Discourse AlternativesOnly apps categorised as Forum Software
The best Forum Software alternative to Discourse is Flarum, which is both free and Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to Discourse and many of them are Forum Software so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Forum Software alternatives to Discourse are phpBB, Simple Machines Forum, NodeBB and MyBB.
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Discourse alternatives are mainly Forum Software but may also be Social Networks or Website Builders. Filter by these or use the filter bar below if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of Discourse.- Forum Software
- Free Personal • Open Source
51 Flarum alternativesFlarum is free, open-source forum software with a focus on simplicity. You can use Flarum to easily set up a discussion forum for your website. Flarum is developed openly on GitHub.
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
Platforms
- Self-Hosted
- Apache HTTP Server
- PHP
Flarum Features
- Lightweight
- Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
- Visual design
- Simplicity
- Support for Themes
- Web Forms
Flarum VS Discourse
Is Flarum a good alternative to Discourse?
54 phpBB alternativesSince its creation in 2000, phpBB™ has become the most widely used Open Source forum solution. Like its predecessors, phpBB™ 3.2 “Rhea” has an easy to use administration panel and a user friendly installation process, which allows you to have a forum set up in minutes.
phpBB VS Discourse
Is phpBB a good alternative to Discourse?
46 Simple Machines Forum alternativesSimple Machines Forum — SMF in short — is a free, professional grade software package that allows you to set up your own online community within minutes.
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Self-Hosted
Simple Machines Forum Features
- User friendly
- Portal
Simple Machines Forum VS Discourse
Is this a good alternative to Discourse?
46 NodeBB alternativesA community forum allows you to engage and retain customers, keeping them interested and up-to-date with your latest product or service.
License model
- Freemium • Open Source
Application type
Platforms
- Online
- Self-Hosted
- Sandstorm
- MongoDB
- Redis
- Cloudron
- Node.JS
NodeBB VS Discourse
Is NodeBB a good alternative to Discourse?
47 MyBB alternativesMyBB is the free and open source, intuitive, extensible, and incredibly powerful forum software you've been looking for.
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Online
- Self-Hosted
MyBB Features
- Lightweight
- Integrated Spam Protection
MyBB VS Discourse
Is MyBB a good alternative to Discourse?
43 XenForo alternativesA compelling community experience. Intuitive. Social. Engaging. Fast. XenForo brings a fresh outlook to forum software.
License model
- Paid • Proprietary
Application type
Platforms
- MySQL Community Edition
- Self-Hosted
- MariaDB
- PHP
XenForo VS Discourse
Is XenForo a good alternative to Discourse?
45 bbPress alternativesbbPress is forum software with a twist from the creators of WordPress. Its focused on web standards, ease of use, ease of integration, and speed. bbPress will try to keep things as small and light as possible while still allowing great add-on feature possibilities.
bbPress VS Discourse
Is bbPress a good alternative to Discourse?
44 FluxBB alternativesFluxBB is a fast, light, user-friendly forum application for your website. FluxBB was designed as a lighter, faster alternative to some of the traditional feature heavy forum applications. It is easy to use and has a proven track record of stability and security making it an...
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Online
FluxBB Features
- Website integration
DiscontinuedDevelopment of FluxBB has halted in favor of of joint open-source alternative, Flarum: https://web.archive.org/web/20221007200349if_/https://fluxbb.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=8282
FluxBB VS Discourse
Is FluxBB a good alternative to Discourse?
49 Vanilla Forum alternativesVanilla provides a standards-compliant, multi-lingual, theme-able and pluggablecommunity forum software that powers discussion forums on 800,000 sites.
License model
- Free Personal • Open Source
Application type
Platforms
- Online
- Self-Hosted
Vanilla Forum Features
- Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
Vanilla Forum VS Discourse
Is Vanilla Forum a good alternative to Discourse?Comments about Vanilla Forum as an Alternative to Discourse
Vanilla only supports open-source for Developers, they discourage use for non-profit or hobbyist purposes over a paid solution.
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45 Invision Community alternativesInvision Community is a flexible, feature-packed and easy to customize platform that powers some of the biggest and best communities on the web.
License model
- Paid • Proprietary
Application type
Platforms
- Online
- Self-Hosted
Invision Community Features
- Support for Themes
- Flat File CMS
- Portal
- Cloud based
Invision Community VS Discourse
Is Invision Community a good alternative to Discourse?
118 WoltLab Suite alternativesWoltLab Suite (formerly Burning Board) is an enterprise grade CMS built for communities and forums.
License model
- Paid • Proprietary
Application type
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- MySQL Community Edition
- Self-Hosted
- PHP
WoltLab Suite VS Discourse
Is WoltLab Suite a good alternative to Discourse?
44 vBulletin alternativesvBulletin (abbreviated as vB) is a commercial Internet forum software written in PHP using a MySQL database server.
License model
- Paid • Proprietary
Application type
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Android
- iPhone
- PHP
vBulletin VS Discourse
Is vBulletin a good alternative to Discourse?
Comments about Flarum as an Alternative to Discourse
Its fast lite-weight and easy, works with php and mariadb/mysql
Works on more shared-hosting environments, and is more cleanly designed / easy to set up.