Best forum engine in 2014?!

soulvagabond

soulvagabond

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Mar 28, 2007
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Guys, what's your opinions on the best FREE forum script in 2014? I was running a few forums a couple of years back (phpbb,SMF and myBB), but have no clue, which of those is most suitable to use in 2014.
Obviously looking for one with good SEO settings out of the box, best plugins (regularly updated) and free, attractive looking templates.
Thanks a lot!
 


I'm actually testing with Vanilla Forums, Community Forum Software - Vanilla Community at the moment since it's open source (don't be confused there is a community 'monthly' version, and then the open source version).

I wanted to try Discourse, www.Discourse.org, but they're on ruby on rails, and want all this Postgres, Redis, bla, bla, herokue, bla, bla, bla, look at me I'm a hipster, nonsense - so I probably won't be going with them.

Still, you could possibly add those two to your list of things to look into.​
 
Thanks CC, trying it now. I like how it looks different to everything else out there, but certainly, will take some time to get used to...
 
I vote Vanilla Forums too which I've used a couple times now. Assuming you have WP check out the plugin to connect them before installing.

You're going to have to style it though because all the themes come shitty IMO.
 
I've used Vanilla in the past a little but the thing was the forum users didn't like it even thought I did (for the most part). Depending on what you are doing you might give that some thought because once you get going switching is painful.
 
The system I'm developing: https://github.com/AlphaIT/CustomBB (;

Really though, depends on your needs. Are you in need of a system for support, general discussion, reviews, buy-and-sell, etc...?
 
AdamC said:
vb 3.8, vb 3.x is now 10 years old, crazy :D

failing that XenForo - Compelling Community Forum Software
Click to expand...

I'm a huge fan of Xenforo, having been a member of several big named Xenforo based forums. The software is really amazing and intuitive. I gave it a test run with the demo version and just everything you could possibly want. But, again the Xenforo software is not free.

As for free forum software, FluxBB is an alternative forum software to MyBB that you might want to consider. Or, BuddyPress for a Wordpress based forum.

Current stable release - FluxBB
 
conjamuk said:
vb 3.8
Click to expand...

Do you ever find that some versions of VB are too laggy? As a member of some VB forums, I find the software to be extremely laggy, so I can't see myself ever using it. I don't seem to have a lag issue here, maybe it has something to do with the version being used. I've heard this complaint from other VB forum owners though.
 
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