Customer support
Should you self-host your customer forum?
Self-host your customer forum if you already run servers and you want full control. You also have to accept that the forum becomes a small ongoing job. Choose a..
Forum Cat
7 min readAll Posts
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Customer support
What Discourse hosting really costs
Hosting run by the Discourse team starts at $100 per month. That figure comes from Discourse's own pricing page, checked September 2026. Self-hosting works out ..
Forum Cat
5 min read
Customer support
Running a customer community in 15 minutes a day
A small customer community needs one person, 15 minutes a day, and a fixed order of work. Answer new questions. Mark the reply that solved the problem as the ac..
Forum Cat
6 min read
Customer support
How to build a customer community (start with answers)
A customer community begins as a public place where questions get answered. It does not begin with events, badges, or a posting schedule. Pick one place where c..
Forum Cat
6 min read
Customer support
A Discord alternative for your customer community
If most of your community is customers asking for help, move that part to a public Q&A forum. A forum gives every question its own page. The answer stays on tha..
Forum Cat
5 min read
Customer support
How to set up a customer support forum, the fast way
You can set up a customer support forum today. A hosted tool takes minutes. If you install the software yourself, plan for a longer first day, plus the server w..
Forum Cat
6 min read
Customer support
Before you buy help desk software, do this first
Help desk software sorts your customer conversations. It gives each one an owner, a status, and a history. It does not make the conversations fewer. So if your ..
Forum Cat
6 min read
Customer support
Knowledge base vs community forum: which cuts more tickets?
A knowledge base answers the questions you predicted and wrote down. A community forum answers the questions customers actually ask, including the ones nobody o..
Forum Cat
5 min read
Customer support
What is a customer portal? A plain-English guide
A customer portal is a private or public place on your website where customers help themselves. They check on their stuff, find answers, or ask you things, with..
Forum Cat
6 min read
Customer support
Cut support tickets with self-service (a practical guide)
The short answer is simple. Find the questions your customers ask most, answer each one in public, and make those answers easy to find. That is the whole method..
Forum Cat
6 min read