How fast can we be live?
Answer
About five minutes. Sign in, name your portal, and it is online at yourcompany.myforumcat.com. Nothing to install.
MyBB
MyBB costs nothing to download.
It costs your evenings to keep.
MyBB is free, open source, and easy to like. The bill arrives as update nights and spam sweeps. This is the hosted version of the same job, built around questions and answers instead of a discussion board.
Free for 7 days. No credit card. Live in about five minutes.
5 minfrom sign-up to a live portal
0security patches to apply
$9one time for a working portal
7 daysfree, no card needed
About MyBB
What MyBB is, and what it asks of you
Teams download MyBB, a free and open source forum written in PHP, and put it on a server they rent. Themes and plugins come from the community, and there is a long history behind the project.
Teams pick it because the admin panel is plain and the whole thing stays small. If you want a forum whose code you can read, MyBB is a reasonable answer.
The weighing is the same as with any self-hosted board. Security releases need applying quickly, and plugins need re-checking after each one. The certificate needs renewing and the backups need testing. A public board also collects spam sign-ups as fast as you let it.
There is no importer, and that is the point
There is no importer. Your MyBB posts stay in your own database.
We say it up front because it changes the plan. You are starting an archive here, not moving one.
Keep the old board online as long as it is useful. Nothing here depends on switching it off.
Side by side
Running MyBB, and running this
The same jobs, and who does each one. Their column describes the software as it is normally run, not any one plan.
| MyBB on your server | Forumcat | |
|---|---|---|
| Install | Download it, upload it, and run the installer against a database | Nothing to install |
| Server and hosting | A server you rent, size, and keep current | None. We run it |
| Updates and patches | Yours to watch for and apply, quickly | We apply them |
| SSL certificate | You obtain it and remember the renewal | Automatic, and renewed for you |
| Backups | You write them, and test that they restore | Part of the hosting |
| Spam and moderation | Plugins, a captcha, and a moderator with time | Sign-in needed to post, plus staff tools and bulk actions |
| Price shape | Free to download. The cost is the server and your evenings | $9 one time, or $99 a month on your own domain |
| Your own domain | Yes, you point DNS at your own box | Yes on Pro, with SSL included |
| REST API and MCP server | Depends on the plugins you add | On every plan |
| Private questions | Permissions you set per user group | Private questions and private categories |
| Time to live | An afternoon, plus the server work first | About five minutes |
Vendor pricing moves, so we describe the shape and leave the number to their pricing page.
Inside
Cleanup without a plugin
Select several questions and act on them at once. Close them, make them private, or delete them, on every plan.
On the thread itself, staff get the same actions inline, next to the question.
- Votes on questions and replies, so the shared ones rise
- One accepted solution, pinned under the question
- Search, related questions, and a log of searches that found nothing
Starting over
When a fresh start is the right call
A fresh start suits a support board more than it suits a hobby board. Support questions age quickly. An archive built from this year is worth more to a reader than one from five years ago.
Here the cleanup work is a toolbar on the thread and a Questions page with bulk actions. It is a few clicks, not another plugin to trust.
The fresh start
Three things, and you are running
No download, no database, no certificate. The whole setup is a name and an address.
- 1
Create the portal
Sign in, give it a name and an address, and it is online. There is no server to point at and nothing to configure first.
- 2
Answer the ten you always answer
Post the questions your team types out every week, and answer them once. That is the archive started, and it is public and searchable straight away.
- 3
Send people to it
Link it from your site, from your old board, and from your support replies. Reading and searching need no account at all.
Pricing
Two plans. Both flat.
The bill does not grow with traffic, questions, or seats. Pick a plan, and that is the price.
| Basic | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9 one time | $99 a month, or $990 a year |
| Portal address | yourcompany.myforumcat.com | Your own domain, SSL included |
| Team seats | 2 | Unlimited |
| Registered members | 1,000 | 10,000 |
| Questions | 10,000 | Unlimited |
| Media storage | 1 GB (≈2,000 images) | 50 GB (≈100,000 images) |
| Page views a month (fair use) | 100,000 | 1,000,000 |
| Search, votes, accepted solutions | ||
| Structured data, sitemap, markdown view | ||
| REST API and MCP server | ||
| Google sign-in under your brand | ||
| Analytics and search log | ||
| Free trial | 7 days, no card | 7 days, no card |
Unlimited seats and questions on Pro carry a quiet fair-use backstop, lifted for any real portal that reaches it. Page views are fair-use limits, not a meter.
Questions people ask before moving
Fair questions.
Can we import our old forum or help docs?
Answer
Not today. There is no importer. Most teams start fresh and let the new questions build the archive, which is live in minutes.
Can we keep our old forum online?
Answer
Yes. It is your server and your database, so it keeps running exactly as it does now. A common pattern is to leave MyBB read-only and link to the new portal from its front page.
What does it cost in month twelve?
Answer
The same as month one. $9 one time for a portal on a Forumcat subdomain, or $99 a month for your own domain. The bill never grows with traffic or questions.
Does it work on our own domain?
Answer
Yes, on Pro. Point a subdomain like help.yourcompany.com at Forumcat and SSL is set up for you. Your Forumcat subdomain redirects to it.
What happens to our answers if we leave?
Answer
They are yours. Every question and answer is readable through the REST API, so you can pull it all out any time.
Where to go next
Free software, paid in hours
Trade the update nights for a portal that somebody else runs.
Create your portalFree for 7 days. No credit card.
