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Apart from your website if you want a free self-hosted online forum software then you stumble upon the right place. There are lots of open source forum software platforms available where you can start your online discussion board in no time. But things get stuck when you want to start your forum and a little bit confused which platform is best for you. There are many forum platforms which are available free of cost and easy to handle just like WordPress for creating online discussion portal. Building an online community is not only beneficial to you but also to your readers those have lots of questions and doubts about your product.
For How2shout, first, we have started our forum on free and open source platform phpBB then we shifted to Vanilla forum software and then finally stopped at Question2Answer platform. Because we want something like Quora for our website where people just ask a question and get an answer from admin or community members. There are both best paid and free online Forum Platforms/Software available in the market but in this article, we are majorly going to discuss the free and open source
Here is a list of best Open source Forum Software/Platforms
phpBB
phpBB is the most popular best free and Open Source forum software that comes with an extensive database of user-created plugins and styles or theme. It is a free flat-forum bulletin board software that can customize easily according to user choice. There are also phpBB themes available online both paid and free.
The default interface does not seem too much interactive like Discourse forum software but you can customize it by some developer to get better looks to suit your brand. The theming system is mediocre not like WordPress in terms of easy accessibility. Overall, if you talk about phpBB forums features and security then it is far better than free forums available. It has pretty much the same features as the paid Vbulletin which is around $250.
Website Link to Download:
phpBB Key Features
Extensive database of extensions.
Can easily optimize for SEO.
Comes with anti-spam functionality.
Light and snappy
Theme support
Supports social login including Google and Facebook using an extension.
MyBB Forum platform
MyBB is another open source forum software or platform that comes with extensive themes and plugins database. The default theme of MyBB is also like phpBB not much intuitive but you can use third party themes to give it a more sleek and modern look.
With everything from forums to threads, posts to private messages, search for profiles, and reputation to warnings, MyBB features everything you need to run an efficient and captivating community. Through plugins and themes, you can extend MyBB’s functionality to build your community exactly as you’d like it.
MyBB Key Features
Extend the capabilities using the plugin system to add new features to your forum.
It has Template, Theme and easy CSS editor for style customization.
Private Messaging for registered users.
Threads, Posts, and Polls
Calendars and Events
Give ratings and leave comments on other registered users and their posts.
Automatically promote users based on post count, reputation, or registration date.
Warning System that warns and punish users when they act inappropriately.
Mass Mail and Newsletters to registered users
MySQL, PostgreSQL and SQLite database support
Vanilla-Free Forum software
We have tried this software after phpBB and it really easy to install. Vanilla provides both hosted and open source community forum software that can self-hosted too. Most of the hosting providers have this forum software in their application database where you can install it with one click.
In our research, this is also one of the free & best forum software solution available that support themes and plugins. Also, you can find a variety of themes and plugins to enable different features such as SEO, anti-spam, social login, emojis, FilterDiscussion, calendar and a lot more. The database of themes and extensions is enough vast to fulfil your forum needs.
Download: Vanilla Forum
Vanilla Forum key features
Widget support
Roles and Permissions
Themes and plugins support
Social login support
Easy to Install
Community supported
SEO supported
Simple Machines Forum
Simple Machines Forum (SMF) is a free professional forum software platform that can create a forum for enterprise online community within minutes. Like phpBB, MyBB and Vanilla this is also offered to install in the application package of hosting providers, just select it from there and install it.
The Simple Machine forum gives you full control of the layout of your message board and lets your forum interact with each other. It is written in PHP and uses a MySQL database but support PostgreSQL and SQLite too. The default interface is not much attractive and you need to modify it using themes to give it sleek and modern. Overall, all the essential feature it provides those you need on a bulletin board.
Download Link: Simplemachines
Supports themes and plugins
Light and PHP based
Easy to install and maintain
Uses PHP and MySQL, PostgreSQL, or SQLite.
Multi-media output. (XHTML, XML, RSS, WAP)
Multi-language support from a large community.
Administrative actions require the user’s password (and do not rely solely on cookies.)
Major actions are time and IP locked, preventing ‘hammering’.
CAPTCHA system and more.
Discourse Forum Platform
Discourse is an open source cross-platform and one of the best forum software platforms. This forum platform helps to set up an online community in a very interactive way. The interface of this platform is one of the best available at free of cost. The UI is simply clear and straightforward. For checking out the conversation you don’t need to click again and again on the Next button instead of that just keep scrolling. The links to different websites such as Wikipedia, YouTube, Amazon, GitHub, Twitter etc. placed in the discussion are going to expand automatically to provide additional context and information.
This open source free forum is responsive that means it looks awesome on both desktop and mobile browser. The only drawback of this open source software is that you should be a little bit technical as it only going to install using Docker. Also, it resources heavy as compared to the best phpbb forum software.
Download:Discourse
Discourse Key Features:
Responsive and clean interface for touch devices and desktop.
Dynamic notifications
Community moderation
Reply via email
Emoji
Social login using Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Yahoo accounts.
Like function for posts.
Support plugin system.
bbPress- A WordPress Forum platform
The bbPress is basically a forum plugin that can be installed on a WordPress to provide forum capabilities. The above screenshot is taken from a dedicated Q&A WordPress forum theme that uses bbpress. If already a WordPress user and wants the same type of flexibility with your forum then bbPress is here.
bbPres is also a free forum software that can be used along BuddyPress too. If you know a little bit about hosting and WordPress setup then you can easily set up the bbPress too. It is developed by the Autom-attic the mind behind the popular Jetpack plugin. It is focused on ease of integration, ease of use, web standards, and speed. Well documented along with a good database of plugins and themes both paid and free.
Website Link to download: bbpress.org
bbPress Key Features
Revisions
Favourites
Subscriptions
Topic Tags
Search
Post Formatting
Auto-embed Links
Reply Threading
Integrated Plugins: Akismet and BuddyPress
Supports Widgets, Shortcodes and useful tools to repair your forum
FluxBB Forum software
FluxBB is another free and open source forum software platform that is lighter and faster and can be an alternative to heavy forum software applications. It is easy to use and has a track record of stability and security making it a good choice of forum for your website.
FluxBB Forum software key features
Supports MySQL, PostgreSQL and SQLite database.
User selectable style
Admin panel plugins
Read topic tracking
Topic subscription
Forum subscription
Announcement
Post preview and many more.
CODOFORUM – Free PHP Forum Software Script
Codoforum is not much popular but it is very straight forward free forum software. It is free PHP based forum platform that has a clean divided section of question & answer and right sidebar. At the left side, you get all the topics and other information on the right side. It uses a MySQL database. There is no extensive plugin or theme database but Codoforum keeps pushing its community and developers to create plugins and themes.
Website Link:Codoforum.com
Codoforum Key Features:
Simple, clean and impressive UI.
Easy to use and speed.
Live notifications
Markdown Support
syntax highlighting
Support for embedding images, videos, tweets, and other rich content.
Flarum Opensource Forum software
Flarum is the combined successor of esoTalk and FluxBB forums. It is a newbie in the forums worlds but still one of the best forum interfaces along with a sleek and modern look. The user interface is simple, fast and free from clutter and bloats. Flarum is built with PHP so it’s quick and easy to deploy.
The interface is powered by Mithril, a performant JavaScript framework with a tiny footprint. Right now to installation this forum you need SSH access to the hosting server and install the composer. This forum still in beta stage so before using it for production you need to give it some time. But still, for own experience, you can install and use it. After stable release, it can be proved the best alternative to Discourse forum.
Website Link: Flarum
Flarum Opensource Features:
Beautiful and responsive design
Themeable
Dynamic notifications
SEO optimized
Touch devices optimized
Tags, replies, and mentions
Real-time discussion
BuddyPress Wordpress forum Plugin software
The above screenshot interface is third-party BuddyPress compatible theme for WordPress called thrive.
Just like bbPress the BuddyPress also a plugin that creates a community discussion platform for WordPress. It includes all of the features you’ve come to expect from an online community, like user profiles, groups, activity streams, notifications, and more.
Download link: buddypress.org
BuddyPress key features:
Users can create and update profiles, including the use of profile photos.
Private messages can send similar to that found on Facebook.
Users can form and join groups.
Administrators can choose to let their users create and join groups of common interest.
Follow activity streams.
Users can create blogs.
Full functionality of WordPress
Full-featured online publishing platform.
Users can participate in forum discussions.
Integrated with bbPress to enhance community forums.
ZetaBoards: A Free hosted Forum Platform
If you don’t want to dirty your hands with coding and all those technical stuff then ZetaBoards is the best option. ZetaBoards offers its pre-hosted forum software platform that comes with both free and premium services. But most of the services you need for your forum are free. You can also set your custom domain to show professionalism too.
Website Link: http://www.zetaboards.com
ZetaBoards key features:
Full Customization via CSS
Custom Profile FieldsFree Support for Custom Domains
Integrated Automatic Spam Prevention
Pinned (Sticky) TopicsWebsite Maker
ZetaBoards Integrated Shoutbox
Advanced Private Messaging System
Anonymous Login Option
Theme Selector
Collapsible Forums and Forum Statistics
Topic and Post search
Extensive BBCode Options and More…
Also, we want to include some best-paid discussion forum platform too and here they are:
Best Paid Online Forum Platforms
vBulletin Connect Forum
vBulletin (vB) is the most popular premium forum software for creating an online community. It has lots of built in an application such as discussion and forum, photo albums, groups, calendar, events management, polls, blog and more. There are three versions of this paid forum software that can be select according to need.
Publishing Suite
Forum classic
Mobile suite
vBulletin Key features:
Built-in Applications: Discussion Forum, Groups, Polls, & Blog
Search Engine Optimization
Control Panels for Every Role
User/Member Management
Create a continuous Style/theme across Articles, Blogs, Forum and more.
Nodebb community forum software
It integrates into your existing website and social media networks, allowing you to maximize your outreach and establish close relationships with your users.
NodeBB Key Features:
Mobile Responsive
support, with over 50 language
SEO, semantic HTML with embedded microdata, and more.
Real-time Streaming
Social Integration
NodeBB’s Analytics Dashboard has real-time graphs and tools.
Website: https://nodebb.org/
Zendesk Guide -knowledge base forum
Build an Online Forum with Zendesk Guide which offers a smart knowledge base forum with a smart interface. It is basically for companies that want to interact with their customers and give them knowledge about their products.
Key Features:
Keep some content for your agents only, require registration, or open it up to the public.
Create articles including media like photos and video with our WYSIWYG editor.
Restore deleted content
Supports 40+ languages and more…
Website: www.zendesk.com
Invision Power Board (IP Board)
The IPS Community Suite is a flexible, integrated set of apps for building great communities on the web. It provides Forums, eCommerce, Content Management, File Manager, Calendar, Image, Galleries, Blogs.
Invision Power Board Features:
Spam preventions
E-commerce
Apps
Moderation
Permission
Customization
Content discovery and more…
Website Link: https://invisioncommunity.com/
XenForo – Community Forum Software
XenForo is a commercial Internet forum software package written in the PHP programming language using the Zend Framework. The software is developed by former vBulletin lead developers. It was written PHP and support MySQL database.
XenForo key features:
Social Engagement
Recent Activity Stream
Easy Styling
Add ons, extensible and flexible community software
Alerts
SEO Built-in
Website: https://xenforo.com/
PlushForums
PlushForums integrates a blog, private messaging, member directory, custom profiles, paid subscriptions and a polished set of forum features. You don’t need any technical knowledge, themes, plugins, security updates etc. to configure it is hosted service and maintained by PlushFroums. The design of the forum is sleek, modern and responsive for both desktop and mobile.
Real-time discussions
Live notifications
an intuitive feedback system
Mobile Optimized
Easily add tweets, videos, images, polls, smart quotes, hashtags, rich text and more.
Free SSL support
built-in protection against bots, spammers, and hackers.
Integrated Blog
Private conversations
Question Mode and more…
Website: https://plushforums.com
Also Read:
If you know any other best forum software which is free and opensource then please do comment and let us know…