Discourse vs Geneva
Discourse and Geneva are both community platforms tools. Discourse is aimed at developers and enterprise, while Geneva is aimed at creators. Both have a free plan.
| Pricing | Open source · $100 | Free |
| Starting price | $100/mo | Not published |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Built for | Developers, Enterprise | Creators |
| Platforms | web | web, ios, android |
| Country | US · 2013 | US · 2020 |
| Rating | — | — |
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).
Choose Geneva if
Nobody; the standalone app no longer exists.
- Was free
- Friendly design
- Mobile-first
Look elsewhere if: Any group; use Bumble BFF, Discord or WhatsApp Communities instead.
Discourse vs Geneva pricing
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
Geneva
- Free$0No fees
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
Geneva · Key features
- Chat rooms (historical)
- Forums (historical)
- Audio and video rooms (historical)
- Events (historical)
- Mobile apps (historical)
- Free (historical)
Cons
- Standalone app shut down
- Members moved to Bumble BFF
- No longer developed
Discourse vs Geneva: FAQ
Do Discourse and Geneva have a free plan?
Yes, both Discourse and Geneva have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.