Web discussion forum software

There are many rich features such as a smart notification system, powerful extension API, and permissions. Further, it is lightweight, reliable, extensible, and developed by developers of esoTalk and FluxBB.

There are easy steps to install this free tool. Vanilla forum is an alternative free open source discussion platform. In addition, it provides a smooth experience by helping in improving customer support and loyalty. The system requirements to set up Vanilla are PHP 7. NodeBB is another open source, free discussion board that is another Discourse alternative.

It is powerful, comes with social web features and integrations such as Google, Twitter, and Facebook. There is a robust communication mechanism that helps in instant notifications, posts, and real-time chats.

Further, NodeBB is written in Node. The requirements to set up this open source topic creation platform are Node.

This internet bulletin board software provides high-security features that let you block irrelevant users.

This online discussion platform has a strong community with a wide range of plugins. Moreover, users can customize this software according to their business needs. Further, it is multilingual and provides support for many languages. To sum up, customer engagement has become a must-have component of an online business.

An open source forum software provides a comprehensive system of two-way communication where both parties establish long threaded and effective conversations. Participants can save their time and resources by installing good discussion forum software. There are provisions to save the old topics so that anyone can go through them by looking into the archives.

This blog post will really help you in making the right choice among online discussion platforms. Examples of these include anti-spam tools, gamification features, email blast support, and CDN capabilities. While the list of extensions offered by MyBB falls short of the variety other solutions in this list offer, its easy accessibility and modern style make it a feisty contender in the fight for the title of best forum software. Vanilla offers both free and premium versions of its forum software.

The former provides users with a self-hosting platform with basic features and community-built plugins, while the latter is a powerful cloud-based solution aimed at enterprise-level customers. These are not only aimed to support and increase user engagement but also to empower business effectiveness. Vanilla can also be used as a help desk software to create a robust ticket system for customer support efforts.

Despite being relatively new in the, Flarum has already made a name for itself as one of the best free forum software out there. The main reason for this lies on the core ethos upon which the solution has been built: simple, modern, and fast. This new-gen forum software is easy to install and loads fast thanks to its lightweight JavaScript framework.

This elegant, simple design is complemented by smooth animations and large buttons which provide an overall professional look. But what truly makes Flarum stand out is its two-pane interface. This unique feature provides users with a flexible environment where they can participate in numerous discussions without opening a handful of different tabs. Other engagement-focused capabilities include a floating message composer, discussion-organized notifications, live chat , and user mentions.

Also known simply as SMF, Simple Machines Forum is an open-source forum software built with large online communities in mind.

Its interface stays clear of flashy decorations, opting instead for a clear and sober approach that gives the platform a professional look. In order to allow for optimal performance and scalability, this free forum software offers a broad variety of customizable features and plugins, along with structured code documentation. This makes forums of great appeal for marketing consultancy services. An online forum can be made to double up as a client support system, wherein customer queries are answered buy authorized personnel, as well as other customers.

This proves to be a great boost to the marketing and customer support efforts of a firm. Of course, managing online forums comes with some challenges also, such as effective moderation, differentiation in terms of interface and user experience, provision of advanced features without compromising security, etc.

Though some best free website builders have opportunity to build forums with them — you should pay attention to specialized tools. Trust these best forum software to help you create, improve, and sustain your online forums, bypassing all these challenges.

PhpBB is among the most widely used bulletin board software, being used by millions of forums across the virtual globe. Right from personalized forums helping geographically separated families and friend circles stay closely knit to specialized massive forums pertaining to niches such as internet marketing, online job exchanges, etc.

Discerning coders can easily write their custom codes and insert at proper places in the master code, all this without even having to seek permission from the parent body governing phpBB; this facilitates the creation of truly unique and customized forums. Dozens of modules and modifications are freely available, which can be plugged into the phpBB files to add more features to the software.

Also, revamping the look and feel of the forum board is simple enough with several style databases. PhpBB is a perfect blend of efficient forum management, smart customizations, and all this for free!

Developed by vBulletin Solutions Inc. The vBulletin software package powers over 10, sites globally. This version comes with a newly developed UI that allows great social engagement. The new version of this site builder makes it easier for users to build their website, with customizable design templates.

It even features with mobile friendly version so you can build your website even when you are on the move. Do check out their GitHub page for more details. A federated alternative to Reddit built using Rust. The user interface is simple and some of you may not find it to be intuitive enough for an attractive forum experience. The federated network is still a work in progress but if you want a Reddit-like community platform, you can easily deploy it in your Linux server with moderation rules, moderators, and get started.

It supports cross-posting as seen in Reddit along with other basic features of tagging, voting, user avatar, and more. You can explore more about through their official documentation and the GitHub page. Deploying open source applications and managing Linux servers takes some expertise and time. If you lack either but still want to have your own instance of open source software, we can help you out.

With our new project, High on Cloud , you can leave the deployment and server management part to us while you work on growing your community forum. Most of the open source forum software offer pretty much the same features for basic use-case. If you are looking for something specific, you might want to explore their documentations. Personally, I recommend Discourse. It is popular, modern looking and has a significant user base.

What do you think is the best open source forum software? Did I miss any of your favorites? Let me know in the comments below. A passionate technophile who also happens to be a Computer Science graduate.

You will usually see cats dancing to the beautiful tunes sung by him. I have used this and it is a really great interface with just one php file. It does not require any database and performance is great. Even the sort features are good.

Please give a bit more info about functionalities. For example, in which forums can the discussions be sorted by topics? I hate it when everything just appears in one big list, like in facebook groups. If the forum is active, when you wish to go back to a specific discussion you have to scroll down for ages.

Discourse or NodeBB should be the top choices if looking for modern forum platforms.