Forums have been around since the beginning of the web and have become a popular tool for building community. People with like interests can come together to share ideas, shoot the breeze or generally hang out.
Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs are under the impression that community is not an essential aspect of a website. As humans, we actually thrive towards empathetic connections with other people.
Our WordPress experts curate the best forum plugins for your website. They’ve tried and tested each of them, so you don’t have to do the hard work.
What is A Forum Plugin?
A WordPress forum plugin can be a great way to leverage the power of WordPress and add an entire forum infrastructure for your users. They can provide the form, the function, and the tools necessary to organize your forum or manage it if you have any issues or concerns.
There are several ways your message can be delivered to the customers and clients of your website. Some plugins come with tools for personalizing and customizing the content, while others come with their own extensions that you can use to add plugins on your turn.
WordPress plugins take mere minutes to implement and can be added to any website.
Why Do You Need To Create A Forum On Your Website?
One of the best ways to build a community is by providing people with an outlet where they can share solutions, post questions, and create new ideas. Online forums are one way to do that.
With the Forum Builder, you can choose to make your own forum (Q&A, discussion board, knowledge sharing zone, etc.), or you can import a pre-existing forum.
There are many benefits to adding a forum to your website; here are just a few:
- A WordPress forum is a perfect way to engage with your customers and boost customer loyalty. When they connect, they are likely to come back, purchase more products, and recommend them to their friends and family.
- Forums are one of the most common and effective ways to provide support to your customers. When your customers have a question about your product or service, they can post it in the forum and check for existing posts. If it’s a new question that doesn’t already exist, they can post it and get their query solved.
- Forums can give your website some valuable SEO value when a unique issue is discussed in detail. In many instances, forums dominate search results. Sometimes, people find that it makes more sense to discuss an issue in the forum than on your blog.
1. BuddyPress
BuddyPress is a popular forum plugin, with more features than bbPress. It has a similar look and feels to bbPress, but it’s also different in intent; BuddyPress is from the same creators as bbPress, and if given time, you’ll see the variations between the two.
BuddyPress is loaded with potential for all different types of business needs. What sets it apart from other versions is that it also has basic tools like topics and messages, plus information like your profile and networking setup.
The best part about this plugin is that it’s fairly flexible and can be significantly expanded with a few free extensions. This allows you to create whatever kind of community you want!
2. Asgaros Forum
Asgaros Forum is a WordPress plugin that makes setting up, using, and managing a forum easy. It provides all you need, without the added hassle.
Forum design is built around providing a quick, easy-to-use forum for your website. It’s installed via shortcode so it’s simple for beginners. Plus, you’ll get all the tools that you need to build a successful forum.
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The forum has a unique look and feel. It’s not designed for large or busy forums, but it could work perfectly for smaller communities.
3. bbPress
bbPress is intended to be as simple and easy to use as WordPress. It’s from the same people who created WordPress, and it has a similar look and feel.
As for customizing the forum, the dashboard is never difficult or confusing. It’s straightforward to use and allows you to customize with just a few clicks, give it a unique look or fit it into your existing design.
bbPress is a simple, yet customizable forum platform. Its installation process can be as easy or complex as you want it to be. You’re in full control and can tailor your forum however you wish.
4. ForumEngine
ForumEngine is a powerful WordPress theme that allows anyone to create a truly powerful and engaging online discussion forum. You can show your forum threads right on your homepage with this intuitively designed theme.
If you’re looking for a forum solution to interact with your customers better, ForumEngine has all the features you’ll need to create a fully functioning community. It also integrates seamlessly with Google Analytics and allows users to quickly search any topic in the list using Ajax live search.
The forum makes it easy for your users to access and manage all of their forum’s activities.
5. Simple:Press
Simple:Press is a simple way to add a forum on to your WordPress website. With both free and premium versions available, you can choose the option that fits your needs best.
With Simple:Press you have maximum control and freedom over your forums. You can create unlimited forums, forum groups, sub-forums, private and public forums easily, assign permissions to users, and more.
6. WP Foro Forum
WP Foro Forum is a complete forum plugin for WordPress. It comes with tons of features and options, like different forum views and the admin tools you’ll need to control your forum.
WP Forum is a multipurpose forum plugin that has an organized layout, including posts and comments. It also integrates with BuddyPress if you wanted to add more social elements to your site. In addition to the several themes and some stylish options, this is a very feature-rich plugin.
The plugin is built for SEO, with its own cache and cache-friendly features, as well as premium extensions to take it even further.
