Discourse vs Rocket.Chat Pricing (2026)
How do these two stack up on price? Here's what each one costs, what you get, and where the value sits.
| Discourse | Rocket.Chat | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at | $100/mo | Custom |
| Number of plans | 3 | 3 |
| Free plan | — | — |
| Free trial | — | |
| Pricing model | flat-rate | custom |
Pro
- Unlimited members & chat
- Unlimited public & private categories
- Unlimited tags
- Custom groups
- Email support
- Custom & community themes
- Custom domain
- API and Webhook access
- 15+ plugins
- 5 staff seats
Business
- Advanced reporting & analytics
- Automation
- Events
- Gamification
- SSO (Open ID & OAuth2)
- 20+ additional plugins
- 15 staff seats
- Priority support
- Migration services
Enterprise
- Expert design & development services
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
- Migration services
- GDPR & CCPA compliant hosting
- 50+ plugins
- Unlimited staff seats
Commercial
- On-prem, private cloud, isolated VPC/VPN, or fully air-gapped deployment
- Dedicated cloud hosting
- High availability and disaster recovery
- HIPAA-supportive
- FINRA and MiFID II ready
- NIS2 and DORA ready
- GDPR and CCPA configurable
- Messaging, calls, and screen sharing
- Secure external collaboration
- Mobile app for remote and field teams
- Open API and custom integrations
Government
- On-premises, sovereign cloud, or air-gapped deployment
- Granular role-based access control
- End-to-end encryption
- SSO, LDAP, SAML 2.0, and AD
- Tamper-evident audit logs
- Message search and export
- Granular retention policies
- GDPR-ready with full EU data handling
- Messaging, calls, and screen sharing
- Sovereign AI capabilities
- Matrix protocol federation
- Accessibility certified
Defense
- Air-gapped, isolated environment, and SCIF-ready deployment
- DoD ATO up to IL6 - deployed on NIPR, SIPR, and JWICS
- Secret and Top Secret compatible
- DISA STIG-hardened*
- FIPS 140-3 validated cryptography
- Clearance enforced ABAC
- Encryption key management*
- Post-quantum E2EE and transport encryption*
- Managed mobile with device-level enforcement*
- Messaging, calls, and screen sharing
- Intelligent search across classified channels
- Secure coalition and allied network federation
- XMPP interoperability
Discourse vs Rocket.Chat FAQ
- Which one is cheaper?
- One or both use custom pricing, so it depends on your specific needs.
- Can I use either one for free?
- Neither has a free plan. But Discourse offers a free trial.
- How do they charge?
- Different approach here. Discourse uses flat-rate pricing, while Rocket.Chat goes with custom. That changes the math depending on your team size and usage.
- Which one is a better deal?
- Depends on what you need. Discourse: This sits firmly in premium territory for community platforms — there's no free plan, and $100/mo as a starting price screams 'we're for serious operators,' not hobbyists. They're chasing companies and organizations that view community as infrastructure, not casual forum runners who'd bounce off the lack of a free tier.
Still deciding? See the best Discourse alternatives or the best Rocket.Chat alternatives, ranked with verified pricing.
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