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Discourse Online Community Management Software logo
Discourse
Foster Vibrant Online Communities
4.0

( 63 )

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Discourse Reviews: 4.0/5 — Solid Choice

Discourse Overview
What is Discourse?

Discourse is a great tool for creating online forum experiences. The Discourse ecosystem is designed to be easy to use and user-friendly, with a range of features like spam blocking, moderation, and notifications. The open-source environment also integrates with tools like Slack, Zendesk, and WordPress. The platform supports convenient forum design and provides a range of native integrations, automatic trust systems, and a comprehensive reporting dashboard where users learn more forum trends to help them learn more about the audience and drive more insightful discussions.

Company Civilized Discourse Construction Kit, Inc.
Year founded 2013
Company size 11-50 employees
Headquarters New York, NY, USA
Social Media
Discourse Categories on Findstack
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4.6
(21)
Free plan available
Podia is comprehensive online platform that empowers businesses to sell digital goods online. From dig... Learn more about Podia
Ask Questions about Discourse
What Discourse is best for?
How does Discourse compare to HopMembers?
What are the pros and cons of Discourse?
Discourse Product Details
Capabilities
API
CLI
OSS
Segment
Small Business
Mid Market
Enterprise
Deployment Cloud / SaaS / Web-Based, On-Premise Linux
Training Documentation
Languages English
Discourse Pros and Cons
Pros
  • Open source environment gives users more control
  • Simple user interface for creators and forum users
  • Automatic trust system minimizes spam
Cons
  • Limited to only forum functionality
  • Open source environment requires coding knowledge.
Discourse Features
Activity Feed
Analytics and Reporting
API Access
API / webhooks for custom integrations
Automated Workflows
Branding Customization
Content Library
Content Moderation
Content protection (posts, pages, CPTs)
Content Scheduling
Coupons / discount codes
Course / LMS plugin integrations
Discourse Media
Discourse 0
Discourse 1
Discourse 2
Discourse 3
Discourse Screenshots
Discourse screenshot 1
Discourse screenshot 2
Discourse screenshot 3
Discourse screenshot 4
Disclaimer
Our research is curated from diverse authoritative sources and meant to offer general advice. We don’t guarantee that our suggestions will work best for each use-case, so consider your unique needs when choosing products and services. Feel free to share your feedback.
Last updated: October 31, 2026
Discourse Online Community Management Software logo
63 Discourse Reviews
4.0 out of 5
Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Jan 28, 2019
 Source
Overall Rating:
4.0
AG
Verified Reviewer
Founder
Share
"Easy setup, takes time to customize to your liking"
What do you like best about Discourse?

My favorite part of the software is being able to tag things to search for them later. I also like that you can organize discussions and topics to your liking.

What do you dislike about Discourse?

It takes a while to get used to and customize to your liking. For example, you can assign trust levels to each user and organize things but you have to play with it a little bit before getting the hang of it. I suggest having a training day or a week so that everyone can get used to it.

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

Whenever we have new training information or resources we use Discourse to ask questions, keep in contact with each other regarding future events, and learn more about our training material.

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Jan 28, 2019
 Source
Overall Rating:
4.0
AG
Verified Reviewer
Founder
Share
"Great for commenting"
What do you like best about Discourse?

This software is great because it allows you to leave comments on whatever you feel and also interact with other users on any board or site that your on. It is very user friendly.

What do you dislike about Discourse?

It can be confusing for first time users starting out because it's not the easiest with the load time after writing a comment.

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

You can see any feedback that customers, consumers or clients have about your uploads or products which is great for traffic.

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Jan 28, 2019
 Source
Overall Rating:
4.0
AG
Verified Reviewer
Founder
Share
"Works Ok As A Mailing List"
What do you like best about Discourse?

This worked ok as a mailing list and enjoyed the forum option for fans to get engaged. It offers a unique tool that is why we chose the platform, but wish it could have done more so we could use it as a platform for multiple efforts.

What do you dislike about Discourse?

....but for it to compete with other platform options, it needed more tools and options for increased usability. I would rather have one platform that manages several things, then have to use 3 including Discourse.

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

Simple way to send emails and liked the discussion forum options.

Mid Market (51-1000 emp.)
Jan 28, 2019
 Source
Overall Rating:
4.0
AG
Verified Reviewer
Founder
Share
"Streamlined Modernized Software"
What do you like best about Discourse?

Easy to log on, summarizes and condenses threads, blocks unwanted spam threats, is modern and versitile

What do you dislike about Discourse?

The pricing tiers are a tad on the expensive side

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

Streamlining our needs in Marketing; i.e.: Direct mailers, etc. all while satisfying the needs in other areas so that we can focus on other main criteria for business

Mid Market (51-1000 emp.)
Jan 28, 2019
 Source
Overall Rating:
4.0
AG
Verified Reviewer
Founder
Share
"Great product to use for work"
What do you like best about Discourse?

I like that i was able to communicate with co workers through private chats or forums.

What do you dislike about Discourse?

I found it easy to use and found no dislikes

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

Able to ask supervisors for help with just a click of a button

Mid Market (51-1000 emp.)
Jan 28, 2019
 Source
Overall Rating:
4.0
AG
Verified Reviewer
Founder
Share
"Setup was hard, but works great"
What do you like best about Discourse?

Best forum/discussion software we have ever used

What do you dislike about Discourse?

More difficult to set up than our old forum software

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

Semi-public discussion forum

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Jan 28, 2019
 Source
Overall Rating:
4.0
AG
Verified Reviewer
Founder
Share
"Good system"
What do you like best about Discourse?

Users can choose to use forum threads without the User Interface by subscribing via mailing list mode.

What do you dislike about Discourse?

Private Messages can be seen by Administrators, something which might not be clear to everybody.

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

We've used it several times to use it with our equipment.

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Aug 13, 2018
 Source
Overall Rating:
4.0
AG
Verified Reviewer
Founder
Share
"Great for Conversations and Big Groups"
What do you like best about Discourse?

My favorite part of Discourse is the infinite scrolling they have that allows for more communication to happen.

What do you dislike about Discourse?

It can seem jumbled if this is the first time you use Discourse, but after you get the hang of it, it makes conversations simpler and more natural.

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

For internal communication and discussions mostly. It helps us all stay on the same page.

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Jan 19, 2018
 Source
Overall Rating:
4.0
Brian G. avatar
Brian G.
Content Producer And Art Manger
Share
"Discourse for document and information organization"
What do you like best about Discourse?

I really like the ability to tag (add categories) articles and easily search by and organize those tags. The ability to sort the page by newest posts versus a more traditional Category listing is also great. The badges you earn when doing things in Discourse don't do anything, but they are a fun touch.

What do you dislike about Discourse?

Haven't found a way to edit/remove tags/categories. For example, if you've misspelled something, even if you don't use that tag, it still shows up in the list.

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

We had best practice documents in Dropbox, in Google docs, on various internal servers. Information was all over the place. Discourse was a good, inexpensive way to bring it all together in one centralized place that's easy to search and find.

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Nov 09, 2017
 Source
Overall Rating:
4.0
LP
Luis P.
Partner And International Market Executive
Share
"Simples to setup and put into practice"
What do you like best about Discourse?

The process of setting it up and getting things started was very easy and practical. It has a modern approach to the interface and things are quite intuitive.

What do you dislike about Discourse?

Sometimes it feels quite disorganized. Items of discussion start to "pile up" in the main view. Gives that kind of feeling of having a lot of emails that you haven't responded to yet.

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

We are using discourse as our main platform for internal discussions, in other words, a intranet forum. The main benefits are to provide an open and simples place for people to discuss ideas.

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Jan 29, 2019
 Source
Overall Rating:
3.5
AG
Verified Reviewer
Founder
Share
"Great way to email clients"
What do you like best about Discourse?

I like that you can use it for email distributing .

What do you dislike about Discourse?

There is not much that I do not like about the software.

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

I am able to get more emails out and interact with our customers more efficiently.

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
Jan 28, 2019
 Source
Overall Rating:
3.5
AG
Verified Reviewer
Founder
Share
"Great for communication"
What do you like best about Discourse?

I use this to communicate with my colleagues.

What do you dislike about Discourse?

I've used other programs for this, which I like better.

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

Easy to use for communication.

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Jan 28, 2019
 Source
Overall Rating:
3.5
AG
Verified Reviewer
Founder
Share
"Good open source discussion software"
What do you like best about Discourse?

Open source, simplistic and streamlined.

What do you dislike about Discourse?

Limitations on installation of the discourse.

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

Cheap alternative that is open source. Easy to save money using it while maintaining communication.

Mid Market (51-1000 emp.)
Jan 28, 2019
 Source
Overall Rating:
3.5
AG
Verified Reviewer
Founder
Share
"Great Communication Software"
What do you like best about Discourse?

Discourse is a great plateforme for discussion among group members and professionals. The group members can be assigned certain roles which allows for good moderation and identification of leadership. Topics of discussion can be easily organized as well. The application is very flexible and allows customization of discussion forums.

What do you dislike about Discourse?

Sometimes the discussion can get easily disorganized because replies to conversation build up. So it can be hard to separate the topic of discussion and tangents. The application also takes used to navigating.

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

Discourse is being used as the main platform for discussion and communication among team members. A benefit is that everything is all in one place and very organized.

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
Jan 28, 2019
 Source
Overall Rating:
3.5
VT
Victor T.
Técnico Senior Tech Center
Share
"One of the best open source softwares to inet forums."
What do you like best about Discourse?

Its strengths are that it innovates in the field of existing forums software by including features popularized recently by large social networks, such as infinite scrolling, live updates, link expansion, and drag-and-drop attachments.

What do you dislike about Discourse?

The truth is... I do not know what to put as dislike... Because both administration and the actual update are solid and improved in each version. Truthfully, I would say that your support could be better. But the tutorials and help in the app are gorgeous.

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

I use to test it only.

Mid Market (51-1000 emp.)
Jan 28, 2019
 Source
Overall Rating:
3.5
KL
Krys L.
Product Manager
Share
"Great Forum Software!!!"
What do you like best about Discourse?

The ability to have both private and public threads make it possible to have as much privacy as you would like.

What do you dislike about Discourse?

The tags are a bit confusing, could be more user friendly. Also, private messages are not private to admins.

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

Open source is a huge plus. Speaking to the discussion side, community members are more prone to engage here as well. You can easily track conversations and not be bogged down with hundreds of messages since posts are written more fluidly here.

Mid Market (51-1000 emp.)
Jan 28, 2019
 Source
Overall Rating:
3.5
SV
Sonya V.
Mortgage Broker
Share
"Excellent!"
What do you like best about Discourse?

Ease of communication. This makes communication among our group of Experts really easy. The software is initiative and easy to access,. You can organize and customize messages, inbox, and the communication means to your standard.

What do you dislike about Discourse?

There is still a lot of understanding left, we are still struggling to understand the software.

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

Discourse is not very expensive, turned out pretty handy for us, would recommend.

Mid Market (51-1000 emp.)
Jan 28, 2019
 Source
Overall Rating:
3.5
SV
Sahil V.
Business System Analyst Ii
Share
"Best for online forums "
What do you like best about Discourse?

It’s one of the easiest way to create forum online. The best part is we can assign n number of admins to any forum and The interface is very simple and modern.

What do you dislike about Discourse?

So far this software works fine for me but when it comes to customisations or to edit any existing forum. It doesn’t perform well

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

I am using this in my organisation for taking opinions of my other colleagues.

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
Jan 28, 2019
 Source
Overall Rating:
3.5
KK
Kensei K.
Service Desk Analyst
Share
"Perfect for forums"
What do you like best about Discourse?

Easy to use and has the functionalities I need

What do you dislike about Discourse?

The minimum requirements to use are a bit high so if you have old devices it’s sometimes not comaptible

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

We have been able to utilize the forum aspect very well and also make sure all our users can use the forums easily

Mid Market (51-1000 emp.)
Jan 28, 2019
 Source
Overall Rating:
3.5
BK
Briana Amirsharafi K.
Teacher
Share
"Worth Your Exploration "
What do you like best about Discourse?

This platform,does as promised.It allows you to participate in online forums and discussions,with ease.

What do you dislike about Discourse?

I don’t have anything negative to say about the app.

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

With access to various forums,I’m able to seek the input of other educators.It has put me in contact with those that I wouldn’t have met before.

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Jan 28, 2019
 Source
Overall Rating:
3.5
AG
Verified Reviewer
Founder
Share
"Great way to connect "
What do you like best about Discourse?

Easy to use. My partners love this product because of it's accessibility and layout

What do you dislike about Discourse?

There is really not too much that we don't like. We enjoy this thoroughly.

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

We are able to communicate easier within our community to talk about whatever issues arise. Good for quick communicate and feedback

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
Jan 28, 2019
 Source
Overall Rating:
3.5
AG
Verified Reviewer
Founder
Share
"open source discussion platform"
What do you like best about Discourse?

Private and Public Threads make it possible to have as much transparency, privacy

What do you dislike about Discourse?

Mailing List Mode is very powerful but it's a bit tiresome to set-up consistently 

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

Conversations can be tracked easier without the risk of being lost in a sea of messages as people tend to construct their posts more carefully than on any workspace messenger.

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Jan 28, 2019
 Source
Overall Rating:
3.5
AG
Verified Reviewer
Founder
Share
"Excellent Forum Software"
What do you like best about Discourse?

I liked the fact that this software made the overall experience more enjoyable by offering achievement badges based on your frequent activity. It's also great that they offer mailing lists for certain forums.

What do you dislike about Discourse?

The privacy seems a bit iffy to me. Since private messages are viewable to administrators, it puts a lot less trust in the privacy of the software itself.

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

The ease of communication on forums with similar interests/problems.

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Jan 28, 2019
 Source
Overall Rating:
3.5
AG
Verified Reviewer
Founder
Share
"Easy to use tool"
What do you like best about Discourse?

Great discussion platform that has streamlined my team discussion workflows.. Simple, clean, and easy-to-use

What do you dislike about Discourse?

Option to edit/remove tags/categories would be nice.

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

Streamlined the tracking of information, which we use to have everywhere - Google Drive, Drop Box, etc.

Mid Market (51-1000 emp.)
Jan 28, 2019
 Source
Overall Rating:
3.5
AG
Verified Reviewer
Founder
Share
"Easy to use forum software "
What do you like best about Discourse?

Easy to use software that lets users subscribing via mailing list mode without user interface.

What do you dislike about Discourse?

The tags are all lower case which seems a bit obscure.

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

Tracking conversations and getting members of the community involved in discussions provides so much value.

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Jan 28, 2019
 Source
Overall Rating:
3.0
AG
Verified Reviewer
Founder
Share
"Discourse"
What do you like best about Discourse?

It is a great easy to use platform to connect with coworkers.

What do you dislike about Discourse?

The added features can be glitchy and hard to use

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

Connecting with coworkers

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Jan 28, 2019
 Source
Overall Rating:
3.0
SP
Samridhi P.
Graduate Teaching Assistant
Share
"Great for online discussions"
What do you like best about Discourse?

Discourse is a simple yet great software for ANY sized online communities. I like the fact that it is easy to navigate, great design, simple layout and is FAST. This software definitely promotes productive online discussions.

What do you dislike about Discourse?

When I first started using it, it took me some time to navigate through it and get used to the features. However, once I got used to it I found it super user-friendly.

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

The fact that this software comes with user trust system makes moderation a lot easier. It runs well in all of my devices.

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Jan 28, 2019
 Source
Overall Rating:
3.0
AG
Verified Reviewer
Founder
Share
"Sociable"
What do you like best about Discourse?

I like the ability to have an open forum and connect with multiple people

What do you dislike about Discourse?

Nothing really. Except the fact that it can be a bit more concise

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

You can collaborate with others easily

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Dec 28, 2018
 Source
Overall Rating:
3.0
MK
Matthew K.
Independent Business Owner
Share
"Basics of Discourse"
What do you like best about Discourse?

It’s a very simple tool for keeping track is various sites that run on the discourse framework. Like a bookmarker, but for businesses.

What do you dislike about Discourse?

The app is very barebones. If you’re looking to manage more than a dozen sites, you’re better off with the desktop client.

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

It helps me manage multiple discourse set-ups, giving me quick access to the info I need the most. It’s helpful in the communications department.

Mid Market (51-1000 emp.)
May 17, 2022
 Source
Overall Rating:
2.5
AG
Verified Reviewer
Founder
Share
"Discourse Review"
What do you like best about Discourse?

It is a huge database of valuable information.

What do you dislike about Discourse?

It's not the most intuitive tool to use. While tagging and searching usually get me to where I want to go, there seems to always be duplicate information and no way to determine which is the 'newest' or 'validated' answers.

What problems is Discourse solving and how is that benefiting you?

A repository for all technical questions/answers.