We provide managed Discourse forum hosting. Discourse is open-source forum software made by Civilized Discourse Construction Kit, Inc..
The Discourse forum software is fantastic, but quite hard to install and host it yourself. We think this product is too great to be limited to a technical audience only. In order to make this forum software available for everyone to use, we decided to offer a managed Discourse hosting solution. Chose our Discourse hosting services and never worry about hosting or maintenance. We keep it running – you can focus on building your community.
Below you can find the most common questions about our service. If you are looking for more in-depth How To articles then you should take a look at our Knowledge Base.
Your Discourse Forum
Do I get a full version of Discourse without limitations?
Yes, you get a full version of Discourse as a hosted instance. You’ll have full admin panel access and full admin rights. Every setting in Discourse can be managed through the Discourse admin panel. Your hostnames and SSL certificates are managed from the Communiteq Discourse Hosting control panel.
How do I upgrade my forum software to the latest version?
We perform updates for you on a regular basis to provide you with the latest version of Discourse. You will be notified when updates are completed and you can refer to the changelog to read what’s new.
Will my forum be unavailable during updates?
No – Most updates happen without downtime, so you or your users won’t notice the update at all. Major software changes could mean a few minutes of maintenance downtime but this happens only very rarely.
Which plugins do you support?
We support the following plugins with all plans:
- Adplugin
- AI (open source models are included at no extra cost)
- Akismet (a complimentary license is provided by us)
- Chat Integration
- Data Explorer
- Docs
- Legal Tools
- Math
- Patreon
- Reactions
- Solved
- Spoiler Alert
- Staff Notes
On the Professional plan, you can choose up to 5 extra plugins made by the Discourse Team, Pavilion or Communiteq.
If you want to have even more plugins, or if you have a plugin specifically made for your organization, we can accommodate you on the Business plan.
How about the WordPress SSO plugin?
Yes, we support that on all plans. It’s a WordPress plugin, not a Discourse plugin, so that is why it’s not listed as an included plugin.
I need Google / Facebook login capabilities, is it supported?
Yes, that is included as well, it’s an integral part of Discourse.
Can you install my custom plugin?
Starting on the Professional plan, you can install up to five plugins of your choice made by the Discourse Team, Pavilion or Communiteq, and any plugin of your choice if your forum is on the Business or Enterprise plans. The most popular plugins can be installed from within our control panel. For other plugins, please contact support and we’ll take care of it.
We are unable to install any additional plugins on the Basic plan: you will need to upgrade to the Professional plan. Just contact support through the control panel to make that happen.
Subscription
How long does the free trial last?
The free trial period is one week. Afterwards, you will be billed automatically. If you cancel within the first seven days, you won’t be charged anything.
How can I cancel my subscription?
In the control panel, go to Payments and click the link for the subscription you want to cancel.
How can I change my payment information?
In the control panel, go to Payments and click the link for the subscription you want to change.
How do I upgrade to another plan?
Automated on-demand upgrades are in the works. Until then, please contact support through the control panel to request an upgrade.
What happens if my forum hits the limit of a plan?
We’ll contact you and ask you to upgrade. We will never block your forum.
Why is your hosting so inexpensive?
We’ve invested in a scalable hosting infrastructure with low overhead. We have no costs for unused capacity and neither do you.
Hosting
Ok, so is your infrastructure stable ?
We offer an uptime guarantee of 99.9%. In case we are unable to keep that promise, we’ll refund you for the actual downtime per month. Our network and servers are monitored continuously, and are rarely down except for scheduled maintenance and hardware and software upgrades. In practice our uptime is over 99.99%.
Do I get SSH access?
SSH or FTP access to our hosting environments are not required for the operation of your fully managed Discourse instance. Everything you might need to modify can be done within Discourse and our control panel.
Do you make backups? Where do you store them?
We make backups on a daily basis. Backups are stored encrypted and independent from our hosting environment (different servers in separate data centers).
Can I download my data?
Yes. You own your own data. A copy of your files (including uploads and avatars) and databases (full dumps) can be downloaded from the Backups menu of the Discourse admin panel at any time.
Do I need a DNS server or an own domain?
No. We provide you with a free hostname (e.g. yourforum.discoursehosting.net). If you want to use a hostname you own (e.g. forum.yourdomain.com), you can point it to your hosted Discourse instance from the DNS settings of your provider and make the necessary change in our control panel. The control panel provides instructions on how to configure your DNS server.
Do I need SSL certificates?
Yes, but we take care of that. We automatically provision your forum with a free LetsEncrypt certificate. On the Professional plan and up, you can also choose to upload your own certificate in our control panel.
Do I need an email provider like Mailgun?
No, our hosting comes with a reliable outbound mail server with a very good reputation. If you really want to use your own email provider, we can optionally configure that for you on the Professional plan and up.
Wow. All those technical terms. What kind of technical knowledge do I need?
None. You can set up your Discourse forum in under 5 minutes without any technical knowledge. Should it get a bit more technical, for example regarding DNS or SSL encryption, we’ll help you out – just get in touch with us.
Any other questions?
Do you have a question not answered here? Just contact us and we’ll answer right away.
If you just want to give it a try, make use of our risk-free trial. Click here to sign up today!