Happy Valley

Bevy vs Discourse

Bevy and Discourse are both community platforms tools. Bevy is aimed at enterprise and small businesses, while Discourse is aimed at developers and enterprise. Only Discourse has a free plan.

Bevy

Community events platform for chapter-based brand communities

Discourse

Modern open-source forum software

PricingPaidOpen source · $100
Starting priceNot published$100/mo
Free planNoYes
Free trial——
Built forEnterprise, Small businessesDevelopers, Enterprise
Platformswebweb
CountryUS · 2017US · 2013
Rating——

Choose Bevy if

Enterprise community and developer relations teams running many local chapters, meetups and hybrid events tied to their CRM.

  • Purpose-built for running hundreds of local chapters consistently
  • Unlimited members, events and emails on the base platform
  • Proven with very large programs like Google Developer Groups

Look elsewhere if: Creators and small companies that need a single online community or simple event pages (Circle, Luma, Discourse).

Choose Discourse if

Companies and projects that want durable, searchable community knowledge.

  • Searchable, SEO-friendly knowledge
  • Open source and self-hostable
  • Mature moderation

Look elsewhere if: Casual real-time chat communities (Discord).

Bevy vs Discourse pricing

Bevy

  • Base platformCustomUnlimited members, admins, events and emails; white-label hub
  • Usage typeCustomForum, User Groups & Events, or All-in-One
  • Add-onsCustomCustom domain, CRM sync, SSO, virtual conference, AI search

Discourse

  • Self-hosted$0Open source (GPL), run on your own servers
  • Free$0Hosted; 2 staff seats, 500k page views, 5 GB storage
  • Pro$100/mo5 staff seats, 20 GB storage, 15+ plugins
  • Business$500/mo15 staff seats, 100 GB storage, priority support
  • EnterpriseCustomUnlimited staff, 1M+ page views, 99.9% uptime

Bevy · Key features

  • White-labelled community hub with chapter pages for every city or group
  • Event creation, registration, ticketing and check-in for chapter leaders
  • Built-in newsletters and email automations with no sending caps
  • Bevy Virtual Conference for large online and hybrid events
  • Native Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo and Eloqua sync
  • SAML, OAuth and OpenID SSO plus social sign-in

Cons

  • No public pricing; everything is quote-based
  • Overkill for a single online community or small creator
  • Forum and discussion features trail Discourse and Circle

Discourse · Key features

  • Threaded discussions with categories and tags
  • Trust levels and moderation tools
  • Real-time chat channels
  • Discourse AI: summaries, search, related topics
  • SSO and API
  • Plugins and themes

Cons

  • Less real-time feel than Discord
  • Self-hosting requires maintenance
  • Hosted plans pricey at scale

Bevy vs Discourse: FAQ

Do Bevy and Discourse have a free plan?

Bevy has no free plan. Discourse has a free plan.

Which is better for small businesses, Bevy or Discourse?

Bevy lists small businesses as a core audience, while Discourse is aimed more at developers and enterprise.

Not sure yet?