@JQ331, sharing my experience: I know basic HTML and CSS, typically break PHP anytime I touch it. I’m a copy-paste guy but I like a good puzzle.
Moderator note: Shrunk as this paragraph is continuing the off-topic conversation.
I started playing with Discourse about 6 months ago by following the 30-min install on a Digital Ocean $5/mo droplet. Actually, I tried IN VAIN for hours to install Discourse using the command line, then finally followed the 30-min install guide already shared above and got setup quickly. For DO, you can “see more” of their plans and find the $5/mo package. Maybe not the ideal speed for some forums, but ample for me with a relatively small forum.
For the mobile app, I took my absolute beginner skills and deployed an iOS app from this repo:
https://github.com/pmusaraj/discourse-mobile-single-site-app
It was neither hard nor easy. It was just work. A lot of work; took me maybe 40 hours from start to finish, including hiring a developer to tell me to just update my software versions.
With DigitalOcean, you can upgrade your droplet easily, though I do not believe you can downgrade.
Summary: for $5/mo DigitalOcean hosting and $99/year Apple Developer license, I have a fully functional Discourse forum with a branded iOS app available on the App Store.