Software Alternatives & Startups

Discourse VS Subjoin

Compare Discourse VS Subjoin and see what are their differences

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Discourse logo Discourse

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

Subjoin logo Subjoin

Free Patreon, Ko-Fi and Stan-Store alternative for any creator
  • Discourse Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-13
  • Subjoin page 1
    page 1 //
    2024-06-05
  • Subjoin page 2
    page 2 //
    2024-06-05
  • Subjoin page 3
    page 3 //
    2024-06-05

No integrations, no platform fees - it's free to use! Build your community page now!

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.

Subjoin features and specs

  • Features
    Subscriptions, donations, commissions, digital products
  • Notifications
    Automatic email notifications
  • Personal page
    Your very own website with no platform branding

Analysis of Subjoin

Overall verdict

  • Subjoin appears to be a niche subscription/link-management or bundling tool; without hands-on testing it's difficult to give a definitive quality rating, but based on available information it seems to be a functional, purpose-built tool best suited for specific use cases rather than a broad, universally-acclaimed product.

Why this product is good

  • Focuses on a specific niche use case rather than trying to be an all-in-one solution
  • Likely simple and lightweight, making it easy to adopt quickly
  • May offer a straightforward pricing model for individuals or small teams
  • Could integrate well with existing workflows depending on your tech stack

Recommended for

  • Users looking for a lightweight, specialized tool rather than a full-featured platform
  • Small teams or solo users with straightforward needs
  • People who value simplicity over extensive feature sets
  • Those who have already evaluated alternatives and found this fits their specific workflow

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

Subjoin videos

No Subjoin videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Discourse and Subjoin)
Forums
100 100%
0% 0
Subscription Management
0 0%
100% 100
Forums And Forum Software
Membership Management
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Discourse and Subjoin. 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 Subjoin

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...

Subjoin Reviews

We have no reviews of Subjoin yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Discourse seems to be a lot more popular than Subjoin. While we know about 23 links to Discourse, we've tracked only 1 mention of Subjoin. 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 / over 2 years 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 / over 2 years 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 / almost 3 years 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 / about 3 years 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 / about 3 years ago
View more

Subjoin mentions (1)

  • Show HN: Patreon and Stan.store Alternative
    Subscription tiers, donations, digital products etc; an all-in-one suite of features with many integrations. I am building https://subjoin.me and working towards an affordable blend of those two platforms. Soon to come: email marketing flows, analytics. What kind of platforms have you used before? Any features you'd like to see in current mainstream content monetization platforms? - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Discourse and Subjoin, 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.

Patreon - Patreon enables fans to give ongoing support to their favorite creators.

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.

Memberful - Professional membership software used by the web's biggest creators. Works with your website. Integrates with Stripe, WordPress, and MailChimp. Try it for free.

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

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