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Phorum

Lightweight, mature PHP message board software

Forums & Community ★ 67 stars Medium setup PHP-3.01

Phorum is one of the oldest PHP-based forum applications, designed to be fast and lightweight. It supports modules, custom templates, and email integration for discussions.

Official siteSource code

Key features

  • Lightweight and fast
  • Module and template system
  • Email-to-forum integration
  • Long-established codebase

Pros & cons

Strengths

  • Released under the PHP-3.01 license
  • Written in PHP
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM

Trade-offs

  • Development largely dormant
  • Dated interface

Is Phorum secure?

OSV.dev has no published security advisories for Phorum's repository. No known vulnerabilities is not proof of security: it means none have been publicly catalogued.

Source: OSV.dev, checked 2026-10-14. How this is measured.

Phorum replaces

Self-hosted phpBB alternatives

Health badge

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SelfHostIndex: 67 · good

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The score is recomputed on every nightly rebuild from public repository data — see how it is calculated.

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