Vanilla Forum AlternativesForum Software and other similar apps like Vanilla Forum

Vanilla Forum is described as 'Vanilla provides a standards-compliant, multi-lingual, theme-able and pluggablecommunity forum software that powers discussion forums on 800,000 sites' and is a Forum Software in the social & communications category. There are more than 25 alternatives to Vanilla Forum for a variety of platforms, including Self-Hosted, Web-based, Linux, Windows and Mac apps. The best Vanilla Forum alternative is Discourse. It's not free, so if you're looking for a free alternative, you could try Discourse or Flarum. Other great apps like Vanilla Forum are Simple Machines Forum, MyBB, XenForo and Apache Answer.

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Alternatives list

  1. Discourse icon

    Discourse

     156 likes
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    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.

    69 Discourse alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free Personal
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • Ruby
    • JavaScript
    • Cloudron
    • Docker
    Discourse screenshot 1
     
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    1
    Comments about Discourse as an Alternative to Vanilla Forum
    Guest
    Positive
    1

    Provides a similar modern look to Vanilla that is missing in other legacy forums. But a warning, it runs on Ruby on Rails instead of PHP.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Vanilla Forum Icon
    Discourse icon

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

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

    • Discourse is Free Personal and Open SourceVanilla Forum is also Free Personal and Open Source
  2. Flarum icon

    Flarum

     82 likes
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    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.

    53 Flarum alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • Apache HTTP Server
    • PHP
    Flarum screenshot 1
     
  4. phpBB icon

    phpBB

     90 likes
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    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

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Self-Hosted
    • PHP
    37 languages
     
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    1
    Comments about phpBB as an Alternative to Vanilla Forum
    Guest
    Negative
    0

    Vanilla is similar to yammer , but phpBB is to forums like mybb. Thank you. PS. This website is very cool because the users can find different options. Congratulations!

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Vanilla Forum Icon
    phpBB icon

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

    • phpBB is Free and Open SourceVanilla Forum is Free Personal and Open Source
  5. Ad
    Screenshot
    PlushForums icon
    PlushForums

    Plush is the most polished, user-friendly forum experience ever, featuring real-time discussions, beautiful design, an integrated blog, member directory, private messaging, paid subscriptions and a world-class mobi...

    https://plushforums.com
    Learn More
  7. MyBB icon

    MyBB

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

    47 MyBB alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    MyBB screenshot 1
     
  8. XenForo icon

    XenForo

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

    44 XenForo alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Pay once
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

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

    • XenForo is the most popular commercial alternative to Vanilla Forum.

    • XenForo is Paid and ProprietaryVanilla Forum is Free Personal and Open Source
  10. Apache Answer icon

    Apache Answer

     2 likes
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    Q&A platform software for teams at any scale. Whether it's a community forum, help center, or knowledge management platform, you can always count on Apache Answer.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • Docker
    • Cloudron
    Home Page on Desktop
     
  11. bbPress icon

    bbPress

     21 likes
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    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

    Platforms

    • Online
    bbPress screenshot 1
     
  12. NodeBB icon

    NodeBB

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

    46 NodeBB alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium (Subscription)
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • Sandstorm
    • MongoDB
    • Redis
    • Cloudron
    • Node.JS
    NodeBB screenshot 1
     
  13. FluxBB icon

    FluxBB

     24 likes
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    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...

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
     
  14. vBulletin icon

    vBulletin

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

    45 vBulletin alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Pay once
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • PHP
    Home Screen
     

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

    • vBulletin is Paid and ProprietaryVanilla Forum is Free Personal and Open Source
12 of 49 Vanilla Forum alternatives