Discourse vs phpBB

Struggling to choose between Discourse and phpBB? Both products offer unique advantages, making it a tough decision.

Discourse is a Social & Communications solution with tags like opensource, discussion, communities, organizations, conversations, teams, categories, tags, private-messages, notifications.

It boasts features such as Topic-focused discussions, Real-time notifications, Private messaging, User roles and permissions, Mobile app, Categories and tags, Search, Moderation tools, Custom theming, Plugins and integrations and pros including Open source and self-hosted, Active development community, Feature rich out of the box, Good performance at scale, Extensive theming and branding options, Robust moderation and admin tools.

On the other hand, phpBB is a Development product tagged with open-source, forum, discussion-board, php, free.

Its standout features include Forum creation and management, User management and permissions, Private messaging, File attachments, Search engine, Themes and skins, Extensions and plugins, Multi-language support, Mobile support, Spam prevention, and it shines with pros like Free and open source, Active development community, Highly customizable and extensible, Easy installation, Strong security features, Scales well for large forums, Large user base and resources.

Feature	Discourse	phpBB
Overall Score	N/A	N/A
Primary Category	Social & Communications	Development

Product Overview

Discourse

Description: Discourse is an open-source discussion platform built for modern communities and organizations. It enables fluid conversations across teams with features like categories, tags, private messages, and real-time notifications.

phpBB

Description: phpBB is an open source forum software written in PHP. It allows you to set up an online community and discussion board on a website. It is free to use and allows for custom themes and extensions.

Key Features Comparison

Discourse Features

• Topic-focused discussions
• Real-time notifications
• Private messaging
• User roles and permissions
• Mobile app
• Categories and tags
• Search
• Moderation tools
• Custom theming
• Plugins and integrations

phpBB Features

• Forum creation and management
• User management and permissions
• Private messaging
• File attachments
• Search engine
• Themes and skins
• Extensions and plugins
• Multi-language support
• Mobile support
• Spam prevention

Pros & Cons Analysis

Discourse

Pros

• Open source and self-hosted
• Active development community
• Feature rich out of the box
• Good performance at scale
• Extensive theming and branding options
• Robust moderation and admin tools

Cons

• Can be resource intensive to self-host
• Steeper learning curve than some forums
• Limitations with native mobile apps
• Less flexible than custom developed solutions

phpBB

Pros

• Free and open source
• Active development community
• Highly customizable and extensible
• Easy installation
• Strong security features
• Scales well for large forums
• Large user base and resources

Cons

• Can be resource intensive for large forums
• Steeper learning curve than some forum software
• Requires technical expertise to customize
• Not as user friendly as some alternatives
• Upgrading between versions can be difficult

Pricing Comparison

Discourse

• Open Source

phpBB

• Open Source