As someone who has always used non-self-hosted forum software, I'm curious what your opinion on which one is the best.

 

I know self-hosting is generally the better route for various reasons, but please don't turn this topic into a debate between self-hosted and non-self-hosted forum software.

Define best.

 

I’d say that XF Cloud and Invision Cloud have things to recommend both of them (esp Invision Cloud which has features not available in the self hosted edition) if you’re looking for a more traditional forum experience.

 

Circle has a lot going for it if you’re aiming for a more social network type feel, and it has video features that the self hosters mostly only dream of. I find it funny how much they talk up their customisation features but in reality compared to self hosting (or even Jcink/Proboards/Forumotion) it’s actually a bit tame. Popular with people who have a diverse community backing where the community itself has little in common with each other - think fan communities/promo sites for singers in bands. (This was my first exposure to Circle was the official fan club of Floor Jansen (Nightwish’s lead singer), FloorWorld.)

 

I’ve also heard mention of HiveBrite but I have yet to see any in action and yet to fully decipher the extreme corporate nonsense that is their website.

ZetaBoards, until Brandon threw us all under the bus with Tapatalk...

That’s kind of an indictment really that no service provider has managed to get to where we were, what, 15 years ago?

(esp Invision Cloud which has features not available in the self hosted edition)

Which sort of features are they? Just out of interest.

Which sort of features are they? Just out of interest.

Live topics, the real time trending stuff, courses - those are the big ones. I know Zapier got included when it was originally slated for cloud only, and I'm not sure off hand about the AI stuff (e.g. AI image detection)

 

Just downloading IC 5 beta now to take a look if anything else is missing. These things are not important to everyone but I know for some folks they are make-or-break functionality (especially courses)

Define best.

 

I’d say that XF Cloud and Invision Cloud have things to recommend both of them (esp Invision Cloud which has features not available in the self hosted edition) if you’re looking for a more traditional forum experience.

 

Circle has a lot going for it if you’re aiming for a more social network type feel, and it has video features that the self hosters mostly only dream of. I find it funny how much they talk up their customisation features but in reality compared to self hosting (or even Jcink/Proboards/Forumotion) it’s actually a bit tame. Popular with people who have a diverse community backing where the community itself has little in common with each other - think fan communities/promo sites for singers in bands. (This was my first exposure to Circle was the official fan club of Floor Jansen (Nightwish’s lead singer), FloorWorld.)

 

I’ve also heard mention of HiveBrite but I have yet to see any in action and yet to fully decipher the extreme corporate nonsense that is their website.

I'm going to Second Circle.

 

I am the Community Manager for Copyblogger. Our community platform is Circle, which is like a forum with social networking features.

 

It's $100 a month for the best features.

 

I was building an upcoming paid community with it but decided to pause doing it until I get my courses made. I'd prefer to somewhat turn it into passive income if I can help it.

Define best.

What non-self-hosted forum software gives you the biggest bang for your buck, or the lack thereof? A combination of UI, features, support, etc.

 

Some great opinions thus far!

See, that's kind of the problem: 'biggest bang for your buck' is notoriously hard to define given that not only do the options I mentioned have cloud plans, but Discourse, Flarum, NodeBB and others also have managed hosting where you just pay per month for the facilities - and it just so happens that you also can download that for your own uses/development etc.

 

And then you have Khoros. Non-self-hosted that's so expensive there isn't a pricing plan on the website, it's literally 'call us' pricing. Which means you can get an idea how much that costs.

 

Ultimately though, the different packages on offer make it really hard to compare - Invision Cloud vs others in particular is a really hard comparison once you get beyond the most basic packages because that offering isn't just a forum, it's the whole kit and kaboodle (forum, blogs, gallery, CMS, courses, commerce)

I'm biased. XFcloud.

I've dabble a bit with Mighty Networks as they offer similar features and services as Circle. It's not bad if you have a community set up or in the midst of rapid growth. I found it to be useful for those that offered courses as well as keeping the community organized within one spot and, its not a Facebook group.

 

Just looking back on their prices and wow, they have increased the pricing of the Community plan by like $20 per month to $50 per month.

It seems like ProBoards is the best, regarding software of that type that cannot also be self-hosted.

Live topics, the real time trending stuff, courses - those are the big ones. I know Zapier got included when it was originally slated for cloud only, and I'm not sure off hand about the AI stuff (e.g. AI image detection)

 

Just downloading IC 5 beta now to take a look if anything else is missing. These things are not important to everyone but I know for some folks they are make-or-break functionality (especially courses)

The courses can be made via a Database I use a database setup for my tutorial section on Anime Social I can get the same functionality without having to shell out 80 to 160 a month on cloud hosting. I tried the whole invision cloud a month ago I wasn't impressed. I am on a fixed budget so spending that kind of money just for live topics (discord or their failed chat that they tried in the 3.0 days) or the courses which can be made with a database, custom fields, and categories, I don't see the hype.

You can't so readily do the status tracking stuff that courses do, but depending on your needs this might not matter.

 

Certainly I'm not convinced it's worth the extra to go to that - if I wanted an LMS at this point I'd integrate Moodle and call it a day, but I recognise I'm an outlier there.

Was seriously thinking of moving to the cloud myself [mention=73]Sinistra Sensei[/mention] it's the fact of the pricing I was getting stuck on. True in that you would no longer have to deal with the backend admin stuff but still, $99 per month for what I currently use is a bit much.

Hands down it's gotta be Jcink. It's one of the only few free forum hosts that allows you to make database backups of your community. If you ever want to move off their platform you can. Though since the forum runs on a modified IPB 1x, you'll need to convert to older software and then upgrade to the latest version of whatever software you've converted to. (phpBB 2 is the easiest to convert to. I've done this and was eventually able to convert my forum to an old version of SMF and then the latest version.)