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Getting to know people online might really make a difference for a brand, as you may have seen. Have you ever thought about this? Now, it’s more important to build a sense of community than to just sell things or services. It’s about keeping that sense of community alive. I have seen the effects firsthand on a personal level. An amazing 88 percent of brands agree that building online communities is important for keeping customers loyal, getting new leads, and even moving up in search engine rankings.
This is shown by studies like the one that Vanilla Forums did. It just makes sense, right? A lot of people enjoy sharing their stories, getting to know others who use the same things, and getting useful information from each other. This is the point at which starting a group forum makes sense. Making this happen is like setting up a virtual meeting place where people in your audience can talk to each other, learn from each other, and ultimately strengthen their relationship with your business.
Best Community Forum Software Comparison Table
Is it more important to you to have a straightforward forum or a sophisticated style with organised categories? Do you intend to host a forum on your own server or do you intend to rely on the hosting solution provided by the software? A straightforward forum that is hosted on your own server is without a doubt the most cost-effective option.
Feature | Discourse | Flarum | phpBB | Codoforum | Khoros |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Type | Open Source | Open Source | Open Source | Open Source | SaaS |
Focus | Community Discussions | Modern Forums | General Purpose Forums | User-Friendly Forums | Community Management |
Ease of Use | Moderate | Easy | Easy | Easy | Moderate |
Features | Upvotes, Downvotes, Badges, Powerful Search, Extensive Moderation Tools | Simple and clean interface, Focus on discussions, Extensions available | Long history, Large plugin ecosystem, User roles and permissions | Easy to set up, Spam protection, Mobile responsive | Powerful analytics, Social media integration, SSO |
Scalability | Highly Scalable | Scalable | Scalable | Scalable | Highly Scalable |
Customization | Themes and Plugins | Extensions | Themes and Styles | Themes and Plugins | Limited |
Best Community Forum Software
Forum software that makes its own hosting available, on the other hand, has server configurations that are specifically designed for the software in question. In addition, the program is probably already installed on your computer when you buy it. Another thing you need to think about is the kind of community you want to create and the ways in which you want the members of that community to interact with one another.
Discourse

Feature | Description |
---|---|
User-friendly | Intuitive interface for easy navigation and usage |
Customizable | Flexible customization options for community needs |
Moderation | Robust moderation tools for managing discussions |
Integration | Seamless integration with other platforms and tools |
Analytics | Detailed analytics for insights into community trends |
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Discourse stands out because of its sleek interface and strong features, like machine learning moderation and user badges, which help groups stay active and alive. It works especially well for bigger forums that need more advanced tools to keep talks on track.
The Good
- Active community support
- Regular updates and improvements
- Extensive plugin ecosystem
The Bad
- Steeper learning curve for beginners
- Resource-intensive for larger communities
Flarum

Feature | Description |
---|---|
Lightweight | Minimalistic design for fast performance |
Extensions | Rich library of extensions for added functionality |
Responsive | Mobile-friendly interface for accessibility |
Markdown support | Markdown formatting for easy content creation |
Real-time updates | Instant updates for dynamic discussions |
Flarum, on the other hand, stands out because of its modern, simple, and speed-focused design. Its excellent relocation features make it a great choice for groups with people who speak more than one language, though it may not have as many built-in features as some of its contestant.
The Good
- Elegant and modern UI
- Active development community
- Easy installation and setup process
The Bad
- Limited core features compared to some competitors
- Extension compatibility can vary
phpBB

Feature | Description |
---|---|
Open Source | Free and open-source platform |
Extensible | Extensive plugin system for customization |
User Management | Comprehensive user management tools |
Themes | Wide range of themes for visual customization |
Security | Regular security updates for data protection |
phpBB has been a leader in forum software for a long time. As an open-source platform, it offers more customization and freedom than any other platform. Its large user base shows how popular it is, though some users may think its appearance looks a little old-fashioned compared to newer options.
The Good
- Established user base
- Strong security features
- Large library of extensions
The Bad
- Outdated interface compared to newer platforms
- Customization can be complex for non-technical users
Codoforum

Feature | Description |
---|---|
Simple UI | Clean and intuitive user interface |
SEO-friendly | Built-in SEO optimization for better visibility |
Social Login | Integration with social media for easy authentication |
Private Messaging | Secure communication channels |
Multi-language support | Localization for diverse user base |
Codoforum’s daily and weekly digest email features make it stand out for people who want to keep their community updated. It’s easy to set up and handle because it’s not heavy, which makes it a great choice for smaller forums that want something simple and effective.
The Good
- Lightweight and fast
- Modern design aesthetics
- Active community support
The Bad
- Limited third-party integrations
- Smaller user base compared to more established forums
Khoros

Feature | Description |
---|---|
Enterprise-grade | Scalable solution for large-scale communities |
AI-powered | Artificial intelligence for advanced moderation |
Analytics | Deep insights with advanced analytics tools |
Omnichannel | Seamless integration across multiple channels |
Customer support | Dedicated customer support services |
Khoros is a one-of-a-kind combination of a forum and a knowledge base. This makes it perfect for situations where open talks need to be paired with a strong internal knowledge base. But its many features might be too much for a community with basic needs, so they need to be carefully thought through before they are put into use.
The Good
- Comprehensive feature set
- Suitable for large enterprises
- Professional services available
The Bad
- High cost for smaller organizations
- Complexity may overwhelm smaller communities
Key Features to Look for in Community Forum Software
When choosing community forum software for your website or organization, consider features that improve user participation, moderating, and usability. Look for these features:
- Administrators and users should find the software’s interface simple and straightforward to use. To make a visually appealing and user-friendly forum, it should enable thread sorting, user profiles, search, and customisable themes.
- Customisation Options: Find software that lets you tailor the forum’s design, layout, and functionality to your brand and needs. Custom CSS or HTML code, colours, fonts, and logos may be available.
- Moderation Tools: Successful user-generated content management and community respect require effective moderation tools. Flagging objectionable content, banning users, filtering comments, and assigning moderator roles with different permissions should be possible with the software.
- User Management: The software should include registration, login, profile modification, and account settings. It should also enable user roles and permissions to restrict forum and feature access for moderators, admins, and normal users.
- Text formatting (bold, italic, bullet points), embedding photos and videos, quoting other users, and adding hyperlinks should be easy for users. For better content development, the software should offer rich text editing or Markdown.
- Notifications and Alerts: The programme should notify users of new posts, comments, mentions, and other relevant activity. Users should get to choose their notification settings.
- Forum software should interface easily with other tools and platforms including CMS, CRM, email marketing, and analytics software. Social media integration helps boost forum traffic.
- Mobile Responsiveness: With more people visiting forums from mobile devices, the software must be mobile responsive and deliver a seamless user experience across desktop, tablet, and smartphone platforms.
- SEO-Friendly Features: The software should support SEO best practices to make forum material search engine-friendly. This may include customisable meta tags, tidy URLs, and structured data markup.
- Community participation Features: Voting on posts, badges and reputation systems, user ranks and levels, gamification, and polls and surveys stimulate community participation.
Questions and Answers
Community-building tools like Discord and Slack, or social media groups like Facebook groups, seem to have mostly taken the place of standard forums in the last couple of years.
It is possible to make a group on Google, but only through Google Groups. When you start a Google Group, you will be asked what kind of group it is. This is when you can turn it into a message board. It’s easy to do, and then you can ask other people to join.