# Sample Forum to See Admin Features?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/sample-forum-to-see-admin-features/392680
**Category:** General
**Created:** [5 januari 2026 om 06:32 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/sample-forum-to-see-admin-features/392680 "2026-01-05T06:32:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@westes](https://meta.discourse.org/u/westes)
#### Post date: [5 januari 2026 om 06:32 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/sample-forum-to-see-admin-features/392680/1 "2026-01-05T06:32:33Z")
Discourse has the [try.discourse.org](http://try.discourse.org) forum as a place to see user features. Maybe you could create a parallel forum as a place to see admin features? Something like [tryadmin.discourse.org](http://tryadmin.discourse.org)
I understand you have a 14 day free trial, but at this stage I am just exploring one or two features at a time, very informally.
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### Author:  [@Moin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Moin)
#### Post date: [5 januari 2026 om 07:24 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/sample-forum-to-see-admin-features/392680/2 "2026-01-05T07:24:28Z")
How do you imagine that working? An admin has access to everything, but maybe you wouldn’t like it if other testers had access to your email address and your IP address. In order to try things out, you would also have to be allowed to change things. How do you ensure that this isn’t exploited, for example, that no one installs a theme component that spies on others?
It’s quite easy to set up a dev install in a GitHub codespace. I have used that for testing the admin experience before: [Developing Discourse on GitHub Codespaces](https://meta.discourse.org/t/developing-discourse-on-github-codespaces/336131). Of course, any other #dev-install works too.
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### Author:  [@westes](https://meta.discourse.org/u/westes)
#### Post date: [5 januari 2026 om 08:43 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/sample-forum-to-see-admin-features/392680/3 "2026-01-05T08:43:43Z")
Thanks, I will try Codespace
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### Author:  [@Bas](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Bas)
#### Post date: [5 januari 2026 om 09:10 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/sample-forum-to-see-admin-features/392680/4 "2026-01-05T09:10:31Z")
Also: trials are fast to spin up and do not require a credit card, no problem with you spinning up a few over the course of your evaluation 🙂
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### Author:  [@roke\_julian\_lockhart](https://meta.discourse.org/u/roke_julian_lockhart)
#### Post date: [17 april 2026 om 14:17 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/sample-forum-to-see-admin-features/392680/5 "2026-04-17T14:17:46Z")
> [@Bas](#):
>
> trials are fast to spin up and do not require a credit card
@Bas, ~~they appear to, now:~~
> [@Test admin features without having to install Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/t/test-admin-features-without-having-to-install-discourse/102035/4):
>
> warning Mod edit. Please note this post is from 2018, and may not reflect our current sign up processes. Yep, for security and anti-fraud we require the card up front. No charges are made to it, we just verify that it’s a real card.
_Perhaps_, that’s a good reason to try the GH Codespaces option for those able to.
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### Author:  [@darkpixlz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/darkpixlz)
#### Post date: [17 april 2026 om 14:29 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/sample-forum-to-see-admin-features/392680/6 "2026-04-17T14:29:41Z")
The reply you linked is from 2017. I do not remember there being a credit card requirement the last time I spun up a trial instance (a year or two ago)
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### Author:  [@NateDhaliwal](https://meta.discourse.org/u/NateDhaliwal)
#### Post date: [17 april 2026 om 14:35 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/sample-forum-to-see-admin-features/392680/7 "2026-04-17T14:35:20Z")
Odd… the FAQ on [Discourse pricing | Discourse - Civilized Discussion](http://discourse.org/pricing) says:
> ## Do I need a credit card to start a free trial?
>
> No, you can try Discourse for free right away!
>
> To combat spam attacks, we sometimes do require credit cards up front but we’ll never automatically charge you at the end of your trial.
But I clicked around and I could see no indication that a credit card was required. So perhaps not.
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [17 april 2026 om 14:40 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/sample-forum-to-see-admin-features/392680/8 "2026-04-17T14:40:28Z")
i spin up trials regularly for testing, and no they do not require a card
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### Author:  [@Moin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Moin)
#### Post date: [17 april 2026 om 14:41 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/sample-forum-to-see-admin-features/392680/9 "2026-04-17T14:41:14Z")
There is also the free plan now: [You're invited to try the Discourse Free plan beta!](https://meta.discourse.org/t/youre-invited-to-try-the-discourse-free-plan-beta/395632)
Ultimately, it depends a bit on what you want to test. The free plan is a bit more limited in terms of options, but it’s available indefinitely. The 14-day trials are time-limited, but they offer almost all features. With a development installation, you have all the options available, but you need to take care of it.
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### Author:  [@awesomerobot](https://meta.discourse.org/u/awesomerobot)
#### Post date: [17 april 2026 om 14:48 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/sample-forum-to-see-admin-features/392680/10 "2026-04-17T14:48:44Z")
I just archived that old topic from when we had the requirement to avoid any additional confusion.
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### Author:  [@darkpixlz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/darkpixlz)
#### Post date: [17 april 2026 om 14:59 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/sample-forum-to-see-admin-features/392680/11 "2026-04-17T14:59:53Z")
It’s possible that the system detects suspicious IPs and requires the card in that case but I’m not entirely sure. All I know is it’s never asked me, it might be different if your IP is from a datacenter
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### Author:  [@jomaxro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jomaxro)
#### Post date: [17 april 2026 om 16:15 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/sample-forum-to-see-admin-features/392680/12 "2026-04-17T16:15:54Z")
Blast from the past, wow. Yeah, that post is nearly 8 years old! As Bas and others have shared, we do not currently require a credit card to spin up a site. As Moin pointed out, we also have a free plan!
And Nate shared our _current_ stance (as opposed to my ancient comment) from the sign up page itself. No credit cards required _by default._ We retain the ability to require one should we see an uptick in spam or other issues.