Champ › Champ vs Discourse
Champ vs Discourse for Shopify Stores
Updated 5 November 2026
Discourse is a popular open-source forum product. Many store owners consider it when they want a community. This page compares Discourse with Champ for a Shopify store, and says plainly when Discourse is the better choice.
Note We make Champ. Facts about Discourse come from discourse.org/pricing, read on 5 November 2026. Check the current page before you decide.
Side by side#
| Champ | Discourse (hosted by Discourse) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A forum app for Shopify stores | A general forum and community product |
| Price | $29 a month after a 14-day free trial, one plan | A free plan; Pro $100 a month; Business $500 a month; Enterprise priced on request |
| Billed through | Your Shopify bill | Discourse |
| Where the forum lives | Your store's address, for example yourstore.com/community/champ | Its own address. A custom domain, such as community.yourstore.com, is on Pro and up |
| Looks like your store | Yes: you set its colours, fonts and logo in the dashboard. A developer can add your store's header and footer | Only with a custom Discourse theme |
| Customers sign in with their store account | Yes, automatically | Not built for Shopify. Single sign-on needs set-up by a developer; SSO with OpenID and OAuth2 is listed on Business and up |
| Members-only areas | Yes, with Shopify customer tags | Yes, with private categories |
| Staff | Moderators are customers with the champ-moderator tag | Pro includes 5 staff seats, Business 15 |
| Setup | Install from the Shopify App Store | Create a site, design it, set up sign-in, link it from your store |
When Champ is the better choice#
- You run a Shopify store, and the forum is there to support your customers and your sales.
- You want customers to join without a new account. They are signed in to the forum when
they are signed in to your store.
- You want the forum on your store's own web address, one click from your products.
Read why your own domain matters for SEO.
- You want access to follow Shopify customer tags, for a VIP, wholesale or course area. Read
about a members-only community.
- You do not have a developer. Everything is set up in the Champ dashboard.
When Discourse is the better choice#
- The community is the product, for example a large open community, a developer community or
a course platform with its own staff.
- You need Discourse's extra features, such as its plugins, chat, events and advanced
reporting.
- Your community is not tied to one Shopify store, for example it serves several shops or
brands.
- You have a developer to set up and look after single sign-on and the site's design.
Cost over a year#
For a store that wants a custom domain and its customers' existing sign-in:
- Champ: $29 a month, so $348 a year. Store sign-in is included.
- Discourse: Pro ($100 a month, $1,200 a year) gives a custom domain. The listed OAuth2 single
sign-on is on Business ($500 a month, $6,000 a year). A developer's time to connect it to Shopify comes on top.
Moving from Discourse to Champ#
There is no automatic import from Discourse. Many stores keep the old forum online as an archive and start new topics in Champ. If you want help with a move, email support@getchamp.net.
Next steps#
- See a live Champ forum on our own Shopify store.
- Read how to add a forum to your Shopify store.
- Compare Shopify forum apps.
Try Champ free for 14 days
Champ adds a forum to your Shopify store, on your own web address, with your colours, fonts and logo. Customers sign in with the account they already have. Then $29 a month, with no limits on members or posts.