Disco vs Discourse
Disco and Discourse are both community platforms tools. Disco is aimed at enterprise and small businesses, while Discourse is aimed at developers and enterprise. Discourse costs less, from $100/mo versus $499/mo for Disco. Only Discourse has a free plan.
AI-powered academy platform combining courses, cohorts and community
Modern open-source forum software
| Pricing | Paid · $499 | Open source · $100 |
| Starting price | $499/mo | $100/mo |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Free trial | 14 days | — |
| Built for | Enterprise, Small businesses, Creators | Developers, Enterprise |
| Platforms | web, ios, android | web |
| Country | CA · 2020 | US · 2013 |
| Rating | — | — |
Choose Disco if
Organizations running branded learning programs where cohorts, events and community engagement matter as much as course content.
- Courses, cohorts, events and community in one branded space
- Broad set of built-in AI tools for admins and learners
- Good fit for customer education and member programs
Look elsewhere if: Solo creators on a budget or companies needing compliance-heavy corporate LMS features (Skool, Thinkific, Docebo).
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).
Disco vs Discourse pricing
Disco
- Organization$499/mo$399/mo billed annually; up to 500 members, AI tools
- EnterpriseCustom100k+ members, SAML SSO, API, branded mobile apps
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
Disco · Key features
- AI program generator that drafts curricula from a prompt
- Self-paced and cohort-based courses with assignments and quizzes
- Community channels, threads, DMs, groups and leaderboards
- Ask AI answers learner questions from program content
- AI video transcripts, summaries, audio narration and image generation
- Live events with Zoom integration and in-event chat
Cons
- Starting price is high for solo creators
- API, webhooks and SSO require Enterprise
- Organization plan capped at 500 members
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
Disco vs Discourse: FAQ
Which is cheaper, Disco or Discourse?
Discourse starts at $100/mo and Disco at $499/mo. Both prices are checked on the vendors' own pricing pages.
Do Disco and Discourse have a free plan?
Disco has no free plan, a 14-day free trial. Discourse has a free plan.
Which is better for small businesses, Disco or Discourse?
Disco lists small businesses as a core audience, while Discourse is aimed more at developers and enterprise.