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SimpleMachines/SMF

Simple Machines Forum (SMF), free open-source PHP software for running your own online community or discussion forum.

Open-source alternative to:phpBBvBulletin

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Stars
756
Forks
270
Open issues
192
Last commit
yesterday

What is it?

SMF is open-source community forum software written in PHP. It lets site owners set up their own discussion board for an online community, and it is distributed under the BSD 3-clause license.

This repository is the development source for the project. Official release packages are available from the project's download site and need no extra setup, while running from the source code requires installing dependencies with Composer v2 or higher. The repository has separate branches for maintaining version 3.0 and version 2.1.

Developers who want to contribute fork the repository, sign off their commits under the project license, and open pull requests, with bug fixes for 3.0 targeted at the release-3.0 branch. Security issues are reported through the project's website.

Key features

  • 01Free, open-source forum software written in PHP
  • 02Installs from official release packages without extra setup
  • 03Source code managed with Composer dependencies
  • 04Separate maintenance branches for versions 3.0 and 2.1

Use cases

  • Running a self-hosted discussion board for a community or hobby group
  • Customizing or extending forum software by forking the source code
  • Contributing bug fixes to an established PHP forum project

Quick start

  1. 1

    Install Composer v2 or higher from getcomposer.org

  2. 2

    Install the dependencies from the source checkout

    composer install
  3. 3

    Alternatively, for development, install the developer dependencies

    COMPOSER_NO_DEV=0 composer install
  4. 4

    Or download an official release from the downloads website and follow the wiki installation guide

Things to know

  • Running from the GitHub source requires Composer and extra setup steps.
  • Licensed under BSD 3-clause with contributions under a separate DCO sign-off requirement.

In collections

Self-hosted appsDatabases & SQL tools

Topics

#forum#php#community#self-hosted#web-application#bsd-3-clause#mysql#mysqli#postgresql#simplemachines

FAQ

What is SMF?
Simple Machines Forum (SMF), free open-source PHP software for running your own online community or discussion forum. SMF is open-source community forum software written in PHP. It lets site owners set up their own discussion board for an online community, and it is distributed under the BSD 3-clause license.
Is SMF free to use? What license does it have?
SMF is open source under the Other license. Check the license terms before using it in commercial products.
Is SMF still maintained?
Actively maintained. The last commit to SMF was on Nov 5, 2026.
What can I use SMF for?
Running a self-hosted discussion board for a community or hobby group Customizing or extending forum software by forking the source code Contributing bug fixes to an established PHP forum project
How do I install SMF?
Install Composer v2 or higher from getcomposer.org Install the dependencies from the source checkout: composer install Alternatively, for development, install the developer dependencies: COMPOSER_NO_DEV=0 composer install Or download an official release from the downloads website and follow the wiki installation guide
Where can I get SMF?
The source code and installation instructions are on GitHub: https://github.com/SimpleMachines/SMF

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