Web Design

The online environment is full of information and you can find all kinds of professionals that have their own blogs. Depending on the topics that you are interested in for sure you are also going to find a lot of debates on the internet (maybe on the best forum software topic?). This is quite cool because you can get a better idea on a certain subject that you want to understand better.

Some of the best forum software that are online have been for quite some time active. Forums are even today very used and can be a great tool when you want to build your own audience.

There are also a lot of open-source forum software platforms available that you can check but things start to get stuck when you want to start your forum and when you get a little bit more confused about what platform is best to use.

The best forum software

PhpBB

This is the most popular and free open source forum software that has all you need in order to start building. You can customize it easily depending on your user choice and there are also some themes available for free but the paid ones are a bit better.

phpBB is quite a cool forum software that lets you create boards where users can start interacting.

Once you finish the set up then you can create as many internal message boards as you would wish. This tool can handle thousands of users even more if you are using a great hosting provider.

VBulletin Community Forum Software

vBulletin is one of the best forum software that you can get because it was launched many years ago. It is considered to be the world-leading forum software. It has great security and powerful administration features that you can take advantage of.

On top of that, it’s premium features like mobile-ready design and SEO means that you have the chance of really doing a great job with it.

Discourse – Discussion Platform

This forum software had its front-end made using JavaScript and it is powered by Ember.js framework so it means you get a responsive design that can work for any mobile layout.

It offers cool messaging chat with different emojis and a trust system that will really impress your users. In the end, this might be one of the best forum software because it is simple, modern and fun at the same time.

MyBB

You probably started to figure out that you are going to get some functionality that you need to expect from forum software that you are considering. The most common ones are the ability to create message boards, user registration, and activity moderation.

Instead of rehashing the same points then we are going to focus on each of the remaining platforms. MyBB, for example, has a lot of features that can be very useful in the long term for any member of the community.

WordPress

This is a platform that can use for many different purposes. But you can surely use it to create forums because this is the main topic that we are talking about.

Is it one of the best forum software choices that you can make? It is probably if you want to set up a normal website that also has a forum inside.

Vanilla – Modern Community Forum

This is open-source forum software that is robust, user-friendly and easy to use. It will offer a modern forum layout that allows users to post their questions.

It also has cool features like notifications, avatars, private messaging and a real-time preview that is built inside. Vanilla can be also integrated with social networks especially if people like to share stuff around.

There are also different plugins that can be used and all you have to do is check them out and decide.

XenForo

This is a cool and simple forum solution that uses a more gamification layout. This helps because users will be more motivated to come back to the platform in order to reach certain goals.

So, for sure, you can consider it one of the best forum software that you can get your hands on.

Joomla!

Joomla is very similar to WordPress because it is a CMS software. It can power your forum bringing cool plugins like Easy Discuss in the game.

If you want to build a powerful online application then you might consider it a real option.

Simple Machines Forum

Simple Machines Forum is a free and professional forum software platform that can be the right choice when you want to create your own online forum.

FluxBB – Forum Software

Continuing our list of the best forum software choices we also encounter FluxBB. It is fast and easy to use and you shouldn’t have any problems with security while you have it.

It can support profiles, avatars, search option and much more.

Invision Power

This open-source forum building software allows you to create your own community depending on the needs that you have.

It is very flexible and you can add a lot of applications to it if you want to make it more custom.

Drupal

If we talk about functionality, Drupal is one of the most powerful CMSs that you can find. No matter, these features also mean there is one steep learning curve.

If you don’t have any development experience it might be quite hard for you.

However, this is still one of the best forum software that you can get and it can help you achieve your goal.

PlushForums

PlushForums brings a blog and private messaging together with other features in the same spot. You don’t have to be a technical user in order to configure it so for sure you will be able to get what you want out of it.

How to pick the best forum software

If you want to get one of the best forum software in the online because you like this domain a lot here is what you should start doing, people really appreciate the best features and some of them are:

Efficient and Powerful Search

Users like to find fast what they are looking for in an online forum. Some even have their own autocomplete search feature that makes things go even faster than you would think.

PM (Private Messaging)

It is known that some users want to have a private one-on-one discussion and for sure this might be included easily.

Notifications Feature

Once subscribed sending notifications to the members of a forum can be a great way to show them what is happening in the community.

This will bring more traffic and make people check more often what is going on.

Signatures

All the best forum software focuses a lot on this aspect because it allows a member to bring a personal touch, his signature section. This is typically used for promoting things.

Roles and permissions

Roles might be assigned to members and this means they will be able to perform specific activities.

For example, a moderator permission can let a member edit content in order for them to moderate posts. So, having moderators is important for any forum software that you might consider.

Advanced Editor

There is also the need for a powerful text editor that can read HTML fast together with other forms of content like image or video.

Powerful User profiles

The best forum software is for sore the one that also allows members to customize their own profile. They might add some personal information, a picture, different badges and so on.

No matter what software you will choose it doesn’t need to offer all of these features. What you need mostly depends on the kind of experience that you want to provide.

So, for example, if you want to set up an online forum you should expect some challenges. Here is a list that has some of the best forum software that you can get.

Ending thoughts on the best forum software

In conclusion, finding the best forum software is a matter of personal preferences and what do you want to build with it. Take advantage of the mentions that we had so far and make your choice.

If you enjoyed reading this article about the best forum software, you should read these as well:

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