Everything included, switched on from day one
There is no free tier and no paid tier here. Every forum we host gets the full Simple Machines Forum package plus the add-ons that most communities install anyway, already configured and already working.
A complete SMF 2.0 message board
Simple Machines Forum has been refined for two decades by people who actually run communities. You get all of it, not a cut-down hosted imitation.
Boards and categories
Organise discussion into as many categories, boards, and child boards as your topic needs. Reorder them, hide them, or restrict them to specific member groups at any time.
Member groups and permissions
Build your own membership ladder: post-count groups, invitation-only groups, staff groups. Permissions are set per group and per board, down to individual actions.
Private messaging
Members can message each other directly, start group conversations, keep labelled folders, and set their own rules for filtering incoming mail.
Polls and voting
Attach a poll to any topic with single or multiple choice answers, a closing date, optional guest voting, and a public or hidden results list.
Attachments and avatars
Let members attach files to posts and upload avatars, with per-group size limits and file type restrictions so a single member cannot flood the board.
Full text search
Members can search the entire forum by phrase, author, board, or date range, which matters enormously once you pass a few thousand posts.
Calendar and events
A shared calendar for meetups, launches, birthdays, and recurring community events, linked to the topics that discuss them.
BBCode and a visual editor
A formatting toolbar for people who want it and raw BBCode for people who prefer it, including quotes, code blocks, spoilers, lists, and media embeds.
Email notifications
Members choose what they hear about: replies to their topics, new posts in boards they watch, private messages, or a digest instead of individual mails.
The extras you would otherwise hunt down
On self-hosted SMF these are third-party modifications you install, patch, and re-apply after every upgrade. Here they are part of the platform.
Gallery Pro
A full photo gallery rather than a folder of attachments. Members get personal albums, the community gets shared albums, and every image supports comments, ratings, and thumbnails. Permissions follow your existing member groups, so a members-only gallery takes one click.
Arcade with 100+ games
An optional games section with per-game high score tables, member rankings, and challenge matches between members. It sounds frivolous and it is the most reliable trick we know for getting registered lurkers to make their first post. Scores also feed the public arcade rankings.
Visual style editor
Change your forum colours, header image, fonts, widths, and board icons from the admin panel. No template files, no CSS, no FTP. Start from one of the bundled themes and adjust until it looks like your community rather than a default install.
Upgrades as you grow
Busy forums are moved to stronger hardware as they need it. There is no post ceiling, no traffic tier, and nothing you are pushed to buy when your community takes off. The forum that works at fifty members works at fifty thousand.
The parts you should never have to think about
No size limits
Topics, posts, members, and attachments are not metered. Neither is bandwidth.
Backups
Your database is backed up on our schedule, so a bad afternoon of moderation is recoverable.
Security patches
Forum, server, and database updates are applied by us. You are never running a vulnerable version.
Spam controls
Registration verification, flood control, and blocklists are configured before your board opens.
Instant setup
The forum exists the moment you submit the form. There is no provisioning queue.
Free subdomain
Every board gets its own address immediately, and you can point a domain you own at it later.
Community support
Staff and veteran forum owners answer questions on the shared support forums.
Your data stays yours
It is standard SMF underneath. Ask and we will export your database if you ever move on.
What we do not offer
It is a free service, and pretending otherwise wastes your time. Here is where the edges are.
Advertising appears on your forum
Ads are how the hosting is paid for. The terms of service ask that you do not remove, hide, or deface them. If you want an ad-free board, self-hosting SMF on your own server is the honest answer.
You cannot upload arbitrary PHP modifications
Forums share infrastructure, so we cannot let individual boards run custom server-side code. Themes, settings, permissions, and the bundled add-ons are yours to change; the file system is not.
English-language boards only
Our moderation staff read English, and we cannot responsibly host communities we are unable to moderate. Forums in other languages are removed.
No adult content, warez, or illegal material
The terms of service set this out in full. Boards that break it are closed, and you can report one if you find it.
Sound like the right fit?
Set up takes about two minutes, and nothing here is behind a paywall.