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

[Wise Owl]

It's a good question. I don't know much about it because all my forums are on free platform such as Forumotion. They charge nothing but again, I don't have my own domain without forumotion in it and all the data is permanently in their posession. Software itself lacks plenty of things compared to xenforo, lolz. But when you don't have to invest, it is what it is xD

 

[Bawse]

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

Unless @Arantor and me change that this year.

I wouldn't use a free forum host, because if you ever grow to the point where to want to move to a self hosted forum, you won't be able to grab the database(I think).

 

[Cory]

I wouldn't use a free forum host, because if you ever grow to the point where to want to move to a self hosted forum, you won't be able to grab the database(I think).

I don't know about the others mentioned, but Jcink allows you to download your database.

 

[Wise Owl]

I don't know about the others mentioned, but Jcink allows you to download your database.

Forumotion doesn't. Technically, you don't even own the forum because they can shut it down anytime they find suitable, however, despite you "deleting" your forum, it remains permanently in their database, so you can always ask them to reactivate it.

 

[Ravenfreak]

It depends on your budget. You can start a forum on free hosting and free software, and then move to paid hosting in the future and possibly a paid forum script. I've seen successful forums on free hosts before, specifically Proboards of all places. Jcink does allow you to make backups of your database as mentioned in this thread, I think Createmybb allows you to request a database backup. No other free forum host does this btw.

 

[Arantor]

It depends on your budget. You can start a forum on free hosting and free software, and then move to paid hosting in the future and possibly a paid forum script. I've seen successful forums on free hosts before, specifically Proboards of all places. Jcink does allow you to make backups of your database as mentioned in this thread, I think Createmybb allows you to request a database backup. No other free forum host does this btw.

Jcink let’s you get a backup.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

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?

ProBoards and other free forums are good if you don't mind rented space. That means you get what you get for free. You get what you pay for. You abide by their terms and if they shut it down, you just have to deal with it.

You can also buy shared hosting for around $100 a year, a domain name for about $20 a year, and a free forum software like phpBB3 or SMF.

Personally, nothing against ProBoards but I'd spend the $120 and use a free software and have full control over my community.

 

[Cory]

I don't mind using free forum software since I'm a poor boy. It lets me pursue my passions and hobbies without burning a hole through my wallet. There may be some fickle rules that can be made on this software sometimes, but I've been content with the 6+ years I've been using Jcink. Free forum software is a great way to start in the forum world if you are new to everything, even for testing purposes. It will give you a feel for how the forum software works and what you can accomplish. If you start a forum using free forum software I would most certainly try to find forum software that allows you to download your database in case you ever want to upgrade to something more powerful.

 

[Rey619]

There are ways you can start with ) but i do think in order to progress an investment will be needed down the line.

ProBoards and other free forums are good if you don't mind rented space. That means you get what you get for free. You get what you pay for. You abide by their terms and if they shut it down, you just have to deal with it.

You can also buy shared hosting for around $100 a year, a domain name for about $20 a year, and a free forum software like phpBB3 or SMF.

Personally, nothing against ProBoards but I'd spend the $120 and use a free software and have full control over my community.

I was on a Proboards for a long time and they are a very easy forum to manage but the cons is you cant get acess to the database,

 

[krishatnet]

It's a good question. I don't know much about it because all my forums are on free platform such as Forumotion. They charge nothing but again, I don't have my own domain without forumotion in it and all the data is permanently in their posession. Software itself lacks plenty of things compared to xenforo, lolz. But when you don't have to invest, it is what it is xD

Are you making any money from that forums through advertisements. Can we place our own ads?