, unlimited sites, and lifetime updates and support. The standard version uses the GNU General Public License; Premium receives priority support. Profile and registration data are stored in the WordPress database, and compatibility with every third-party product, plugin, theme, or browser is not guaranteed.