If you are an active participant in forum discussions, you can rent out forum signature on popular forums to make money. It is a relatively new area that many people are not aware of. As a member of a forum, you are allowed to add a personalized signature that appears below any post that is made on the forum.

In time past, individuals merely used this platform to display their unique signatures, but these days, people are now more enterprising. Read on to know more about how you can utilize this opportunity to your advantage.

• How can I Rent Out Forum Signature to Make Money?
• Can you Make Money From Creating a Forum?
• What is a Signature on a Forum?
• How can I Use the Forum Signature Properly?
• How do I Monetize my Forum?
• How Much Does it Cost to Run an Online Forum?
• How do I Set up a Forum Business?
• How do you Run a Successful Forum?
• How do you Make a Forum Popular?
• What is the Best Forum Platform?
• How Much Does Hosting a Forum Cost?
• What Software do Forums Use?

How can I Rent Out Forum Signature to Make Money?

Become a member

The first step to take in renting out forum signature on popular forums to make money is to become a member of forums that you have interest in. This will enable you to comment on issues that you care about. The forums usually have the same format which makes it easy for you to fill in the fields very rapidly.

Personalize your signature

If you really want to rent forum signature on popular forums to make money, you must ensure that it is unique and eye-catching. One way to do this is to change your code by using either HTML code or Bbcode. This will enable you to personalize your signature.  Before you make the changes, you should know the code that your forum uses. Do not forget that different brackets are used by each one of them. However, you do not necessarily need the code to personalize your signature.

Sell your signature space

If you are very active in forums, you will be contacted by a few webmasters who want to buy your signature space. If you agree to use your signature to sell their products you can be paid $8 to $20 per month. It does not require anything from you besides simply copying and pasting the code to your signature space. You also do not need to read the products or services that they are promoting on their sites.

Read Also: Simple Ways To Save More Money With Alternative Power

It only requires being a part of the discussions and having fun as you partake in them. The more discussion thread you participate in, the more money you make. The least to be made is $100 in a month, you can even ask for a higher rate when you are able to do more.

Affiliate link

Affiliate products can be promoted in your forum signature. If the forum permits direct affiliate links, you may choose the product that you want to promote from the affiliate network and paste the link in your forum signature. You can also decide to copy and paste the entire banner. Anytime your post is read and clicked, and leads to a purchase, you will make some money. This is how a lot of people make money.

It is a privilege to have a signature link. Forum owners usually monitor forum participation and guard signature clicks. Some will let you have a signature link if you post a certain number of relevant comments. A few of them do not really care and will let you have one immediately after registration. Make sure you make the most of every opportunity.

Can you Make Money From Creating a Forum?

All you need are willing participants, reliable advertisers or loyal sponsors. Add these elements to a strong niche and mix in some technical expertise to obtain consistent earnings. Generating a reliable income by uniting a free forum with ad networks, sponsor ad spots or subscriber gateways may require significant code modifications and costly customization by a Web designer. But if your plan is sound and your skills are proficient, you can succeed with minimal additional expense.

Here are some ways you can make money from your forum.

1. Earn ad revenue by incorporating an advertising network into your free forum. Advertising networks offer payments based on pay-per-click and pay-per-view. Choose an ad network with clients that are most likely to attract the attention of your forum participants.

Inform your Web designer of your choice so that she can install the ad network’s code into your free forum. Then advertise your forum in print and online to generate traffic. Your free forum will earn fluctuating revenue as its visitors click ad links, banners or ad boxes.

2. Collect fees from an exclusive sponsor or multiple ones who are willing to pay for visibility in your free forum. Potential sponsors, outside of those in known online ad networks, can be found in your local community and online. These businesses may expect you to discuss its products and pictures.

Free forums that feature discussions on a niche topic such as auto repair, pets or gardening may appeal to auto, pet or gardening supply companies, for example. Present your niche-oriented forum to potential sponsors after enough traffic and activity exists and win the confidence of businesses and fixed earnings.

3. Gather people from a common interest area and collect membership fees. People will pay for one-stop access to a collection of discussions on relevant issues, such as new laws, news stories and trends.

Membership forums of value to potential subscribers may feature areas to discuss problems and obtain solutions from peers. Successful membership forum earnings don’t have a cap, and you can earn an increasing amount of money from them as word spreads about your forum.

What is a Signature on a Forum?

A forum signature is a block of information that is automatically attached at the bottom of each forum post. This usually contains links for sites owned by the author. It can be as simple as a text or include graphics and animations as well.

A forum signature is used to provide forum readers a link of an author’s web page, usually related to the forum topic itself. It can be very useful especially for internet marketers as they can advertise their links by getting involved in forums.

They can expose their links to the forums that they join into, creating back links that increases their page rankings, putting them in front of search results from different search engines. And the more clicks they generate, the more potential for them to have a sale.

How can you add a forum signature?

You will definitely not have a forum signature unless you prompt yourself to create one. Normal texts can usually be typed down in forum sites but signatures with graphics and the like will need to be in an HTML code. www.free-ad-system.com To add a signature, go to a forum and sign up.

Go to the link which will enable you to change your profile setting. Normally, you will find a signature box in it. Paste the text or code of your signature in the box and click the “attach signature” checkbox (if any) for your forum signature to automatically attach below your message.

How can I Use the Forum Signature Properly?

Below are some tips:

1. Make your signature a promotional tool. The forum signature can act just like an online advertisement on different sites. It should describe what you are promoting. Put together professional and convincing content and make it short but sweet. (Tip: If you are not much of a computer savvy, there are several sites that offer forum signature designs. Just make sure that what you get is relevant to your product or service.)

2. Include the link to your site. To make your signature more effective, include the link to your website. This will help you generate more traffic and will also help the readers learn more about the products or services that you are offering.

3. Participate in a forum related to your site. Expose your signatures to relevant forums. Promoting your fly new motorcycle models in a forum for computer geeks? What can you possibly get from that? Try forums for car lovers and you will surely find interested readers who would gladly look at what you have to offer. It is basic marketing-picking markets that have the same interest as you.

4. Create threads. In forums, the readers usually skip the part of replies that are not related to their query. If you look closely, thread creators get more clicks than thread repliers. This is because most of the readers would post replies without reading the other replies. So to generate more exposure for your site, create lots of threads in related forums to let other users see your signature rather than posting them as replies.

5. Include your achievements. It is always a plus for an internet marketer’s professional character if you put his achievements in the forum signature. When you include these, you will find your readers clicking on your signature to know more about you and what you have to offer.

How do I Monetize my Forum?

So, what are some other ways you can monetize your community?

1. Put up a paywall. This can work in some cases, for example, if the forum helps people do their jobs and they can expense the fee. Otherwise, charging for access might reduce your visitor to registered member conversion rate. A way to test this is to limit only a section of the forum to paying members.

2. Premium memberships. This differs from a paywall in that it doesn’t give members access to the content. Instead, it might give them a feature (like being able to create a signature) or something more symbolic like a badge or rank.

3. Hold conferences or offline events. The Penny-Arcade forums are huge and don’t show ads. There are some ads on other parts of the Penny-Arcade website but it’s likely that their main source of revenue is the PAX conference. The first Pax conference in 2004 attracted about 3,000 people. The most recent Pax Prime event saw an incredible 70,000 attendees.

4. Sell merchandise. Profit margins on t-shirts or mugs aren’t great but it’s easy to set up a storefront these days with services like Shopify. It’s also fun to hold design contests and get the community involved.

5. Apply to ad networks that pay better. There are lots of niche ad networks out there and some might be looking to reach your audience. One of our clients targets mostly young urban males and has signed up with Complex Media, an ad network that specializes in that demographic. It’s win-win as the audience sees more relevant ads and the forum owner is doing better than with his previous ad network partner.

6. Do direct sponsorships. Reaching out to possible sponsors can be time consuming but can result in a nice steady stream of revenue regardless of pageview stats. Typically, we see the 3 or 4 packages being offered. The packages include a placement, term (the longer the better) and price. If you’re lucky, you’ll get some inbound inquiries and won’t have to do too much selling to land a few sponsors.

7. Sell member data. Look for a list broker or agency that has clients that want to reach people in your niche. A good broker will rent out the list on your behalf to legitimate marketers. It’s important to be upfront with your membership about this when they register and give them an option to opt-in or opt-out.

8. Monetize links. Services like VigLink replace links to products and services in your forum with affiliate links. If someone ends up buying via that link, you earn an affiliate commission. You can go a step further with these services and automatically hyperlink common product names but doing this can upset the post author and make your content look spammy.

How Much Does it Cost to Run an Online Forum?

Fortunately for most, the investment for running a forum website is usually fairly minimal: a few dollars per month for web hosting, coupled with open-source software, and user-driven oversight. That being said, businesses and inexperienced forum owners may need to spend quite a bit more by upgrading to a more powerful hosting plan and purchasing a hosted forum program, along with hiring developers and moderators to implement and manage the community.

How much you should pay for web hosting largely depends on the amount of traffic you expect to see each month. While the cheap web hosting plans are typically the most attractive, you may need to budget up to $20 per month for top VPS hosting services and roughly $100 for a dedicated server hosting package.

Beyond the web hosting and domain name registration, the latter of which typically costs between $10 and $15 per year, your forum software represents the next potential expense. We’ve seen the free and open-source options at length, but your audience may necessitate a more expensive solution. Depending on the specific product and package you choose, most forum software can cost between roughly $15 and $500 per month.

Aside from the technologies needed to create and operate a forum website, the only other potential cost is time. Your time can be considered free if you don’t need to take a salary from the operation, but what if you need to employ developers or moderators to help oversee your readers’ engagement?

Many forums give their community leaders and frequent posters the responsibility of administrative rights to delete posts and ban users who don’t adhere to the forum rules.

How do I Set up a Forum Business?

Businesses use forums to engage customers and answer questions that people have about their products and services. Users can speak candidly and interact with other customers who share the same interests, questions, and criticisms.

1. Pick a location to host your forum.

The first step is to decide where you want to host your forum. It can be a page that’s found at the end of the URL, like www.example.com/forum. Or, it can be a subdomain located at the beginning of the URL, like forum.example.com. Where you choose is dependent on your current web hosting provider and how you’ve organized and built your site.

2. Choose a content management software to create your forum website.

Once you have a web address picked out, the next step is to choose content management software. This software builds your forum’s pages and lets you design and categorize its content. The right software makes all the difference, so be sure to select one that can match the theme and features of your current website.

3. Organize your forum’s structure.

Before creating pages, you should consider how you’re going to organize topics. It should be easy for customers to find what they’re looking for and your forum’s navigation features should support its visitors’ needs. Start with identifying the topics you’ll want to create discussions for.

These can focus on troubleshooting specific products and services or could be for general topics like customer ideas and workarounds. You should also include a search bar, so visitors can bypass categories if they’re looking for a specific page. Organizing your forum this way will help users navigate your site and find information that’s relevant to their interests.

Regardless of how you organize your content, your forum page should have these elements:

• TopicsSearch bar
• Navigation menu
• Sign in/Log in button
• Popular community topics
• Widgets for upcoming events, latest blog posts, webinars, or tutorials if applicable

4. Design your forum’s theme.

Your forum’s theme should match your surrounding website. It should use the same colors, logos, and layout as your existing content so customers aren’t confused when they navigate to a new page.

Some content management systems provide themes that match most website layouts. In the example below, users can select from a variety of options when choosing their forum’s theme.

5. Create user rules for your forum website.

Visitors should feel empowered to participate in your forum’s discussions. To do that, all users will need to abide by a set of rules that promote healthy, informative conversation. These rules ensure discussions stay on topic and everyone feels comfortable with contributing.

Some example rules you can start with are:

• Be respectful, even when there’s a disagreement.
• No foul language or discriminatory comments.
• No spam or self-promotion.
• No links to external websites or companies.
• No NSFW (not safe for work) content.

As you can see in the screenshot below, the organization lists its top rules, including how to participate in constructive, productive conversations. These rules are a great place to start.

Additionally, the site also has a complaint and reporting process so users know what to do when they see someone break the rules of conduct.

6. Start conversations with interesting discussion topics.

Before you publish your forum, you should write some general discussion topics that encourage conversation. This will break the ice for new users, especially when your forum is starting out. After all, it’s much easier for users to comment on a post than it is for them to write their own.

7. Publish the forum on your website.

Now it’s time to publish your forum. Set your pages live and connect your forum’s home page to your primary site. Users should be able to easily find your forum when they visit your brand’s home page.

8. Advertise to your audience.

Now that we’ve covered the technical steps you’ll need to take to create a forum, the next step is to make it an active community. Like an awkward middle school dance, getting participants engaging with each other can be a lot easier said than done.

Start with reaching out and advertising to your most loyal customers. These people are genuinely interested in your brand and will be excited to participate in your forum. If you can get them talking, other visitors will be more likely to join the conversation.

You can advertise to them by targeting them in social media ads or reaching out via email. Additionally, you can advertise your community on search engines. Just think of all the ways you currently advertise your marketing campaigns and begin a campaign for your forum.

9. Increase engagement with badges.

Of course, engagement is something that’s hard to kickstart. You don’t want to manufacture it and have the conversations seem stilted. A great to encourage engagement is to provide incentives.

For example, one incentive you can provide is badges. When users regularly participate in your forum, reward them with badges that other users can see. Your most active users can be your “regular contributors,” and will feel a sense of belonging by participating in your community.

10. Moderate user participation and respond to customer inquiries.

Forums are living, breathing, active communities, and once you create one, you need to participate in it if you want it to thrive. This means your business should be leading discussions and leveraging the forum as a continuous resource for customer feedback.

Customer service reps should be assigned to mediate your forum and respond to customer inquiries. They should make sure users are abiding by the forum’s rules and answering any questions that customers have about your products and services. Not only will this help keep your forum active, but it will also provide a delightful support experience.

11. Collect user feedback.

As your forum grows, it’s important to collect feedback from its users. Ask them how they’re enjoying the experience and where you can make improvements. Doing so will keep users engaged and satisfied with your forum’s content and interface.

A great way to do this is to start a thread on your forum directly. In that thread, you can link to a survey. On the other hand, you could also email all your community members an NPS or customer satisfaction survey just like you would when you’re collecting feedback on your service organization.

How do you Run a Successful Forum?

Forums and online communities have been growing in popularity over the last decade. Some are small and focus on a singular, niche topic, and others, like Reddit and Quora, have hundreds of millions of active users. If your website’s niche lends itself to being community-driven, having a healthy forum with active members can translate to a lot of traffic. But there are many publishers who don’t know where to begin.

Below are some tips that can help you to run a successful forum.

1. Strategically choose your niche
2. Check for existing competitors
3. Ensure registration for users is easy
4. Create a set of rules for forum members
5. Moderate when necessary
6. Focus on content quality and visitor engagement
7. Evolve your strategy as your forum grows

In reality, it’s no easy task to create a successful forum these days. That’s primarily because the most established forums and online communities were started when the internet was just in its infancy. Additionally, it’s also due to the increasing popularity of mega forums like Reddit and Quora.

That being said, it’s still possible to create a successful online community on your website. For most publishers, it might make more sense to create forums on your website after you’ve already established some blog content on your website and gained steady organic traffic.

That way, as you build your website’s brand, its return users have a place to engage with each other.

How do you Make a Forum Popular?

Below are some recommendations we’ve found useful for increasing the popularity and visitors of your forum.

Increase popularity of your site

As your site becomes popular, more users begin to use your forum. If you have not already read through our promoting your web page section, we highly recommend you start there. This page has a wealth of good information on promoting your web page.

Enable guest posting

Not all forums have guest posting enabled by default. Not all users enjoy the thought of having to register to post messages on the forum. Enabling this feature can increase the popularity and use of your forums dramatically. If you start to notice an increase of abuse from guests, guest posting can be disabled at a later time.

Allow guests to view the forums

Always keep your forums public if you want new people to join. It is very unlikely for someone who doesn’t know what the forum is about to register as a member. Also, make sure search engine crawlers can index pages on your forum.

Mention the forum on all your pages

Your forum should be a focal point on your web page, which is why it should also be mentioned on your web pages. Mentioning the forum on your homepage is good, but not all visitors are going to get to your web page through the homepage.

Create posts for popular topics

You can’t expect visitors to create all the posts on your forum, especially when it is first starting. Therefore, it is up to you to create some of the initial interesting, controversial, or otherwise provoking posts that encourage responses and conversation. It is also a good idea to set a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule to visit the forums and create an interesting post.

Start small

It is a common mistake for many users who create a forum to create too many topics or channels. Don’t overwhelm the user, especially if it’s not needed. Start with a forum with only a few channels (4-6) and then as more channels become needed, create those channels.

Participate on your forums

Forums require lots of maintenance and should be a place you frequently visit to create posts, respond to other posts, and make sure everything is running smoothly.

Participate in related forums

Try to visit forums that relate to yours, and participate in them. However, do not use another forum as a platform to advertise. Instead, develop relationships with other users through contributing to that forum. When you feel comfortable, and think the other users would be receptive, you can always link to your forum in the signature line of your posts.

Keep your forum header small

As mentioned before about promoting a web page, the average person gives each page they visit 4 or less seconds. If your forum has a large header (e.g., a large advertisement, logo, or picture) requiring users to scroll to view the forum channels, users may not read any posts or subscribe.

Hold competitions or give out prizes

A great way to bring in more subscribers is to give away awards and prizes to visitors who are participating on the forum.

It takes time

No site can expect to create a forum and instantly get thousands of users and posts. It takes time for users to visit, register, and participate on the forum. Keep working at each of the above suggestions and users begin to visit more and bring their friends with them.

What is the Best Forum Platform?

Creating a forum website is a great way to engage with your target audience and nurture communication with different communities.

An online forum usually focuses on a specific subject, from technology and politics to hobbies and recent trends. Many business owners use forum platforms for marketing their products and services to a broader audience.

Below, we will review the 10 best forum software solutions

1. Wix Forum

Price: Free

Wix Forum is a drag-and-drop forum software that allows you to build outstanding community sites without a single line of code. You can build a site from scratch or choose one of the platform’s professionally designed website templates. In both cases, you’ll be able to customize every aspect of your forum and complement it with additional apps.

This solution is focused on building vibrant online communities and providing powerful social features that encourage users to engage with each other and create meaningful relationships. Wix Forum takes a page from the popular social media book to provide users with personal profile pages where other members can see all their posts and follow them.

Unlike the vast majority of free forum software solutions, Wix Forum is not self-hosted. This means that you won’t have to pay for hosting, nor be in charge or fixing any technical problems that may occur. Furthermore, if you don’t want to create a forum website separated from your main site, this platform allows you to easily merge the two together.

2. phpBB

Price: Free

phpBB is one of the oldest and most well-known free forum solutions out there. First launched in 2000, this platform is constantly updated to keep up with the latest industry trends including mobile-first indexing compliance and anti-spam capabilities.

The forum’s user-friendly interface, paired with a solid administration panel and documentation, make it highly accessible even with little technical knowledge. It includes all the basic features needed on a forum software, such as user moderation, notifications, security, and multi-language support. Additionally, there are hundreds of free extensions available.

phpBB is open-source and self-hosted, which means that you won’t have to pay for its use but will need to invest in a robust website hosting platform. On a high-quality host, this forum software solution can handle a large number of message boards and thousands of users.

3. vBulletin

Price: Plans for vBulletin Cloud start at $14.99/month, vBulletin 5 Connect license requires a one-time $249 payment

Broadly considered one of the best premium forum software, vBulletin has been around for over two decades. This platform provides powerful administration, security, and SEO tools, and has an AI-powered engagement feature that encourages community growth.

This forum software was created with large communities in mind. In addition to using machine learning and natural language processing to boost participation, vBulletin also allows users to create private forums and groups. Furthermore, it’s possible to create a blog within the platform in order to provide added value to members and strengthen the forum’s SEO performance.

The platform offers both self-hosting (vBulletin 5 Connect) and cloud hosting (vBulletin Cloud) options, making it equally accessible for users with varying degrees of technical knowledge. Both versions can be set up in just 15 minutes and provide the same features.

4. MyBB

Price: Free

As its name suggests, MyBB allows users to make the platform their own. This powerful open-source, free forum software is fully customizable, providing ready-made templates and a theme editor to make it easy for users to achieve their design goals. Its customization capabilities are also available for end users, as they can easily adjust the way they view discussions.

This solution provides all the basic features of a solid forum software, as well as several additional plugins available for those who want to take their boards a step further. Examples of these include anti-spam tools, gamification features, email blast support, and CDN capabilities.

While the list of extensions offered by MyBB falls short of the variety other solutions in this list offer, its easy accessibility and modern style make it a feisty contender in the fight for the title of best forum software.

5. Vanilla

Price: Free open-source version, business plans start at $689/month

Vanilla offers both free and premium versions of its forum software. The former provides users with a self-hosting platform with basic features and community-built plugins, while the latter is a powerful cloud-based solution aimed at enterprise-level customers.

Some of this forum software’s most renowned features include a wide array of marketing integrations, automatic content curation, and gamification practices. These are not only aimed to support and increase user engagement but also to empower business effectiveness.

Vanilla can also be used as a help desk software to create a robust ticket system for customer support efforts. The platform’s built-in knowledge base system also makes it possible for businesses to easily develop a self-service that relieves support demand.

6. Flarum

Price: Free

Despite being relatively new in the, Flarum has already made a name for itself as one of the best free forum software out there. The main reason for this lies on the core ethos upon which the solution has been built: simple, modern, and fast. It’s fair to say that these values are more than present in Flarum’s platform.

This new-gen forum software is easy to install and loads fast thanks to its lightweight JavaScript framework. Out of the box the platform’s user interface is modern and sleek, with a heavy focus on user experience. This elegant, simple design is complemented by smooth animations and large buttons which provide an overall professional look.

But what truly makes Flarum stand out is its two-pane interface. This unique feature provides users with a flexible environment where they can participate in numerous discussions without opening a handful of different tabs. Other engagement-focused capabilities include a floating message composer, discussion-organized notifications, live chat, and user mentions.

7. Simple Machines Forum

Price: Free

Also known simply as SMF, Simple Machines Forum is an open-source forum software built with large online communities in mind. Its interface stays clear of flashy decorations, opting instead for a clear and sober approach that gives the platform a professional look.

In order to allow for optimal performance and scalability, this free forum software offers a broad variety of customizable features and plugins, along with structured code documentation. As a result, SMF’s module and system is among the most flexible in the space.

Furthermore, SMF’s advanced package manager allows users to implement large-scale user modifications quickly. In just a couple clicks, you’ll be able to apply changes to large user databases. Long gone are the days when these modifications took endless hours and lines of code.

8. Discourse

Price: Free open-source version, business plans start at $100/month

Discourse offers a modern take on the notion of forums. A quick look at the platform’s interface makes it evident that this open-source solution has little in common with the traditional forum structure. This, combined with a long list of available features and integrations and complete mobile optimization, have granted this solution a spot among the best forum software.

One of Discourse’s most groundbreaking features is a unique user ranking system that provides experienced members with certain moderation capabilities. This results in a self-moderated community where users are rewarded for their engagement and meaningful collaborations.

If you are interested in this open-source forum software and don’t know how to host a website or don’t have the resources to do so, Discourse offers a managed hosting solution for a monthly subscription starting at $100.

9. XenForo

Price: $160/year

XenForo is a self-hosted forum software created for businesses. The platform presents an elegant interface that can be easily customized to match the business’s brand identity. You’ll be able to change the forum layout, create your own typography style, and implement your brand colors without a single line of code.

There are more than 2,000 plugins available in the platform, ranging from enhanced search capabilities to premium area paywalls. Among these, one of the XenForum’s core defining features is the use of gamification to encourage user engagement. This includes social sharing, activity milestones, appreciation tools, and a reward scheme.

In addition to the basic yearly license, XenForo offers several premium services users can add to their forums such as a media gallery, enhanced SEO tools, and advanced resource management. Extra additions can be purchased from third-party vendors.

10. Invision Community

Price: Plans start at $45/month

Invision Community is deemed to be one of the best forum software solutions for businesses and enterprises. It combines a fully customizable interface with rich content creation tools and a comprehensive admin panel that makes it easy to set up and manage.

The platform enables users to customize every aspect of their forums, down to the activity feed on a user basis. This flexibility extends to end-users as well, as they can create and manage their own online communities within the forum. Known as clubs, these areas get designated managers and can control private forums, galleries, and calendars.

Furthermore, Invision’s solution can be used beyond forum platforms to build fully functional and mobile-responsible support ticket systems, blogs, file-sharing networks, eCommerce sites, content management systems, and more.

How Much Does Hosting a Forum Cost?

Ready to start a forum website but don’t know where to look? Some hosting experts compiled the table below to give you a quick glance at all the top forum-friendly web hosting providers.

Rank	Web Host	Price	Domain	Expert Rating
1	A2 Hosting	$2.99	New or Transfer	★★★★★ 4.8
2	HostGator	$2.75	FREE (1 year)	★★★★★ 4.8
3	Hostinger	$1.99	FREE (1 year)	★★★★★ 4.7
4	SiteGround	$2.99	New or Transfer	★★★★★ 4.7
5	Bluehost	$2.95	FREE (1 year)	★★★★★ 4.5
6	InMotion	$2.29	FREE (1 year)	★★★★★ 4.4
7	GoDaddy	$2.99	FREE (1 year)	★★★★★ 4.2
8	iPage	$1.99	FREE (1 year)	★★★★★ 4.2

A shared server is excellent for building community forum apps from a web hosting provider with free PHP and MySQL tools. You’ll find many free forum script solutions to choose from, including CMS plugins and managed WordPress platforms. Be sure to test the features of every script using staging and subdomains. 

A dedicated server should not be necessary for forum hosting; even enterprise brands can use VPS plans for a forum application. Open-source forum software will save money over commercial products like vBulletin, which cost roughly $250. 

Build user engagement through the combination of a web hosting forum and knowledge base in online community development. 

What Software do Forums Use?

1. vBulletin (Paid)

VBulletin is a premium forum software, but it’s at the top of the list because it’s quick to set up, has sophisticated capabilities, and has the option to host the forum software yourself, or through their affordable and reliable cloud hosting.

This forum program can be set up in 15 minutes and it’s built with SEO and security features so you don’t have to worry about sorting that out yourself.

It also has an AI-powered user engagement feature to help your community grow organically.

Additionally, this is one of the best forum software because it’s mobile-ready out-of-the-box. The mobile experience is even automatically optimized. So, your online community will be displayed well across all devices and desktops.

The administration options are also straightforward so it’s not a hassle to manage your forum on your own.

You can self-host vBulletin for a one-time price of $249, or you can choose to host the forum software on their cloud servers starting at $15 per month. If you choose to host with vBulletin, maintenance and forum software upgrades are included and taken care of.

It’s software that’s best suited for anyone that requires an easy-to-use forum program.

2. Discourse (Free)

Discourse is certainly one of the best free forum software out there. It’s a popular option because it’s open-source, and has a lot of useful features and integrations.

It’s best suited for anyone that needs integrations to streamline their workflows.

There’s a ranking system that’s used not just to distinguish new members from experienced users, but to automatically give greater moderation capabilities to users who have contributed enough to earn it.

That way, your community can moderate itself and new users won’t be able to post or private message anyone anything that’s inappropriate.

It can also be used with WordPress to turn your website into a forum. Each blog post becomes a forum post. It also works with the Akismet WordPress plugin to moderate spam.

Discourse offers many other useful integrations such as Slack, IFTTT, Zapier, Zendesk, Patreon, GitHub, Google Analytics, Google Adsense, Amazon, and more. Social media integrations such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and others are also represented.

If you prefer a managed hosting solution instead of self-hosting your forum software, there’s an option for that and it starts from $100 per month.

3. phpBB (Free)

PhpBB is one of the oldest, free forum program options out there. It’s open-source as well as self-hosted forum software.

It has all the basic features you need in forum software, including user moderation, private messaging, notifications, the ability to set user permissions, etc.

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Not only that, but it also has built-in security, anti-spam, and caching capabilities.

You also have the option of using plugins to add capabilities that don’t come out of the box.

PhpBB has a responsive design. So, you needn’t worry if your members want to access your community on their mobile devices.

While its basic features may not seem all that special since these should be standard with any forum software, the specific capabilities are quite robust.

For example, the private messaging system is about as good as sending an email with whatever provider you use. You can add attachments, create an address book, create drafts, add attachments, view messages in conversation mode, and more.

It’s a solid option which is why it’s cemented as one of the best free forum software.

However, keep in mind that while phpBB is free, it’s a self-hosted option so you would need a hosting provider.

4. Simple Machines Forum (Free)

Simple Machines Forum (SMF) is an open-source program and has all the features you would expect in the forum software. It’s best-suited for anyone on a budget that still needs professional forum software.

Its user interface (UI) is clean and simple, making it look quite professional.

It also has an advanced package manager so you can make modifications in a couple of clicks that quickly applies the changes in even large communities. So, you can forget the days when it took hours to apply multiple changes across a large database of forum members.

SMF also supports multiple languages all at the same time. That way, no one needs to feel left out, which is great.

It’s designed for optimal performance and scalability as well as enhanced SEO and caching. So, it’s built for large communities. That’s also why its advanced permission and user management settings are especially welcome.

5. xenForo (Paid)

XenForo is a self-hosted premium forum software best suited for businesses. It uses gamification to increase user engagement and integrates with Facebook so users can register through social media. It makes sharing to Facebook easier as well.

XenForo has a recent activity feed so members can quickly get up-to-date. There are also notifications to make it even more straightforward to engage with the community.

It has a sleek, elegant, and professional UI, and built-in SEO optimization to increase forum functionality.

There are over 2,000 add-ons that range from various gamification features to administration, and enhanced search add-ons such as the popular and powerful ElasticSearch software.

It’s likely that you’ll find all the add-ons you need, but in case you don’t, they can help you develop one of your own with their framework.

XenForo will set you back $160 and there are also add-ons such as an installation service, branding removal, and other options. You’ll also need to host it yourself as previously mentioned.