Free phpBB AlternativesTop Forum Software and other similar apps like phpBB

The best free alternative to phpBB is Discourse. It's not free, so if you're looking for a free alternative, you could try Discourse or Flarum. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to phpBB and many of them is free so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting free alternatives to phpBB are Vanilla Forum, Simple Machines Forum, MyBB and bbPress.

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Alternatives
phpBB alternatives page was last updated

Alternatives list

  1. Discourse icon
     160 likes

    Discourse is an open source discussion platform built for the next decade of the Internet. A modern forum, everything's been redesigned to be easy.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Since

    • Since 2013

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • Ruby
    • JavaScript
    • Cloudron
    • Docker
    Good alternative?
     
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    2
  2. Flarum icon
     82 likes

    Flarum is free, open-source forum software with a focus on simplicity. You can use Flarum to easily set up a discussion forum for your website. Flarum is developed openly on GitHub.

    56 Flarum alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Since

    • Since 2015

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • Apache HTTP Server
    • PHP
    Good alternative?
     
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    3
  3. NodeBB icon
     21 likes

    A community forum allows you to engage and retain customers, keeping them interested and up-to-date with your latest product or service.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Since

    • Since 2014

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • Sandstorm
    • MongoDB
    • Redis
    • Cloudron
    • Node.JS
    Good alternative?
     
  4. Vanilla Forum icon
     22 likes

    Vanilla provides a standards-compliant, multi-lingual, theme-able and pluggablecommunity forum software that powers discussion forums on 800,000 sites.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Since

    • Since 2009

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    Good alternative?
     
  5. Simple Machines Forum — SMF in short — is a free, professional grade software package that allows you to set up your own online community within minutes.

    47 Simple Machines Forum alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Since

    • Since 2010

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Self-Hosted
    Good alternative?
     
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    1
  6. MyBB icon
     35 likes

    MyBB is the free and open source, intuitive, extensible, and incredibly powerful forum software you've been looking for.

    49 MyBB alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Since

    • Since 2009

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • GB flagUnited Kingdom
    MyBB screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
  7. bbPress icon
     21 likes

    bbPress is forum software with a twist from the creators of WordPress. Its focused on web standards, ease of use, ease of integration, and speed. bbPress will try to keep things as small and light as possible while still allowing great add-on feature possibilities.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Since

    • Since 2010

    Platforms

    • Online
    Good alternative?
     
  8. FluxBB icon
     24 likes

    FluxBB is a fast, light, user-friendly forum application for your website. FluxBB was designed as a lighter, faster alternative to some of the traditional feature heavy forum applications. It is easy to use and has a proven track record of stability and security making it an...

    47 FluxBB alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Since

    • Since 2010

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    Good alternative?
     
  9. FUDforum icon
     3 likes

    FUDforum (Fast Uncompromising Discussion Forum) is a free and open source web discussion forum. FUDforum combines an extensive feature set while maintaining the ability to generate forum web pages extremely fast.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Since

    • Since 2015

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    Good alternative?
     
  10. miniBB icon
     2 likes

    miniBB is a standalone, open source program for building your own Internet forum. If you want a lite, simple and stable message board attached to your existing website at the very high integration level, which may include the full customization of the layout to the look of your...

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Since

    • Since 2015

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    Good alternative?
     
  11. Forem icon
     3 likes

    Forem is open source software for building modern and independent communities for your developers, peers, customers, users. Forem is already powering communities that serve over 10 million monthly unique visitors.

    Cost / License

    Since

    • Since 2022

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    Good alternative?
     
  12. ElkArte icon
     2 likes

    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

    Since

    • Since 2019

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    Good alternative?
     
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