I personally would never start a forum using a free forum host. If you cant afford to registrar a domain name, don't start a forum. There are free forum software's available if you cant pay the $200 pricetag for Xenforo or another premium/paid software. If you're looking for a free forum software I recommend SMF.

 

I think free forum hosts are a waste of time because they own your content. If your forum gets big they own everything. I rather have full control of any site I start.

 

What are the pros and cons of using a free forum host? Do you think it's a waste time to use a free forum host?

If you're looking for a free forum software I recommend SMF.

That isn't free as far as I'm aware...

 

If you cant afford to registrar a domain name, don't start a forum.

Most people can with NameCheap, just to say.

That isn't free as far as I'm aware...

 

SMF is free. It's been open source for years. You still have to pay for hosting/domain name, but it's free to download SMF, and customize your site with addons, theme..etc.

I don't really agree with some of the points. I think it's fine to start off on free forum hosting, just to get a feel for having a forum. That's how I got into forums myself, but then I eventually branched out and tried self hosting. Free forum hosts like Jcink are nice because you can get a database backup of your forum. Forum Spark will eventually have this feature too in the future. Also I know of a very successful forum hosted by Proboards so free forum hosts aren't a complete waste of time.

I don't really agree with some of the points. I think it's fine to start off on free forum hosting, just to get a feel for having a forum. That's how I got into forums myself, but then I eventually branched out and tried self hosting. Free forum hosts like Jcink are nice because you can get a database backup of your forum. Forum Spark will eventually have this feature too in the future. Also I know of a very successful forum hosted by Proboards so free forum hosts aren't a complete waste of time.

 

I also started with a free website hosting provider(freewebs) back in 2003-2004 before moving on to self-hosting. Running a forum on a free host can be a great learning experience with helping new admins understand community management before deciding whether to invest in paid hosting.

 

 

 

I don’t see anything wrong with using free forum host as they’re still forum owners, still part of the community, and everyone has to start somewhere. No one jumps straight to the top without learning the basics first.

 

 

I do think more free forum providers should offer tools for owners to download their database and migrate to their own hosting if they choose to. Some, like Jcink, provide this option, but others (like ProBoards) don’t, which feels like unnecessary gatekeeping.

I don't really agree with some of the points. I think it's fine to start off on free forum hosting, just to get a feel for having a forum. That's how I got into forums myself, but then I eventually branched out and tried self hosting. Free forum hosts like Jcink are nice because you can get a database backup of your forum. Forum Spark will eventually have this feature too in the future. Also I know of a very successful forum hosted by Proboards so free forum hosts aren't a complete waste of time.

I personally won't participate on any proboards or forumotion sites. Its hard to take a forum serious if they choose to go that route, and good luck trying to get a backup of your forum/community if you ever need one to move away from those sites/hosts.

I began my first ever forum on a free hosting service - mind you, I was about 11-12 at the time.

 

It quickly became obvious to me, even at that young age, that if I ever had a successful forum, I would 100% want my own hosting and own domain name - free forum hosting is usually somewhat insecure, and as you rightly said, you don't "own" the content/site if you check the T&Cs in many cases.

 

Thankfully I'd migrated to my own hosting package before one of my forums took off and became popular... had it somehow happened for me on a free-forum hosting site, God knows what the experience would've been... I'm willing to bet nowhere near as enjoyable as ultimately it was! :)