# Installing discourse for free? **URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/installing-discourse-for-free/311717 **Category:** Self-hosting **Tags:** hosting **Created:** [June 12, 2024, 9:38am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/installing-discourse-for-free/311717 "2024-06-12T09:38:48Z") **Posts on this page:** 17 **Page:** 3
### Author: ![merefield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/merefield/32/176214_2.png) [@merefield](https://meta.discourse.org/u/merefield) #### Post date: [June 30, 2024, 6:16pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/installing-discourse-for-free/311717/45 "2024-06-30T18:16:26Z")
Most things worth having cost money. It takes work to earn the money you will need to pay for the things worth having. So be it, work can be fun! ---
### Author: ![Ar\_D](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ar_d/32/231040_2.png) [@Ar\_D](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ar_D) #### Post date: [June 30, 2024, 6:18pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/installing-discourse-for-free/311717/46 "2024-06-30T18:18:55Z")
> [@merefield](#): > > worth having cost money A wife šŸ„² I understand it, ads could be the solution of nulling or profiting those costs on discourse side. ---
### Author: ![merefield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/merefield/32/176214_2.png) [@merefield](https://meta.discourse.org/u/merefield) #### Post date: [June 30, 2024, 6:20pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/installing-discourse-for-free/311717/47 "2024-06-30T18:20:39Z")
Monetizing your discourse is a good idea, but itā€™s not that easy and is work šŸ™‚ My Amazon affiliate income is really bad! šŸ˜… ---
### Author: ![Ar\_D](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ar_d/32/231040_2.png) [@Ar\_D](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ar_D) #### Post date: [June 30, 2024, 6:21pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/installing-discourse-for-free/311717/48 "2024-06-30T18:21:28Z")
> [@merefield](#): > > affiliate income is really bad Atleast you have income šŸ™‚ (through Amazon affiliate) ---
### Author: ![anon82911141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@anon82911141](https://meta.discourse.org/u/anon82911141) #### Post date: [July 1, 2024, 8:03pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/installing-discourse-for-free/311717/49 "2024-07-01T20:03:53Z")
You might want to take a look at [Flarum](https://freeflarum.com/) - itā€™s a Discourse alternative which can be hosted, by them, for free. While it doesnā€™t have all the bells and whistles Discourse offers, itā€™s a great starting point for your community through which you can gain monetization funds to start your Discourse community. > [@Detailed tutorial on migration from Flarum to Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/t/detailed-tutorial-on-migration-from-flarum-to-discourse/244884/2): > > Pretty much all of the import scripts work the same way. You somehow get a database that Discourse can access, usually by installing one locally and pushing the data there (e.g., mysql mydatabase \< thedatabasedump.sql). [Migrate a vBulletin 4 forum to Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/t/migrate-a-vbulletin-4-forum-to-discourse/54881) should be a good enough model, but instead of export DB\_NAME="vb4" and so on in that howto, these are the ENV variables youā€™ll set: FLARUM\_HOST ||= ENV['FLARUM\_HOST'] || "db\_host" FLARUM\_DB ||= ENV['FLARUM\_DB'] || "db\_name" BATCH\_SIā€¦ ---
### Author: ![Architect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/architect/32/520575_2.png) [@Architect](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Architect) #### Post date: [July 1, 2024, 8:16pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/installing-discourse-for-free/311717/50 "2024-07-01T20:16:57Z")
Many domain names are not at all expensive, some less than a dollar. You can run a search for a name at [namecheap.com](http://namecheap.com) to see options, yearly registration fees are often much less than the cost of a server for discourse. ---
### Author: ![SouperC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/souperc/32/62875_2.png) [@SouperC](https://meta.discourse.org/u/SouperC) #### Post date: [July 1, 2024, 9:54pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/installing-discourse-for-free/311717/51 "2024-07-01T21:54:08Z")
Unless you want everyone to bookmark an IP address youā€™ll have to have a domain of some sort. If youā€™re still going to host it on your home internet you could use dynamic DNS. In all scenarios youā€™ll set the forum to private and tell search engines to not index your community. All that said, the financial cost of running a community is the smallest one. Iā€™m not sure if discourse (or any self-hosted) platform is going to be optimal for you. Discord offers categories by way of channels, maybe that could work? No cost (at the outset), no email servers and no devops. ---
### Author: ![Ar\_D](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ar_d/32/231040_2.png) [@Ar\_D](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ar_D) #### Post date: [July 2, 2024, 12:53am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/installing-discourse-for-free/311717/52 "2024-07-02T00:53:37Z")
> [@anon82911141](#): > > look at [Flarum](https://freeflarum.com/) I will definitely give it a try šŸ‘šŸ» I donā€™t know how much I can monetize with just limited users seeing those ads, but still if I earn good, I would invest that money for discourse and port my forum onto discourse. And again run ads šŸ˜… ---
### Author: ![Ar\_D](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ar_d/32/231040_2.png) [@Ar\_D](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ar_D) #### Post date: [July 2, 2024, 12:56am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/installing-discourse-for-free/311717/53 "2024-07-02T00:56:26Z")
> [@Architect](#): > > some less than a dollar I donā€™t really have a need for domain, I know about namecheap already, instead I was a long time freenom user before the meta lawsuit, I used their ml or gk domains which were totally free.. It did not work on google sites or wix, but 000webhost and hostinger were just fine with it. I am making a private forum for just freind chats, hence the reason I want to spend as less as possible. ---
### Author: ![Ar\_D](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ar_d/32/231040_2.png) [@Ar\_D](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ar_D) #### Post date: [July 2, 2024, 1:01am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/installing-discourse-for-free/311717/54 "2024-07-02T01:01:11Z")
> [@SouperC](#): > > bookmark an IP address Nice idea šŸ‘šŸ» I donā€™t need a domain. I do use discord, itā€™s just that nobody in my friend circle is ok with discords policy or terms of service. I have multiple times made servers and invited them, they just donā€™t accept it, the main reason why I thought to see if I can do anything with discourse. The defaulting to ban user litigation has made it even worst. ---
### Author: ![anon82911141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@anon82911141](https://meta.discourse.org/u/anon82911141) #### Post date: [July 2, 2024, 11:42am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/installing-discourse-for-free/311717/55 "2024-07-02T11:42:47Z")
Honestly, in this case, if you donā€™t want to buy - even Discord may be enough for you. ---
### Author: ![NateDhaliwal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/natedhaliwal/32/313494_2.png) [@NateDhaliwal](https://meta.discourse.org/u/NateDhaliwal) #### Post date: [July 2, 2024, 11:53am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/installing-discourse-for-free/311717/56 "2024-07-02T11:53:16Z")
Iā€™m working towards a forum (almost done), and honestly the only thing that was paid was my Pi. Brevoā€™s free, Discourseā€™s free (woo hoo!), and some Pis donā€™t even come too expensive. Overall, the cost wonā€™t be too great, and Iā€™m planning my forum to be just a hobby thing or amongst my friends. ---
### Author: ![Ar\_D](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ar_d/32/231040_2.png) [@Ar\_D](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ar_D) #### Post date: [July 2, 2024, 12:25pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/installing-discourse-for-free/311717/57 "2024-07-02T12:25:36Z")
> [@anon82911141](#): > > even Discord may be enough for you. As I said earlier not being able to make the users join the server in discord is the main reason I am here, nobody is ready to join discord. Due to discords shady practices. Thatā€™s why the first thing I thought about was a forum. Otherwise this topic wouldnā€™t have been made in the first place. ---
### Author: ![merefield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/merefield/32/176214_2.png) [@merefield](https://meta.discourse.org/u/merefield) #### Post date: [July 2, 2024, 12:29pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/installing-discourse-for-free/311717/58 "2024-07-02T12:29:58Z")
You could use the [Subscription Plugin](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-subscriptions/140818) and charge all of your members a peppercorn rent that you can then use to fund the site costs. The big platforms have to make money too, but do so in ways that donā€™t usually resort to charging for access. Iā€™m afraid you have to face the fact that in life, services are rarely completely free, there is always a catch. ---
### Author: ![Ar\_D](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ar_d/32/231040_2.png) [@Ar\_D](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ar_D) #### Post date: [July 2, 2024, 12:32pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/installing-discourse-for-free/311717/59 "2024-07-02T12:32:30Z")
Thanks, I donā€™t need a pi (I guess, because I have a spare pc, correct me if wrong). I do see Brevo is good enough for my work. Btw, can you make the step by step guide of how did you do it, including setting up the network to talk with friends over cellular data and not a singular wifi connection? I am a newbie and not too much into linux, I personally find CLIā€™s a little hard to learn compared to GUI. I know hard and soft basics however about linux, networking and more stuff. ---
### Author: ![Ar\_D](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ar_d/32/231040_2.png) [@Ar\_D](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ar_D) #### Post date: [July 2, 2024, 12:36pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/installing-discourse-for-free/311717/60 "2024-07-02T12:36:46Z")
That is indeed a good idea, I will see if everyoneā€™s ok with it. ---
### Author: ![system](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/system/32/443519_2.png) [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system) #### Post date: [August 1, 2024, 12:37pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/installing-discourse-for-free/311717/61 "2024-08-01T12:37:17Z")
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