What free forum software do you like?

[Jayson]

The main ones are

• MyBB
• phpBB
• SMF
• WpForo (paid plugin for free software)
• bbPress

Can you all name more?

Myself, I don't really see any as being "better" than the others, but I am accustomed to MyBB lately. Well, oddly enough, all of the forum softwares don't have mobile friendly default themes. You have to upload one that's either paid or free.

 

[PGen98]

I like MyBB, definitely a strong freeware contender these days. I also really like Flarum, it's a very good product that I've been keeping tabs on since the FluxBB devs decided to merge into them.

 

[Leonard]

I like MyBB, definitely a strong freeware contender these days. I also really like Flarum, it's a very good product that I've been keeping tabs on since the FluxBB devs decided to merge into them.

Good/ great of you

 

[Jayson]

I like MyBB, definitely a strong freeware contender these days. I also really like Flarum, it's a very good product that I've been keeping tabs on since the FluxBB devs decided to merge into them.

What would be some negatives for SMF, phpBB etc.?

 

[PGen98]

What would be some negatives for SMF, phpBB etc.?

I wouldn't say there were negatives, per se, just preferences that make me, personally, prefer other platforms over them. Feature wise, most freeware forums are on a level of parity, more or less, so it comes down to UI/UX, systemic and operational preferences. What look and feel do you like? Go that route.

 

[Spikey]

For me I would say it's Mybb and Jcink. Jcink is a free version of Invision Power Board.

 

[Paladin]

MyBB is fantastic. Quite honestly, I feel like it eclipses Xenforo in some aspects. It's got an eye-catching theme and the best part is the administrator can edit the PHP files directly to change the functionality without dealing with extensions.
phpBB isn't the best platform nowadays (while it's a great forum and has good UI, security is a little iffy), and vBulletin (even though it's a paid forum) is full of security holes and glitches.

 

[LEADTECH]

I really like Mybb specially the plugins that you can put on them. It has a nice IU which similar to other paid forums.
Mybb has a little similar to vBulettin also.

 

[apathy]

SMF is my favorite, probably because it's what I used as a clueless 12 year old so it's just what I'm familiar with. I find it's code structure easy enough to understand despite not ever sitting down and learning PHP/SQL, so I'd say that's a good plus - though I'm unsure how the alternatives compare in this aspect.

 

[Abizaga]

What would be some negatives for SMF, phpBB etc.?

Negatives of PhPBB:
Its phpbb