customer community platform · NodeBB Inc

NodeBB

Name: NodeBB
Price: 20 USD

Open-source forum software, hosted from $20 a month or installed on your own server.

64/100

#2 of 8 customer community platforms
Facts checked 9 Oct 2026

In short

Hosted plans start at $20 a month (Starter), billed monthly, with 50,000 page views and 5 GB of storage¹.
Every paid plan allows a custom domain and unlimited staff users¹.
There is no free hosted plan, only a 14-day trial with a credit card required¹.
The software is open source under GPL-3.0 and can be installed on your own server².
Read and write REST APIs are documented, with routes for flags, queued posts, bans and groups^3,4.

NodeBB suits teams that want a forum on their own domain, with the choice of vendor hosting or running it themselves^1,2. The cheapest hosted plan is $20 a month, and the code is GPL-3.0^1,2. The catch: hosted plans have no free tier, and NodeBB's pricing and about pages name no SOC 2 or ISO certificate, uptime guarantee or named integrations^1,9.

Best for: Teams that want a forum on their own domain with an API and the option to self-host.

Where the points come from

Price12 of 18

Members and access23 of 23

Moderation and answers11 of 13

Connections8 of 19

Your data7 of 13

Security3 of 14

Price 12 of 18 points

Rule	What is published	Points
Free plan	NoPricing page lists only a 14-day trial; no permanent free hosted plan¹.	0 / 6
Cheapest paid plan with a custom domain	$20/moStarter, $20 a month, billed monthly (no yearly price shown); custom domain included¹.	12 / 12

Members and access 23 of 23 points

Rule	What is published	Points
Unlimited members	YesPlans are metered by page views, not members; the GPL-3.0 self-hosted version has no member limit^1,2.	6 / 6
Custom domain	YesPricing table shows a custom domain on all four paid plans, including Starter¹.	3 / 3
Single sign-on	YesNodeBB's OAuth2 Multiple plugin lets members sign in through your own OAuth2 provider, such as Okta or Auth0; Enterprise lists SSO too^11,1.	10 / 10
Groups with their own permissions	YesHome page lists role-based permissions assigned per category; the API has group and privilege routes^4,5.	4 / 4

Moderation and answers 11 of 13 points

Rule	What is published	Points
Moderation tools	Report queue, Approve before posting, Ban or suspend membersWrite API spec lists flags, queued-post accept and remove, and user ban routes. No spam filter documented^4,7.	6 / 8
Accepted answers	YesNodeBB's question-and-answer plugin lets a reply be marked as the answer from the post tools; the answer moves to the top¹⁰.	5 / 5

Connections 8 of 19 points

Rule	What is published	Points
Named integrations	Not publishedNot published on the vendor's pricing or home page; integrations are said to come from third-party plugins, none named^1,2,5.	0 / 8
Public API	YesREADME and docs describe RESTful read and write APIs with reference pages^2,3.	8 / 8
Webhooks	Not publishedNot published in the docs navigation or Write API spec^3,4.	0 / 3

Your data 7 of 13 points

Rule	What is published	Points
Export your community data	Not publishedAPI spec lists a per-user data export only; no community-wide export is documented⁸.	0 / 6
Open source	YesLicensed under GPL-3.0².	4 / 4
Self-hosting	YesREADME and docs give install guides for many operating systems and Docker^2,6.	3 / 3

Security 3 of 14 points

Rule	What is published	Points
SOC 2 Type II or ISO 27001	Not publishedNot published on the vendor's pricing or about pages^1,9.	0 / 8
Written uptime guarantee	Not publishedNot published on the vendor's pricing or about pages^1,9.	0 / 3
Two-factor sign-in	YesThe two-factor plugin (time-based codes or hardware keys) is listed in NodeBB's install dependencies^12,13.	3 / 3

The rule behind each line: how we score customer community platforms.

Plans and prices

As the vendor lists them, before tax. Prices are in US dollars unless the plan shows euros; the points use US dollars, with euros converted at the ECB rate.

Plan	Price as listed	Per month	Notes
StarterOne community	$20/month¹	$20	50,000 page views, 5 GB storage, weekly backups, custom domain
HamletOne community	$100/month¹	$100	500,000 page views, 20 GB storage, daily backups
VillageOne community	$250/month¹	$250	2,000,000 page views, 100 GB storage
CityOne community	$750/month¹	$750	10,000,000 page views, 300 GB storage
EnterpriseLarge communities	Quote¹	Quote	Lists single sign-on and custom integrations

The pricing page shows monthly prices only and a 14-day free trial; non-profit and start-up projects may get Starter-level hosting free at NodeBB's discretion¹.

Strengths

Hosted Starter plan costs $20 a month with a custom domain included¹.
Open source under GPL-3.0, with install guides for many systems^2,6.
Documented REST read and write APIs^2,3.
Moderation routes cover reports, queued posts for approval and bans^4,7.
Members can sign in through your own OAuth2 provider with an official plugin, and two-factor sign-in is available^11,12.

Limits

No free hosted plan, only a 14-day trial¹.
Hosted prices are metered by page views and jump to $100 a month for 500,000 views¹.
Integrations come from third-party plugins; none of Slack, Salesforce, Zendesk or HubSpot is named^2,5.
Hosted plans are metered by page views, and the vendor's own pages name no SOC 2 or ISO certificate^1,9.

Other customer community platforms

1
DiscourseCompanies that want a moderated, open-source support forum on their own domain
93/100
$100/mocheapest paid plan with a custom domain
3
BettermodeCompanies that want a branded customer community with CRM and support-desk integrations
63/100
$149/mocheapest paid plan with a custom domain
4
Mighty NetworksBrands that want a hosted community with courses and events, with an API on Scale and above
62/100
$79.17/mocheapest paid plan with a custom domain
5
FlarumTeams with a web host who want a free, lightweight forum they control
54/100
$0cheapest paid plan with a custom domain

NodeBB vs Discourse · NodeBB vs Bettermode · All 8 customer community platforms

Sources

NodeBB pricing, NodeBB. Accessed 9 Oct 2026.
NodeBB README, GitHub (NodeBB). Accessed 9 Oct 2026.
NodeBB documentation, NodeBB. Accessed 9 Oct 2026.
NodeBB Write API specification, GitHub (NodeBB). Accessed 9 Oct 2026.
NodeBB home page, NodeBB. Accessed 9 Oct 2026.
NodeBB documentation navigation (mkdocs.yml), GitHub (NodeBB). Accessed 9 Oct 2026.
Queued posts API (Write API), GitHub (NodeBB). Accessed 9 Oct 2026.
User exports API (Write API), GitHub (NodeBB). Accessed 9 Oct 2026.
About NodeBB, NodeBB. Accessed 9 Oct 2026.
nodebb-plugin-question-and-answer README, GitHub (NodeBB). Accessed 9 Oct 2026.
nodebb-plugin-sso-oauth2-multiple README, GitHub (NodeBB). Accessed 9 Oct 2026.
Two-Factor Authentication for NodeBB (plugin README), GitHub (NodeBB). Accessed 9 Oct 2026.
NodeBB package.json (dependencies), GitHub (NodeBB). Accessed 9 Oct 2026.

Website: nodebb.org · Markdown version · We are not affiliated with NodeBB Inc.