Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Discourse VS Mighty Networks

Compare Discourse VS Mighty Networks and see what are their differences

Discourse logo Discourse

Discourse is an open source discussion platform built for the next decade of the Internet.

Mighty Networks logo Mighty Networks

Mighty Networks enables entrepreneurs, organizations, and companies to create and grow a community-powered brand.
  • Discourse Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-13
  • Mighty Networks Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-10

Discourse features and specs

  • Modern Interface
    Discourse provides a clean, intuitive, and responsive user interface that works well on both desktops and mobile devices.
  • Open Source
    Discourse is open source software, allowing for customization, self-hosting, and community contributions, which can reduce costs and increase flexibility.
  • Rich Features
    The platform includes a variety of built-in features such as threaded replies, real-time notifications, and community moderation tools.
  • Scalability
    Discourse is designed to handle small communities as well as large, active forums, making it suitable for a variety of use cases.
  • Security
    Regular updates and a dedicated security team help keep the software secure against vulnerabilities.
  • Integration and APIs
    Discourse offers extensive APIs and integrates well with various other services and plugins, facilitating seamless extensions and automation.

Possible disadvantages of Discourse

  • Resource Intensive
    Discourse can be resource-heavy, which may require significant server capacity and maintenance, especially for large communities.
  • Hosting Costs
    While you can self-host Discourse, the server and maintenance costs can be high. Managed hosting plans provided by Discourse can also be expensive.
  • Complex Setup
    Installing and configuring Discourse can be complex, particularly for those without technical expertise in server management and Ruby on Rails.
  • Learning Curve
    Users and administrators might face a steeper learning curve compared to more traditional forum software due to its modern interface and extensive features.
  • Limited Built-in Themes
    The default theme options are somewhat limited, and extensive customization requires knowledge of front-end development.
  • Dependency on PostgreSQL and Redis
    Discourse relies on PostgreSQL for its database and Redis for caching, which might complicate setup and maintenance compared to solutions that use simpler database architectures.

Mighty Networks features and specs

  • Community Building
    Mighty Networks allows users to easily create and manage online communities. It provides a suite of tools to facilitate interaction, engagement, and collaboration among members.
  • Custom Branding
    The platform offers extensive customization options, enabling community hosts to brand their network according to their unique vision and style.
  • Monetization Options
    Mighty Networks supports various monetization methods, such as subscription fees, courses, and paid memberships, providing diverse revenue streams for community creators.
  • Integrated Course Functionality
    Users can create and sell online courses within the platform, combining educational content with community features for enhanced engagement.
  • Mobile App
    Mighty Networks offers a mobile app version, making it easy for community members to stay connected and interact on the go.
  • Event Management
    The platform includes event management tools, allowing hosts to organize and promote virtual or in-person events seamlessly.

Possible disadvantages of Mighty Networks

  • Cost
    Mighty Networks can be relatively expensive, especially for smaller communities. The platform offers different pricing tiers, but premium features can be costly.
  • Learning Curve
    While powerful, the platform’s extensive features and customization options can result in a steep learning curve for new users.
  • Limited Control Over User Data
    Some users may be concerned about data privacy and ownership, as the platform retains control over user data to some extent.
  • Feature Overload
    The abundance of features can be overwhelming for some users, leading to potential underutilization of the platform's full capabilities.
  • Third-Party Integrations
    Compared to some other platforms, Mighty Networks has fewer direct integrations with third-party services, which may limit its flexibility for certain use cases.

Discourse videos

Why We Chose The Discourse Platform For Our Forums

More videos:

  • Review - Why Discourse is the Best Forum Software Out There (No, Really) | Location Rebel
  • Review - A Grammar Review for Discourse Analysis

Mighty Networks videos

Tara's Toolkit: Mighty Networks (Software Review)

More videos:

  • Review - Inside Mighty Networks!

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Discourse and Mighty Networks)
Forums And Forum Software
Community Platform
56 56%
44% 44
Forums
100 100%
0% 0
Communication
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Discourse and Mighty Networks. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Discourse and Mighty Networks

Discourse Reviews

20 Telegram Alternatives to Chat With in 2024
Discourse is a basic forum function that could be an alternative to Telegram if you want to stick to text discussions. It's pretty analog, missing both video and livestreaming tools. Instead, Discourse is a basic community that lets you organize discussions--it feels a bit like having your own reddit or Quora.
18 Best Discord Alternatives 2020 | Expert Reviews
Discourse comes in a couple of flavours. You can self-host it yourself in which case the software is free, and you simply need to sign up for server space, or you can pay Discourse for a hosted-for-you option, though self-hosting is a lot cheaper the premium option takes care of the technical side.
IndieHackers: Best forum software
I used Flarum when trying to get a community set up for my product (ended up abandoning it to revisit when we have a larger customer base). It worked fairly well and I enjoyed it but it's definitely beta and unless you're fairly tech savvy it's not quite worth the setup / maintenance. Lots of config changes, crashes, huge issues with plugins, and some features missing. I'd...

Mighty Networks Reviews

  1. PG

    pg soft can be played on all platforms. Supports all systems, 100% safe, can play 24 hours a day. The more you play, the richer you are.


8 best Teachable alternatives for course creators (Features & pricing)
Mighty Networks is an online community platform that includes online course features for higher-tier plans. Creators on all plans can create and run free and paid membership communities. When you build a community on Mighty Networks, you can charge for memberships with recurring billing or one-time subscriptions. Advanced community features include live streams, direct...
Source: www.podia.com
20 Telegram Alternatives to Chat With in 2024
Let's round out this list with a Telegram alternative for those established creators who want to build community, broadcast, and message on their own app. Mighty Pro brings G2's top-rated community platform (Mighty Networks) and deploys it on your native app in the App Store and Google Play Store.
8 Best Patreon Alternatives & Competitors For 2023 (Comparison)
Mighty Networks also offers some advanced community-focused features that you don’t get on other platforms. For example, the innovative Mighty Effect™ technology personalizes your member’s experiences by populating their feed with the most relevant topics, groups, members, products, etc.
11 Patreon Alternatives for Audience Monetization in 2023
Mighty Networks lets creators make their own branded website featuring built-in community-building tools.
Source: www.uscreen.tv
Top 57 Thinkific Alternatives: Best 7 & Other 50 Platforms
However, it is a platform that is more centered around the community rather than course creation. So, if you want something more professional, this would not work. However, if the community comes first and courses are just a side hustle, then you can also consider Mighty Networks.
Source: uteach.io

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Discourse seems to be a lot more popular than Mighty Networks. While we know about 23 links to Discourse, we've tracked only 2 mentions of Mighty Networks. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Discourse mentions (23)

  • Qilin: A Starter Project Template For Every Open Source Project
    GitHub Discussions can also be a great place for support as long as these are regularly monitored. Another option along the same lines is Discourse and the Open Source Matrix which is used by quite a few Open Source and community-based projects. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Ask HN: How to run an old-school mailing list?
    A lot of communities use [Discourse ](https://discourse.org). [LPSF](https://forum lpsf.org) migrated to it when Yahoo Groups was discontinued. Some of the advantages are that it's open source, self-hostable, and can be configured to work as both a traditional mailing list and modern forum. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • My Fediverse use – I'm hosting everything myself – PeerTube, Mastodon and Lemmy
    More like https://discourse.org/. You can run it yourself, but I can also just have them ding a credit card every month and not think about it again (I do this for a community). - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Reddit faces content quality concerns after its Great Mod Purge
    Discourse perhaps? I've seen it in use in a few places; it has a modern look and feel to it at least. https://discourse.org/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • So Long, Twitter and Reddit
    I fully agree with you see my comment here[0] -- I think you may have misread my comment, it says "Discourse" (as in the forum software[1]), not Discord. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37245220. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
View more

Mighty Networks mentions (2)

  • Why is no one making a new version of old Facebook?
    "a huge unmet demand currently exists for a social network which is based on the social graph, instead of the content graph, and which is pre-enshittification*" I would argue this hasn't disappeared, but merely moved. There's a number of other platforms people are using for seeking a certain social graph - Mighty Networks ( https://mightynetworks.com ), Hylo ( https://hylo.com ), a number of others. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Niche Community - A platform for building niche communities easily
    If you want to quickly spin up a niche online community easily there isn't a way to do so currently. There are things like mightynetworks.com, circle.so but they charge huge amount and are audience based platforms and not where everybody contributes. Source: almost 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Discourse and Mighty Networks, you can also consider the following products

Flarum - Flarum is the next-generation forum software that makes online discussion fun. It's simple, fast, and free.

Circle.so - Bring together your discussions, memberships, and content. Integrate a thriving community wherever your audience is, all under your own brand.

Vanilla Forums - Build an engaging community forum using Vanilla's modern cloud forum software.

Bettermode - Create community sites, code-free.

phpBB - Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi is a cheap, credit-card sized computer. The official website uses phpBB for their discussion forums. phpBB is not affiliated with nor responsible for any of the sites listed on the showcase.

thinkific - Create online courses and membership sites with Thinkific and feel confident that you’ve got the easiest technology and the best support in the industry.