Forum · Free OSS / $689+/mo cloud
Reign vs Vanilla Forums.
Verdict
Vanilla is the alternative to Discourse for forum-only sites. Reign wins for sites that need community + LMS + commerce together.
Where each wins
Honest take.
R
Reign wins
Multi-shape: community + courses + marketplace + jobs + directory on one install. Vanilla only does forum.
V
Vanilla Forums wins
Polished forum-only UI, strong moderation tools, enterprise-grade hosting.
Side-by-side
4 comparisons.
| Feature | Reign | Vanilla Forums |
|---|---|---|
| Primary use case | Multi-shape community | Forum-only |
| Pricing (cloud) | $99 + hosting | $689+/month |
| LMS integration | Native | External only |
| Marketplace | Native | Not designed for it |