XenForo vs Discourse

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

XenForo is a Online Services solution with tags like forum, discussion, community, open-source.

It boasts features such as User profiles, Conversations, Advanced search, User tagging, Extensible and scalable codebase, Customizable themes, Spam prevention tools, SEO optimization, Social network integration and pros including Active development and support community, Regular security updates, Many free and paid add-ons available, Good performance and speed, Easy to use admin interface, Strong anti-spam and moderation tools.

On the other hand, Discourse is a Social & Communications product tagged with opensource, discussion, communities, organizations, conversations, teams, categories, tags, private-messages, notifications.

Its standout features include 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 it shines with pros like 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.

Feature	XenForo	Discourse
Overall Score	N/A	N/A
Primary Category	Online Services	Social & Communications

Product Overview

XenForo

Description: XenForo is an open source Internet forum software written in PHP. It is designed to be easy to use, extensible and scalable. XenForo includes features such as advanced search, user profiles, conversations, user tagging and more.

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.

Key Features Comparison

XenForo Features

• User profiles
• Conversations
• Advanced search
• User tagging
• Extensible and scalable codebase
• Customizable themes
• Spam prevention tools
• SEO optimization
• Social network integration

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

Pros & Cons Analysis

XenForo

Pros

• Active development and support community
• Regular security updates
• Many free and paid add-ons available
• Good performance and speed
• Easy to use admin interface
• Strong anti-spam and moderation tools

Cons

• Can require more server resources than some forums
• Less flexible than custom-built options
• Limited native mobile optimization
• Steeper learning curve than simple forums

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

Pricing Comparison

XenForo

• Open Source
• Commercial License

Discourse

• Open Source