The internet is full of free open source based forum scripts. The problem is finding decent one’s where you can enjoy the design of that script and hope that frequent updates occur. In this blog I have compiled a list of decent free open source based forum scripts which you can download free of charge with no payment at-all to be made to have the files on your computer ready to be uploaded and installed onto your web hosts server.
The list (Free and open source)
- I’d firstly like to say MyBB is one of the best free open source scripts which has frequent updates and which also has a lot of modification support. Such as scripts, skins, addons and general modifications to the script itself. You can download MyBB at: http://www.mybb.com/
- Next up is Phpbb, it is possibly the most popular forum script on the internet by far in terms of usage. Personally the design puts me off and I don’t know how people put up with its design. However as it is free of charge and doesn’t cost, design really doesn’t matter, and seeing as it is open source you can change anything you want about it. You can download Phpbb here: http://www.phpbb.com/
- PunBB is up next. It is a free script which is available to anyone and everyone for download. The design itself is very simple however it achieves its purpose in being a simple forum software. I wouldn’t consider the use of this for community use as there are bigger ranges of scripts which offer better community support and modifications. You can download PunBB at: http://punbb.informer.com/downloads.php
- SMF (Simple Machines Forum) is another script which has been around for sometime. It is free and open source is one of the other well-known scripts available for people to use to build online communities. You can download SMF here: http://punbb.informer.com/downloads.php
- More to come.
Premium scripts
There is a reason there is a market for premium forum scripts. This is because there is an abundance of support for webmasters out there from the developers or official support staff. Not only this, but the design and usability of scripts themselves are considered and factored into why premium forum scripts are used in today’s internet communities.
- http://www.vbulletin.com/
- http://www.invisionpower.com/
- More to come.
I will be updating this article as soon as I can remember some more of the ‘decent’ scripts out there as well as searching for them.
