Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Discourse VS WPforms

Compare Discourse VS WPforms and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Discourse logo Discourse

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

WPforms logo WPforms

Drag & drop WordPress form builder
  • Discourse Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-13
  • WPforms Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-22

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.

WPforms features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    WPForms offers a drag-and-drop interface that makes it easy for users to create forms without any coding knowledge.
  • Pre-built Form Templates
    It features a variety of pre-built templates for common forms like contact forms, survey forms, and more, speeding up the setup process.
  • Integration Capabilities
    WPForms can integrate with a wide range of third-party services including payment processors, marketing tools, and email platforms.
  • Responsive and Mobile-Friendly
    Forms created with WPForms are responsive and designed to work well on mobile devices, enhancing user accessibility.
  • Conditional Logic
    It allows users to set up conditional logic in forms, making them more dynamic and tailored to user inputs.
  • Comprehensive Documentation and Support
    WPForms offers extensive documentation, tutorials, and customer support to help users with any issues they might encounter.

Possible disadvantages of WPforms

  • Limited Free Version
    The free version of WPForms is quite basic and lacks many of the advanced features that are available in the paid versions.
  • Cost
    For users looking for advanced features and integrations, the cost of upgrading to a paid plan can be relatively high.
  • Feature Gaps
    Some advanced features that might be available in other form builders are not yet available or are limited in WPForms.
  • Performance Impact
    Adding numerous, complex forms via WPForms can occasionally affect the performance and speed of your website.
  • Learning Curve for Complex Features
    While the basic features are user-friendly, leveraging more advanced functionalities may require time to learn and set up correctly.
  • Limited Customization Options
    Customization options might be limited compared to creating forms from scratch or using other form builders with extensive design capabilities.

Analysis of WPforms

Overall verdict

  • Overall, WPForms is considered to be a reliable and effective tool for WordPress users seeking to add forms to their websites. It is highly rated for its ease of use, comprehensive features, and excellent customer support, making it a good choice for both beginners and experienced users alike.

Why this product is good

  • WPForms is often praised for its user-friendly drag-and-drop interface, making it easy for beginners to create complex forms without needing to code. It offers a wide range of features, including pre-built form templates, smart conditional logic, entry management, and seamless integration with popular email marketing services and payment platforms. Additionally, WPForms focuses on providing high performance and ensuring forms do not slow down websites, a crucial aspect for maintaining a good user experience.

Recommended for

    WPForms is particularly recommended for small to medium business owners, bloggers, developers, and anyone who needs to create custom forms for their WordPress website without facing complex technical challenges. It is also a good option for users who require forms with advanced functionalities like payment processing and conditional logic but prefer a straightforward interface.

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

WPforms videos

WPForms Review & Tutorial: Create a Simple WordPress Contact Form

More videos:

  • Tutorial - WPForms Review and Tutorial — Create WordPress Forms Ready for Automation and Spam Control!

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Discourse and WPforms)
Forums
100 100%
0% 0
Form Builder
0 0%
100% 100
Forums And Forum Software
Surveys
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Discourse and WPforms. 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 WPforms

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...

WPforms Reviews

7 Best Buy Me a Coffee Alternatives
The WPForms Lite plugin is free, and with transaction fees of only 3%, WPForms works out cheaper than most of the other options on this list. If you’re getting a lot of payments, you can even eliminate the transaction fees by upgrading to WPForms Pro.
Source: wpforms.com
27 Best Typeform Alternatives In 2022 (Free & Paid)
If you are a beginner and do not have a lot of experience with form builders, you can go ahead and pick Google Forms, Paperform, SurveySparrow, and WPForms.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Discourse should be more popular than WPforms. It has been mentiond 23 times since March 2021. 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 / over 2 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 / almost 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
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WPforms mentions (10)

  • What's the difference between MonsterInsights multiple form plugins? (UserFeedback, WPforms)
    While doing research on adding a user feedback form to my site I've run across some confusion regarding the fact that MonsterInsights seems to have multiple form plug-ins each with their own paid versions. UserFeedback (https://www.userfeedback.com/) and WPforms (https://wpforms.com/). Add to that the fact that MonsterInsights does form tracking in their pro version (but not form building?) Can anyone make sense... Source: almost 3 years ago
  • Top WordPress Plugins to Make Your Site Delightful [FREEMIUM]
    WPForms — WPForms is the most popular form builder available for WordPress. You can easily add forms to your WordPress website using this beginner-friendly tool. The drag-and-drop form builder enables you to create any form field you want in any order you like. Free plugin versions offer primary form fields, CAPTCHAs, email notifications, and other features. The premium version of WPForms provides more features,... Source: over 3 years ago
  • How to add custom validation to WPForms password field
    I'm using WPForms Pro and I'd like to add custom requirements to the password field on a form. Source: over 4 years ago
  • How To Track Your User's Journey On Your WordPress Website
    For this tutorial, we are going to use a WP Forms addon for User Journey which will allow us to track the user's path on our website. It will also allow us to see the time a user has spent on a particular page. - Source: dev.to / almost 5 years ago
  • 10 WordPress plugins to make your site GPDR compliant
    WPForms is a WordPress plugin that lets you create beautiful drag and drop forms even if you’re an absolute beginner. These can be contact forms, registration forms, order forms, and more. . But what's interesting here is that it can provide GDPR compliant forms. - Source: dev.to / almost 5 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Discourse and WPforms, 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.

Typeform - Create beautiful, next-generation online forms with Typeform, the form & survey builder that makes asking questions easy & human on any device. Try it 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.

Jotform - Free Online Form Builder & Form Creator

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

Gravity Forms - Gravity Forms is one of the best and easiest contact form plugins to create modern forms for websites powered by widely-used WordPress.