Your community, your server — forums existed before SaaS pricing did.
Agencies pay per-seat and per-client fees that scale with their success. Self-hosted, pay-once tools replace per-seat pricing with a flat cost that margins actually survive.
The tool this job usually means renting is Circle, at $89+/mo — roughly $1,068 a year, every year. Forumly does the job for a one-time $39 — running on infrastructure you control.
One-level nesting for readability, thread pinning and locking, and new-since-your-last-visit indicators.
For agencies, categories, threads, replies pays off across every client account, with no per-seat math — and it's covered by the same one-time $39, not metered per month.
A six-emoji reaction set with toggling and per-member state.
For agencies, reactions pays off across every client account, with no per-seat math — and it's covered by the same one-time $39, not metered per month.
Avatar or generated initials, bio, join date, post count and a manual-award badge system.
For agencies, member profiles pays off across every client account, with no per-seat math — and it's covered by the same one-time $39, not metered per month.
One payment of $39 gets you the packaged Windows installer, or clone the MIT source at github.com/bensblueprints/community-forum-mvp and run it yourself for free.
docker compose up onto a $5 VPS to go public, or npm run desktop for an Electron window auto-logged-in as moderator.
Copy .env.example, set ADMIN_PASSWORD, and your forum is live with the spam defenses already on.
Forumly is $39, once. Circle at $89+/mo — roughly $1,068 a year, every year. If what you actually need is the discussion board, Forumly pays for itself in 13 days of Circle.
If what you actually need is the discussion board, Forumly pays for itself in 13 days of Circle. Forumly costs $39 once; Circle charges $89+/mo — about $1068 a year. For agencies, that fixed cost is the whole point: the tool is a one-time line item, not a monthly one.
Yes — Forumly is MIT-licensed at github.com/bensblueprints/community-forum-mvp. The $39 buys the packaged installer and 1-click setup; building from source is free.
No — it's deliberately just the forum. If you need courses, payments and video, Circle does more; Forumly does the discussion board and owns its data.