Best forums plugins for WordPress
The most popular forums plugins for WordPress in November 2026, in WordPress.org’s own popular order, which follows active installs. bbPress leads with 100K+ active installs, ahead of wpForo Forum (20K+) and Asgaros Forum (10K+). All 48 plugins tagged “forums” are below, with figures from WordPress.org that update every day.
Installs aren’t everything: a recent release, a “Tested up to” that matches the current WordPress, and support threads that get resolved show a plugin is looked after. Open any plugin for its downloads, rank history and alternatives.
Research this niche or see all plugins.
Top 10 forums plugins
- 1.
bbPressThe most installed forums plugin, with 100K+ active installs. Rated 3.9 from 343 reviews, updated 1 week ago.
- 2.
wpForo Forum20K+ active installs. Rated 4.7 from 390 reviews, updated 6 days ago.
- 3.
Asgaros Forum10K+ active installs. Rated 4.7 from 210 reviews, updated 2 weeks ago.
- 4.
Ultimate Member400+ active installs. Rated 1.0 from 6 reviews, last updated 1 year ago. Tested only up to WordPress 6.7.11.
- 5.
Simple:Press Forum300+ active installs. Rated 4.2 from 24 reviews, updated 1 month ago.
- 6.
bbPress200+ active installs. Rated 4.9 from 12 reviews, last updated 10 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 4.7.39.
- 7.
bbPress Messages100+ active installs. Rated 4.5 from 11 reviews, last updated 8 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 4.8.34.
- 8.
bbPress100+ active installs. Rated 4.6 from 5 reviews, last updated 6 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 5.3.27.
- 9.
Vanilla Forums100+ active installs. Rated 2.8 from 17 reviews, last updated 6 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 5.3.27.
- 10.
bbP Signature100+ active installs. Rated 2.7 from 6 reviews, updated 2 months ago.
All 48 plugins tagged “forums”
bbPress
#426by John James Jacoby11 days ago
bbPress is forum software for WordPress.
- Installs
- 100K+
- Rating
- 3.9(343)
- Downloads
- 2K/day
wpForo Forum
Up in the last 7 days:4#1,377by Tomdever6 days ago
Number one WordPress forum plugin with AI features. Full-fledged forum solution with modern forum design. Community builder WordPress forum plugin.
- Installs
- 20K+
- Rating
- 4.7(390)
- Downloads
- 631/day
Asgaros Forum
Up in the last 7 days:1#1,934by Asgaros16 days ago
Asgaros Forum is the best forum-plugin for WordPress! It comes with dozens of features in a beautiful design and stays simple and fast.
- Installs
- 10K+
- Rating
- 4.7(210)
- Downloads
- 185/day
Ultimate Member
Down in the last 7 days:114#9,255by Mykyta Synelnikov1 year ago
Integrate Ultimate Member with the forum plugin ForumWP.
- Installs
- 400+
- Rating
- 1.0(6)
- Downloads
- 11/day
Simple:Press Forum
Up in the last 7 days:65#10,431by simplepress1 month ago
The most versatile and feature-rich forum plugin for WordPress. Create unlimited forums with awesome features directly in your WordPress site.
- Installs
- 300+
- Rating
- 4.2(24)
- Downloads
- 22/day
bbPress
Down in the last 7 days:75#11,509by Pippin Williamson10 years ago
A simple plugin to allow your bbPress users to mark their replies as private.
- Installs
- 200+
- Rating
- 4.9(12)
- Downloads
- 11/day
bbPress Messages
Down in the last 7 days:6#13,867by DevriX9 years ago
bbPress Messages - Simple yet powerful private messaging system tailored for bbPress.
- Installs
- 100+
- Rating
- 4.5(11)
- Downloads
- 11/day
bbPress
Down in the last 7 days:38#14,505by Pippin Williamson7 years ago
A simple plugin to enable short codes in bbPress topics and replies.
- Installs
- 100+
- Rating
- 4.6(5)
- Downloads
- 0/day
Vanilla Forums
Up in the last 7 days:57#15,627by VanillaForums6 years ago
Not a Vanilla Forum owner? Create one here
- Installs
- 100+
- Rating
- 2.8(17)
- Downloads
- 0/day
bbP Signature
Down in the last 7 days:22#16,162by Arjun S Kumar2 months ago
This plugin adds user signature support to bbPress 2.0.
- Installs
- 100+
- Rating
- 2.7(6)
- Downloads
- 0/day
bbPress Capabilities
Down in the last 7 days:86#16,599by John James Jacoby12 years ago
Advanced user capability editing, specifically for bbPress
- Installs
- 100+
- Rating
- 3.8(5)
- Downloads
- 0/day
bbPress Protected Forums
Down in the last 7 days:70#17,228by JordiPlana14 years ago
Disables new topic creation in some forums for determined roles.
- Installs
- 90+
- Rating
- 5.0(3)
- Downloads
- 11/day
bbPress Custom Reply Notifications
Up in the last 7 days:71#18,031by Pippin Williamson12 years ago
A simple bbPress extension to customize the email sent to forum & topic subscribers when a new topic or reply is posted.
- Installs
- 80+
- Rating
- 3.5(2)
- Downloads
- 0/day
bbPress Integration
Up in the last 7 days:33#18,420by Michael Adams (mdawaffe)17 years ago
Provides single sign on login with a bbPress installation.
- Installs
- 70+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
Forum Permissions bbPress
#18,895by Verdant Studio7 months ago
Restrict the forum permissions per user role.
- Installs
- 70+
- Rating
- 5.0(3)
- Downloads
- 6/day
bbPress Notifications
Down in the last 7 days:127#19,108by dFactory13 years ago
bbPress Notifications allows you to automatically send email notifications to specific users when new topics or replies are posted.
- Installs
- 60+
- Rating
- 5.0(3)
- Downloads
- 0/day
bbp user online status
Up in the last 7 days:44#19,556by Andrew Breksa11 years ago
A Wordpress plugin to show user online/offline statuses in bbpress topics and replies
- Installs
- 60+
- Rating
- 3.7(3)
- Downloads
- 11/day
bbPress
Down in the last 7 days:173#22,460by Pippin Williamson12 years ago
An extension for bbPress to easily show notices at the top of all forum pages.
- Installs
- 40+
- Rating
- 5.0(6)
- Downloads
- 0/day
Better bbPress Signature
Down in the last 7 days:221#22,920by Arun Singh12 years ago
Better bbPress Signature is signature plugin to add option for member signature for bbPress forums
- Installs
- 40+
- Rating
- 3.7(6)
- Downloads
- 0/day
Groups bbPress
#23,569by itthinx10 months ago
Protect bbPress Forums, Topics and Replies using Groups.
- Installs
- 30+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
bbPress
#25,134by Pippin Williamson12 years ago
A simple plugin to add Mark as read / Unread links to your bbPress forum topics.
- Installs
- 30+
- Rating
- 5.0(1)
- Downloads
- 0/day
bbPress
#25,321by daniluk400010 years ago
A great plugin completely changes the entire design bbpress in light or dark color
- Installs
- 20+
- Rating
- 4.2(14)
- Downloads
- 0/day
BBP Close Old Topics
Down in the last 7 days:383#26,458by Iceable9 years ago
Extension for bbPress to close old topics automatically when they are older than an admin-defined period of time.
- Installs
- 20+
- Rating
- 5.0(2)
- Downloads
- 0/day
bbPress
Up in the last 7 days:74#27,249by Pippin Williamson12 years ago
Allows you to create and quickly insert pre-defined responses in bbPress forum topics.
- Installs
- 20+
- Rating
- 5.0(3)
- Downloads
- 0/day
Newest replies first in bbPress
Down in the last 7 days:592#30,994by Jeroen Peters4 months ago
WordPress plugin which makes bbPress show the newest replies first in all forums.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
bbPress
#31,124by Pippin Williamson10 years ago
A simple plugin to enable admins/editors to leave notes on bbPress topic replies.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- 5.0(1)
- Downloads
- 0/day
BP Multiple Forum Post
#31,156by dan-jones10 years ago
Lets users cross-post a new bbpress forum topic in multiple BuddyPress group forums.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- 1.0(1)
- Downloads
- 0/day
bbPress
#36,215by John James Jacoby8 years ago
Limit new bbPress content within wp-admin to super-admins
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
bpCKEditor
#37,242by willcast16 years ago
This plugin replaces the plain multiline text field on BP forums by a CKEditor.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
bbPress
Up in the last 7 days:9,634#38,681by Pippin Williamson12 years ago
Warns moderators if another moderator is currently viewing the same bbPress topic.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
bbtemplate
#38,713by Kiera Howe10 years ago
BBPress Templater - quick creation of BBPress Forums from a predefined template.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- 5.0(1)
- Downloads
- 0/day
WP2SMFBridge
#38,724by x0DSR9 years ago
Login bridge from Wordpress to Simple Machine Forum.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 1/day
BBP Auto-Close Topics
#39,115by Brandon Allen11 years ago
BBP Auto-Close Topics will automatically close bbPress topics after an admin-specified time period.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
bbP Views
Up in the last 7 days:2,018#40,397by Gautam Gupta15 years ago
This plugin adds some of the most-requested views for bbPress
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
bbPress Live
#43,177by Sam Bauers18 years ago
bbPress Live allows you to pull data from a bbPress 1.0 forum using the new XML-RPC publishing API in bbPress.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
BuddyPress
Down in the last 7 days:5,728#43,281by daniluk400011 years ago
A great plugin completely changes the entire design of BuddyPress in light or dark color
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
Group Forum Subscripton for BuddyPress
#43,658by Boone Gorges16 years ago
** Use of this plugin is not recommended in versions of BuddyPress 1.2 and higher. Please consider using BuddyPress Group Activity Notifications inste …
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
SMF Bridge
Down in the last 7 days:2,328#46,332wp-smf-bridge16 years ago
User registration and login bridge between Wordpress and Simple Machine Forum
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 2/day
bbPress
Down in the last 7 days:7,704#46,354by daniluk400012 years ago
A small plugin without settings will allow you to customize your answers on the forum in special style.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- 4.0(2)
- Downloads
- 2/day
BuddyPress Forums
Down in the last 7 days:231#46,508by 3sixty16 years ago
Provides a drop-down on Forum Topic page so Group Admins / Moderators can move topic thread to another forum. Generates email alert to topic author.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
Forum Redirect
#53,435by DigitalME9 months ago
Allows you to override the default behavior of bbPress forums, linking them to an external site.
- Installs
- <10
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
Bubble Critic
#62,451by dobsizzle5 years ago
Contains the Bubble Critic Forums block.
- Installs
- <10
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
Support Monitor
Down in the last 7 days:9,671#68,920by Emtiaz Zahid2 months ago
Watch the support forums for the plugins you publish, from inside wp-admin. Know what is still waiting for an answer.
- Installs
- <10
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
Forum REST API
Down in the last 7 days:5,592#73,987by Drew Winkles2 years ago
A simple REST API to retrieve forum-related data, including forums, topics, and replies.
- Installs
- <10
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
Neoforum
#74,298by saeros19843 months ago
Neoforum is full-fledged forum engine for Wordpress, including all standard forum functionality.
- Installs
- <10
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day