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Top 10 best WordPress forum plugin

Are you looking to create a discussion forum with wordpress? Are you looking for the best WordPress forum creation plugin? In this article, HOSTVN will select and compare some of the best WordPress forum creation plugins that will help you choose the plugins that suit your needs.

Why create a forum on your WordPress site?

Online forums are an effective way to build a community where your site visitors can get involved by posting questions, sharing solutions, new ideas, etc.
Your forum can be a Q&A platform (questions and answers), a discussion, a place to share knowledge, or a support area to solve problems.
Your WordPress forum will help users participate in your site. When they join, they will probably come back, buy your products and recommend them to their friends and family.
Second, it is one of the most popular and effective ways to provide support to your customers. When your customers have technical support questions or general issues, they can go to the forums and check to see if anyone has encountered the problem. If it is a new problem, then they can post and solve their problem.
Finally, it brings some SEO value to your website when a problem is discussed and the topic becomes popular. In many cases, forum topics go beyond other types of content in search results. Sometimes, user-generated content makes more sense than the official posts on your blog.
Here are the top 10 best WordPress forum creation plugins to help you create forums using WordPress.
Note: You will need to have a WordPress website to use these plugins. If you want to start a new website, then you will need a domain name and web hosting.
To be able to choose an appropriate domain name, refer to the Guide to choosing a good domain name for your website. For hosting you can refer to the service WordPress Hosting of the HOSTVN SSDs and advanced technologies such as Litespeed, CloudLinux, MariaDB and PHP 7.x are the best optimized for WordPress.
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Top 10 Plugin for creating forums with best WordPress

1. bbPress

bbPress - create a forum using WordPress

When it comes to integrating a forum into WordPress, bbPress is a best plugin for this. This is a project of WordPress.org, which means it has built full compatibility with WordPress and uses the existing WordPress core to provide functionality to your forum.
bbPress Very easy to install, easy to moderate and maintain. Anyone can easily create a forum with WordPress using this plugin.
Advantages of bbPress
  • Built for WordPress, bbPress Use the same WordPress core and follow the same coding standards as WordPress.
  • It can integrate with any WordPress interface without overhauling the interface. There are also some great WordPress themes dedicated to bbPress that you can use.
  • There are over 200 extensions for bbPress You can easily expand its functionality.
  • bbPress very fast and light.
  • You can easily create forums with multiple pages and maintain them from one dashboard.
  • It is a free and open source software, so you can use it without any charge.
Cons of bbPress
  • Not as many features as the official forum CMS like phpBB, Vanilla Forum, Xenforo.
  • The main plugin only has basic features, so you need to install additional extensions to get more functionality.

2. BuddyPress

BuddyPress - create a forum using WordPress

BuddyPress allows you to build your own social network with WordPress. Like bbPress, BuddyPress Also a WordPress plugin. It follows the same coding practices and standards as WordPress.
With BuddyPress, you can create an online community with user profiles, activity streams, user groups, messaging, and social networking options.
Similar to Facebook, it allows your users to add friends, send private messages, create groups and receive notifications.
Best of all, you can use BuddyPress and bbPress Together and create an online forum with more features.
Advantages of BuddyPress
  • Easy integration with any WordPress interface and plugin.
  • There are hundreds of plugins and extensions BuddyPress third party to extend its functionality.
  • Lets you easily create a complete social network with activity streams, user profiles, social networking, groups, etc.
  • It has a free version. Download BuddyPress Free and use it on many websites, and receive regular updates.
Cons of BuddyPress
  • The free version lacks the advanced features you may need to build an official online community. To expand its power, you will need to depend on third party plugins.

3. ForumEngine

ForumEngine - create forums with WordPress

ForumEngine Really a WordPress interface that turns your WordPress site into a discussion forum. It is a powerful interface built specifically to create a forum using WordPress. The interface displays forum threads right on the home page of the site.
With ForumEngine, you can create forums where users can interact in many ways such as posting topics, questions, replies, likes or dislikes. It allows users to quickly search for any topic in the list with the Ajax search frame.
It also provides a private space for your users, where they can access and manage all their activities in the forum.
Advantages of ForumEngine
  • It is a WordPress forum interface, so you do not need to install any plugin to create a forum in WordPress.
  • It provides many styling options to change the look of your forum to make it look more attractive.
  • Lots of widgets to add forum stats, categories, hot topics, etc.
  • Lets you show ads and earn extra income.
Cons of ForumEngine
  • It is a forum interface, so it is difficult to create a business or e-commerce website with it. You can integrate it with your WordPress blog, but it doesn't have the option to display the product, etc.
  • It is a paid interface. If you have a limited budget, free options like bbPress and BuddyPress may be a better option.

4. Simple: Press

Simple: Press - create a forum using WordPress

Simple: Press is a simple solution to add a forum to your WordPress site. It offers both free and paid versions, so you can choose the option according to your needs.
Use Simple: Press, you can create unlimited forums, forum groups, sub forums, private and public forums easily. You can also lock and pin any forum. To allow you to manage users, it has a powerful user group and authorization system. Your users can create extended profiles with time zones and more.
Advantages of Simple: Press
  • Fully integrated into WordPress, supporting WordPress registration and login.
  • Supports both standard WordPress and multisite installations.
  • More than 70 premium plugins are available to expand its features.
  • Create SEO friendly permalinks and include many SEO features.
Cons: Simple: Press
  • The free version is pretty basic. You need to purchase a premium package to add advanced functions.

5. wpForo Forum

wpForo Forum - create a forum using WordPress

wpForo is a free WordPress forum plugin that comes with many design and customizing options. It has 3 design layouts for your forum: Expanded, Simplified and Q&A layouts. Each layout has a unique design and feature. In addition, there are 6 sets of forum colors including dark.
Using this plugin, you can easily create modern forums where your users can participate, receive support and contribute. Users can post questions, give answers, vote, subscribe to topics and receive notifications, share topics on social media, etc.
Advantages of wpForo
  • It is available as a free version with options to expand functionality by purchasing paid addons.
  • Integrated features for search engine optimization (SEO), XML sitemaps, caching, spam protection, etc.
  • Smooth integration with BuddyPress to allow more social networking features.
Disadvantages of wpForo
  • The free version only provides some basic features. You will have to pay for advanced features like ad management, polling, user customization fields, private messaging, etc.
  • The plugin's settings are a bit complicated for first time users.

6. Asgaros Forum

Asgaros Forum

Asgaros Forum is a simple WordPress forum plugin that you can use on your website. It is the best forum plugin for anyone who wants to add a lightweight forum page on their existing websites easily. It is very easy to install and add a feature-rich discussion board in WordPress.
Advantages of Asgaros Forum
  • The plugin is easy to use and lightweight for beginners as well as experts.
  • Simple yet powerful options are available for content management, membership and authorization.
  • Forum statistics to show you how well your forum works.
  • Plugin compatible with multiple pages.
Cons of Asgaros Forum
  • It has no extension for more functions.

7. CM Answers

CM Answers

CM Answers Ask allows you to create a powerful question and answer (ask and answer) discussion forum in WordPress. The basic free version comes with enough features to quickly set up a forum on your site.
It allows users to post questions, answer questions, vote, upload files, register categories, send messages, etc. As an administrator, you can customize questions, answers, filter out unwanted content, and manage users. If you want additional features like posting and anonymous payments, you can purchase plugin plugins.
Advantages of CM Answers
  • Integrates seamlessly with most WordPress themes.
  • Users can vote for questions and answers.
  • The premium version has more features including the ability to choose the best answers, profiles, comments, login via social networks, etc.
Cons of CM Answers
  • Your forum is limited to Q&A format.
  • Most useful features are only available in the paid version.
  • Some reviews on the Plugin page suggest that users find it difficult to use.

8. WP Symposium Pro

WP Symposium Pro

WP Symposium Pro is an alternative to BuddyPress. You can create your own social network using this plugin. Similar to BuddyPress or Facebook, it allows your users to create profiles and activity walls, add friends, set email notifications, join forums and more.
The plugin is designed to work with any WordPress theme or plugin. This allows you to add it to an existing WordPress site.
Advantages of WP Symposium Pro
  • Highly customizable via shortcode - easily change colors, fonts, buttons, etc.
  • There is the option to purchase the Premium version or individual addons to add features. Premium support is available for users of the paid version.
  • Documents with videos are available on the Plugin site to make it easier to use.
Cons of WP Symposium Pro
  • Many useful features are only available in the paid version.

9. DW Question and Answer

DW Question & Answer

DW Question and Answer allows you to create a complete question and answer system (questions and answers) on your WordPress site. If you are thinking of creating a system like Quora or Stack Overflow, DW Question and Answer is a suitable option.
Unlike regular forum plugins, it allows your users to vote for answers, so that the best answers get to the top and the less meaningful answers show up in the end. For more details, see the tutorial on how to create question and answer websites in WordPress.
Advantages of DW Question and Answer
  • You can use the free plugin to create a basic question answering system. Advanced users can purchase the paid version for more features.
  • CAPTCHA support helps you fight spam.
  • Suitable to provide support to your customers / users.
Cons of DW Question and Answer
  • The free version allows you to create a simple forum in question and answer format. If you want more advanced features you'll have to buy a paid version.

10. Discussion Board

Discussion Board

Discussion Board is a free plugin you can use to create a forum. It is very easy to install and set up, so anyone can build a forum in WordPress without knowing programming.
Using this plugin, you can allow registration and login to attract more users. To avoid spam, it has options to restrict posting, moderation of comments, and so on.
Advantages of Discussion Board
  • Discussion interface designed specifically to work well with plugins. You can also use this plugin with any interface you like.
  • Comes with lots of handy shortcodes to display forms, list of topics, etc.
  • A paid version available offers more features.
Disadvantages of Discussion Board
  • The free version lacks powerful options. You need to buy their paid plan to get many useful features.

Conclude

HOSTVN Hopefully this article has helped you find the best forum creation plugin for WordPress. If you have any comments you can leave a comment below.
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Diệp Quân
Nguyen Manh Cuong is the author and founder of the vmwareplayerfree blog. With over 14 years of experience in Online Marketing, he now runs a number of successful websites, and occasionally shares his experience & knowledge on this blog.
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