The free open source forum software NodeBB is now working on official Fediverse support. Federation isn't ready yet, but if this interests you, you might want to follow their account:
Their official website is at https://nodebb.org and the co-founder of NodeBB is at @devnull
It’s absolutely their right and choice, but this is very commercial pricing. I wonder how it will hold up after federation and more implementations. I want to see entry level community pricing for these kinds of products. cc @atomicpoet.
@shoq @feditips @nodebb @devnull @atomicpoet My understanding is those are the prices where they are doing the hosting and include daily backups. Software is free for all who want to install and host themselves.
@amart @shoq @nodebb @devnull @atomicpoet
Yeah, this is a similar model to how many FOSS projects work. The software itself is totally free and can be hosted elsewhere, but development is partially funded by people who want to use the developers' official hosting and/or tech support services.
The idea is to help keep the free service going by offering extra services to those who can pay.
@feditips @amart @atomicpoet
Sure, I understand the model well. Not criticizing it or them. Just expressing the need for lower entry level pricing. The classic forum model is an awesome tool that can make a BIG comeback in the Fedi. But it will need much wider propagation. I’ve known $60 hosting plans supporting a phpBB instance with 100k registered users. Assuming NodeBB is the better tool (about to test), it needs a much smaller entry-level price tag, imo.
@shoq @feditips @amart @atomicpoet we use self-hosted Discourse on a VPS, but they do offer hosted plans. $25 for small private forum, and then $100 for public and up. It's quite expensive. Self-hosted option works really well, but requires a bit of tech knowledge.
@shoq correct, and you're right that there's a need for a lower price point for those smaller hobbyist communities. We currently encourage self-hosting for those, but we have been discussing internally about revising our prices to better match demand.
... you're awfully prescient