Discourse
Discourse is an open-source forum platform designed to help you build engaging online communities through modern discussion tools, real-time notifications, and robust moderation features.
Gladly
Gladly is a customer service platform that centers support around people rather than tickets by consolidating all conversations into a single lifelong timeline for every individual customer.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | Discourse | Gladly |
|---|---|---|
| Website | discourse.org | gladly.com |
| Pricing Model | Subscription | Subscription |
| Starting Price | $25/month | $180/month |
| FREE Trial | ✓ 14 days free trial | ✘ No free trial |
| Free Plan | ✘ No free plan | ✘ No free plan |
| Product Demo | ✓ Request demo here | ✓ Request demo here |
| Deployment | ||
| Integrations | ||
| Target Users | ||
| Target Industries | ||
| Customer Count | 0 | 0 |
| Founded Year | 2013 | 2014 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, USA | San Francisco, USA |
Overview
Discourse
Discourse reimagines the traditional internet forum as a modern, mobile-friendly conversation space. You can move away from cluttered comment sections and static boards to an interface that feels like a continuous conversation. It uses infinite scrolling instead of pagination, allowing you to catch up on discussions naturally without clicking through dozens of pages.
You can use it to build a public support community, a private internal knowledge base for your team, or a fan hub for your brand. The platform includes built-in trust levels that automatically grant active members more permissions as they contribute, helping your community moderate itself. Whether you host it yourself for free or use their managed hosting, you get a tool that scales from small hobby groups to massive enterprise communities.
Gladly
Gladly transforms your customer support by moving away from traditional, disconnected tickets and focusing on people. Instead of managing isolated cases, you see a single, lifelong conversation timeline for every customer across every channel. Whether a customer reaches out via email, voice, text, or social media, your team has the full context of their history in one view, eliminating the need for customers to repeat themselves.
You can manage all communication channels from a single interface, allowing your agents to switch between chat and phone calls without losing track of the conversation. The platform also includes built-in self-service tools and AI capabilities to help you resolve common queries faster. It is designed specifically for B2C brands that want to build deeper relationships and drive revenue through personalized service experiences rather than just closing tickets.
Overview
Discourse Features
- Infinite Scrolling Read through long discussions seamlessly without ever having to click a 'next page' button or lose your place.
- Live Notifications Get instant alerts when someone mentions you, replies to your post, or quotes your message in real-time.
- Trust System Automate community management by granting experienced members more abilities as they spend time helping others on your site.
- Dynamic Notifications Receive email summaries of the best discussions you missed so you can jump back into the conversation easily.
- Mobile Optimization Access your community from any device with a responsive design that works perfectly on phones and tablets.
- Built-in Moderation Keep your community safe with powerful tools for flagging spam, blocking trolls, and managing user permissions effectively.
Gladly Features
- Lifelong Conversation Timeline. View every interaction a customer has ever had with your brand in one continuous thread across all support channels.
- Channel-Agnostic Interface. Switch between voice, email, SMS, and chat seamlessly within the same window without ever losing the customer's history.
- People-Match Routing. Route customers to the best-suited agent based on their specific needs, past history, or even their loyalty tier.
- Integrated Payments. Process transactions and handle exchanges directly within the conversation timeline to turn support interactions into sales opportunities.
- Collaborative Tasks. Assign tasks and mention teammates within a customer's profile to resolve complex issues faster without leaving the platform.
- Self-Service Sidekick. Deploy AI-powered threads and help centers that allow your customers to find answers themselves on any device.
Pricing Comparison
Discourse Pricing
- Up to 100 users
- Unlimited staff users
- 50k monthly page views
- 10GB storage
- Standard plugins included
- Free SSL certificate
- Everything in Basic, plus:
- Unlimited users
- 100k monthly page views
- 20GB storage
- Global CDN
- Business hours support
Gladly Pricing
- All channels included (Voice, Email, Chat)
- Self-service capabilities
- Standard reporting and analytics
- Knowledge base access
- 10-seat minimum requirement
- Everything in Hero, plus:
- Advanced reporting and insights
- Workforce management integrations
- Dedicated success manager
- Enterprise-grade security features
Pros & Cons
Discourse
Pros
- Excellent mobile experience compared to traditional forum software
- Highly customizable through a vast library of plugins
- Strong SEO performance helps your discussions rank in search
- Trust system reduces the manual workload for moderators
Cons
- Self-hosting requires significant technical knowledge to maintain
- Managed hosting plans are expensive for small hobbyist groups
- Interface can feel overwhelming for users used to simple boards
Gladly
Pros
- Eliminates the frustration of customers repeating their story
- Unified interface significantly reduces agent training time
- Strong focus on driving revenue through support
- Excellent visibility into the entire customer journey
Cons
- Higher price point compared to basic ticketing tools
- Minimum seat requirements may exclude very small teams
- Reporting can be complex to set up initially