Is Discourse free?

I thought it was paid. I was confused by the “prices” page on the official website. But then I saw that the prices are just for those who want them to host the new Discuss project. So if someone just download Discourse and install it on their personal server, it is basically free! Am I right or did I missed something? Just curiosity. :smile:

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The app itself is entirely and completely free

What is not free is the hosting.

If you know what you’re doing and follow the instructions, you can install it on any server that meets the requirements, including a localhost on your computer for testing it out.

I find that the Discourse Team and other members do a good job of Support at the meta site

But NOTE, if you decide to go your own way and deviate from what is officially supported, you will more than likely be “on your own”

That is, it might be possible to run the app with less RAM or with a different database etc. But if you run into problems because you didn’t follow directions, you can’t expect others to bang things into shape for you when things run afoul.

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Here are the easy 30 minute install instructions:

You can also install on any Linux server you own or have access to that is Docker compatible.

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I have Windows 10, this worked for me

Went to https://desktop.github.com/
Install GitHub - run as Admin

Went to https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
Install VirtualBox - run as Admin - run anyway
installed in default location C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\

Went to https://www.vagrantup.com/downloads.html
Install Vagrant - restarted computer
installed in default location C:\HashiCorp\Vagrant\

I created a folder, you could try different paths / names
eg. I created c:\Users{{me}}\Documents\VirtualWorkspace\

Open the Git PowerShell CLI
change directory
cd C:/Users/{{me}}/Documents/VirtualWorkspace/
get the app using the CLI
git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse
when done, change directory
cd C:/Users/{{me}}/Documents/VirtualWorkspace/discourse

run the following while still in the CLI
vagrant up
vagrant ssh
bundle install
bundle exec rake db:migrate
bundle exec rails s -b 0.0.0.0

Open a browser and go to
http://localhost:4000

When done run the following in the CLI
control-C
exit
vagrant halt
exit

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As always, thank you a lot for your posts guys.

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