Advice What is the minimum investment need to start a forum?

[krishatnet]

I want to start a forum related to crypto. I am new to this. What is the minimum investment required to start, for hosting and softwares. I found some free forum hosting sites like proboard are they good for long term growth?

 

[Bawse]

Zero. You can start a forum without a investment. I did, and I started investing as I improved my site/forum. Either way it takes a lot of time, and dedication to start up a community.

Maybe at least $200 for a Xenforo license. I wouldn't start over with a free software.

 

[Cedric]

I agree with @Bawse - It's possible to start out very cheap or even free, but I wouldn't recommend it. The results could be demotivating. If you're serious about it, purchase a second hand license and cheap web hosting to get you started. A second hand license costs 150 USD, a cheap web reliable web host would set you back around 50 USD a year, quite possibly with a domain name included.

 

[krishatnet]

Zero. You can start a forum without a investment. I did, and I started investing as I improved my site/forum. Either way it takes a lot of time, and dedication to start up a community.

Maybe at least $200 for a Xenforo license. I wouldn't start over with a free software.

Thank you, can you suggest some free sites where can I start a forum.

 

[Cedric]

Thank you, can you suggest some free sites where can I start a forum.

Jcink, Proboards and Forumotion are the most current popular free forum hosts.

Unless @Arantor and me change that this year.

 

[krishatnet]

I agree with @Bawse - It's possible to start out very cheap or even free, but I wouldn't recommend it. The results could be demotivating. If you're serious about it, purchase a second hand license and cheap web hosting to get you started. A second hand license costs 150 USD, a cheap web reliable web host would set you back around 50 USD a year, quite possibly with a domain name included.

Is that licence valid for 1 year or?

 

[Cedric]

Is that licence valid for 1 year or?

Yes, normally it is, since most sell licenses that went out of support and the terms require you to sell licenses second hand with renewed support.

 

[CTS]

I want to start a forum related to crypto. I am new to this. What is the minimum investment required to start, for hosting and softwares. I found some free forum hosting sites like proboard are they good for long term growth?

Whether free hosting/software or paid, your investment will be many hours of your days.

 

[fdk]

The monetary cost isn't the most relevant factor imo, it's how much time you're able to dedicate to development, adding content & advertising your forum. You could setup a really nice forum with a great domain name on reliable hosting for as little as $200 or so, I've also known admins "splash out" and buy custom themes/plugins etc immediately and pay upwards of $1000+ to launch a forum. What is spent isn't really what determines the success (upto a certain extent).

The success of your forum will be determined by how motivated you are, how able you are to build ties within your community and retain active members, and how well you recruit and advertise and eventually move onto getting members to advertise for you. At the beginning as an admin, it'll feel like a full-time job in some respects (and if it doesn't, you're either running a hobby forum or not serious about proper success). As your forum grows, you'll see the load start to lighten slightly, before you become a fully-fledged self-sustaining active community at which point you're back to having a full-time job again.

 

[Arantor]

Jcink, Proboards and Forumotion are the most current popular free forum hosts.

Unless @Arantor and me change that this year.

We will see what we can do. It might take us a bit longer than just 2025 to dethrone the existing folks, though!