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Self-host Discourse Hosting (Discourse.org)
Community / forum hosting ·
Category: team chat & community
Discourse the software is open source; Discourse.org sells managed hosting of it (the 'Cloud' tier). The self-hostable replacement is Discourse itself; the alternatives are competing forum platforms (Flarum, NodeBB) for teams that don't want Discourse-the-product but still want a modern OSS forum.
Discourse Hosting (Discourse.org) pricing anchor: Standard $50/mo (managed Discourse Cloud); Business $100/mo; Enterprise from $300/mo.
- GitHub
- ★ 47.0k · last commit today · 139 open issues
- License
-
GPL-2.0 - Setup time
- 30min — `discourse_docker` standalone install on a fresh Ubuntu
- Monthly cost
- $10-20/mo VPS + Mailgun/Postmark/Resend SMTP relay (~$10/mo for 50k emails). Discourse needs ≥2GB RAM.
Migration sketch. Clone `discourse/discourse_docker` and run `./discourse-setup`. The wizard generates `containers/app.yml`; rebuild with `./launcher rebuild app`. Migration from Discourse Cloud: open a support ticket asking for a Postgres backup, restore via `./launcher enter app` → `discourse enable_restore && discourse restore`. SSL via the built-in Let's Encrypt integration; SMTP credentials in the YAML.
Good fit forCommunities that already love Discourse and want to move off Discourse.org's managed plan to control hosting and cost.
Weak atStack weight — Discourse runs Postgres, Redis, Sidekiq, and Unicorn in one container; not a Pi-friendly install.
- GitHub
- ★ 6.71k · last commit 1d ago · 89 open issues
- License
-
MIT - Setup time
- 20min docker-compose (PHP + MySQL/MariaDB)
- Monthly cost
- $5/mo VPS; PHP-FPM stack is light.
Migration sketch. Use the community `mondediefr/docker-flarum` image with a MariaDB backend. Discourse migration: export Discourse data via the admin export → there's a community Discourse-to-Flarum importer (`flarum-discourse-import`) that maps users, categories, topics, and posts. Reset user passwords (Discourse password hashes don't transfer).
Good fit forSmaller communities that find Discourse heavy and want a modern, fast, lightly-themed forum.
Weak atSmaller plugin ecosystem than Discourse; less out-of-the-box gamification.
- GitHub
- ★ 15.1k · last commit 3d ago · 171 open issues
- License
-
GPL-3.0 - Setup time
- 20min docker run (Node + Redis or Postgres or MongoDB)
- Monthly cost
- $5-10/mo VPS.
Migration sketch. Pull `nodebb/docker:latest` from Docker Hub. NodeBB has a built-in Discourse importer in its admin panel — point at a Discourse data export (JSON or direct DB dump), map users and categories, run the import. Real-time updates via Socket.IO are first-class; great for communities that want chat-like immediacy.
Good fit forCommunities that want real-time threads (live updates as people post) and a lighter Node-based stack.
Weak atSmaller plugin ecosystem than Discourse; default theme feels bloggy.
In a terminal? npx os-alt discourse-cloud prints this table —
how the CLI works →