Playgroup AlternativesForum Software and other similar apps like Playgroup

Playgroup is described as 'A modern and affordable forum solution for communities. Well connected through integrations with Slack, Zapier and more' and is a Forum Software in the social & communications category. There are more than 10 alternatives to Playgroup for a variety of platforms, including Web-based, Self-Hosted, SaaS, PHP and Mac apps. The best Playgroup alternative is Discourse. It's not free, so if you're looking for a free alternative, you could try Flarum or phpBB. Other great apps like Playgroup are MyBB, NodeBB, XenForo and bbPress.

  • ...

A modern and affordable forum solution for communities. Well connected through integrations with Slack, Zapier and more.

More about Playgroup
Playgroup alternatives page was last updated Sep 22, 2023
Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard
  1. Discourse icon
     149 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    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.

    66 Discourse alternatives

    License model

    • Free PersonalOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • Ruby
    • JavaScript
    • Cloudron
    • Docker

    Discourse Features

    1. ActivityPub icon  Support for ActivityPub
    2.  Email list
    3.  Trust Level system
    4.  Interactive tutorials
    5.  Infinite scroll
    6.  REST API
    7. Patreon icon  Patreon Integration
    8. Slack icon  Slack integration
    9.  Mobile friendly
    10.  Integrated Spam Protection

    Discourse VS Playgroup

     
    • Discourse is the most popular Web-based & Self-Hosted alternative to Playgroup.

    • Discourse is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to Playgroup.

    • Discourse is Free Personal and Open SourcePlaygroup is Freemium and Proprietary
  2. Flarum icon
     81 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    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.

    50 Flarum alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • AU flagAustralia

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • Apache HTTP Server
    • PHP

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Support for Themes

    Features

    1.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    2.  Visual design
    3.  Simplicity
    4.  Web Forms

    Flarum VS Playgroup

     
  3. phpBB icon
     89 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    Since its creation in 2000, phpBB™ has become the most widely used Open Source forum solution. Like its predecessors, phpBB™ 3.2 “Rhea” has an easy to use administration panel and a user friendly installation process, which allows you to have a forum set up in minutes.

    53 phpBB alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • GB flagUnited Kingdom

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Self-Hosted
    • PHP

    phpBB VS Playgroup

     
    • phpBB is the most popular Windows, Mac & Linux alternative to Playgroup.

    • phpBB is Free and Open SourcePlaygroup is Freemium and Proprietary
  4. MyBB icon
     34 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

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

    47 MyBB alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • GB flagUnited Kingdom

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Self-Hosted

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Integrated Spam Protection

    MyBB VS Playgroup

     
  5. NodeBB icon
     19 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

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

    License model

    • FreemiumOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • CA flagCanada

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • Sandstorm
    • MongoDB
    • Redis
    • Cloudron
    • Node.JS

    NodeBB Features

    1.  Ad-free
    2. ActivityPub icon  Support for ActivityPub

    NodeBB VS Playgroup

     
  6. XenForo icon
     20 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    A compelling community experience. Intuitive. Social. Engaging. Fast. XenForo brings a fresh outlook to forum software.

    43 XenForo alternatives

    License model

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • GB flagUnited Kingdom

    Platforms

    • MySQL Community Edition
    • Self-Hosted
    • MariaDB
    • PHP

    XenForo VS Playgroup

     
    • XenForo is the most popular commercial alternative to Playgroup.

    • XenForo is Paid and ProprietaryPlaygroup is Freemium and Proprietary
  7. bbPress icon
     20 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    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.

    44 bbPress alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Online

    bbPress VS Playgroup

     
  8. Vanilla Forum icon
     21 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

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

    49 Vanilla Forum alternatives

    License model

    • Free PersonalOpen Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted

    Vanilla Forum Features

    1.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions

    Vanilla Forum VS Playgroup

     
  9. vBulletin icon
     20 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    vBulletin (abbreviated as vB) is a commercial Internet forum software written in PHP using a MySQL database server.

    44 vBulletin alternatives

    License model

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • PHP

    vBulletin VS Playgroup

     
    • vBulletin is the most popular Android & iPhone alternative to Playgroup.

    • vBulletin is Paid and ProprietaryPlaygroup is Freemium and Proprietary
  10. Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    Invision Community is a flexible, feature-packed and easy to customize platform that powers some of the biggest and best communities on the web.

    45 Invision Community alternatives

    License model

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted

    Properties

    1.  Support for Themes

    Features

    1.  Flat File CMS
    2.  Portal
    3.  Cloud based

    Invision Community VS Playgroup

     
  11. Booklet icon
     Like
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    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.

    License model

    • FreemiumProprietary

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Software as a Service (SaaS)

    Booklet Features

    1.  Threaded Conversations

    Booklet VS Playgroup

     
    • Booklet is the most popular SaaS alternative to Playgroup.

    • Booklet is Freemium and ProprietaryPlaygroup is also Freemium and Proprietary
  12. Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    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.

    License model

    Country of Origin

    • GB flagUnited Kingdom

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Software as a Service (SaaS)

    Properties

    1.  Privacy focused
    2.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Ad-free
    2.  No Coding Required
    3.  Encrypted Backup
    4.  Upload Screenshot
    5.  Unlimited storage
    6.  Real time collaboration
    7.  Support for @mentions
    8.  Dark Mode
    9.  Multiple Account support
    10.  No Tracking

    Instaforum VS Playgroup

     
12 of 18 Playgroup alternatives