In a discussion titled “Paid Groups” under the Support category with “subscriptions” tags, Starcrest explores using Discourse to offer free and paid categories, aiming to monetize course-like content with community features. They ask whether Groups with Subscriptions are the best access control method, if unpaid users can see a custom preview of paid content (e.g., with HTML/CSS), and how best to structure course content (HTML pages, topics, or tags). nathank confirms Groups + Subscriptions is ideal and suggests workarounds: using subcategories, Category Previews, or Advertise Activity in Private Category to show topic titles or custom landing pages to locked-out users. Starcrest finds these solutions promising but notes confusion around implementation and expresses surprise that Discourse doesn’t natively support paywall previews. nathank explains no single solution exists yet but encourages Starcrest to document their setup. Starcrest worries about scalability and complexity, feeling Discourse may not be suited for e-commerce needs out-of-the-box. satonotdead suggests combining Subscriptions with the Advertise plugin or using landing pages. Starcrest proposes a workaround: a public category linking to an external sales page, replaced by a private category for paying users — asking if this causes UX/search issues. nathank warns category redirection is inflexible but recommends the Category Previews Theme Component, noting it may require customization. The thread highlights the gap between Discourse’s current subscription features and common e-commerce paywall expectations, with community-driven workarounds offered as viable — though not seamless — solutions.
Hi I’m strongly considering using Discourse. I want to have a few free categories, but over time add “paid” categories that people will have to pay to access. The paid categories will effectively be courses with a community aspect.
I assume using Groups w Subscriptions is the best way to limit access.
Can I customize what an unpaid member sees in the paid category? Maybe a small container for custom HTML/CSS on top with a screenshot of the topics below. I could link to my Woocommerce website to use as a salespage/checkout, but that wouldn’t create a Discourse User (Zapier doesn’t seem to support creating Discord Users / Groups).
What’s the nicest way to post something like a course, maybe with lots of content, on Discourse? Can we have something like HTML pages? Or maybe put Course Content under a Topic or Tag? Generally I’d want to foster community/conversation and have room for people to post their own creations which could be equally valuable.
Yes - that is integrated tightly / managed brilliantly by the subscriptions plugin.
While you have a lot of control of how much folk can interact with each category, I’m afraid that visibility is somewhat binary by design: either they see everything or they see nothing (not even that it exists).
However, this can be built upon via these customisations:
using subcategories
put visible stuff in main category (or a less restricted sub-category)
put hidded stuff in a more restricted sub-category
Thank you @nathank for getting me up-to-speed on these plugins.
I was imagining Category Previews, and Advertise activity in a private category (discourse-category-lockdown) seems very cool too — especially the Google SEO aspect. I just see people having issues with Category Previews based on certain settings they’re using that I don’t understand yet, which is making it all confusing and stopping me from creating my self-hosted installation.
Honestly there’s a massive market for paywalling content, I’m surprised Discourse doesn’t make this possible with their Subscription plugin:
Show private paid Categories to all > when unpaid users click, present a description/preview of the paid content > give them an option to buy.
No need to @mention me, Discourse is smart enough to notify me of a direct reply!
It is more that use-case hasn’t been specifically addressed with a single solution. You can cobble it together from the above stuff without too much trouble though.
A guide to doing so might be helpful though. Perhaps you could put it together and share it here as you learn through the process!
Yeah, I guess I just feel that when it comes to eCommerce, this isn’t a particular use-case — more how the entire Internet works!
If I have to cobble this together, I can’t imagine what other roadblocks I’ll hit down the line. Maybe Discourse just can’t do what I need out-of-the-box. Better for free communities
Shame because I love the experience of using Discourse and wanted that for my community members.
Hi again I have a potential new solution — would this work?
Create a public category called “XYZ” that is visible to everyone by default, which links to a custom URL (in my case, a landing page on my business website), or if not, a Discourse Page). However, if the user has access, this public category is hidden and a category with limited group access appears with the same name XYZ, which contains the exclusive content (and for visibility has Everyone > See unchecked).
I assume I can have the sales pages on my website, and have a Buy button that directly links to the Discourse/Stripe checkout for the relevant Subscription/product.
Would this cause any UX issues with search results, or anything like that?
This is an interesting backup option, if I could have the Main Category link to a custom URL (or if not, a Discourse Page).
I’m strongly considering using Discourse. I want to have a few free categories, but over time add “paid” categories that people will have to pay to access. The paid categories will effectively be courses with a community aspect.
!