Best Free Option Until Xenforo

[Deriel]

Hi all!

I'm a very proud and happy XenForo user and owner. I'm planning to start a new community (a portuguese forum about genealogy) but do not have the money to buy a license right now. I think I'll need some 6 months to start monetize the community and Brazilian Real was one of the most devalued currency in 2020 (it lost about 30% value).

My question may be a tricky one (and maybe I'm broking some rule ) asking it, but right now what are the best free forum available plus the one that's easily imported into XF? SMF, phpBB, MyBB, FLuxBB? I have a dedicated hosting with MariaDB 10 and php 7.4

I thought in asking in one of dedicated admin forums outside, but I would like opininos from XF owners.

 

[Paul B]

These are the free forum importers available:

• phpBB 3.2
• SMF 2.0
• MyBB 1.8

Choose the one which fits your needs best.

 

[Deriel]

Thanks Brogan!

I'm kinda stuck right now. MyBB 1.8 and SMF 2.0 aren't php 7.4 compatible. phpBB 3.3.* is, but no importer yet

 

[Paul B]

The phpBB importer will most likely be compatible with 3.3 by the time you get around to converting.

 

[Mouth]

I have a dedicated hosting with MariaDB 10 and php 7.4

I'm kinda stuck right now. MyBB 1.8 and SMF 2.0 aren't php 7.4 compatible

If you have dedicated hosting, you should be able to configure/install any version of php and configure your website to use that.

 

[RandallC]

I have always liked Php and mybb, mybb i feel like development has slowed down so much I feel like its not a reliable source anymore. Phpbb with a few mods would get my vote.

 

[rogerl]

I have always liked Php and mybb, mybb i feel like development has slowed down so much I feel like its not a reliable source anymore. Phpbb with a few mods would get my vote.

I would keep the number of mods to an absolute minimum if you are planning on a future conversion.

 

[RandallC]

Im not I only run xenforo now.