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  • What is the difference between XenForo and Discourse?

    Chris A

    Member

    Updated: May 30, 2025
    Views: 93

    I’m exploring various self-hosted community platforms to test my AI-developer community. It's wish to start with a self-hosted community. Two options stood out: XenForo and Discourse. I wish to know what is the difference between these community platforms.

    If anyone has used either or both these platforms; I’d like to learn from your experience. Thank you in advance.

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  • Kaustubh Katdare

    Founder • 3w

    The main difference between XenForo and Discourse is that XenForo follows a traditional forum structure while Discourse focuses on chat-like experience. There are other notable differences between these leading platforms:

    1. Tech Stack: XenForo is built with PHP + MySQL; Discourse is built with Ruby on Rails and PostgreSQL
    2. UI/UX: XF has categories and forums; Discourse is chat-like.
    3. Customization: XenForo has theming options; Discourse has limited customization options
    4. Performance: XenForo servers can run on low-end servers, while Discourse requires Docker and more resources.
    5. Ecosystem: XenForo has robust plugin and theme ecosystem; Discourse has smaller but active ecosystem

    Overall, XenForo would be a better choice to host your community; before moving to a more robust, dedicated community platform.

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  • Emma Goel

    Member • 2w

    I'd stay away from Discourse for a new community. Nothing against them; but their UI/UX is pretty bad. I fail to understand why people call it 'modern UI'.

    XenForo is pretty solid solution in the community world, especially if you are just testing your community.

    PS: @Kaustubh - when are you releasing an importer to allow one-click migration from XenForo or Discourse to Jatra?

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  • Kaustubh Katdare

    Founder • 2w

    @Emma - it's in the works; but requires us to build a few core features first. Currently, we migrate communities manually because the volume is low. Just 1-2 migration requests per month. I request that you raise a feature request in our Feedback Section.

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  • Richard M

    Member • 6d

    I came here looking for Discourse alternative. I've installed Discourse and found it too cluttered and difficult to use. Jatra on the other hand looks very intuitive. I am still learning about the community platforms and there seems to be a wide array of options to choose from.

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