Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Facebook Comments VS Discourse

Compare Facebook Comments VS Discourse and see what are their differences

Facebook Comments logo Facebook Comments

Facebook comments plugin lets people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account.

Discourse logo Discourse

Discourse is an open source discussion platform built for the next decade of the Internet.
  • Facebook Comments Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-03
  • Discourse Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-13

Facebook Comments features and specs

  • User Engagement
    Facebook Comments can increase user engagement by allowing visitors to interact directly on a website using their Facebook profiles. This often leads to more lively discussions and higher visibility, as comments can also appear on the users' news feeds.
  • Spam Reduction
    Using Facebook Comments can decrease spam and trolling since users must be logged into their Facebook accounts to comment, which discourages anonymity and holds users accountable.
  • Broad Reach
    Comments shared via Facebook can reach a wider audience as they are visible to the friends of the commenter, potentially driving more traffic back to the website.
  • Social Proof
    The presence of user comments can serve as social proof, enhancing the credibility of content by showing that others are engaging with it.
  • Easy Integration
    The plugin is relatively simple to integrate and manage, especially for developers familiar with Facebook's development tools.

Possible disadvantages of Facebook Comments

  • Limited Customization
    Facebook Comments offer limited customization options in terms of design and functionality compared to custom-built commenting systems.
  • Privacy Concerns
    Users might have privacy concerns about commenting with their personal Facebook profiles, which could deter participation.
  • Facebook Dependency
    Websites using Facebook Comments become reliant on Facebook's infrastructure and any changes or issues with Facebook could impact their commenting functionality.
  • Login Requirement
    Requiring users to log into Facebook to comment can be a barrier for those who do not have a Facebook account or prefer to remain anonymous.
  • Data Ownership
    Comments are stored on Facebook's servers, which might be a concern for website owners who wish to have full control over their data.

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.

Facebook Comments videos

Facebook Comments Review - Rattlesnake on a Boat

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

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Facebook Comments and Discourse)
Social Networks
29 29%
71% 71
Forums
0 0%
100% 100
Feedback
100 100%
0% 0
Forums And Forum Software

User comments

Share your experience with using Facebook Comments and Discourse. 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 Facebook Comments and Discourse

Facebook Comments Reviews

We have no reviews of Facebook Comments yet.
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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...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Discourse seems to be a lot more popular than Facebook Comments. While we know about 23 links to Discourse, we've tracked only 2 mentions of Facebook Comments. 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.

Facebook Comments mentions (2)

  • Ask HN: What comment-system do you recommend for a static blog?
    Here is a popular blog that uses Discourse for comments: https://blog.codinghorror.com/welcome-to-the-internet-of-compromised-things/#discourse-comments HOWTO: https://meta.discourse.org/t/embed-discourse-comments-on-another-website-via-javascript/31963 Many years ago I tried using Facebook: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/comments/. - Source: Hacker News / over 3 years ago
  • Static Site Comments: A Jamstack How-To
    Outside of Disqus, there really aren't any alternatives when it comes to embeddable solutions. Facebook has a comments plugin that basically gives the Facebook commenting experience for your site, but I've very rarely seen this in use. - Source: dev.to / over 5 years ago

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 / 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
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Facebook Comments and Discourse, you can also consider the following products

DISQUS - Disqus is a global comment system that improves discussion on websites and connects conversations across the web.

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

Commento - A fast, bloat-free comments system to foster discussion on your website

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.

JustComments - Easy to set up, ad-free and reliable comment system

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