wpForo Forum
By Tomdever
Description
wpForo Forums is the best WordPress forum plugin. It is a full-fledged yet easy and light forum solution for your WordPress website. With modern and responsive forum layouts and styles, this plugin brings everything you need to run an efficient and professional community.
The installation process is straightforward, allowing you to activate the plugin and manage your forums easily through the dashboard. You can customize forum pages, titles, colors, and widgets to fit your needs.
wpForo integrates seamlessly with popular membership plugins, enhancing its functionality and allowing for a richer user experience. It supports multiple languages and layouts, making it versatile for various community needs.
Other Notable Features
Here are a few other notable features of this free wpForo Forum plugin.
Screenshots
FAQ
Forum Page – wpForo creates a forum page with /community/ slug. Forum URL can be changed in Dashboard > wpForo > Boards > Edit Board and change the slug. Make sure you use WordPress permalinks. wpForo forums don’t work with default ?p=1 URL structure. Forum page only contains [wpforo] forum shortcode.
Forum Menu – wpForo forum menu is a regular WordPress menu. In Dashboard > Appearance > Menu admin page wpForo forum creates new navigation menu (forum top menu bar) called “wpForo Navigation (wpForo Menu)”. Forum menu is attached to wpForo Menu location.
Forum Sidebar and Widgets – wpForo forum comes with own right (RTL left) sidebar and widgets (Recent Forum Topics, Recent Forum Posts, Forum Search, Forum Online Users).
Forum Layouts – wpForo Forums has Forum Layouts and allows to create hybrid forums. wpForo theme has built in multi-layout system. Each forum section (category with forums and subForums) can be displayed with different forum layout.
Forum Manager – You can add new category, forum or subForum in Dashboard > Forums > Forums admin page. The Forum add / Forum edit / Forum Delete / Forum Hierarchy can be managed on the same admin page.
Forum Shortcodes – Started from version 1.0.0 you can use wpForo shortcodes.
Forum Styles – Please navigate to Dashboard > wpForo > Settings > Colors & Styles admin page. Here you can find wpForo forum front-end colors and styles. You can choose forum colors: default (blue), red, green, orange, grey, dark. You can select forum color set or customize each color manually.
Forum Member – Forum Members are the same WordPress users. wpForo forums is fully integrated with WordPress. It comes with own Forum Login and Forum Registration page. Users get an advanced Forum Profile. You can manage all members in Dashboard > Forums > Members admin page.
Forum Member Badges and Reputation – wpForo forum has a simple yet powerful user reputation system. Currently it based on number of forum posts.
Forum Access and Permissions – Forum Accesses are different sets of forum permissions (CAN’s) designed to help forum admins control (allow/restrict) Users’ actions in each forum.
Forum Usergroups and Permissions – In order to have an extended forum user permission system with full control over all forum user actions, wpForo comes with own Forum Usergroup system.
Forum Translation – wpForo forum can be translated using PO/MO files or you can do a quick translation using wpForo Forum Phrase system in Dashboard > wpForo > Phrases admin page.
Forum GDPR Compliance – wpForo has almost all forum specific tools and functions to comply your forum to GDPR. Please navigate to wpForo > Settings > Privacy & Rules admin page and go through all instructions and options.
Contributors and developers
“wpForo Forum” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Reviews (388)
Sort by:
Any idea how to switch to German? Unfortunately, all my efforts have failed. I’ve placed the files wpforo-de_DE.po and wpforo-de_DE.mo in /languages/plugins/ – with no success. Switching to “Deutsch-Sie” or “Deutsch” didn’t help either. The author documentation page for translating WPForo shows “In progress” with a date of 2022.This all seems a bit too casual for a serious forum installation. So I guess I’ll have to look for something else. ———————– Irgendeine Idee, wie man auf Deutsch umstellt? Leider scheitern alle meine Bemühungen. Ich habe die Dateien wpforo-de_DE.po und wpforo-de_DE.mo in /languages/plugins/ abgelegt – ohne Erfolg. Auch das Umstellen auf “Deutsch-Sie” oder “Deutsch” halfen nicht. Die Autorendokumentationsseite zur Übersetzung von WPForo zeigt „In Bearbeitung“ mit einem Datum aus dem Jahr 2022 an.Das alles scheint mir etwas zu lässig für eine seriöse Foruminstallation. Also muss ich mich wohl nach etwas anderem umsehen.
July 21, 2025
|I’m running this plugin on one, soon to be maybe two, non-profit websites, and needed a reasonable option to not have to keep using Facebook when people (especially those that like me don’t like Facebook) on the website wanted forum functionality. This fits the bill, and support for it has been outstanding when needed. There are so many features I haven’t even looked at too, but haven’t had to. Yet.
June 21, 2025
|I really like this plugin. The learning curve is bearable and the support on their forum is excellent. The provided layout are great and if you must customizing them is not that hard. Read the documentation it actually will help you and if like me you get stuck on something because you don’t understand go to the user forum. My issue was so simple to solve I slapped my forehead to remind myself that sometimes even my own stupidity has no limits. The plugin is excellent. Thank you to the developers to really thinking this through.
February 7, 2026
|I really like this plugin. The learning curve is bearable and the support on their forum is excellent. The provided layout are great and if you must customizing them is not that hard. Read the documentation it actually will help you and if like me you get stuck on something because you don’t understand go to the user forum. My issue was so simple to solve I slapped my forehead to remind myself that sometimes even my own stupidity has no limits. The plugin is excellent. Thank you to the developers to really thinking this through.
February 7, 2026
|wpForo has exceeded my expectations as a WordPress forum plugin. The feature set is robust, well thought out, and powerful without being overwhelming. Most importantly, it worked seamlessly with my existing WordPress setup and integrated perfectly with my Divi theme right out of the box—no hacks or workarounds required. The plugin also tied cleanly into my pre-existing WordPress database, which made deployment smooth and worry-free. Performance has been solid, and the forum structure is flexible enough to support both simple discussions and more advanced community use cases. What really sets wpForo apart, though, is the support. I ran into two CSS issues that were beyond my skill level—I’m not a coder—and the support I received through the forums was excellent. The responses were friendly, accurate, and genuinely helpful, and the turnaround time was impressively fast. It’s rare to find a plugin that combines strong features, smooth theme compatibility, and responsive, high-quality support. wpForo delivers on all three. Highly recommended.
January 14, 2026
|wpForo is a feature-rich, highly configurable forum solution for free. Highly recommended!
December 12, 2025
|I really like this plugin. The learning curve is bearable and the support on their forum is excellent. The provided layout are great and if you must customizing them is not that hard. Read the documentation it actually will help you and if like me you get stuck on something because you don’t understand go to the user forum. My issue was so simple to solve I slapped my forehead to remind myself that sometimes even my own stupidity has no limits. The plugin is excellent. Thank you to the developers to really thinking this through.
February 7, 2026
|wpForo has exceeded my expectations as a WordPress forum plugin. The feature set is robust, well thought out, and powerful without being overwhelming. Most importantly, it worked seamlessly with my existing WordPress setup and integrated perfectly with my Divi theme right out of the box—no hacks or workarounds required. The plugin also tied cleanly into my pre-existing WordPress database, which made deployment smooth and worry-free. Performance has been solid, and the forum structure is flexible enough to support both simple discussions and more advanced community use cases. What really sets wpForo apart, though, is the support. I ran into two CSS issues that were beyond my skill level—I’m not a coder—and the support I received through the forums was excellent. The responses were friendly, accurate, and genuinely helpful, and the turnaround time was impressively fast. It’s rare to find a plugin that combines strong features, smooth theme compatibility, and responsive, high-quality support. wpForo delivers on all three. Highly recommended.
January 14, 2026
|wpForo is a feature-rich, highly configurable forum solution for free. Highly recommended!
December 12, 2025
|I really like this plugin. The learning curve is bearable and the support on their forum is excellent. The provided layout are great and if you must customizing them is not that hard. Read the documentation it actually will help you and if like me you get stuck on something because you don’t understand go to the user forum. My issue was so simple to solve I slapped my forehead to remind myself that sometimes even my own stupidity has no limits. The plugin is excellent. Thank you to the developers to really thinking this through.
February 7, 2026
|wpForo has exceeded my expectations as a WordPress forum plugin. The feature set is robust, well thought out, and powerful without being overwhelming. Most importantly, it worked seamlessly with my existing WordPress setup and integrated perfectly with my Divi theme right out of the box—no hacks or workarounds required. The plugin also tied cleanly into my pre-existing WordPress database, which made deployment smooth and worry-free. Performance has been solid, and the forum structure is flexible enough to support both simple discussions and more advanced community use cases. What really sets wpForo apart, though, is the support. I ran into two CSS issues that were beyond my skill level—I’m not a coder—and the support I received through the forums was excellent. The responses were friendly, accurate, and genuinely helpful, and the turnaround time was impressively fast. It’s rare to find a plugin that combines strong features, smooth theme compatibility, and responsive, high-quality support. wpForo delivers on all three. Highly recommended.
January 14, 2026
|wpForo is a feature-rich, highly configurable forum solution for free. Highly recommended!
December 12, 2025
|Contributors & Developers
“wpForo Forum” has been translated into 18 locales. Thank you to the translators for their contributions.
Translate “wpForo Forum” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
wpForo Forum 2.4.16 - Last 2.x Version | 28.02.2026 –
Admin notice announcing wpForo 3.0 AI Edition with links to introduction and beta program
Auto-update protection — blocks automatic updates from 2.x to 3.x to prevent unattended major upgrades
Inline warning on Plugins page when wpForo 3.0 update is available
Auto-update toggle replaced with backup reminder when major version is pending
Added permission checks for post approve/unapprove actions
Added permission checks for topic close/open actions
Added permission checks for topic move, merge, and split actions
Added capability check for role synchronization
Fixed RSS feed exposing private and unapproved content
Fixed stored XSS via forum description output
Blocked SVG file uploads in avatar to prevent XSS
Replaced json_encode with wp_json_encode to prevent script injection
Admin notice announcing wpForo 3.0 AI Edition with links to introduction and beta program
Auto-update protection — blocks automatic updates from 2.x to 3.x to prevent unattended major upgrades
Inline warning on Plugins page when wpForo 3.0 update is available
Auto-update toggle replaced with backup reminder when major version is pending
Added permission checks for post approve/unapprove actions
Added permission checks for topic close/open actions
Added permission checks for topic move, merge, and split actions
Added capability check for role synchronization
Fixed RSS feed exposing private and unapproved content
Fixed stored XSS via forum description output
Blocked SVG file uploads in avatar to prevent XSS
Replaced json_encode with wp_json_encode to prevent script injection
wpForo Forum 2.4.0 - 2.4.15 | 10.02.2026 –
Version 2.4.15
Vulnerability – Unauthenticated Time-Based SQL Injection
———
Version 2.4.14
Vulnerability – Authenticated (Subscriber+) PHP Object Injection
———
Version 2.4.13
Vulnerability – Unauthenticated SQL Injection
———
Version 2.4.12
PHP 8.5
WordPress 6.9
Vulnerability – Unauthenticated SQL Injection
Multi-language integration issues with Polylang
———
Version 2.4.11
Vulnerability – Unauthenticated Attacker to Post Revisions
———
Version 2.4.10
Vulnerability Authenticated (Susbscriber+) SQL Injection
PHP Error: array_filter(): Argument #1 ($array) must be of type array, string given in classes/Members.php:2032
———
Version 2.4.9
Unauthenticated SQL Injection
Object unserialize code injection
———
Version 2.4.8
New option in widgets to sort topics/posts randomly
Post editor text/object alignment issue
———
Version 2.4.7
Unnecessary profile buttons of guest posters
HTML tags from category description
Fixed IDOR vulnerability, Insecure Direct Object References
The rich editor is modified to allow aligning (left,right,center) gif and inline attachment objects
Supports displaying voters on poll result
PHP Error on the activation process of a user registration. Fatal error: Uncaught TypeError: array_intersect(): Argument #1 ($array) must be of type array, null given in /wp-content/plugins/wpforo/includes/hooks.php:37
Missing user information in the admin email when user deletes own account
———
Version 2.4.6
Fixed XSS vulnerability, Stored Cross-Site Scripting
Hooks to manage the email sending test and error report in the tools
Text domain loading issue
Link RSS Module and RSS Settings to disable if the module is disabled
PHP Warning: Undefined array key max-number-value when wpForo is integrated with Profile Builder plugin.
———
Version 2.4.5
Q&A forum layout threads issue on mobile devices
Warning: Trying to access array offset on null in ../functions-template.php
Missing field ‘url’ (in ‘author’) with DiscussionForumPosting structured data
Missing field ‘name’ (in ‘comment.author’) with DiscussionForumPosting structured data
———
Version 2.4.3 – 2.4.4
Discussion forum (DiscussionForumPosting) structured data for Google Search
Fixed issue with manipulation and privilege escalation via hidden parameter
BuddyPress Integration problems related to deprecated functions
False positive spam file detection and notification in the dashboard
Problems related to PHP 8.4
Issues with saving antispam settings
More robust solution for “Arbitrary File Reading” problem by changing wp_remote_get() function to wp_safe_remote_get()
———
Version 2.4.2
Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Read in update
In some cases user couldn’t see own private topics
Problem with topic slugs containing negative number (-1234)
Issue with x.com URL in users profile pages
Forum tree displaying issue related the secondary user-groups cache
———
Version 2.4.1
WordPress 6.7
Request confirmation before deleting the account
Email notification to admins when users delete their account
———
Version 2.4.0
Export and Import of settings. Allows you to export and import different groups of settings separately.
Automatically change a post status to unapproved when an eligible user report it.
reCAPTCHA to the [Add Topic] form in stand-alone topic creation page (/add-topic/)
Prevent indexing dynamic URLs with get parameters for when page is generated after selecting options in dropdown menus.
Added rel="nofollow" to links in the user activity and favored pages.
Topic and post shortlinks previously showed a 404 error if the content was private or unapproved. Now, they redirect to the login page to authorize the user before displaying the content.
wpForo – Advanced Reactions
Version 2.4.15
Vulnerability – Unauthenticated Time-Based SQL Injection
———
Version 2.4.14
Vulnerability – Authenticated (Subscriber+) PHP Object Injection
———
Version 2.4.13
Vulnerability – Unauthenticated SQL Injection
———
Version 2.4.12
PHP 8.5
WordPress 6.9
Vulnerability – Unauthenticated SQL Injection
Multi-language integration issues with Polylang
———
Version 2.4.11
Vulnerability – Unauthenticated Attacker to Post Revisions
———
Version 2.4.10
Vulnerability Authenticated (Susbscriber+) SQL Injection
PHP Error: array_filter(): Argument #1 ($array) must be of type array, string given in classes/Members.php:2032
———
Version 2.4.9
Unauthenticated SQL Injection
Object unserialize code injection
———
Version 2.4.8
New option in widgets to sort topics/posts randomly
Post editor text/object alignment issue
———
Version 2.4.7
Unnecessary profile buttons of guest posters
HTML tags from category description
Fixed IDOR vulnerability, Insecure Direct Object References
The rich editor is modified to allow aligning (left,right,center) gif and inline attachment objects
Supports displaying voters on poll result
PHP Error on the activation process of a user registration. Fatal error: Uncaught TypeError: array_intersect(): Argument #1 ($array) must be of type array, null given in /wp-content/plugins/wpforo/includes/hooks.php:37
Missing user information in the admin email when user deletes own account
———
Version 2.4.6
Fixed XSS vulnerability, Stored Cross-Site Scripting
Hooks to manage the email sending test and error report in the tools
Text domain loading issue
Link RSS Module and RSS Settings to disable if the module is disabled
PHP Warning: Undefined array key max-number-value when wpForo is integrated with Profile Builder plugin.
———
Version 2.4.5
Q&A forum layout threads issue on mobile devices
Warning: Trying to access array offset on null in ../functions-template.php
Missing field ‘url’ (in ‘author’) with DiscussionForumPosting structured data
Missing field ‘name’ (in ‘comment.author’) with DiscussionForumPosting structured data
———
Version 2.4.3 – 2.4.4
Discussion forum (DiscussionForumPosting) structured data for Google Search
Fixed issue with manipulation and privilege escalation via hidden parameter
BuddyPress Integration problems related to deprecated functions
False positive spam file detection and notification in the dashboard
Problems related to PHP 8.4
Issues with saving antispam settings
More robust solution for “Arbitrary File Reading” problem by changing wp_remote_get() function to wp_safe_remote_get()
———
Version 2.4.2
Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Read in update
In some cases user couldn’t see own private topics
Problem with topic slugs containing negative number (-1234)
Issue with x.com URL in users profile pages
Forum tree displaying issue related the secondary user-groups cache
———
Version 2.4.1
WordPress 6.7
Request confirmation before deleting the account
Email notification to admins when users delete their account
———
Version 2.4.0
Export and Import of settings. Allows you to export and import different groups of settings separately.
Automatically change a post status to unapproved when an eligible user report it.
reCAPTCHA to the [Add Topic] form in stand-alone topic creation page (/add-topic/)
Prevent indexing dynamic URLs with get parameters for when page is generated after selecting options in dropdown menus.
Added rel="nofollow" to links in the user activity and favored pages.
Topic and post shortlinks previously showed a 404 error if the content was private or unapproved. Now, they redirect to the login page to authorize the user before displaying the content.
wpForo – Advanced Reactions
wpForo Forum 2.3.0 - 2.3.5 | 01.08.2024 –
Version 2.3.5
WordPress 6.6
Display access title instead of the key in the forum access table
Issue with deleting own account
Vulnerability issue (Sensitive Data Exposure)
———
Version 2.3.4
Vulnerability issue (By authenticated (Contributor+ users) SQL Injection)
Invisible replies in private topics
Prevent reCaptcha from being checked more than once
———
Version 2.3.3
File naming logic of profile cover images
Ordering of forums and sub-forums in Threaded Layout
Using post’s short URL for [post_link] shortcode in email templates
Performance issue with large number of members
Permission issue with subscriptions and email notifications
———
Version 2.3.2
Compatibility issue with some page builders
Dynamic Usergroup and User Role synchronization issues
Member search ordering issue (used by User Mentioning addon)
Custom values for max and minimum number of characters in the user password
———
Version 2.3.1
Member search issue when use profile title
Usergroup and User Role synchronization issues
Editor focusing issue when using stickers and emojis
Permission issue for Authors to use Cross Posting addon
CSS Issue with the red circle notification on the admin bar
wpForo – Groups Plugin Integration
———
Version 2.3.0
Option to change wpForo sidebar location (left or right)
Red circle notification on the forum menu when there are unapproved posts
Extended the max rating level to 14, use wpforo_max_rating_levels hook PHP code snippet example: add_filter('wpforo_max_rating_levels', function($count){return 14;});
add_filter('wpforo_max_rating_levels', function($count){return 14;});
Topic search and suggestion when creating a new topic
Last login is incorrectly displaying current time in Dashboard > Members
Database Error: Syntax error, unexpected ‘@’, when search words contain @
Database Error on duplication key in _wpforo_visits table
PHP Error: Trying to access array on null in /profile-subscriptions.php on line 18
Version 2.3.5
WordPress 6.6
Display access title instead of the key in the forum access table
Issue with deleting own account
Vulnerability issue (Sensitive Data Exposure)
———
Version 2.3.4
Vulnerability issue (By authenticated (Contributor+ users) SQL Injection)
Invisible replies in private topics
Prevent reCaptcha from being checked more than once
———
Version 2.3.3
File naming logic of profile cover images
Ordering of forums and sub-forums in Threaded Layout
Using post’s short URL for [post_link] shortcode in email templates
Performance issue with large number of members
Permission issue with subscriptions and email notifications
———
Version 2.3.2
Compatibility issue with some page builders
Dynamic Usergroup and User Role synchronization issues
Member search ordering issue (used by User Mentioning addon)
Custom values for max and minimum number of characters in the user password
———
Version 2.3.1
Member search issue when use profile title
Usergroup and User Role synchronization issues
Editor focusing issue when using stickers and emojis
Permission issue for Authors to use Cross Posting addon
CSS Issue with the red circle notification on the admin bar
wpForo – Groups Plugin Integration
———
Version 2.3.0
Option to change wpForo sidebar location (left or right)
Red circle notification on the forum menu when there are unapproved posts
Extended the max rating level to 14, use wpforo_max_rating_levels hook PHP code snippet example: add_filter('wpforo_max_rating_levels', function($count){return 14;});
add_filter('wpforo_max_rating_levels', function($count){return 14;});
Topic search and suggestion when creating a new topic
Last login is incorrectly displaying current time in Dashboard > Members
Database Error: Syntax error, unexpected ‘@’, when search words contain @
Database Error on duplication key in _wpforo_visits table
PHP Error: Trying to access array on null in /profile-subscriptions.php on line 18
Upcoming Soon
WPS
6.66
Average
Ratings
4.7 out of 5 | 388
Version
2.4.16
Last updated
4 days ago
Active installations
20,000+
WordPress version
6.9.1 or higher
PHP version
7.2 or higher
Languages
19Tags
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