Best forum software: 11 picks for building an online community

Forum software is a solution that enables you to build a community website where users can post questions, share ideas, and engage in discussions. It provides moderation tools, user permissions, and other features to keep conversations in your forum organized and engaging.

Several forum solutions offer additional capabilities that make them suitable for specific use cases. Here are some of the best options and who they’re best suited to:

1. phpBB. Most flexible forum software with comprehensive add-ons and extensive customization options.
2. MyBB. A great alternative to phpBB, offering a sleeker design out of the box but with fewer customization options.
3. Vanilla Forums. An excellent solution for creating a community forum and knowledge base for businesses.
4. WordPress. A highly flexible and popular platform for creating any kind of website, including a forum.
5. Joomla!. An ideal alternative to WordPress if you are looking for more built-in features, but with a smaller library of extensions.
6. Drupal. A powerful platform similar to Joomla! that has a built-in forum builder.
7. Simple Machines Forum. The easiest forum software to extend, providing a comprehensive library of mods and a built-in installer.
8. BuddyBoss. An excellent freemium platform with robust features out of the box.
9. Codoforum. A clean and simple solution for creating a high-performance forum.
10. Discourse. The forum-building platform that offers a web hosting plan and extra services.
11. Flarum. A lean forum software that’s easy to deploy and expand using plugins.

These tools are evaluated based on their key features, pricing, benefits, and disadvantages.

1. phpBB

phpBB is free and open-source forum software that lets you create a customizable online discussion board. Along with the basic functionality, it provides hundreds of extensions to add new features to the forum, such as ad management and automatic grouping.

Once you set up phpBB, you can create a forum with as many internal message boards as needed. This capability makes the software suitable if functionality and scalability are your priority.

In terms of appearance, phpBB is customizable through themes and implements a responsive design by default, ensuring your forum provides an optimal user experience on any screen size.

Users also get plenty of options for customizing their profiles and posts, such as adding a message signature and linking their social media profiles.

If you want more flexibility, you can also self-host phpBB on a virtual server and fine-tune the hosting environment to your needs.

phpBB pros:

• Provides powerful forum software with multiple hierarchy options, allowing you to organize and categorize posts more easily.
• Gives users plenty of options to customize their posts and profiles.
• Offers extensive moderation options for granular control over posts and users.

phpBB cons:

• Most phpBB themes look outdated, but can be retouched with custom HTML and CSS.

Who is phpBB best for:

• Users looking for flexible forum software with customizable features and themes.

2. MyBB

MyBB is an open-source forum software that utilizes plugins to extend its functionality, supports themes to customize its design, and boasts an active community behind it. It comes with a feature-rich control panel that simplifies the moderation of various aspects of your online forum, including statistics, posts, users, and groups.

Given their similarities, MyBB is an excellent alternative to phpBB. While MyBB isn’t as popular and doesn’t have as many extensions, it supports a greater number of themes with more modern designs.

If you are looking to create a visually appealing forum with a sleek design, MyBB is an excellent option. Conversely, phpBB is generally a better choice if you prioritize functionality and features due to its extensive plugin selections.

MyBB pros:

• Offers gamification and communication plugins to improve user engagement.
• Includes user-reputation systems out of the box to simplify moderation and foster a healthy discussion .
• Provides a built-in calendar functionality for scheduling events.

MyBB cons:

• Not as feature-rich as phpBB or other entries on this list. For example, it lacks built-in SSO and supports fewer SQL databases than phpBB.

Who is MyBB best for:

• Users looking for an alternative to phpBB that offers more modern themes.

3. Vanilla Forums

Higher Logic’s Vanilla Forums is an excellent solution for businesses. It lets you create a community forum where customers can discuss your products, as well as a centralized knowledge base where they can find helpful resources, including a manual.

In addition to basic functionality for creating a forum, this software provides features that help encourage engagement, like “Best Of” sections and gamification. It also offers a powerful text editor with an autosave feature.

Out of the box, forums built with Vanilla Forums look polished and offer comprehensive features. However, you can further customize the look using a theme and add more functionality with plugins.

Vanilla Forums offers two versions: a free plan and a premium plan with custom pricing. For small businesses, the open-source version provides enough features to build a modern community forum with basic functionality.

Vanilla Forums pros:

• Supports themes and add-ons to extend its basic functionality and appearance.
• Provides an advanced text editor with various helpful features that allow users to post content more easily.
• Includes the option to create private groups for your users.
• Allows you to create a knowledge base system for customer service articles and community posts.

Vanilla Forums cons:

• The overall collection of free add-ons and themes is not as extensive as that of other forum software.
• Some features, like advanced moderation, are only available in the premium version, meaning you have to pay to access a specific functionality.

Who is Vanilla Forums best for:

• Businesses looking to create a community forum and knowledge base around their products.

4. WordPress

WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) that serves as a foundation for building a website. While commonly used to create a blog, it has a massive catalogue of plugins that provide the functionality for creating various types of sites, including a forum.

There are various WordPress forum plugins for this purpose, such as wpForo Forum and bbPress. While the features of your forum website will be limited to what the plugin offers, it’s commonly enough for a basic discussion board.

Additionally, WordPress provides a vast library of themes, enabling you to transform your forum’s visual appearance easily. You can also insert custom code into theme files to add a custom design.

A distinguishing feature of WordPress is that you can run another type of website along with your forum on the same instance. This makes the platform an excellent one-stop solution for businesses that want to complement their online store with a community board.

WordPress pros:

• Provides access to one of the largest collections of themes and plugins.
• Allows you to set up another type of website and a forum on the same platform.
• Has a large community of users, ensuring continuous support and innovation.

WordPress cons:

• The features for your forum depend on what the plugin offers.
• Given its flexibility, getting familiar with WordPress is more challenging than forum-specific software.

Who is WordPress best for:

• Existing WordPress users who want to deploy a forum, and users who want to set up a discussion board along with a regular website on a single platform.

5. Joomla!

Like WordPress, Joomla! is an excellent CMS that enables you to build almost any type of website, including online forums. It features a comprehensive plugin and theme collection that you can install to easily customize your website.

You can use various plugins to set up a forum on Joomla!, with Kunena and EasyDiscuss being two of the most popular options. When comparing WordPress with Joomla!, however, this CMS’s themes and extension selection turns out to be less comprehensive.

That said, Joomla! offers several customization options that WordPress lacks, allowing you to fine-tune the platform more precisely to meet your needs. For example, you can use its built-in Access Control List (ACL) to better control user permissions and set up different themes on different areas of your websites.

However, the additional customization options also mean the CMS is more suitable for users with some web development experience.

Joomla! pros:

• Gives more control over your website out of the box, especially if paired with Joomla web hosting that comes with additional tools.
• Offers various plugins to set up your online forum, allowing you to choose one that best suits your needs.
• Provides robust built-in security and SEO features.

Joomla! cons:

• Getting started with Joomla! is a bit more complicated than using other CMSes or forum-specific platforms.
• The theme and plugin library are more limited compared to WordPress’s.

Who is Joomla! best for:

• Existing Joomla! users or web developers looking for a customizable platform for deploying a feature-rich online forum.

6. Drupal

The powerful CMS Drupal provides robust built-in features, including forum functionality. Unlike WordPress or Joomla!, you can create an online community website out of the box and extend its default capabilities using modules.

Like in other CMSes, you can change the default design of a Drupal website using themes. However, the theme options are limited since it’s not as popular as other platforms.

Moreover, extensive features and customization options mean a steeper learning curve. If you haven’t used Drupal, setting up the platform and creating a forum might require more time than WordPress or Joomla!.

Drupal pros:

• Offers built-in forum functionality, no need for additional plugins.
• Comes with rich customization options.
• Supports additional modules and themes to extend this CMS’s default functionality.

Drupal cons:

• Setting up and getting started with Drupal can be challenging if you don’t have prior experience in web development.

Who is Drupal best for:

• Web developers or businesses looking for an enterprise-level, scalable, and flexible platform to build an online forum.

7. Simple Machines Forum

Simple Machines Forum is a dedicated forum-building platform that offers easy customization through modules and themes. What makes this software stand out is that it offers a package manager that enables you to install and update add-ons more easily.

Compared to other open-source forum software, Simple Machines Forum has the most extensive collection of mods and themes. Its website features thousands of add-ons for modifying various aspects of your forum.

Moreover, Simple Machines Forum comes with features commonly found on premium software, making it an excellent, cost-efficient alternative. For example, you can enable a paid subscription on your forum to create a membership site with exclusive content.

Simple Machines Forum pros:

• Provides access to a broad collection of modules and themes.
• Lets you switch between multiple languages with a single click.
• Simplifies the configuration of the premium subscription feature with its built-in features.

Simple Machines Forum cons:

• Most of the themes are less modern compared to other platforms.
• It doesn’t offer many profile customization options.

Who is Simple Machines Forum best for:

• Users looking for easily extendable forum software with comprehensive libraries, but don’t prioritize modern design.

8. BuddyBoss

BuddyBoss is a freemium WordPress plugin with excellent features out of the box. It’s customizable and offers various built-in features for building a specific type of forum.

For example, BuddyBoss offers learning-focused features, such as a built-in student dashboard, certificate issuance feature, and quizzes. These capabilities make the platform suitable for creating an e-learning portal, online course website, or an education forum.

If you want to create a general forum, BuddyBoss also provides features that help foster community interaction, like groups, activity feeds, events, likes, and more. You can also set up an online store and job board, making it a powerful all-in-one platform for building a social networking website.

BuddyBoss pros:

• Offers robust built-in features that are designed for particular types of communities, like education or job-seeking.
• Allows you to create a cross-platform forum with its web and mobile builder.
• Provides a modern, sleek design out of the box that can be customized further.

BuddyBoss cons:

• The free version of this plugin is basic, and the premium version is more expensive than other options on this list.

Who is BuddyBoss best for:

• Enterprises or businesses seeking a feature-rich solution that is readily usable without extensive customization.

9. Codoforum

Codoforum is a freemium forum software that focuses on offering an optimal user experience and performance. Built with PHP and MySQL, it provides a clean and simple interface that includes only the essential features for creating an online community board.

One of Codoforum’s key benefits is that you can install it on any server that supports PHP and MySQL, such as a Linux virtual private server. Since this software encourages self-deployment, it provides all the setup information and instructions on its documentation page.

Codoforum offers basic functionality for creating a forum that you can expand using an add-on. For example, its SSO plugin lets you integrate your website and forum, enabling visitors to log in on both sites with a single credential.

Additionally, Codoforum offers a daily and weekly digest feature, allowing you to send visitors recent updates, events, or content through their email inbox.

Codoforum pros:

• Provides in-depth official documentation to assist self-deployment.
• Allows users to separate topics into multiple categories using the tagging system, which improves organization and searchability.
• Enables users to fine-tune notification levels from replies to mentions for more personalized alerts.

Codoforum cons:

• You need to get a paid plan to access security patches and upgrades.
• The free version displays a “Powered by” watermark.

Who is Codoforum best for:

• Developers and performance-conscious users who want a minimalistic platform that offers only the essential features.

10. Discourse

Discourse is free, open-source forum software that lets you set up an online discussion board with a modern and easy-to-use user interface.

While other forum platforms commonly break threads into pages, Discourse incorporates a scroll navigation bar to help improve readability and conversation flow. It also implements responsive design by default, which automatically adjusts to fit various screen sizes.

Discourse offers seamless login integration with third-party applications, including Slack and GitHub, as well as social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. To encourage participation, you have the option to enable custom badges, emojis, and awards.

While you can self-host Discourse, you can also use its hosting service, which starts at $20/month. If you use the Enterprise plan, you’ll also get a professional migration and development service.

Discourse pros:

• Offers dynamic notifications that alert users about every mention and reply.
• Provides the mailing list mode that allows forum members to get updates from threads they follow.
• Comes with a variety of plugins that enable you to extend its functionality.
• Monitors your community statistics through an interactive admin panel.

Discourse cons:

• Learning and getting used to all the features can be time-consuming.
• Due to the design, your forum can quickly become disorganized when there are numerous unmoderated replies in the thread.

Who is Discourse best for:

• Users who want to create a forum that seamlessly integrates with social media platforms, with built-in hosting and extra services.

11. Flarum

Flarum is a free forum software solution optimized for performance. This program is a single-page application (SPA), which means it can update data on the front-end dynamically without regenerating the entire web page, allowing your forum to load more efficiently.

Flarum emphasizes ease of use for the end-user by offering an intuitive design. To modify the design or add more features, simply download and install extensions through the built-in Extension Manager dashboard.

Additionally, Flarum enables you to create a forum for an international audience by offering over 30 language extensions. After downloading and unpacking the localization package, the system will automatically translate the original interface.

You can install Flarum by unpacking the archive installer or manually using Composer. Once installed, you can build the forum from scratch or import existing data from other platforms, like phpBB.

Flarum cros:

• Integrates with Pusher, enabling you to add an interactive live chat feature to your forum.
• Offers most features via extensions, meaning users can opt for only the necessary functionality.
• Provides lean core software to maintain optimal performance, especially on lower-end servers.

Fralum cons:

• Deploying Flarum can be challenging, as it requires a web server such as NGINX, PHP 7.3, MySQL 5.6, and Composer.
• Smaller community because Flarum is relatively new and less popular than other software in this list.

Who is Flarum best for:

• Developers seeking a minimal, open-source core forum software solution that is self-deployable.

What makes great forum software?

Several aspects make particular forum software stand out from others. While most solutions enable visitors to register an account, create threads, and post responses to other users’ threads, you may need additional features for moderation or gamification.

Aside from the basic functionality, here are some additional features to look for when you are choosing an online forum software:

• Moderation and permission systems. The ideal forum software allows you to set different user roles, filter content based on permissions, give reputation, and ban unruly members. Such features are crucial to keep your community healthy and promote respectful behavior.
• Powerful text editor. Since forums’ content mainly comprises text, a user-friendly and feature-packed text editor is essential for user experience. For example, your chosen platform should ideally support rich text, offer emojis, have a drag-and-drop image insertion, allow for user mentions, and auto-save drafts.
• Private messaging. While many forums focus on community discussion, enabling private messaging helps foster interpersonal relationships between users. It also simplifies communication between moderators and prevents personal interaction from cluttering public threads.
• Comment signatures. This functionality lets users personalize their posts by adding quotes, images, or a banner. Like profile customization, it allows users to express themselves within the community better, thereby increasing engagement.
• Responsive design. Your forum should have a responsive design that automatically adjusts its layout, element placements, and content dimensions on different screen sizes. This is crucial to maintain optimal usability and user experience across all devices.
• Achievement systems or gamification. Some online forum platforms let you set up levels, rewards, or ranks that users can achieve by participating in the community. It encourages them to be more engaged and involved in the discussion board.

While these features are excellent additions, the best forum software for your needs may not have all of them. The choice will depend on what you want to achieve with the tool and the type of online board you wish to make.

For example, the comment signature or achievement system may be unnecessary in a product discussion forum where users commonly ask for help or information.

Conversely, private messaging is crucial as you can quickly approach users to answer their questions directly.

Having many features is beneficial for a general-purpose community forum, as you can later enable them to keep the discussion fresh and engaging. In this case, consider platforms with extension systems that allow you to easily expand or remove functionality according to your needs.

How to drive traffic to your forum?

After choosing the best forum software and launching your online community board, the next step is to drive traffic to your site. However, drawing users to an empty website is challenging and requires proper preparation.

To start, populate the forum with a few threads and posts across different categories to draw users’ attention. Also, invite your friends, influencers, or members of other forums to participate in your forum. You can incentivize them with special badges or featured links to their websites.

Next, establish an SEO-optimized foundation by using keyword-rich, descriptive URLs for all pages on your forum. For example, use myforum.com/category/thread/thread-title instead of myforum.com/thread-123456, to help search engines crawl your content more efficiently.

Also, include keywords in the categories for better discoverability and implement a mobile-friendly design to optimize the user experience. Then, share thoughtful ideas on blogs or social media to direct people to your website, where they can continue the conversation.

Finally, it’s crucial to keep audiences engaged so they will return. You can incentivize their participation with a gamification system, send weekly digests to remind them of new threads they may be interested in, highlight top posts, and schedule regular events.

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