SI

Best Simple Machines Forum Alternatives in 2026

Based on real usage data from 0 websites analyzed by StackSee

We analyzed real website data to find the most popular alternatives to Simple Machines Forum. Simple Machines Forum is simple Machines Forum is a free open-source software, used for community forums and is written in PHP. See which tools teams actually use instead, backed by real-time detection data.

Top Alternatives to Simple Machines Forum

Technologies in the Message boards category that teams use instead of Simple Machines Forum, ranked by adoption.

1

CI

Circle Circie is an all-in-one community platform for businesses that brings together engaging courses, discussions, members, live streams, chat, events, and memberships.

Message boards

2

CO

CometD CometD is a scalable clustered web messaging platform that provides a HTTP-based event routing bus using the Ajax Push technology pattern known as Comet.

Message boards

3

CO

Community Community is a platform enabling public figures, small to midsize businesses, and enterprise brands to connect instantly with their audience through large-scale conversational text messaging.

Message boards

4

CO

Copiny Copiny is a Russian-based community support system.

Message boards

5

CO

Countable Countable is a community platform designed to support discussion, collaboration, and engagement among members through shared content, forums, and interactive features.

Message boards

6

AS

Asgaros Forum Asgaros Forum is a lightweight and simple forum plugin for WordPress.

WordPress pluginsMessage boards

7

DI

Discourse Discourse is an open-source internet forum and mailing list management software application.

Message boards

8

DI

Discuz! X Discuz! X is an internet forum software written in PHP and supports MySQL and PostgreSQL databases.

Message boards

9

EL

ElkArte ElkArte is an open-source PHP-based forum software with MySQL integration, offering features such as user authentication, topic categorisation, post formatting, private messaging, moderation tools, and customisable themes and extensions.

Message boards

10

FU

FUDforum FUDforum is a discussion forum software with support for posts, topics, polls and attachments.

Message boards

11

FL

Flarum Flarum is a discussion platform.

Message boards

12

FL

FluxBB

Message boards

13

HI

Higher Logic Vanilla Higher Logic Vanilla is a cloud-based customer community platform offering features like discussion forums, Q&A, ideation, gamification, and advanced analytics, enabling businesses to enhance customer engagement and support.

Message boards

14

IN

Invision Power Board Invision Power Board is a commercial Internet forum software developed by Invision Community (formerly Invision Power Services).

Message boards

15

JI

Jiglu Jiglu is a collaboration and communities suite that connects enterprise content with conversations to support improved communication.

Message boards

16

LI

Linen Linen is a real-time chat platform built for communities.

Message boards

17

PE

PeerBoard PeerBoard is a plug-and-play community solution, which helps groups, clubs, startups, marketplaces and businesses create discussion forums.

Message boards

18

PE

PeerTube PeerTube is a free and open-source, decentralized, federated video platform powered by ActivityPub and WebTorrent.

Message boards

19

PH

Philomena Philomena is an imageboard software.

Message boards

20

PI

PixelFed PixelFed is an activitypub based image sharing platform.

Message boards

21

PL

Pleroma Pleroma is a free, federated social networking server built on open protocols.

Message boards

22

PO

Popvox Popvox is a platform that fosters civic engagement by providing tools for citizens to influence policy decisions and engage with elected representatives on governing innovations.

Message boards

23

PU

PushWoosh PushWoosh is a messaging system that supports push notifications and in-app messages.

Message boards

24

PH

phpBB phpBB is a free open-source Internet forum package in the PHP scripting language.

Message boards

25

PH

phpwind

CMSMessage boards

26

PU

punBB

Message boards

27

NA

Nabble Nabble is a platform offering free forum hosting and online web applications with customizable features.

Message boards

28

NO

NodeBB NodeBB forum software is powered by Node.js and built on either a Redis or MongoDB database.

Message boards

29

MA

Mastodon Mastodon is a free and open-source self-hosted social networking service.

Message boards

30

MA

Mattermost

Message boards

31

MI

Mighty Network Mighty Networks is a platform that facilitates the creation and management of online communities, offering customisable websites, discussion forums, member profiles, events, courses, and multimedia content sharing for individuals and organisations.

Message boardsLMS

32

MI

Misskey Misskey is a distributed microblogging platform.

Message boards

33

MY

MyBB MyBB is a free and open-source forum software written in PHP.

Message boards

34

OC

Oclocher Oclocher is a parish animation app used by parishes and dioceses to help maintain connections between parishioners from one Sunday to the next.

Message boards

35

RA

Rasayel Rasayel is a customer communication platform that helps businesses sell to and support their customers over WhatsApp and other social messaging channels.

Message boards

36

RE

Reddit

Message boards

37

RE

Remind Remind is a communication tool designed to connect educators with students and parents for timely updates and messages.

Message boards

38

TA

Tapatalk Tapatalk is a mobile-enablement platform that optimizes forums and blogs for engagement.

Message boards

39

TI

TiddlyWiki TiddlyWiki is an open-source notebook for capturing, organising and sharing complex information.

CMSMessage boards

40

TI

Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware Tiki Wiki is a free and open-source wiki-based content management system and online office suite written primarily in PHP.

CMSMessage boards

41

UL

Ultimate Bulletin Board Ultimate Bulletin Board is an internet forum software designed for online communities, offering features such as user registration, thread organisation, moderation tools, search functionality, and customisable design options to facilitate discussions and community engagement.

Message boards

42

VB

vBulletin vBulletin is tool that is used to create and manage online forums or discussion boards. It is written in PHP and uses a MySQL database server.

Message boards

43

YA

YaBB

Message boards

44

XM

XMB

Message boards

45

XE

XenForo XenForo is a PHP-based forum hosting program for communities that is designed to be deployed on a remote web server.

Message boards

46

XI

Xiuno BBS Xiunobbs is an open-source, lightweight forum software designed for easy community management and customization.

CMSMessage boards

47

WE

Web Wiz Forums Web Wiz Forums is a web-based forum software that enables developers to create and manage online discussion boards or forums for engaging user interactions and community building.

Message boards