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Discourse vs Simple Machines Forum: catalog facts
Discourse	Simple Machines Forum
Freemium Self-hosting is free; hosted plans are paid and start with a free trial.	Free Free and open source under the BSD-3-Clause license.
Android, iOS, Web, Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Can be self-hosted from the public source code Covers forums, voting on ideas and team chat in one place	Release packages install without extra build steps Permissive BSD license
Self-hosting needs a server and ongoing maintenance Hosted plans are paid after the trial	Traditional forum layout rather than a modern discussion interface Needs a PHP and database server to host
Downloadable app, Self-hosted, Hosted service	Self-hosted
Open source	Open source
License not stated	License: BSD-3-Clause
Not stated if an account is needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Needs internet	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 1, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.