Once you've committed to building an online discussion community, a decision will need to be made regarding the software solution you choose to power your forum. Which option suits you best? Will you download, install, configure, debug, maintain and manage your own web forum software, or will you delegate that responsibility?
While there are several excellent forum software suites available, some of them free, the fact remains they must all be hosted, installed, configured and maintained. For site owners who aren't particularly interested in taking on these technical responsibilities, a dedicated forum service provider can offer a much simpler, more reliable and less time consuming solution....completely free of charge!
While standalone forum software applications offer some unique advantages, they do require effort that could be spent in more beneficial ways. It's no secret that building a successful discussion community takes time and energy. The beauty of remote forum hosting is that all recurring technical management is taken care of for you. All you have to concentrate on is marketing and moderating your growing forum.
Enter ProBoards. As the most experienced and popular provider of free forums on the Internet, we offer a completely free, forum-hosting solution that includes the most advanced discussion forum software available, unlimited freedom to grow your membership, and a support community ready to help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Getting Started
We're here to assist you every step of the way; from initial setup to promoting the growth and success of your community. After you've chosen a name for your new forum and completed the sign-up form, refer to the ProBoards Getting Started Guide for a clear explanation of forum features and setup tasks. Once you've launched you're new discussion forum, you can always refer to the detailed Forum Help Guide or post questions on our Support Board for additional guidance. For the more advanced practitioners we offer the Coding and Design boards for your enjoyment.
Voted "Best Hosted Forum Provider-2011"
Thanks to thousands of loyal ProBoards supporters who cast their votes for us last year, we were recognized by industry pundit Forum-Software.org as the top "Hosted Forum Service" on the entire Internet for 2011. The fact is, having provided feature-rich, free forum hosting to the online forum community for over 12 years, we've built a following of 22 million registered users hosting over 700,000 active discussion forums. We must be doing something right!
ProBoards v5 Release
Later this year, ProBoards will be releasing the much anticipated v5 free forum software bringing AJAX Web 2.0 technology to the world of online discussion boards. AJAX driven search tools, a CSS compatible WYSIWYG editor and, live forum activity feeds are just a few of the advancements you can expect to see. Welcome to the next generation of online discussion forums, welcome to ProBoards!