Khoros Communities vs Discourse Pricing (2026)
Compare / Khoros Communities vs Discourse
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Team size
25 seats

Khoros Communities vs Discourse

Community Platforms pricing comparison · 2026

Khoros Communities uses custom pricing, while Discourse ranges from $0–$500/month. These products use different pricing models ( vs Per-seat subscription), so a direct price comparison isn't meaningful — costs depend on usage volume and mix.

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See pricing on each vendor's site
Above-the-fold path — each link opens the vendor's pricing page in a new tab.
Visit Khoros pricing
Discount programs →
Visit Discourse pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
Compare
2 products · Community Platforms
Side-by-side · live
Khoros Communities
Khoros Communities does not publish pricing.
verified 6w ago
View pricing →
Discourse
Discourse is a powerful, open-source discussion platform built for modern communities that
verified 5w ago
View pricing →
Estimated license cost
at 25 seats
List price × seats. Click a tier below to lock it.
Custom pricing
Custom
all tiers are quote-only
Business
$150K/yr
year 1 license · $500/seat
What buyers actually pay
median, annual
Vendr deal-flow data. The real benchmark, not list price.
No Vendr data
—
Not in Vendr's deal flow
Median annual
$400/yr
Vendr · n=86
REF · 01

Sources & confidence

Every dollar amount and contract clause below traces back to a sourced fact. We don't manufacture composite scores.

Where this data comes from
Vendr · TrustRadius · Reddit · BBB · official docs
Sources 14 sourced facts
11 hidden-cost · 1 contract · 2 review platforms
Last verified 1mo ago
Confidence Limited confidence
Sources 6 sourced facts
2 hidden-cost · 1 contract · Vendr median · 2 review platforms
Last verified 1mo ago
Confidence Medium confidence
REF · 02

Plans at a glance

Every tier per product. Lock one to drive the cost row above and reveal a tier-specific outbound CTA.

Tier ladder
Click a tier to lock the cost row to it. Locking surfaces a tier-specific Visit CTA.
REF · 03

Hidden costs

Each cost is severity-ranked, with the dollar range quoted from its source (Vendr, Reddit, TrustRadius, BBB, official docs) — never our estimate.

Beyond the sticker
Severity-ranked, sourced
5 documented
  • Migration from Classic to Aurora AI
    $500,000
    1 source
  • Training
    1 source
  • Premium Support
    10–20%
    1 source
  • Overage Fees
    1 source
  • Ongoing Technical Maintenance
    $500–$1,500 per month
    1 source
2 documented
  • Self-Hosting Infrastructure Costs
    $50-$200/month
    1 source
  • Custom Development for Missing Features
    10-20% of license costs
    1 source
REF · 04

Contract terms

The fine print, surfaced. Green = buyer-friendly. Each clause backed by a quoted source.

Khoros
Discourse
Auto-renewal
—
Yes
Cancellation
—
—
Commitment
multi-year subscription contracts
—
Price escalation
—
—
Can downgrade
—
—
Based on 2 verified sources (Vendr · TrustRadius · BBB)
REF · 05

What users say

Aggregated, with sample sizes. We use whichever review platform has data.

User reviews
TrustRadius · Trustpilot · G2
TrustRadius
8.3out of 5 (3,342)
G2
4.4out of 5 (268)
Best for
Large enterprises building customer-facing communities at scale
Watch out
Cost
TrustRadius
9out of 5 (3)
Trustpilot
1out of 5 (2)
Best for
Organizations exploring how a Discourse community could work for them
Watch out
Hard to setup for self-hosting
Decide
Get a quote from each vendor
Each link opens the vendor's pricing page in a new tab.
Visit Khoros pricing
Discount programs →
Visit Discourse pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
License cost is computed from publicly listed plans (real math, list price × seats). Median annual cost is from Vendr's deal flow when available — see source badges. Hidden costs and contract terms each cite their own sources. We do not invent composite scores.
Community Platforms

Khoros Communities

Custom pricing
/month
2 plans
Full pricing breakdown →
VS
Community Platforms

Discourse

$0–$500
/month
4 plans · Free tier
Full pricing breakdown →
⚖

Different Pricing Models

Direct price comparison isn't meaningful here — Khoros Communities uses pricing while Discourse uses Per-seat subscription pricing. Your actual cost will depend on usage volume, team size, or both. Here's each product in its native unit.

Khoros Communities

Custom pricing
See full Khoros Communities pricing →
vs
Per-seat subscription

Discourse

$0–$500 / month
See full Discourse pricing →

Khoros Communities and Discourse both operate in the community platforms category. This page compares their list pricing.

Plan-by-Plan Pricing

Plan Khoros Communities Discourse
Enterprise Custom Free /user/month
Enterprise Plus Custom $100 /user/month
Business — $500 /user/month
Enterprise — Custom

What Users Say

Khoros Communities

G2
4.4out of 5 (268)
TrustRadius
8.3out of 10 (3,342)
Top complaints
  • Cost
  • User Interface and Ease of Use
  • Editing and Organization Issues

Discourse

Trustpilot
1out of 5 (2)
TrustRadius
9out of 10 (3)
Top complaints
  • Hard to setup for self-hosting
  • Requires strong servers to run properly
  • Free tier eligibility unclear and often denied

Hidden Costs

Beyond the sticker price — what catches buyers off guard.

Khoros Communities 11 hidden costs

critical
Migration from Classic to Aurora AI $500,000
medium
Training
medium
Premium Support 10–20%
high
Overage Fees
medium
Ongoing Technical Maintenance $500–$1,500 per month
See all Khoros Communities hidden costs →

Discourse 2 hidden costs

medium
Self-Hosting Infrastructure Costs $50-$200/month
low
Custom Development for Missing Features 10-20% of license costs
See all Discourse hidden costs →

Contract Terms

Term Khoros Communities Discourse
Auto-renewal — Yes
Cancellation — —
Minimum commitment multi-year subscription contracts —

Continue researching

Khoros Communities

Discourse

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