Discord is free and it's great at chat. Eden gives your members a chat that feels as good, plus a Library (Eden's forum) for posts worth keeping, events on their calendar, and apps on iOS and Android, sold from your own store with your courses and your email list on the same plan.
Start freeChecked October 9, 2026
Discord is free, huge, and the best group chat most people have used, with voice channels, DMs, and forum channels. Charging for it is harder: Server Subscriptions are only for owners with US banking, and Discord keeps 10%. Eden gives you a chat with channels, a Library, events, and member apps, sold from your own checkout next to your courses, coaching, and email, from $29 a month plus 5%. Pick Eden if the community is something you sell.
A community is a store product. Free, monthly, yearly, or included with your course, sold from your page with the same checkout as everything else you sell.
Paid to your own Stripe. Buyers pay through your Stripe account, in any country Stripe supports. Discord's Server Subscriptions are only for owners with US banking.
Email on the same plan. Broadcasts on Starter, sequences on Pro, and a sequence that starts when someone joins. Your list is yours, outside any app.
Channels that show what's new. Each channel shows its last message, and you set the order. Members pin the channels they care about to the top.
Threads with their own inbox. Reply in a thread so the main chat stays readable. Every thread someone is in waits in one inbox, and a red badge counts the mentions and replies.
Rooms for your best members. Make a channel only buyers of one product can see, or only members you tag VIP.
A Library next to the chat. Guides, breakdowns, and wins in categories you set, with pinned posts, covers, and video. Members who check in once a week still find the good answers.
Sync to calendar. Members add every event to their own calendar once, and it stays current when you move or cancel one.
Courses beside it. Sell a course, a cohort, or coaching with the community included, so the lessons and the talk sit in one place.
Native apps, free for members. Members chat, read the Library, and see events in the Eden app. Nothing to build and nothing extra to pay.
A welcome on day one. New members see your rules and your welcome the first time they open the community, and get a welcome email.
Calm by default. Links from new free members wait for review for a day, and slow mode keeps a busy channel readable.
Checked October 9, 2026. A dash means the tool does not do it.
Based on published product information. Features and prices can change.
Pick Discord if your community is free, lives on voice and video, or your members already spend their day there. It costs nothing, and its chat, DMs, and bots are hard to beat. If you only need to charge for access and you're in the US, Server Subscriptions work for 10%.
Pick Eden if the community is something you sell. Members get a chat, a Library, events, and apps on iOS and Android, and you get a checkout, courses, coaching, and an email list on one plan from $29.
Monthly plans plus platform fees on sales. Payment processing comes out on both sides and is left out here.
Below about $580 a month in sales, Discord's 10% costs less than Eden Starter. Past that, Eden costs less, and the plan also runs your store, courses, and email. Card processing comes out on both sides. Outside the US, Discord gives you no built-in way to charge at all.
Post your join link. Share your community's link in your server. Members join in a tap; paid members land on your checkout.
Bring the people who already paid. If you sold access through a bot or another tool, export that buyer list and import it in Customers. Everyone on it gets in without paying again.
Keep Discord for voice if you like. Some hosts keep a Discord server for voice hangouts and move the paid community, the courses, and the email list to Eden.
Verified October 9, 2026. Competitor pricing changes; check their site to confirm.
Discord costs nothing until you charge, then keeps 10% if you're in the US. Eden Starter is $29 a month plus 5%, with card processing on top on both sides, so Eden costs less once sales pass about $580 a month.
Yes, if you sell access. Eden communities have a chat with channels and threads, a Library (Eden's forum), events with Sync to calendar, member profiles, and apps on iOS and Android, sold from your own checkout next to your courses, coaching, and email. Discord keeps the edge on price (it's free), voice and video channels, member DMs, and bots.
Not with Discord's own tools. Discord's Creator Revenue FAQ says Server Subscriptions need US banking and ID, and won't be available outside the United States. Owners elsewhere use a separate tool to sell access. On Eden, buyers pay through your own Stripe account wherever Stripe works.
Discord keeps 10% of each Server Subscription, and card processing and other fees come out on top. Eden takes 5% per sale (2% on Max at $199 a month), with Stripe's processing on top, plus the monthly plan from $29.
No. Eden has no voice or video channels and no direct messages between members. Members talk in channels and threads, send voice notes and photos, and @mention each other. If your community runs on voice hangouts or DMs, Discord does that better.
Yes. Post your community's join link in your server. If you sold access through a bot or another tool, export that buyer list, open Store → Customers → Import customers in Eden, and pick your community, so everyone who paid gets in without paying again.
Discord is free, huge, and the best group chat most people have used, with voice channels, DMs, and forum channels. Charging for it is harder: Server Subscriptions are only for owners with US banking, and Discord keeps 10%. Eden gives you a chat with channels, a Library (Eden's forum), events, and member apps, sold from your own checkout next to your courses, coaching, and email, from $29 a month plus 5%. Pick Eden if the community is something you sell.
A community feed, classroom, and calendar in one place.
A polished community platform with spaces, chat, events, and courses.
A community platform with courses, events, livestreams, and apps.
An all-in-one platform for courses, websites, email, and communities.
A marketplace and payments platform for selling access, courses, and communities.
Memberships for creators, with posts, chats, and an app fans know.
Chat, a Library, events, and member apps, with your checkout, courses, and emails on the same plan. From $29 a month.
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