Discourse vs Mighty Networks
Discourse and Mighty Networks are both community platforms tools. Discourse is aimed at developers and enterprise, while Mighty Networks is aimed at creators. Mighty Networks costs less, from $79/mo versus $100/mo for Discourse. Only Discourse has a free plan.
Modern open-source forum software
Community, courses and events with branded apps
| Pricing | Open source · $100 | Paid · $79 |
| Starting price | $100/mo | $79/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Free trial | — | 14 days |
| Built for | Developers, Enterprise | Creators |
| Platforms | web | web, ios, android |
| Country | US · 2013 | US · 2017 |
| 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 Mighty Networks if
Creators and brands building paid communities.
- All-in-one community and courses
- Good mobile experience
- Member connection features
Look elsewhere if: Simple chat communities (Discord).
Discourse vs Mighty Networks 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
Mighty Networks
- Launch$79/mo$950/yr billed annually; community, courses, AI Cohost
- Scale$179/moMore automations, APIs and MCP, integrations
- Growth$354/moAdvanced automations, growth support
- Mighty ProCustomCustom branded apps, full services
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
Mighty Networks · Key features
- Community spaces and feeds
- Courses and cohorts
- Events and live streaming
- Paid memberships and bundles
- AI member matching
- Branded apps (Pro)
Cons
- Transaction fees on lower plans
- Branded apps expensive
- Customization limited
Discourse vs Mighty Networks: FAQ
Which is cheaper, Discourse or Mighty Networks?
Mighty Networks starts at $79/mo and Discourse at $100/mo. Both prices are checked on the vendors' own pricing pages.
Do Discourse and Mighty Networks have a free plan?
Discourse has a free plan. Mighty Networks has no free plan, a 14-day free trial.