The best WordPress forum plugins in comparison

Regardless of the topic, forums are a great way to exchange ideas, have conversations or get information from others. As a company, you can use a forum to build up your community and encourage user engagement among visitors to your platform. If your web presence isn’t fully dedicated to being a forum site, you can use a WordPress forum plug-in rather than a full WordPress forum theme. This way, you can set up an area for visitors to talk to each other alongside your regular content.

WordPress forum plug-ins: an overview of the best providers

If you want to set up a forum, you have a choice of several different WordPress forum plug-ins depending on your needs. Do you want something rather slim with just the basic essential features? Or would you prefer additional features such as votes and personalized user profiles? The right plug-in for you depends heavily on your answers to these questions.

bbPress

bbPress is a WordPress forum plug-in from the makers of WordPress. / Source: https://wordpress.org/plugins/bbpress/

bbPress is a very popular WordPress forum plug-in. Developed by the makers of WordPress, it wins people over with its simple structure and significant creative freedom. You can use it to quickly set up a forum divided into individual categories.

You can quickly set up a forum for your website using the WordPress forum plug-in bbPress.

The best part is that bbPress is completely free. All standard features are available in the base version. With over 200 extensions, you have a wide choice of additional features.

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WordPress forum plug-in bbPress: overview of pros and cons

Pros

Cons

Completely free

The base version has only basic features, meaning you need to install additional extensions for additional feature options

Over 200 extensions are available to allow things like questionnaires or evaluations

Only one layout available

Slimline

Compatible with multiple websites

Supports user profiles

Notifications for new threads

Automatically adapts to the color and font of the site You can customize it further using code

Akismet support

Simple to use

Compatible with many WordPress themes

Designed for WordPress and uses the same coding standards

Available in several languages

Optimized for mobile devices

BuddyPress

The WordPress forum plug-in BuddyPress adds a full social network to your website. / Source: https://wordpress.org/plugins/buddypress/

Buddypress doesn’t just give you a basic forum – rather, you will get a full social network that allows members of your community to make user profiles, join groups, and send private messages. Just like bbPress, BuddyPress is an official WordPress plug-in that uses the same coding standards and practices as WordPress. This makes the WordPress forum plug-in compatible with many WordPress themes and sites.

You can set up your network in just a few simple steps. It is easy to choose the settings, activate the features you want and make any display changes – you’ll have your own social network up and running in no time.

You can use the settings of the WordPress forum plug-in BuddyPress to quickly configure your own social network for your website.

Just like the WordPress forum plug-in bbPress, BuddyPress is completely free and can be installed directly from your admin area.

Tip

To meet the needs of different user groups, you can always combine BuddyPress with bbPress or other extensions. This way, you can set up an area for a standard forum as well as a space for social interactions on your website.

WordPress forum plug-in BuddyPress: overview of pros and cons

Pros

Cons

Completely free

You need extensions for a fully-fledged online community

Hundreds of extensions are available to give you things like questionnaires or evaluations

Slimline

Available in several languages

Automatically adapts to the color and font of the site – you can customize it further using code

Extensive social network with many features, including user profiles, friend requests, groups and activities

Simple to use

Compatible with many WordPress themes

Optimized for mobile devices

Designed for WordPress and uses the same coding standards

wpForo Forum

wpForo is another free WordPress forum plug-in. / Source: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wpforo/

wpForo Forum is a free WordPress forum plug-in with a more modern design than that offered by many other forum plug-ins. The basic version offers a choice of four different layouts for your WordPress forum. With paid add-ons, you can integrate more extensive features such as questionnaires, file sharing, user-defined fields, and much more.

You can add a new forum or category easily in your admin area and then drag and drop it to organize the structure of your forum.

The drag-and-drop feature of the WordPress forum plug-in wpForo Forum lets you easily set up hierarchies for forums and categories.

WordPress forum plug-in wpForo Forum: overview of pros and cons

Pros

Cons

Free

Paid add-ons

Modern design

A little more complex to use

Integrated SEO, xml sitemaps and cache features

Available in several languages

You can adapt colors and styles to your corporate design (using code)

Questionnaires, file sharing, user-defined fields and much more available with extensions

Compatible with many WordPress themes

Asgaros Forum

Asgaros Forum is a lightweight WordPress forum plug-in. / Source: https://wordpress.org/plugins/asgaros-forum/

Asgaros Forum is a particularly lightweight WordPress forum plug-in. You can use the code shortcut “[forum]” to add a forum to any page. You can easily customize fonts and colors with the editor in your admin area.

You can easily customize fonts and colors for the WordPress forum plug-in Asgaros Forum using the settings in the admin area.

Asgaros Forum is another completely free WordPress forum plug-in which offers a manageable platform with many useful features, such as page statistics, file sharing and questionnaires.

Tip

Want to know how to disable comments in WordPress? Find out how in our how-to article!

WordPress forum plug-in Asgaros Forum: overview of pros and cons

Pros

Cons

Completely free

Only a small number of extensions available

Very lightweight plug-in, good for site loading times

Very simple to use

Compatible with multiple websites

Available in several languages

You can adapt colors and styles to your corporate design

Integrated statistics to measure forum performance

Possibility to upload several file types

SEO friendly

WordPress forum plug-ins: a comparison overview

All of the WordPress forum plug-ins above let you set up a forum on your website. If you want to keep your website sleek, we recommend bbPress or Asgaros Forum. wpForo Forum offers a more modern solution with different layouts and visually adjustable designs. If you’d rather create a whole social network, BuddyPress is the best solution. To help you make your choice, the table below compares and contrasts all of these plug-ins:

Feature

bbPress

BuddyPress

wpForo Forum

Asgaros Forum

Colors and fonts can be adapted to corporate design

Adapts automatically

Adapts automatically

Font adapts automatically, colors need coding

Yes

Simple to use

Yes

Yes

More complex

Yes

Compatible with multiple websites

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Extensions available

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes, but not many

Aksimet support

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Available in several languages

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Notification system

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Content moderation

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

User profiles

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Social network with friend requests, private groups and activity feed

No

Yes

No

No

Different layout possibilities

No

No

Yes

No

Modern design

No

No

Yes

More modern than bbPress

Compatible with many WordPress themes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Optimized for mobile devices

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Member reputations

Yes (with extensions)

No

Yes

Yes

Free version

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Paid version

No

No

No, but some extensions are paid

No

Tip

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