---
title: "Discourse vs Vanilla Forums: Which is searched more?"
description: "Which is more popular in search, Discourse or Vanilla Forums? Compare estimated monthly branded-search demand and Share of Search inside the Customer community platforms set worldwide. Branded searches tell you how often people look for a brand by name or related terms. Comparing these searches across competitors helps you see how popular each brand is over time."
canonical: "https://gobrandwave.com/demand/global-en/compare/discourse-vs-vanilla-forums"
publisher: "Brandwave"
---

# Discourse vs Vanilla Forums: Which is searched more?

Which is more popular in search, Discourse or Vanilla Forums? Compare estimated monthly branded-search demand and Share of Search inside the Customer community platforms set worldwide. Branded searches tell you how often people look for a brand by name or related terms. Comparing these searches across competitors helps you see how popular each brand is over time.

## Key facts

- **Compared**: Discourse and Vanilla Forums
- **Competitive set**: Customer community platforms
- **Market**: Global
- **Month measured**: Aug 2026
- **Discourse Share of Search**: 12.5%
- **Vanilla Forums Share of Search**: 2.5%

## Which is more popular in search, Discourse or Vanilla Forums?

- In August 2026, Discourse had more branded searches than Vanilla Forums among customer community platforms worldwide. Discourse was estimated to have 2.9K branded searches compared to Vanilla Forums’ 590, and held a 12.5% Share of Search versus Vanilla Forums’ 2.5%.
- Discourse was ahead of Vanilla Forums in every measured month of the 11 months ending August 2026.
- Across the 11 months ending August 2026, Discourse’s estimated Share of Search among customer community platforms worldwide moved from 8.1% to 12.5%, and its estimated monthly branded searches moved from 2.4K to 2.9K.
- Across the 11 months ending August 2026, Vanilla Forums’ estimated Share of Search among customer community platforms worldwide moved from 4.4% to 2.5%, and its estimated monthly branded searches moved from 1.3K to 590.

## How did search popularity change for customer community platforms worldwide in August 2026?

- In August 2026, Discourse overtook Khoros to rank 2nd among customer community platforms worldwide, at 12.5%.
- Estimated monthly branded searches for Vanilla Forums worldwide fell 54.6% over 11 measured months, from 1.3K to 590 in August 2026.

## Month by month

| Month | Discourse estimated searches | Discourse Share of Search | Discourse rank | Vanilla Forums estimated searches | Vanilla Forums Share of Search | Vanilla Forums rank |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Oct 2025 | 2.4K | 8.1% | 4 | 1.3K | 4.4% | 5 |
| Nov 2025 | 2.4K | 9.3% | 3 | 1.3K | 5% | 5 |
| Dec 2025 | 2.4K | 10.8% | 3 | 1K | 4.5% | 5 |
| Jan 2026 | 2.9K | 10.2% | 3 | 1K | 3.5% | 5 |
| Feb 2026 | 3.6K | 12.9% | 3 | 1K | 3.6% | 5 |
| Mar 2026 | 2.9K | 10.5% | 3 | 1K | 3.6% | 5 |
| Apr 2026 | 2.9K | 11.1% | 3 | 880 | 3.4% | 5 |
| May 2026 | 2.9K | 11.8% | 3 | 720 | 2.9% | 5 |
| Jun 2026 | 2.4K | 10% | 3 | 720 | 3% | 5 |
| Jul 2026 | 2.4K | 10.4% | 3 | 590 | 2.6% | 5 |
| Aug 2026 | 2.9K | 12.5% | 2 | 590 | 2.5% | 5 |
| Sep 2026 | — | — | — | — | — | — |

## How each brand is measured

Brandwave collects information about searches that people make online using Discourse’s and Vanilla Forums’ names. When viewed over time, estimated search volumes for these branded terms can be used to understand whether interest in the brands is growing, holding steady, or fading.

- **Discourse**: Measured on the search term “discourse forum”.
- **Vanilla Forums**: Measured on the search term “vanilla forums”.

- [Discourse profile](/demand/global-en/brands/discourse)
- [Vanilla Forums profile](/demand/global-en/brands/vanilla-forums)
- [All customer community platforms worldwide](/demand/global-en/categories/customer-community-platforms): The set both shares are measured inside, 5 brands.

## Methodology

- [How is branded search demand measured?](/demand/methodology): Where the figures come from, what they compare, and how they may be reused.

## Frequently asked questions

### Which is more popular in search, Discourse or Vanilla Forums?

In August 2026, Discourse had more branded searches than Vanilla Forums among customer community platforms worldwide. Discourse was estimated to have 2.9K branded searches compared to Vanilla Forums’ 590, and held a 12.5% Share of Search versus Vanilla Forums’ 2.5%.

## Cite this page

Brandwave. "Discourse vs Vanilla Forums: Which is searched more?". https://gobrandwave.com/demand/global-en/compare/discourse-vs-vanilla-forums

This page is also available as HTML at https://gobrandwave.com/demand/global-en/compare/discourse-vs-vanilla-forums. Brandwave publishes an index of its Markdown pages at https://gobrandwave.com/llms.txt.