Discourse is open-source forum software for community discussion, support, and knowledge sharing, with moderation tools, customization, and built-in chat.
47.7k stars9k forksGPL-2.0last commit Actively maintained
16 self-hosted Vanilla Forums alternatives
Cloud-hosted community forum platform enabling businesses to create branded discussion boards, Q&A, and customer communities. Provides moderation tools, gamification, analytics and integrations with support/CRM systems to manage engagement.
Alternatives to Vanilla Forums
#2
Lightweight, extensible forum platform built in PHP with a Mithril.js frontend, supporting MySQL/MariaDB/PostgreSQL/SQLite and an active extensions ecosystem.
16.4k stars1.7k forksMITlast commit Actively maintained
#3
NodeBB is a modern forum platform with real-time discussions, built-in chat, SSO options, plugins, and flexible theming, backed by Redis, MongoDB, or PostgreSQL.
15.2k stars3k forksGPL-3.0last commit Actively maintained
#4
Open-source intranet and enterprise social network for communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing with a modular, extensible design.
6.7k stars1.7k forkslast commit Actively maintained
#5
Misago is a modern, fast forum application built with Python, Django, and React, featuring moderation tools, permissions, private threads, polls, and API integrations.
2.8k stars555 forksGPL-2.0last commit Actively maintained
#6
Loomio is a collaborative decision-making tool for group discussions, proposals, and polls, helping teams make transparent decisions asynchronously with a clear record.
2.6k stars703 forksAGPL-3.0last commit Actively maintained
#7
phpBB is an open-source forum (bulletin board) platform in PHP for building and managing community discussion boards with extensible theming and add-ons.
2.1k stars1k forksGPL-2.0last commit Actively maintained
#8
Self-hostable community discussion platform combining Q&A, forums, team chat, ideation/upvoting, and Disqus-style embedded blog comments.
1.8k stars129 forksAGPL-3.0last commit Actively maintained
#9
MyBB is a PHP-based, open-source forum platform with plugins, themes, moderation tools, private messaging and multi-database support.
1.2k stars438 forksLGPL-3.0last commit Actively maintained
#10
Open source Stack Overflow clone for teams: Q&A, knowledge sharing, search, spaces, reputation, webhooks, and integrations via a Para backend.
922 stars230 forksApache-2.0last commit Actively maintained
Open-source PHP forum software supporting MySQL, PostgreSQL, or SQLite with a modular package system and rich moderation features.
752 stars268 forkslast commit Actively maintained
#12
Modern Node.js-based BBS server with Telnet/SSH/WebSocket access, theming and mods, message networks, file areas, doors, and strong authentication options.
666 stars125 forksBSD-2-Clauselast commit Actively maintained
#13
Mbin is a federated content aggregator offering voting, discussion and microblogging via ActivityPub. A community-focused fork of kbin, built with PHP and Symfony.
426 stars33 forksAGPL-3.0last commit Actively maintained
#14
A modern forum, wiki, and community hub for discussions, curated lists, and knowledgebases. Extensible, secure platform built with TypeScript and Go.
332 stars36 forksMPL-2.0last commit Actively maintained
#15
AsmBB is a lightweight, assembly-language web forum engine that runs via FastCGI and stores data in SQLite, designed for Linux servers and high performance.
Activity unknown
#16
Open source ActivityPub-powered federated forum and link aggregator for running and joining community discussions across the Fediverse.
Activity unknown
What replacing Vanilla Forums actually involves
Every option on this page is open source and free to run on your own hardware, so you own the data and there is no subscription to cancel. 14 of 16 shipped a commit in the last six months. Licences in this list: GPL-2.0, MIT, GPL-3.0, AGPL-3.0, LGPL-3.0. In exchange you take on hosting, backups and updates yourself.
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