> For example, if you have the money, there are a couple of options to convert your instance into a native app.

Honestly, if I was going to pay for a forum, I'd probably go with (self-hosted) XenForo from the start. It has the most polished user experience of any forum software I have seen. I understand people sell custom mobile apps for it, too, though I haven't really looked.

I thought using NodeBB with PostgreSQL was not recommended for production. Looks like I was wrong. Thanks for telling me.