63 tools · 22 open-source · 41 SaaS
The best forum & community tools. Ranked by real activity.
The top-ranked open-source forum & community tool on Enlisted is Discourse (48k GitHub stars), followed by Forem and Apache Answer. Among SaaS products, other tools on Enlisted are most often compared with Discord, Circle and Bettermode.
Enlisted lists 63 forum & community tools: 22 open source and 41 SaaS. All 22 open-source ones can be self-hosted on your own server or computer. The most common open-source licences here are AGPL-3.0 (6 tools), MIT (5) and GPL-2.0 (4). The open-source ones are most often listed as alternatives to Invision Community, XenForo and vBulletin.
Last updated October 3, 2026 · ranked by GitHub stars, growth and recent commits
The top 48 of 63 forum & community tools
Discourse
Forums & Communities
A platform for community discussion. Free, open, simple.
GPL-2.0vs Reddit★ 48k
Forem
Forums & Communities
For empowering community 🌱
AGPL-3.0vs Medium★ 23k
Apache Answer
Forums & Communities
A Q&A platform software for teams at any scales. Whether it's a community forum, help cent
Apache-2.0vs Quora★ 16k
NodeBB
Forums & Communities
Node.js based forum software built for the modern web
GPL-3.0vs Reddit★ 15k
Lemmy
Forums & Communities
🐀 A decentralised discussion platform for communities.
AGPL-3.0vs Reddit★ 15kTitanBot
Forums & Communities
A powerful, all-in-one Discord assistant built for every server.
MIT★ 8.5k
Flarum
Forums & Communities
Simple forum software for building great communities.
MITvs Circle★ 6.8k
Remark42
Forums & Communities
comment engine
MITvs Disqus★ 5.6k
Isso
Forums & Communities
a Disqus alternative
MITvs Disqus★ 5.3k
Lobsters
Forums & Communities
Computing-focused community centered around link aggregation and discussion
OSSvs Reddit★ 4.8k
Misago
Forums & Communities
Misago is fully featured modern forum application that is fast, scalable and responsive.
GPL-2.0vs Vanilla★ 2.8k
Loomio
Forums & Communities
Loomio is a collaborative decision-making tool
AGPL-3.0vs Groups.io★ 2.6k
phpBB
Forums & Communities
phpBB Development: phpBB is a popular open-source bulletin board written in PHP. This rep
GPL-2.0vs Vanilla★ 2.1k
Decidim
Forums & Communities
The participatory democracy framework. A generator and multiple gems made with Ruby on Rai
AGPL-3.0★ 1.8k
Open Source Social Network
Forums & Communities
Open Source Social Network (OSSN) is a powerful open-source social networking software dev
OSSvs Circle★ 1.2k
Simple Machines Forum
Forums & Communities
Simple Machines Forum — SMF in short — is free and open-source community forum software, d
OSSvs Vanilla★ 749
Talkyard
Forums & Communities
A community discussion platform: Brings together the main features from StackOverflow, Sla
AGPL-3.0vs Quora★ 1.8k
NamelessMC
CMS
NamelessMC is a free, easy to use & powerful website software for your Minecraft server, w
MIT★ 654
Mbin
Forums & Communities
Mbin: a federated content aggregator, voting, discussion and microblogging platform
AGPL-3.0vs Reddit★ 430
NeonModem
Forums & Communities
Neon Modem Overdrive (https://tty.fail/mrus/neonmodem)
OSSvs Tapatalk★ 696
Plots2
Forums & Communities
a collaborative knowledge-exchange platform in Rails; we welcome first-time contributors!
GPL-3.0★ 1kMili
Forums & Communities
mili 是一个开源的社区系统，界面优雅，功能丰富😛
GPL-2.0vs XenForo★ 2.9k
Beelink
Video Conferencing
Professional networking platform for instant video conversations between people with shared interests
SaaS
BeRoomie
Forums & Communities
App that connects people with rooms and roommates matching their lifestyle, schedule and budget
SaaS
Bettermode
Forums & Communities
Customizable community platform for customer, product and creator communities
SaaS
Bevy
Forums & Communities
Platform for running community-led events and chapters for companies
SaaS
Blab
Forums & Communities
Social app where creators host private, capped rooms of 8 to 100 fans, plus a shared community feed
SaaS
BuddyBoss
Forums & Communities
WordPress community and membership platform with social features and courses
SaaS
Circle
Forums & Communities
Community platform for creators and brands with spaces, events and courses
SaaS
CoHub42
Forums & Communities
Platform that matches founders with co-founders, mentors and investors, with an AI business assistant
SaaS
Common Room
CRM
Customer and community signals platform for developer and go-to-market teams
SaaS
Commune
Forums & Communities
Community platform for indie builders to share progress, keep projects in one place, chat and match with peers
SaaS
Cosy
Forums & Communities
Slack-based community tooling with automated onboarding, member introductions, a member directory and moderation
SaaS
Cycling Events
Scheduling
Platform for creating cycling rides and races, joining them and managing participants
SaaS
Disciple
Forums & Communities
White-label branded community app platform for creators and brands
SaaS
Disfora
Forums & Communities
Turns any website into a community space for its visitors
SaaSFastComments
Forums & Communities
Embeddable live commenting widget and moderation tools for websites
SaaS
Google Groups
Forums & Communities
Google service for email-based discussion groups and web forums
SaaS
Groups.io
Forums & Communities
Hosted group email and discussion service replacing Yahoo Groups
SaaS
Heartbeat
Forums & Communities
Community platform with chat, events and courses for creators
SaaS
Higher Logic
Forums & Communities
Community and engagement platform for associations and customer communities
SaaS
Hivebrite
Forums & Communities
Community platform for alumni, associations and member networks
SaaS
Hyvor Talk
Forums & Communities
Privacy-focused commenting system for websites
SaaS
Indie Hackers
Forums & Communities
Community of founders sharing revenue numbers and startup advice
SaaSInvision Community
Forums & Communities
Community software with forums, blogs, commerce and a hosted cloud option
SaaS
Khoros
Forums & Communities
Customer community and social media engagement platform
SaaS
Meetup
Forums & Communities
Platform for organizing and finding local groups and in-person events
SaaS
Mighty Networks
Forums & Communities
Platform for building paid communities, courses and memberships
SaaS
Forum & community tools: questions
- What is the best open-source forum & community tool?
- Discourse is the top-ranked open-source forum & community tool on Enlisted, with 48k GitHub stars. It is followed by Forem, Apache Answer and NodeBB.
- What are the best free forum & community tools?
- The top-ranked open-source forum & community tools with a standard licence are Discourse (GPL-2.0), Forem (AGPL-3.0) and Apache Answer (Apache-2.0), so their code is free to use. 14 of the 41 SaaS products here have a free plan, including Indie Hackers, Quora and Whop.
- Which forum & community tools can be self-hosted?
- All 22 open-source forum & community tools on Enlisted can be self-hosted on your own server or computer; the top-ranked are Discourse, Forem and Apache Answer.
- How are these forum & community tools ranked?
- Open-source tools are ordered by a score built from GitHub stars, star growth over the last 30 days and how recently the code changed; 17 of the 22 had new commits or a release in the last 30 days. SaaS products have no public repository, so they get a fixed baseline score. GitHub data is refreshed daily, and nobody can pay to move up.