From chat rooms to forums, from social networking to email, staying online helps people stay in touch and find like-minded people who want to discuss specific topics.

Forums are especially attractive because of their conversation recording, community building and easy integration with websites. And there are many types of forums to choose from on the internet. If you enjoy flying, a quick Google search will reveal some forums.

If you want to create your own. You should consider a WordPress forum plugin. To incorporate some community into your current website.

It’s also possible to turn your entire site into a forum. But in that case, you will most likely end up using a forum theme instead of a plugin.

The great thing about the forum is that it has evolved over the years. This is because old forums with long threads and sometimes confusing conversations still exist. But the format seems to work. Also, it great to see a few other forum formats. Such as the Q&A layout on sites like Quora. Or the top-down voting sites like Reddit.

The good news is that you can achieve a similar forum style. Using a WordPress forum plugin listed below. Let’s break down the some features of each plugin. aAd talk about how much they cost. Some of the forum plugins are well known. But if you are interested in updating your forum. Or want to make your forum look different than of other forums, there are a few worth looking into.

The world of forums is constantly growing and you can use your own WordPress forum plugin to become a part of them. So, in this WordPress Wednesday I’ve put together a shortlist of six forum plugins to help you figure out which one to use in your application.

1. wpForo Forum

WPForo Forum is the first one on this list and it’s a free WordPress forum plugin. But there are some paid-for add-ons to further its functionality. These add ons options for items like custom user fields, ad-management, polls, private messaging, and more.

The wpForo plugin is for those who are interested in more modern design compared to the every loving bbPress. The colour scheme is a bit brighter, the threads are organised a bit better. It’s rather difficult to get confused as a forum user. Within the plugin, you’ll notice that there are a few layouts to help you get started. All of these layouts are responsive.

The good news about WPForo forums is that they are designed for both small and large forum communities. It has built-in SEO and caching so you can reach the right people on Google. And your forums are always running at top speed.

Both Antispam and Akismet are integrated into forum plugins, allowing you to fight spam on forums. There are large coloured counters that tell users how many votes, replies, and views are in each thread.

Some features of this plugin:

• More modern layout than bbPress and other forum competitions.
• Users can vote and give answers to questions.
• The profile system can be significantly advanced through membership tiers and badges to increase trust.
• The forum management system works with a drag-and-drop editor. Therefore, there is no need to manipulate setting switches or codes.
• Users can subscribe to specific topics and be notified when topics are updated.
• WPForo offers 3 different layouts. One is an advanced forum, the other is a simplified forum, and the last one is a Q&A format.
• Developers are constantly making other plugins compatible with the WForo forum. For example, there are plugins for advanced attachments and plugins for blog posting.

2. Asgaros Forum

Asgaros Forum is a good choice if you’d like a lightweight WordPress forum plugin on your current site. You add a forum by just inserting a shortcake into the page. Thus, it keeps things fast and easy for you. The forum structure is straightforward and graceful. It comes with a powerful editor and a notifications system.

Users can create user profiles. People can also complete actions like uploads, searches, and messaging each other.

This forum plugin is completely free to use. But the developer of this plugin does have a donation on the website if you like to contribute to their work.

For the rest of the features of this plugin. Moderators can see who is online at all times. The forum plugin works with various widgets for adding other modules to the side of your forum. It’s a multi-site compatible plugin.

Some features of this plugin:

• Managing topics and messages is very easy.
• Guest posting is allowed. But there’s an option to turn it off.
• Asgaros is free to use. There are no additional sales along the way.
• You can also block and search other users using the admin tool.
• Many file formats are supported for uploading to the forum.
• The multi-site feature is great for users with a network of sites.
• This is a lightweight, traditional forum layout with a modern touch to its design.

3. bbPress

Probably the he oldest and popular WordPress forum plugin, bbPress wasn’t as competitive back then, due to part because it was just released.

The front-end looks as expected. It’s easy to build and has a clean interface. The bbPress plugin itself won’t blow you away but at least you know exactly what you’re getting. This plugin works fine. It has basic customisation tools for adjusting colours, creating keyboard shortcuts, and activating the visual editor as users write.

Like the other plugins in this list so far, it’s completely free. So you can log in to the site and not have to worry about random upsells. Since this is an open-source project, many developers have contributed to the plugin. For users, open-source means frequent continuous updates and plugins are free. The bbPress site also provides resources for improving the forum.

You can also find quality documentation and full blogs. As you might have guessed, support is provided entirely through the forums.

Some features of this plugin:

• You don’t have to pay, and you don’t have to pay in the future.
• All extensions are also free.
• Speaking of the extension, you can enhance the forum with one of 200+ extensions. Technically a plugin, but bbPress is a plugin too. Which is a bit confusing).
• Some extensions include native support for user avatars, attachments, social media sharing, breadcrumbs, and more.
• bbPress is one of the easiest WordPress forum plugins to set up.
• Fully integrated with all reputable themes and won’t slow down your site.
• Allows you to create multi-site forums, managing each forum from a single control panel.
• The bbPress plugin has several customisable templates with simple but useful settings for changing things like colour and style.
• Full support for Akismet is built into bbPress so you won’t see spam coming through the forums.
• This is the closest to a traditional forum and works fine. If this is what you need, this is a high-quality product.

4. BuddyPress

BuddyPress sometimes comes up in the same discussion as bbPess. That is because they both are the go-to solutions for creating online communities. BuddyPress and bbPress are made by the same development team. However, BuddyPress is a bit different. It’s for making a social network or online community where users can make profiles, join groups and send private messages. The interface of this plugin allows for sending out requests for friendships. You can make special groups for things like sports teams, companies etc.

As it’s a similarity to bbPress, this plugin is free and open-source. You shouldn’t get in trouble with its interface as it’s easy to navigate so launching it on your site should be easy.

In reality, it is a little social network packed into a plugin. The nice thing is that you can combine bbPress and BuddyPress together and provide a standard forum section with a place where people can connect on a more social level.

It has an activity stream for viewing what your friends are up to, similar to what you see on Facebook. Favourites, mentions, and all of the features you would commonly find on a social network are all included here. You can customise it to suit your own brand and develop a social site for your niche.

Some features of this plugin:

• BuddyPress is free and development is ongoing.
• Hundreds of BuddyPress compatible plugins have been developed. Such as a system with a subscription option.
• The plugin turns any part of your site (or your entire site) into a full-fledged social network. You get tools for users to create profiles, send private messages and make friends.
• BuddyPress has been translated into many languages ​​around the world. So you don’t have to worry about which country you live in.
• The Activity Feed is the main hub for most BuddyPress sites.
• The plugin has a profile extension tool. So if you want to add custom fields, it’s totally possible.
• Notifications are enabled for both admins and users.

5. Discussion Board

The Discussion Board WordPress forum plugin provides a minimal and modern forum that can be placed anywhere on your WordPress site.

It has a one-click installation that makes it simple for beginners. User registration process takes what we all know and love about forums. But makes it a little more practical. A front-end form is shown for these registrations. And the users can post topics through another easy form.

The features of the pro version are:

• Media uploads
• User Profiles
• Category and tag support.
• Multiple discussion boards for different topics.
• Board permissions and admin approvals.
• Full WYSIWYG editor.

With the pro version have multiple discussion boards is only available in the pro version of the plugin. So the free version mostly makes sense for a smaller organisation that only require one board. However, paying $29 is a small price to pay for any additional features you may need.

Some features of this plugin:

• You can get a simple forum for free. Or take advantage of some powerful features for just $29.
• The plugin has one of the cleanest and most modern interfaces.
• User management is very simple and forum users can log in with a simple form through the interface.
• The submission form is also uncomplicated, making it easier to use than we’ve seen in the past.
• Forums have built-in spam tools to block unwanted messages and bots that may make your forum less attractive to the average user.
• The plugin includes three layouts.
• The customisation is done using the WordPress customizer.
• The pro version has tools to set post status (suitable for customer support) and board permissions and topic tracking.

6. Sabai Discuss

The Sabai plugin cost $24 (only one-time) and there are impressive reviews that you can find on CodeCanyon. The beauty of Sabai is that its developers are very responsive and willing to help users before and after-sales. For the forum plugin itself.

Sabai Discussion has the same discussion threads and Q&A tools as the standard forums. This will turn your site into something like Reddit or Quora. Alternatively, you can stick to a more standard forum layout.

The voting system moves answers up and down to show all users the best answer. Also, you get flexible access control, which can be useful if you don’t want some users to see all the boards. Combine this with a user reputation system and you will have an authoritative forum from launch. The cool thing about voting is that most of the site tweaks are done for you.

Sabai has a system for reporting violations. This allows regular forum users to let others know if they think they are not following the rules or respecting the people on the forum. Another reason to consider Sabai is that you can add multiple forum instances to your site.

You also have the option to do this on a network of sites, which can be useful if you have multiple sites. Finally, the plugin caters to users who need a new design. It’s completely responsive and flat, moving away from forum designs from the digital age of the past. The user interface is up to date and looks more like a modern forum.

Some features of this plugin:

• For a one-time fee of $24, you get access to a wide range of tools, great customer support, and up-to-date forums.
• Provides 5 shortcodes and 9 WordPress widgets to make the forum development process more flexible.
• Email notifications are sent automatically. The plugin includes 10 of these email notification templates, so you don’t have to write your own.
• The forum is specifically integrated with point systems such as MyCRED and Cubepoints.
• More than 40 permissions can be configured to prevent some users from viewing your content.
• The Reputation System gives credit to those who best contribute to the forum. The voting module ensures that only the best answers are displayed at the top of the forum.
• The search bar has smart suggestions to quickly navigate the forums and find the topics you need.