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Simple Machines Forum

Simple Machines Forum (SMF) is a self-hosted, open-source forum platform that lets you build and manage online communities with minimal fuss.

About Simple Machines Forum

Simple Machines Forum (SMF) gives you the tools to put up a discussion board without needing a degree in web development. It handles user accounts, private messaging, polls, and post moderation out of the box. The software is written in PHP and works with MySQL or PostgreSQL, making it a solid fit for most shared hosting plans you see today.

SMF comes with a template system that separates design from logic, so you can tweak the look without touching core files. There's a package manager for installing mods and themes right from the admin panel. It supports attachments, calendar events, and custom profile fields. The search is built on a full-text index, and the caching layer works with APC, memcached, or file-based storage to keep things snappy under load.

This project has been maintained by the SMF community and its development team for over two decades. It's released under the BSD 3-Clause license, so you can run it for free on any number of sites. If you want a straightforward, proven forum system that doesn't chase trends, SMF is worth a look.
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Quick Facts

Pricing
Free
License
Open Source
Platform
Any Platform
Version
2.1.4
Developer
Simple Machines