ElkArte is a modern, powerful community building forum software. It is completely free to use and is licensed with an open source BSD-3 clause license.
Cost / License
- Free
- Open Source
Platforms
- Self-Hosted

Open Social is described as 'Purpose-built community engagement platform. Developed on top of a powerful open-source Drupal technology framework, Open Social allows organizations to create a central online hub for their members' and is a Social Network in the social & communications category. There are more than 50 alternatives to Open Social for a variety of platforms, including Web-based, Self-Hosted, Android, iPhone and SaaS apps. The best Open Social alternative is Bluesky, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like Open Social are diaspora*, Discourse, Minds and Friendica.
ElkArte is a modern, powerful community building forum software. It is completely free to use and is licensed with an open source BSD-3 clause license.

Trust Café (formerly WT Social / WikiTribune) is a privacy-focused and ad-free social network that places a special emphasis on evidence-based journalism. The platform survives on the generosity of individual donors to ensure privacy is protected and social space is ad-free.



An all-in-one social network platform tailored for niche communities, offering user-friendly customization, advanced features, scalability, and seamless integration for enhanced community engagement, branding, and functionality.




phpFox is the most popular commercial alternative to Open Social.
Used to be called Sgrouples, now its MeWe offered by the company Sgrouples Inc. On its homepage their motto is "The World's Private Communication Network" and "Join the privacy revolution".

Talkbase transforms community activity into actionable analytics. Discover how each interaction boosts business metrics, from sales to customer satisfaction, and fuel your growth with insights that matter.




Talkbase is the most popular SaaS alternative to Open Social.
NewConnection is a new app that allows users to make new connections with people all over the world. Users can come together though shared interests and find that lasting connection.Through NewConnection, you can meet new people and connect through chat and invites to travel...



Booklet is a asynchronous discussion forum as an alternative to chat. It sends calm, automated summaries to everybody so that they stay informed and engaged - without having to stay logged in.
opensource-socialnetwork also know as OSSN is a social networking software written in PHP. It allows you to make a social networking website, helps your members build social relationships with people who share similar professional or personal interests.




With Instaforum, you can build a forum website that's as simple and usable as a modern messaging app. It can be public or private, and users don't have to install anything. It's easy to set up, runs on your domain with your branding, and you control your data.




Libertree is free, libre, open-source software which is intended to provide a way for people to create their own social network. Libertree social networks can be free from commercial influence and manifestation, such as behaviour tracking, user profiling, advertising, data...

The award-winning Open Source Community software for Joomla. JomSocial is a powerful social networking software, loaded with plenty of social network features to empower your community such as entrepreneur circles, gamers clubs, hobbyist communities, artist fan pages and a lot...