Your favorite free forum software?

[RazorNF]

Would like to hear of your opinions on what you think are the best forum software, of those that are free.

Important for me, is any that can support mobile and have a good availability of free themes/skins + social network connectivity.

Would be great if you could link to some existing forums as examples that look good.

I know VB is the way to go but would prefer something free at this point, and may migrate later.

Thanks

 

[south]

A handy list:

http://www.opensourcecms.com/scripts/show.php?catid=5&category=Forums

I still use phorum myself for several sites. Simple, easy to customize.

 

[RazorNF]

Thanks for the link, of the ones featured on that site, I've only tried MyBB, phpBB, and SMF so far.

Can phorum autodetect those on mobile?

 

[Jeffrey]

I've used PHBB, SMF, BBPress and MyBB. The BEST in my opinion is MyBB!

BBPress is a disappointment. This sofware is made by the same developers of Wordpress. I've been impressed with WP, but BBPress nowhere near to WP's awesomeness.

 

[RobonReshee]

I was used the following forum software: PHPBB , UBB.threads , XMB , SMF (Simple Machines Forum) and YaBB. My favorite free forum Software is XMB

I have been interested to using YaBB forum Software, but not much better to compare XMB.


Regards,
Robon R
Free SMTP Server | Email Server Online

 

[rngrdanny22]

I've used SMF with great success. Very easy code to modify.

 

[lothos]

I've used phorum and SMF. I prefer the feature set of SMF.

 

[GoKaizen]

Wondering the same thing. I am most likely going to use bbPress with Wordpress, since I want to blog too.

Have you checked out The Admin Zone? Great resources, info, and help for anyone interested in starting a forum or people who have established forums.

 

[Jeffrey]

In BBpress, you need to upload a bunch of plugins in order to get the features you want like post counts etc...

 

[IntrepidPoster]

I've never owned or run a forum, but i like posting on forums that use phpBB.

 

[shankapotomus]

i love Nabble.

 

[GoKaizen]

I have been trying out MyBB and SMF. I personally like SMF a lot better and think it is easier to use. MyBB takes a lot more work to setup and the MyBB test forum I have up has already attracted spammers.

TopAdmin is another good resource for Admins or anyone looking to get started with a forum.

 

[RazorNF]

Thanks for all the input so far. Just spent a few days playing with Vanilla and I'm not overly impressed with it.

I know there are the coder-types that praise it on other forums, but it's a bit too feature lacking for me.

To those using SMF, I used it a long time ago, and I remember there were political problems mentioned in their forums and there was question about its future development. Is that no longer an issue?

With your recommendations, how is mobile compatibility like?

 

[GoKaizen]

Here is a list of admin forums recommended by Dojo who runs TopAdmin.

 

[bazz]

i think smf better than others

 

[pixelbypixel]

Whatever you use, be aware that Bots will very soon get in to all of them, so make sure you keep it secure from them.

SMF is the easiest to use, it has a bad history but has picked up its game a bit.
If you want something a bit more 'out of the box' phpBB is a good place to start.

Both integrate well in to external sites.

 

[BatRastard]

XMB by FAR is the best

 

[ProSence]

XenForo is performing good, from user point of views and SEO point of views, it is good software. You can see now DP changed its vBulletin to XenForo now.

 

[manroger4]

I've used PHBB, SMF, BBPress and MyBB. It's great.For me it is a great gift from the forum.
Thanks for the forum.

 

[ProSence]

I've used PHBB, SMF, BBPress and MyBB. It's great.For me it is a great gift from the forum.
Thanks for the forum.

Well, these are good as they are free software, but with paid software, the result is higher than free, no doubt to it.

 

[cpoalmighty]

I love the way how phpBB works and on the development side, it's quite easy to skin a theme to match your website. I would recommend however if you want a forum for your business you should not go with a free version (or one which is obviously free and easy to detect). The industry standard is vBulletin (I know it's a commercial forum script)

 

[rngrdanny22]

I love the way how phpBB works and on the development side, it's quite easy to skin a theme to match your website. I would recommend however if you want a forum for your business you should not go with a free version (or one which is obviously free and easy to detect). The industry standard is vBulletin (I know it's a commercial forum script)

I actually prefer IPB to vB (at least vB4). The code in IPB is much easier to manage IMO.

 

[RogueWriter]

I am using Simple Machines Forum software, provided by my webhost, ipower.com, basically 1 click installation, then you add some prebuilt packages. You can check out my most recent forum in my sig below, Jazz Hero. I was trying to sell the domain name a month or so ago for fifty bucks before deciding to put a forum on it, so you can guage my progress over the last month...