Discourse

A discussion forum platform for communities that you can install with Docker on your own server or use as official Discourse hosting.

Open-source alternative to:

Circle

Visit Discourse GitHub Docs

GPL-2.0Self-hostedCloudNot confirmed

Screenshot of the Discourse website — Homepage of discourse.org

What the free edition leaves out

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The official pages do not say enough about the free edition to give a verdict. “Not confirmed” means the official pages we read did not say, so we do not guess.

Open-core feature checklist for Discourse
Feature	Free edition	Details	Source
SSO / SAML	Not confirmed	The DiscourseConnect page calls it a core Discourse feature and says it is offered to pro, business and enterprise hosting customers. It does not mention SAML.	Source ↗
Role-based access control	Not confirmed	Not described on the pages read.	–
Audit logs	Not confirmed	Not mentioned on the pricing page or the pages read.	Source ↗
Multi-user / teams	Not confirmed	Not described on the pages read.	–
Backups and restore	Free	The backup guide describes configuring backups in the admin settings and says self-hosted instances keep them on the local server by default.	Source ↗
API access	Not confirmed	The API docs page showed no text about availability. The pricing page lists API and webhook access under hosting plans, which are not the self-hosted software.	Source ↗
Support SLA	Not confirmed	The pricing page lists community, email and priority support for hosting plans. No support is described for self-hosted installs.	Source ↗

Best for

Communities and companies that want a full forum with their own domain and data, either self-hosted or with official hosting.

Why choose it over Circle

The README calls Discourse a 100 percent open-source community platform, and the license is GPL version 2 or later, and the cloud install guide sets it up with one command. You can choose the official hosting or run it yourself.

Where it falls short

You need a server of your own and you handle updates and security yourself. Email digests, mailing list mode and email replies need an email provider (SMTP) configured. The pricing page lists features per hosting plan, so it does not say which hosted-plan features a self-installed copy has.

Open-source alternative to

Circle — Discourse runs a discussion forum and community, which overlaps with what teams use Circle for.

Topics

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