WordPress offers several good forum plugins. Most of them offer the same features with various differences.
You can create simple and beautiful standalone forum platforms, or you can implement forums in your existing website.
As almost every plugin, forum plugins have free and pro versions. So, you can try a free version and if you will be satisfied, you can upgrade to a pro version.
Forums were a big thing in the 2000s. They were social media of their time. Maybe it is not as popular as it was but it is a good feature to have on a website.
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Why Do You Need Forums
Forums are a great way to create communities. Because it is a simple way to create discussions, questions, answers, it is a very popular way to learn, share, and communicate with people.
It can be a part of your website or you can create a full forum platform. It can be used instead of Facebook groups. Forums are like custom Facebook groups on your website.
Also Read: Top 7 Chat Plugins
With forum plugins that WordPress offers, it is very easy to create any kind of forum you want – simple, complex, big, small, etc.
For this post, I picked the best plugins that I knew, and let’s find out how they work and what features they offer.
1. BuddyPress
BuddyPress is perhaps the most known forums plugin. It is a flexible solution for forums, online communities, and groups. This is a free and very powerful tool with awesome features.
BuddyPress offers features like user profiles, managing accounts, groups, threads, private messaging, and more. It also has a friendship feature.
This is a great solution for forums. Simple, easy to use, and has great documentation for development.
2. BBPress
Another great plugin for forums is bbPress which is very similar to BuddyPress. It is also managed by Automattic, the team behind WordPress. It works very similarly.
bbPress is a very popular plugin among WordPress users. The reason is its features and ease of use. It is very fast, clean, easy to manage, and allows you to create multisite forums.
Has great documentation and has built-in theme support. It means that it will work with any theme. All the elements are included in the plugin.
3. WPForo Forum
wpForo Forum is a great plugin for creating beautiful and powerful forum platforms. It is created by the team that has another great comments plugin.
With this plugin you can create different forum layouts, it is mobile-friendly, has a member profile system, and is a very SEO-friendly plugin. Has great customization features and a translation system.
One of the best forum plugins with tons of great features. Also, has premium add-ons for additional functionality.
4. Forym
Forym is a premium plugin that can be bought on CodeCanyon. It’s a very simple forum solution for your website. Easy to use and very affordable.
The plugin is constantly updated and has good reviews. Key features of Forym are editor, drag & drop uploader, role manager, votes, user reputations, and more.
This plugin is great if you want to create a simple forum where people can create topics, questions, and get answers.
5. Simple Press
Another cool plugin for forum creation is Simple Press which is a premium plugin but also has a free version. Great for big traffic and has over 70 premium modules.
You are able to create great forums, groups, private forums, topics, posts, etc. It is fully integrated with WordPress registrations and logins and is SEO-friendly.
Prices are a little bit high but you can try their free version first. A premium version comes with themes.
6. Discussion Board
Discussion Board is one of my favorite forum plugins. The reason is that it is a very clean and modern-looking plugin. It really stands out among others. This is a premium plugin with a free version.
Features include user roles & approvals, anti-spam protection, icons, and shortcodes. A premium version includes other great features such as unlimited boards, follow topics, user profiles, etc.
Discussion Board is an amazing, easy-to-use, and modern solution for forums. With it, forum creation will be easy and quick.
Conclusion
WordPress forum plugins are a great way to create discussion boards easily. You can create communities where people discuss different topics, help each other and learn new things.
If you want to inject discussion into your blog or website, you can do it very easily with these awesome plugins. You can have a forum and blog on the same platform.
