Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Nabble VS Discourse

Compare Nabble VS Discourse and see what are their differences

Nabble logo Nabble

Nabble is a forum software that are embeddable and fully customizable with scripting language.

Discourse logo Discourse

Discourse is an open source discussion platform built for the next decade of the Internet.
  • Nabble Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-26
  • Discourse Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-13

Nabble features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    Nabble provides an intuitive and easy-to-use interface that allows users to create and modify forums without requiring technical expertise.
  • Integration Capabilities
    It offers integration options with other platforms like blogs or websites, making it versatile for embedding discussion forums within existing content.
  • Cost-Effective
    Nabble offers free hosting options, which is beneficial for small communities or groups looking to create online forums without incurring costs.
  • Customizable
    Users can customize the appearance and structure of their forums to better suit their community’s needs and branding requirements.

Possible disadvantages of Nabble

  • Limited Scalability
    Nabble may not be suitable for very large forums or communities due to potential limitations in scalability and performance.
  • Basic Feature Set
    Compared to some sophisticated forum software, Nabble may lack advanced features that some users or organizations might need.
  • Potential Availability Issues
    Since it is a free service, there could be concerns about long-term reliability and availability compared to paid solutions.
  • Advertising
    Free versions of Nabble may include ads, which could be undesirable for some users who prefer an ad-free experience.

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.

Nabble videos

Nabble

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 Nabble and Discourse)
Membership Management
100 100%
0% 0
Forums And Forum Software
Community Platform
9 9%
91% 91
Forums
6 6%
94% 94

User comments

Share your experience with using Nabble and Discourse. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

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

Nabble Reviews

We have no reviews of Nabble yet.
Be the first one to post

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 should be more popular than Nabble. 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.

Nabble mentions (3)

  • Are there any good discussion forums left?
    Https://nabble.com/ Lots of open source project use it as web ui for mailing list. - Source: Hacker News / over 3 years ago
  • What happened to the Qgis Mailing List on Nabble?
    Hello. I have typically browsed the Qgis mailing lists using nabble.com but on the developer list there hasn't been a post n 9 days. Source: almost 4 years ago
  • Nabble.com?
    I was thinking about creating a forum just for the fun of it, and was wondering if nabble.com is a trustworthy site to make it with. It is free and I can find VERY few references to it across the internet... Is it safe, or does it come with viruses/data collection, etc? Has anyone used it themselves? Source: about 4 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 / 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

What are some alternatives?

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

Google Groups - Google Groups allows you to create and participate in online forums and email-based groups with a rich experience for community conversations.

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

Mighty Networks - Mighty Networks enables entrepreneurs, organizations, and companies to create and grow a community-powered brand.

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

Bigtent - BigTent is a web-based organization and communication portal for groups.

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.