Let’s start with the obvious question. Forums aren’t exactly high-traffic cash cows in 2025. Ad revenue is low unless you’ve got serious numbers, and most users treat paywalls like a personal insult. So is it still worth the effort to monetise? Or is it better to just treat the forum as a hobby and skip the stress? If you are trying to earn something, what are you doing and is it working?

 

The dream would be to make a living from a forum - but is it just that, a dream? And do we need to wake up and face reality?

It all boils down to how you want to monetize your forum. You can do a/b testing to see what works and what doesn’t.

 

Such as, placing ads for guests and encouraging them to join, so they don’t see ads or you can treat it as a hobby.

 

It is technically not living a dream, but it’s a possibility that you can make money if you’re able to monetize it correctly.

 

You could also try selling ads instead as a monthly rate, a 6 month or a yearly rate, which would go towards server costs and more.

 

Or, try selling merchandise if you can find someone to design and create merchandise that you turn a profit from. Such as, mugs, t shirts, hats, plushies, hoodies, etc.

 

There has been many forums over the years that have generated thousands of dollars in revenue, especially those that were sold and purchased by VerticalScope.

 

Google adsense pays via a ECPM model now, so it’s easier to generate a profit compared to when it was a CPC model. Especially if a site isn’t able to generate a high level of clicks.

 

Honestly, I’d rather treat my forum as a hobby for now and focus on building it without a focus on monetizing it.

IMO it's not really worth making money from a forum. You're better off trying to earn money from a blog or even better a vlog. Running websites is just a fun hobby I like to do, so I never tried earning money from my sites and honestly I'm okay with them just being there for fun.

Heck, I can't even get people to join my forum for totally free and no ads. I'm not wasting my time trying to monetize it.

Small forums make next to nothing. My forum has 350+ members, 20 average online per 24 hours, and it generates a little revenue. It depends what you define "worth it". I'd say it's worth it if you own a big board, and you monetize it properly.

Tbh, I don't know. Depends what your forum is about. And how big your community is. I don't think you could get much from the forum itself nowadays but you could seek donations for a project you are doing or "lure" them into your bigger project so they invest in you. I am highly sus about forum income nowadays.

Making money from a forum is not an easy cup of tea today. You start with paid posters who eventually fade away. The problem is getting people to talk in forums on a non-theme associated forum/ Take for example, DP. It used to be a huge powerhouse, but since it has no dedicated base behind it, it is dying.

I can openly recommend a few steps I have used to help some forums in the past.

1. Establish a base or user source. Who will send you users? Most forums remain active by creating an internal user generator or utilizing an external base. Forming collaborations with bloggers, gaming platforms, etc, will send a consistent stream of posters to the forum. For example, a Free Game Pass for making 10 posts..
   
2. Start a link exchange program to increase SEO
   
3. Establish an Admailr account to reach more posters
   

Tbh, I don't know. Depends what your forum is about. And how big your community is. I don't think you could get much from the forum itself nowadays but you could seek donations for a project you are doing or "lure" them into your bigger project so they invest in you. I am highly sus about forum income nowadays.

My forum does just fine, but I have unique ways to earn revenue from my forum. My monthly revenue is slowly increasing.

Thinking about putting ads onto my site, see what it can get me as I could use a little extra cash these days. Not sure what kind of ads I can put on though.

I don't see why we shouldn't try making money from a forum. The major issues I see with forums these days is sustainability. A lot of people start a forum with much enthusiasm but soon it dies and they end up shutting the forum. The main reason is finances, they can no longer pay from their pockets. If they managed to earn money, they would have certainly run forums. Making money from forums will ensure that your forum is sustainable.

 

Now, this brings us to another question, is it possible to make money from your forum? Well, it is very possible but before that you will have to establish traffic and activities.

Thinking about putting ads onto my site, see what it can get me as I could use a little extra cash these days. Not sure what kind of ads I can put on though.

I'd recommend testing out Google Adsense for a bit and see what happens. I wouldn't use their auto ads though. You can place them in certain locations via the Xenforo's advertisements feature.

 

I'd use their 728by60 ads in the "Container content: above" section.

You must have something of value that makes sense for members -> customers to get from you rather than other sources. If you can answer that question, then go fo it! I'm not sure if there's any money to be made from a role play forum. It is purely a hobby after all.

Forums their traffic levels are too low to really bring in a good income by ads. Google gives you pennies, unless you have over millions of monthly views - but that level isn't reached in a couple of years, it takes decades. And if you haven't gotten to that level today, then it's likely you never will. The traffic for forums are declining by the day, that is just a fact.

 

I don't understand people with new forums, just immediately slapping on google ads. Not only does it make you look desperate for money, it's horrible from a guest/member point of view and you'll likely drive away more traffic than you'll gain. Stop doing it.

 

You can try to gain some private advertising parties, but your site is most likely too small anyway.

 

So as [mention=624]Senkusha[/mention] says, if you don't have any value for your members, you will die out sooner rather than later. Just because your forum isn't taken offline, doesn't mean it's flourishing.

 

Do it because you enjoy it, not because you're desperate for money.

 

That is the hard truth.

A new forum with very little traffic (like mine) should not try to monetize anything. To me it is unattractive and off putting and smells like desperation. Ads are like giving away valuable real estate for fractions of pennies. A site I am a member of (QRZ) is extremely popular, based on dated xf, no responsive screens, and has ads literally all over it. But on that site it works very well as the ads are targeted to the subject matter and in of itself, provides value to the members. But their member base is highly dedicated to the hobby. I have to realistically see that that is an outlier as most members of another regular forum would hate that and not return.

 

Unfortunately I feel monetization of most forums are just to offset costs and realistically never do anything other than put off members and guests for pennies.

 

edit to ad: I feel the same for most non-commercial websites, not just forums.

Every forum is different, and their traffic levels aren’t the same. If you’re seeing 1k–10k daily visits a day on your forum, then it is more than enough to place ads on it, especially for guests viewing.

 

As a forum owner, it is your responsibility to keep your forum sustainable for the long term. If one wants to monetize it by any means, then that’s their obligation to do so.

 

Especially if they’re massively marketing it, launching, advertising it, marketing it everywhere, etc.

 

By all means, I’m not saying flood your forum with ads. I’m saying monetize your forum in a way that you know works well and isn’t annoying.

 

Some forums get good traffic and some don’t. We never know how many forums are performing well in terms of statistics, nor their daily numbers, as these stats aren’t displayed publicly.

 

So if one wants to monetize their forum, go for it. Figure out what works and what doesn’t. Forums can be hobbies, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make a few dollars at the same time. If you can place an affiliate link, a paid advertisement, or a simple ad, even from an annoying ad company, do so.

 

Do something you can use to reinvest into your forum and attract more users in the long run. Anything that helps build your community and makes it grow even more is a worthwhile goal and truthfully, a good idea.

 

In fact, if you can sell a sticky ad, a header link, or maybe even footer links for yearly spots, that’s a good idea too. Just keep everything in mind. We, as forum owners, are meant to keep our projects going and growing not stuck without sustainable growth methods.

 

If you have to step out of the box and find another way to monetize just to bring more funds into your forum, then that works well too.

 

Find things on Reddit and other social media sites that you can use to drive more traffic to your forum. Continue to build your community the best way you know how and forget the saying “forums are dying.” Just use that as motivation.