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Seeking Recommendations for Self-Hosted, Community Forum Software

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Comments

  • daviddavid Member

    @DataRecovery said: Check the first link for AsmBB above (asmbb.org). I didn't manage to try AsmBB myself yet (although the geek in me is very curious), but at least their default forum skin looks really nice and modern (switch to the dark mode).

    The skin on asmbb.org does look much better. It wasn't included in the download that I installed. It looks like it's still under development, and perhaps available by request only.

  • @DataRecovery said: That's a nice find, thanks!

    Haven't seen this one before, looks very good on desktop in dark mode. Sad that self-hosted version requires a license.
    I think the investment is OK, kinda in the same pricing range as XenForo and vBulletin, but cheaper in the long run, since updates will cost 99$ per year.

    @225thinker said: -- Things other forums have built-in are provided externally from "extensions" (plug-ins) that you need to find (if they exist) and install, and then they mostly just magically work (there is almost no explanation of how they work or even what they do). The model is very minimalistic, with add-ins for any "features" you want. As an example, there is an extension for "likes" and a separate extension for "dislikes".

    That is the main thing I don't like Flarum. They have "only extensions, we don't implement it in the core" mindset and I suspect that after they release 2.0 ton of extensions will break. That's why I recommend waiting for v2 or try something like Waterhole instead.

  • I always used phpbb it's still updates a lot of extensions and styles

  • I actually deployed discourse into production some years ago, c.a. 2017, 2018 probably don't remember exactly. Easy install, maintain, backup with docker.

    I tested flarum and it was more efficient than discourse, both ram and cpu. But didn't get to deploy it in prod.

  • @DataRecovery said:
    Check the first link for AsmBB above (asmbb.org). I didn't manage to try AsmBB myself yet (although the geek in me is very curious), but at least their default forum skin looks really nice and modern (switch to the dark mode).

    AsmBB is really good for lowend VPS, the AsmBB.org is on HN for sometime https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38983742

  • How does bbPress compare to the options mentioned so far?

  • jaknapjaknap Member

    I think www.breezio.com might have a self hosted option.

  • The criticisms above of Discourse are very fair. But it still does real-time better than anything else self-hosted, if you want real-time post notifications and chat-room. (Invision does have real-time features, but gatekeeps it to their cloud offering). I did a longer post about Discourse here

  • @raindog308 said:
    Vanil...erm, nvm.

    Man :#

  • JoshRJoshR Member, Patron Provider
    edited May 2025

    I mean there still is phpBB https://www.phpbb.com/ and it appears to be still getting updates.

  • @ValdikSS said:
    I would recommend against Discourse:

    • Consumes much, much more CPU and RAM than any PHP alternative
    • Struggles with load spikes, switching to non-personal mode for some time
    • Has strange release policy, recommends users to run basically git master instead of even beta releases
    • Security is not the best: scratched it a tiny little bit and got paid their highest on bug bounty program
    • Can't disable all the fluff like likes, need to hide them with custom CSS
    • Sometimes have unexpected/confusing functionality, like marking the private message as offtopic which will rise moderator attention (in the PM!), and missing essential functionality like allow-edit-timer
    • Has group depth limit, I can't configure categories as flexible as I want

    But the big pro: it is a mailing list, you can create new topics, receive replies and reply all using your email client. I basically wanted a mail list with web interface.

    I'm running Discource for almost 5 years. If it were today, I won't choose it.

    if today start new, which will you choose?

  • aRNoLDaRNoLD Member
    edited May 2025

    Since someone mentioned Xenforo, I'll recommend his brother, IPB.

    https://invisioncommunity.com/forums/

  • @letlover said: if today start new, which will you choose?

    I don't know, because I don't have experience with other engines. I can only judge other engines as a user, not as administrator.

    Thanked by 1letlover
  • sandozsandoz Veteran
    edited May 2025

    @aRNoLD said:
    Since someone mentioned Xenforo, I'll recommend his brother, IPB.

    https://invisioncommunity.com/forums/

    For sure IPB is good, but IPB styles aren't better than Xenforo. Xenforo is taking everything at this moment.

    Alternative you also have this (is not common to hear)
    https://www.woltlab.com

    If you want high customization, addons, high community Xenforo wins.

    For free, you have this:
    https://www.simplemachines.org/ (SMF, it should be now in 2.1.5 version, but they don't released until now)

    https://github.com/NodeBB/NodeBB

    PhpBB is good, MyBB also. But SMF is not so far away. Many mods, many themes.

  • raindog308raindog308 Administrator, Veteran

    @aRNoLD said: Since someone mentioned Xenforo, I'll recommend his brother, IPB.

    https://invisioncommunity.com/forums/

    Years ago I ran IPB and it was ok, but all the add-ons were a pain. I got the impression that if you were a PHP developer, it was a nice developer, but you needed to be a php developer to really use the platform's potential.

    @MannDude 's vpsBoard ran on IPB and I think, to use a Steam term, his review was Mixed.

    Thanked by 1nghialele
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