NodeBB vs Thigmo
NodeBB
nodebb.orgThigmo
thigmos.comSide by side
| Figure | NodeBB | Thigmo |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $20/mo | $70/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 6 | 5 |
| Spec score · Community Platforms | 9.3 (#3) | 9.3 (#5) |
| Audience | NodeBB describes forums as useful for brand communities and product support boards. | The site presents Thigmo for nonprofits, educators, event organizers and local businesses. |
| Company | NodeBB says it was founded in 2014 by three developers and identifies the company as NodeBB, Inc. | The About page identifies Yasser Soliman as founder and states that Thigmo was founded in 2025. |
| Custom domain | Yes | Yes |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Moderation tools | Yes | Yes |
| Private spaces | Yes | Yes |
| Security | NodeBB operates a bug bounty program, but eligible testing is limited to try.nodebb.org and third-party plugins are excluded. | The homepage says card numbers are not stored and payments use a PCI-compliant processor. |
| Paid from | 20 | 70 |
| Support | Paid hosting plans list priority support, and NodeBB also points users to its community support forum. | The site offers contact support and demo booking, while the Google Play listing provides [email protected]. |
Plans
NodeBB
- Starter$20 a month
- Hamlet$100 a month
- Village$250 a month
- City$750 a month
- Self-hostedFree
- Enterprise SolutionsPriced on request
Thigmo
- SparkFree
- Catalyst$70 a month
- Nexus$210 a month
- SparkFree
- VanguardPriced on request
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.