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Forumax – AI Powered Advanced Community Forum Plugin icon
Actively maintained Tested up to 7.0.6 #17 in community

Forumax – AI Powered Advanced Community Forum Plugin

Build powerful communities with Forumax. A fully standalone, feature-rich forum plugin with voting, private replies, and Elementor integration.

Active installs600+100+ tier
Downloads · 30d981▼ -27.4% vs prev. 30d
Rating5/518 reviews
Health score77/100Good
All-time downloads33.2KSince Aug 2022
Support resolved1 / 1100% in last 2 months
RequiresWP 5.0PHP 7.4+
Downloads · 7d274▲ +1.9% week over week
Our verdict

Solid choice

Forumax is a solid plugin choice in 2026, with a few things worth checking first. It runs on 600+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 1 month ago, and scores 77/100 on our health check.

  • Small user base (600+ active installs)

How does it stack up?

Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support

Daily downloads

3571107Jun 28Aug 11Sep 25
Yesterday48
Daily average (1y)28
Peak day281Jan 1, 2026
Last 12 months10.3K

Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.

Rankings

Where Forumax stands today

WordPress.org search rankings

Live position in the plugin search, top 100
KeywordPositionCompeting pluginsCategory
community #11 3,499 Best community plugins →
discussion #19 764 Best discussion plugins →
forum #12 6,927 Best forum plugins →
forum plugin #8 6,919 Best forum plugin plugins →
voting #15 299 Best voting plugins →

Version adoption

Share of active sites per release.

  • 1.233.1%
  • 2.426.3%
  • 1.310.9%
  • 1.48.7%
  • 1.07.2%
  • Other13.9%

Rating breakdown

★★★★★★★★★★ 5 from 18 reviews

  • 5★100.0%
  • 4★0.00%
  • 3★0.00%
  • 2★0.00%
  • 1★0.00%

About Forumax

From the official readme · v2.4.4

Description

Forumax is the ultimate standalone community forum solution for WordPress. Designed for forum administrators, content creators, and community managers, Forumax provides a complete suite of powerful features to create professional, engaging forums with minimal effort—no external forum dependencies required.

What is Forumax?

Forumax provides a complete, self-contained platform for building support forums, knowledge bases, or discussion communities. It includes everything you need to foster engagement, manage content effectively, and create an exceptional user experience right out of the box.

Video Overview

Note: We have renamed our plugin from BBP Core to Forumax. All features previously available in BBP Core are still here and fully supported.

Important: After updating to version 2.0.0, the plugin will be renamed to forumax. This may cause WordPress to deactivate the plugin. If deactivated, please simply reactivate it.

Key Features of Forumax

🎯 Unified Forum Builder
Take complete control of your forums with our intuitive, built-in builder. View all forums and topics in one organized dashboard, filter by status (open, closed, pending, spam), and manage discussions efficiently without navigating multiple pages.

🔐 Private & Confidential Replies
Enable users to post private responses visible only to forum owners and moderators. Perfect for sensitive discussions, support tickets, and confidential advice while maintaining full transparency where needed.

✅ Solved Topics System
Help community members quickly identify answered questions. Mark topics as solved to display a prominent ‘Resolved’ badge, reducing duplicate questions and improving user experience. Visitors instantly know which topics have solutions.

⭐ Smart Voting & Reputation System
Empower your community with a built-in AJAX-powered voting system. Users vote on the most helpful replies, automatically elevating quality answers to the top. Build reputation-based authority and encourage quality contributions.

📎 Media Attachments & File Sharing
Allow users to attach files, documents, images, and media directly to replies. Organized attachment sections make it easy for community members to share resources, code snippets, documents, and collaborate effectively.

💡 Advanced Forum Statistics Widget
Display real-time forum information including topic count, reply count, last activity, and most active users. The ‘Current Forum Info’ widget provides visitors with a quick overview of forum vitality and engagement.

🎨 Elementor Page Builder Integration
Create stunning forum layouts using Elementor’s drag-and-drop builder. Use specialized Forumax widgets to display forums, topics, and replies on any page with full customization control. No coding required.

⚡ Lightweight & Performance-Optimized
Forumax is built for speed. It loads assets intelligently—CSS and JavaScript only when needed. Minimal footprint ensures your forum runs fast without bloat.

🔧 Intuitive Admin Interface
Create, edit, and delete forums and topics directly from the Forumax admin dashboard. Streamlined interface eliminates confusion and reduces admin overhead.

Free Features:

  • Live Customizer – Instantly preview and customize forum styles with real-time visual controls.

  • Pre-made Templates – Start quickly using professionally designed forum templates for common use cases.

  • Unified Forum Builder – Build and manage forums, topics, and layouts from one centralized builder.

  • Voting on Topics & Replies – Allow users to upvote or downvote topics and replies for engagement.

  • Solved Topic – Mark topics as solved to highlight correct answers and improve usability.

  • Frontend Brand Color Option – Customize forum brand colors directly from frontend settings easily.

  • Who Can Upload Files – Control user roles and permissions for uploading files in forums.

  • Pagination in Forum Builder – Manage large forums efficiently with built-in pagination support.

PRO Features – Everything You Need for Advanced Community Management:

Upgrade to Forumax Pro for enterprise-grade forum management:

  1. Real-Time Admin Notifications – Stay updated with instant dashboard alerts for new posts, moderation requests, and community activity.

  2. Smart User Notifications – Keep members engaged with real-time updates on subscribed forums, topics, and replies they care about.

  3. Mini User Profiles – Display compact user profile cards with activity summaries, follower counts, and quick-view reputation.

  4. Pre-Built Elementor Templates – Import professional forum layouts with one click. Fully customizable templates for forums, knowledge bases, and support centers.

  5. “I’ve the Same Question” Feature – Reduce duplicate threads by letting users indicate similar questions, improving forum organization.

  6. Anonymous Posting – Allow sensitive discussions without revealing user identity. Ideal for support forums and confidential advice.

  7. Dynamic User Profile Links – Generate personalized profile URLs for logged-in users. Perfect for user bios and contributor pages.

  8. Topic Approval Workflow – Control content quality with admin-approval for new topics. Prevent spam and maintain forum standards.

  9. Advanced File Management – Support multiple file uploads with increased size limits. Delete attachments independently or with content.

  10. Powerful Voting Controls – Guest voting restrictions, prevent closed-topic voting, disable self-voting, admin voting privileges, and vote-based sorting.

  11. External Image Insertion – Insert images via URL or media library picker. Enhance replies with visual content effortlessly.

  12. Auto-Approval System – Automatically publish reply replies instantly. Streamline moderation workflows and maintain conversation flow.

  13. Attachment Moderation – Approve/unapprove replies containing files for enhanced content security and compliance control.

Promax Features:

Reply Timeline Navigation
Automatically loads more replies when users scroll down. A reply timeline is visible beside the replies to help users follow long discussions easily.

Live Chat
Adds a private real-time chat system. A chat icon is visible on the right side of the site to open the chat box. Admins can set default assistants from the settings. Users can chat with the assistant or with forum participants. Messages support likes, replies, emojis, and file or video sharing. Chat can also be started by hovering over forum, topic, or reply users.

Emoji for Topics and Replies
Allows users to add expressive emojis to forum topics and replies, making conversations more engaging, emotional, and easier to understand.

Real-Time Alerts
Displays instant notifications when new topics are published or existing discussions are updated, keeping users informed without refreshing the page.

Social Login
Allow users to sign up and log in instantly using Google, Facebook, or Twitter, reducing friction and increasing overall registration conversion rates.

Analytics
Get powerful insights into forum performance with real-time statistics, activity trends, user engagement metrics, and resolution data—all presented in a clear, actionable dashboard view.

AI Integration (via Our AI Plugin)

Forumax can be extended with powerful AI capabilities using the AI Tools, designed to automate support workflows, improve engagement, and transform forum discussions into valuable long-term content.

Important: AI features require the Antimanual AI Plugin and an active AI provider connection.

AI-Powered Forum Replies

Instantly generate intelligent, context-aware replies to forum topics. Improve response time, reduce moderator workload, and maintain consistent support quality across your community.

Ideal for:

  • Support forums
  • Product discussions
  • Knowledge-sharing communities

Convert Solved Topics into Posts

Automatically convert resolved forum topics into structured WordPress posts.

Each generated post can include:

  • Problem summary
  • Accepted solution
  • Key insights and takeaways

This feature turns your forum into a living knowledge base while improving SEO and long-term content value.

Smarter Community Management

By combining Forumax core features with AI automation, moderators can:

  • Reduce repetitive replies
  • Scale support without increasing team size
  • Keep forums clean, searchable, and helpful

Forumax + AI transforms discussions into long-term assets.

Important Links

WHAT’S NEXT?

If you like Forumax, then consider checking out our other WordPress Plugins:

EazyDocs – Powerful knowledge base plugin to easily create and manage professional documentation, wikis, and helpdesk sections.

Antimanual – AI-powered assistant that automates content creation, documentation, and support, transforming static sites into dynamic experiences.

Advanced Accordion Block – Lightweight Gutenberg block for creating visually appealing, organized accordion sections with extensive styling options.

Changeloger – Transform plain text changelogs into visually stunning, organized representations with pagination and version links.

Jobus – Comprehensive job board solution transforming your site into a recruitment platform with dashboards and ATS.

Spider Elements – Versatile library of 20+ creative widgets to enhance Elementor and build professional websites.

Why Choose Forumax?

The Trusted Choice for Communities

  • 1000+ Active Users: Join thousands of community managers using Forumax
  • Actively Maintained: Regular updates with new features and security patches
  • Security First: Built with WordPress security best practices
  • Scalable Solution: Handles small communities to large enterprise forums
  • Beginner-Friendly: Intuitive UI requires no technical knowledge
  • Expert Support: Responsive team ready to help you succeed
  • Open Source: Community contributions welcome on GitHub

Ready to Transform Your Forum?

Start with Forumax Free today and upgrade to Pro when you’re ready for advanced features.

Get Started → | View Pricing → | Read Documentation →

Support & Community

Installation

Getting started with Forumax is quick and easy. Follow these simple steps:

Prerequisites

Before installing Forumax, ensure you have:
* WordPress 5.0 or higher
* PHP 7.4 or greater
* MySQL 5.6 or greater

Installation Method 1: Install from WordPress Admin Dashboard (Recommended)

  1. Go to Plugins → Add New in your WordPress dashboard
  2. Search for “Forumax” in the plugin search box
  3. Click the Install Now button
  4. After installation completes, click Activate Plugin
  5. Navigate to Forumax → Settings to configure features (optional but recommended)
  6. Start building your community!

Installation Method 2: Manual Upload via FTP/cPanel

  1. Download the forumax.zip file from the plugin page
  2. Extract the ZIP file on your computer
  3. Upload the extracted forumax folder to /wp-content/plugins/ directory via FTP or cPanel File Manager
  4. Go to Plugins in your WordPress admin and locate Forumax
  5. Click Activate Plugin
  6. Configure settings in Forumax → Settings

Installation Method 3: Upload ZIP from WordPress Admin

  1. Download the forumax.zip file
  2. Go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin
  3. Select the downloaded ZIP file and click Install Now
  4. After installation, click Activate Plugin
  5. Configure your forum settings

Troubleshooting Installation

Getting PHP errors?
Verify your PHP version is 7.4 or higher. Contact your hosting provider to upgrade if needed.

Still need help?
Visit our Documentation or check our Support Repository

Frequently asked questions

🎯 Who Should Use Forumax?

Forumax is perfect for WordPress site owners, community managers, support teams, and anyone who wants a professional forum solution without custom coding.

🔄 Is Forumax Compatible with My Theme?

Yes! Forumax works seamlessly with any WordPress theme.

💻 Do I Need Coding Skills?

Absolutely not! Forumax is designed for non-technical users. All features are accessible through intuitive admin interfaces and visual builders. No coding required.

🎨 Can I Customize the Forum Layout?

Completely! With Elementor integration, you can drag-and-drop customize forum layouts. Pre-built templates and full styling options give you unlimited design flexibility.

📦 What Version of WordPress Do I Need?

Forumax requires WordPress 5.0 or higher and PHP 7.4 or greater.

⚙️ Is Forumax Performance Optimized?

Yes. Forumax only loads necessary assets when needed, ensuring minimal impact on site performance and fast loading times.

🐛 How Do I Report Bugs or Get Support?

Found an issue? Report it on our GitHub repository. For detailed help, visit our Documentation.

💪 What Features Are in the Pro Version?

Forumax Pro adds advanced features like real-time notifications, pre-built templates, anonymous posting, advanced attachments, topic approval workflow, and more. Check Pro pricing →

🤖 Does Forumax include AI features?

Forumax supports AI-powered features through the our AI Plugin. This allows AI-generated replies, Convert Resolved Topics into Posts etc.

Changelog

Improved RTL and dark mode compatibility, fixed login/register tab issues across themes, and resolved the forum archive sidebar widget issue.

2.4.4 (13 August 2026)

  • Fixed: Resolved the RTL file loading issue and improved the forum archive sidebar widget.
  • Fixed: Improved login/register tab switching across different themes when user registration is enabled.
  • Improved: Enhanced RTL and dark mode compatibility across various areas.

2.4.3 (1 August 2026)

  • Fixed: Improved dark mode compatibility for forum forms and single forum pages.
  • Fixed: Resolved the tab switching issue in the Forumax user login form.
  • Updated: Upgraded the Noticepilot SDK and refreshed its configuration.

2.4.2 (10 July 2026)

  • Improved: Enhanced dark mode compatibility and refined several frontend UI elements.
  • Fixed: Resolved incorrect redirect behavior in the Forumax Search widget.
  • Fixed: Prevented the Forumax plugin from auto-deactivating after updates.
  • Fixed: Corrected forum meta image sizing for consistent display.

2.4.1 (13 June 2026)

  • Fixed: Resolved UI broken issue.
  • Improved: Overall frontend stability and styling consistency.

2.4.0 (10 June 2026)

  • New: Added Layout 3 for the Forums Elementor widget with a fresh new design and improved forum presentation.
  • Fixed: Improved forum styling compatibility to ensure a consistent appearance across different website setups.
  • Improved: Reply Editor UI – Completely modernized the reply editor with a clean, borderless container, refined toolbar, and a unified design system.
  • Improved: Reply Form Options – Grouped attachments and notification settings into a newly structured bottom grid layout for a cleaner composing experience.
  • Improved: Inline Editing – Enhanced the inline reply editing experience with unsaved changes warnings, live character counts, loading indicators, and smooth transitions.
  • Improved: Reply Actions Menu – Redesigned the reply options dropdown with action-specific icons, grouped menu sections, and color-coded destructive actions for a cleaner, more intuitive experience.
  • Improved: Reply Count Display – Reply counts in the topic lead now use accurate data and display correct singular/plural forms across all languages.
  • Improved: Topic Editor UI – Matches the reply editor design with consistent styling and Visual mode as default.
  • Optimized: Topic Page Performance – Removed an unused database query that was running on every topic page load.
  • Fixed: Reply sorting was not re-initializing the admin dropdown properly after changing the sort order.

2.3.0 (10 April 2026)

  • New: Forum Subscription — users can subscribe to any forum and get email notifications when new topics are posted.
  • New: Inline Topic Editing — edit topic title and content directly on the page with a built-in visual editor, no page reload needed.
  • New: Topic Actions Menu — admin action links now appear in a clean three-dot (⋮) dropdown menu in the topic header.
  • New: Active Members Section — see who’s participating in a topic with profile pictures and hover info cards in the sidebar.
  • New: Profile Photo Upload — users can now upload their own profile picture from the profile edit page.
  • Improved: Forum Page Design — tighter spacing, smaller headings and badges, and softer card corners for a more modern look.
  • Improved: Reply & Reaction Buttons — the Reply and Reactions buttons now sit side by side for a cleaner layout.
  • Improved: Threaded Reply Avatars — avatar sizes now reduce at each nesting level for a cleaner look in deep threads.
  • Improved: Thread Collapse Button — the expand/collapse button for nested replies now has a smoother, more polished design.
  • Improved: Profile Pagination — updated to match the forum page style with flat square buttons and brand color highlighting.
  • Improved: Forum Description Box — redesigned with a modern flat style, accent border, and full dark mode support.
  • Improved: Forum Builder Tabs — filter tabs now reset properly when switching between forums.
  • Improved: Block Theme Compatibility — shortcodes, hybrid themes, and forum layouts all work reliably on block themes.
  • Improved: Vote History Migration — existing vote records are automatically updated to the new privacy-safe format without losing any data.
  • Security: Voting Privacy — anonymous votes now store encrypted identifiers instead of raw data, fully GDPR compliant.
  • Fixed: Forum page detection was not returning results correctly in some cases.
  • Fixed: Filter tab highlighting was not updating properly when switching forum tabs.
  • Fixed: Forum Builder pagination was showing even when there were fewer than 10 topics.
  • Fixed: Duplicate pagination on profile pages (Subscriptions, Favorites, Engagements, Replies) — now shows only one.
  • Fixed: Reply date links were pointing to the wrong page.
  • Fixed: Topic and reply content was showing formatting codes instead of clean text.
  • Fixed: Search results styling issue on the forum page.

Full changelog on WordPress.org →

Screenshots

Forumax Dashboard — Interactive Forum Overview with Stats, Activity, and Management Tools
Forumax Dashboard — Interactive Forum Overview with Stats, Activity, and Management Tools
Forum Builder — Intuitive Interface for Forum Creation and Organization
Forum Builder — Intuitive Interface for Forum Creation and Organization
Settings — Intuitive Forumax Settings for Complete Forum Configuration
Settings — Intuitive Forumax Settings for Complete Forum Configuration
Forum Root Page – Clean, modern, and user-friendly forum interface
Forum Root Page – Clean, modern, and user-friendly forum interface
Forums List — Structured Forum Directory for Easy Community Navigation
Forums List — Structured Forum Directory for Easy Community Navigation
Forum Topics List — Organized Topic Listings with Filters and Status Indicators
Forum Topics List — Organized Topic Listings with Filters and Status Indicators
Forum Topic — Start New Discussions and Organize Community Conversations
Forum Topic — Start New Discussions and Organize Community Conversations
Forum Reply — Effortless Real-Time Replies with Rich Content and Engagement Tools
Forum Reply — Effortless Real-Time Replies with Rich Content and Engagement Tools

For developers

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FAQ

Forumax: quick answers

Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.

Live data from WordPress.org · checked Sep 26, 2026

Is Forumax free?

Yes. Forumax is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.

Is Forumax safe to use in 2026?

Forumax is a solid plugin choice in 2026, with a few things worth checking first. It runs on 600+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 1 month ago, and scores 77/100 on our health check.

How many websites use Forumax?

Forumax is active on 600+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 33,156 times since it launched in August 2022. It was downloaded 981 times in the last 30 days.

Does Forumax work with WordPress 7.1?

Forumax is officially tested up to WordPress 7.0.6, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.

What PHP version does Forumax need?

Forumax requires PHP 7.4 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.

When was Forumax last updated?

The latest version, 2.4.4, was released on August 13, 2026 (1 month ago).

Who makes Forumax?

Forumax is developed and maintained by Spider Themes.

What are the best alternatives to Forumax?

The most popular alternatives to Forumax are Ultimate Member (200K+ installs), BuddyPress (90K+ installs) and Ultimate Member – reCAPTCHA (20K+ installs).

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