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, or isolated VPC and VPN network 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 or sovereign cloud 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?
- Both offer free plans, so you can try each without paying. Start with whichever fits your workflow better and upgrade when you hit the limits.
- 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: At $100 and $500 flat, Discourse sits mid-to-premium compared to lighter forum tools, but it undercuts enterprise community platforms that charge based on MAUs or seats. They're clearly going after teams that want forum ownership without the per-user pricing anxiety that plagues Slack-alikes. Rocket.Chat: Rocket.Chat is going after regulated industries and enterprises that Slack and Teams can't touch — defense, government, sovereign data requirements. They're not competing on price; they're competing on control, self-hosting, and clearance-level security where the alternatives simply don't qualify.
Still deciding? See the best Discourse alternatives or the best Rocket.Chat alternatives, ranked with verified pricing.
Keep tabs on both.
We'll monitor pricing changes for Discourse and Rocket.Chat and let you know when something moves.