Open Source vBulletin Alternatives

The best open source alternative to vBulletin is Discourse. It's not free, so if you're looking for a free alternative, you could try Flarum or Simple Machines Forum. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 25 alternatives to vBulletin and many of them is open source so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source alternatives to vBulletin are MyBB, phpBB, NodeBB and FluxBB.

vBulletin alternatives are mainly Social Networks but may also be Blog Publishing Tools or Website Builders. Filter by these if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of vBulletin.

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vBulletin

Paid • Proprietary

Mac
Windows
Linux
Android
iPhone
PHP

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

Learn more about vBulletin

Discourse
Do you think this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free Personal • Open Source
Online
Self-Hosted
Ruby
JavaScript
Cloudron
Docker
64 alternatives to Discourse
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.
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Discourse Features
Email list
Interactive tutorials
Infinite scroll
Trust Level system
Patreon Integration
Slack integration
Mobile friendly
REST API
Live Push Notifications
Integrated Spam Protection
Discourse vs vBulletin opinions
Some users think Discourse is a great alternative to vBulletin, some don't.
Flarum
Do you think this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Self-Hosted
PHP
Apache HTTP Server
48 alternatives to Flarum
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.
Suggest and vote on features
Flarum Features
1. LightweightFlarum consumes less device resources compared to similar apps.
2. Extensible by Plugins/ExtensionsFlarum can be extended with add-ons, plugins and extensions.
3. Support for ThemesYou can use themes and templates to change the look and feel of Flarum.
Visual design
Web Forms
Flarum vs vBulletin opinions
Simple Machines Forum
Do you think this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Mac
Windows
Linux
Self-Hosted
45 alternatives to Simple Machines Forum
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.
Suggest and vote on features
Simple Machines Forum Features
User friendly
Portal
MyBB
Do you think this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Mac
Windows
Linux
Online
Self-Hosted
46 alternatives to MyBB
MyBB is the free and open source, intuitive, extensible, and incredibly powerful forum software you've been looking for.
Suggest and vote on features
MyBB Features
Integrated Spam Protection
phpBB
Do you think this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Mac
Windows
Linux
Self-Hosted
PHP
52 alternatives to phpBB
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.

phpBB has no features, suggest some!

phpBB vs vBulletin opinions
Almost everyone thinks phpBB is a great alternative to vBulletin.
NodeBB
Do you think this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Freemium • Open Source
Online
Self-Hosted
Sandstorm.io
MongoDB
Redis
Cloudron
Node.JS
44 alternatives to NodeBB
A community forum allows you to engage and retain customers, keeping them interested and up-to-date with your latest product or service.

NodeBB has no features, suggest some!
FluxBB
Do you think this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Mac
Windows
Linux
Online
43 alternatives to FluxBB
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...
Suggest and vote on features
FluxBB Features
Website integration
Discontinued
since 2018 no commit
Add a screenshot
Vanilla
Do you think this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free Personal • Open Source
Online
Self-Hosted
50 alternatives to Vanilla
Vanilla provides a standards-compliant, multi-lingual, theme-able and pluggablecommunity forum software that powers discussion forums on 800,000 sites.
Suggest and vote on features
Vanilla Features
1. Extensible by Plugins/ExtensionsVanilla can be extended with add-ons, plugins and extensions.
bbPress
Do you think this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Online
44 alternatives to bbPress
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.

bbPress has no features, suggest some!
Forem
Do you think this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Linux
Online
Self-Hosted
23 alternatives to Forem
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.
Suggest and vote on features
Forem Features
Feedback
Ruby