Open Source Forum Software

[Kane]

Do you use open source forum software? Have you used Open Source platforms? Do you think Open Source platforms are as good as the premium ones? Which Open Source Forum software do you think can be compared to the premium software such as Invision Community or even XenForo? I have tried multiple Open Source Platforms and I believe they can be good as long as your communities are not very big. Finding appropriate add-ons is a big problem with Open Source.

[Dilip]

Have you tried Discourse? It is a really capable software and handles forums of all sizes.

[dismalbliss]

It really depends on what bells and whistles you want. I've seen open source forums that all look the same - boring. And then I have seen others where it was very well done theme and appearance-wise. I started with open source called Phorum but the project was abandoned by it's devs. When shared hosting kicked me off and I upgraded to a VPS, the software broke because it wasn't up to date with the newer technology on the new server. So we migrated to Invision and never looked back. 

[Destiny]

Open source forum software I have used in the past. Whilst most have great options straight out of the box, I have always found that premium forum software has offered more of what I am looking for. 

Open source is great for those looking to start out a community and keep their spending low. 

[Toni]

I have used open-source platforms many times when creating and building communities on the internet, one of my favourites to use is MyBB. 

Premium platform options do seem to stay in the lead when it comes to community owners and leaders making a choice between open-source and premium and I feel that is due to how much more they offer with the first install as opposed to open-source.