List of Free Forum Hosting on the Internet

The forum software offered at these sites tends to be fairly simple,
but most permit customization so you can make your
forum appear to be part of your own Web site.


  • aGNeS News Forum BBS, by Vestris
    ( agnes.vestris.com/en/) Free, ad-supported. Also available as a product for installation on your own site.

  • Aimoo (www.aimoo.com)
    Free. Also offers chat and polling.

  • AnyBoard (www.anyboard.net)
    Free. Also available as a product.

  • Boardhost (www.boardhost.com)
    Free with banner ads, or monthly fee for service without ads.
  • Bravenet (www.bravenet.com)
    Free. Also offers many other tools, including mailing lists, guestbooks, polls, chat rooms, classified ads, instant messaging, and more.

  • CGI For Me (www.cgiforme.com)
    Free, ad-supported. Also offers other CGI tools.
  • DiscussionApp 5.0 by Server.com
    (www.server.com/communityapps/discussionapp/index.html)
    Free with banner ads, or annual fee for service without ads.

  • Echelon Forums Web Depot (web.eesite.com/forums/)
    Free; ad-supported.

  • Everyone.net (www.everyone.net/community_tour.html )
    Free; ad-supported. Gives you half of the banner ad space to sell yourself. Also offers chat, site search, and free e-mail services.

  • Ezboard ( www.ezboard.com/)
    Free; ad-supported.

  • Free CGI Web Forum (www.fido7.com/free-cgi/forum/)
    Free with banner ads, or monthly fee for service without ads.

  • Groupboard ( www.groupboard.com/)
    Simple message board, chat rooms, and whiteboards, all based on Java. Free for limited usage, fee for larger numbers of users.

  • Google Groups (groups.google.com)
    Formerly Deja-News, more like a newsgroup, but very good.
  • HostedScripts.com (www.hostedscripts.com/)
    Free, ad-supported. Also offers mailing lists, a form mailer, and other tools.

  • Message-board.net (www.message-board.net/)
    Free with their banner ads, or monthly fee without ads.

  • MSN Communities (Microsoft Network)
    (communities.msn.com/home)
    Free, ad-supported.

  • NEX Web Bulletin Board Wizard (www.nexwebsites.com/freeboard.html)
    Instantly create a free board, or create a "deluxe" board for a small one-time fee.

  • ProBoards ( www.proboards.com/)
    Free, ad-supported.

  • Quick Topic ( www.quicktopic.com/)
    Free. No customization features, but this is probably the easiest and quickest place to set up a single-topic bulletin board. Also offeres Quick Doc Review, a system for collaboration.

  • StarForums (on.starblvd.net/meet/)
    Free with their banner ads, or monthly fee without ads.

  • TalkCity (www.talkcity.com)
    Includes a well-developed chat facility.

  • VoyForums ( www.voy.com/)
    Free, ad-supported.

  • WebPost ( www.webpost.net/)
    Free with their banner ads, or monthly fee without ads. You can create an entire Web site here for free, and use their forums, guestbooks, and other tools.

  • Web Crossing Express (www.webcrossing.com/)
    Offers public and private forums and chat rooms. This free version is offered by the makers of the popular Web Crossing conferencing software.

  • Yahoo Groups (groups.yahoo.com)
    Free, ad supported. Chat, message boards, newsgroups, more.