Forumax – AI Powered Advanced Community Forum Plugin vs Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL)

Forumax is the ultimate standalone community forum solution for WordPress. Designed for forum administrators, content creators, and community managers, Forumax provides a complete suite of powerful features to create professional, engaging forums with minimal effort—no external forum dependencies required. What is Forumax? Forumax provides a complete, self-contained platform for building support forums, knowledge bases, or discussion communities. It includes everything you need to foster engagement, manage content effectively, and create an exceptional user experience right out of the box. Video Overview Note: We have renamed our plugin from BBP Core to Forumax. All features previously available in BBP Core are still here and fully supported. Important: After updating to version 2.0.0, the plugin will be renamed to forumax. This may cause WordPress to deactivate the plugin. If deactivated, please simply reactivate it. Key Features of Forumax 🎯 Unified Forum Builder Take complete control of your forums with our intuitive, built-in builder. View all forums and topics in one organized dashboard, filter by status (open, closed, pending, spam), and manage discussions efficiently without navigating multiple pages. 🔐 Private & Confidential Replies Enable users to post private responses visible only to forum owners and moderators. Perfect for sensitive discussions, support tickets, and confidential advice while maintaining full transparency where needed. ✅ Solved Topics System Help community members quickly identify answered questions. Mark topics as solved to display a prominent ‘Resolved’ badge, reducing duplicate questions and improving user experience. Visitors instantly know which topics have solutions. ⭐ Smart Voting & Reputation System Empower your community with a built-in AJAX-powered voting system. Users vote on the most helpful replies, automatically elevating quality answers to the top. Build reputation-based authority and encourage quality contributions. 📎 Media Attachments & File Sharing Allow users to attach files, documents, images, and media directly to replies. Organized attachment sections make it easy for community members to share resources, code snippets, documents, and collaborate effectively. 💡 Advanced Forum Statistics Widget Display real-time forum information including topic count, reply count, last activity, and most active users. The ‘Current Forum Info’ widget provides visitors with a quick overview of forum vitality and engagement. 🎨 Elementor Page Builder Integration Create stunning forum layouts using Elementor’s drag-and-drop builder. Use specialized Forumax widgets to display forums, topics, and replies on any page with full customization control. No coding required. ⚡ Lightweight & Performance-Optimized Forumax is built for speed. It loads assets intelligently—CSS and JavaScript only when needed. Minimal footprint ensures your forum runs fast without bloat. 🔧 Intuitive Admin Interface Create, edit, and delete forums and topics directly from the Forumax admin dashboard. Streamlined interface eliminates confusion and reduces admin overhead. Free Features: Live Customizer – Instantly preview and customize forum styles with real-time visual controls. Pre-made Templates – Start quickly using professionally designed forum templates for common use cases. Unified Forum Builder – Build and manage forums, topics, and layouts from one centralized builder. Voting on Topics & Replies – Allow users to upvote or downvote topics and replies for engagement. Solved Topic – Mark topics as solved to highlight correct answers and improve usability. Frontend Brand Color Option – Customize forum brand colors directly from frontend settings easily. Who Can Upload Files – Control user roles and permissions for uploading files in forums. Pagination in Forum Builder – Manage large forums efficiently with built-in pagination support. PRO Features – Everything You Need for Advanced Community Management: Upgrade to Forumax Pro for enterprise-grade forum management: Real-Time Admin Notifications – Stay updated with instant dashboard alerts for new posts, moderation requests, and community activity. Smart User Notifications – Keep members engaged with real-time updates on subscribed forums, topics, and replies they care about. Mini User Profiles – Display compact user profile cards with activity summaries, follower counts, and quick-view reputation. Pre-Built Elementor Templates – Import professional forum layouts with one click. Fully customizable templates for forums, knowledge bases, and support centers. “I’ve the Same Question” Feature – Reduce duplicate threads by letting users indicate similar questions, improving forum organization. Anonymous Posting – Allow sensitive discussions without revealing user identity. Ideal for support forums and confidential advice. Dynamic User Profile Links – Generate personalized profile URLs for logged-in users. Perfect for user bios and contributor pages. Topic Approval Workflow – Control content quality with admin-approval for new topics. Prevent spam and maintain forum standards. Advanced File Management – Support multiple file uploads with increased size limits. Delete attachments independently or with content. Powerful Voting Controls – Guest voting restrictions, prevent closed-topic voting, disable self-voting, admin voting privileges, and vote-based sorting. External Image Insertion – Insert images via URL or media library picker. Enhance replies with visual content effortlessly. Auto-Approval System – Automatically publish reply replies instantly. Streamline moderation workflows and maintain conversation flow. Attachment Moderation – Approve/unapprove replies containing files for enhanced content security and compliance control. Promax Features: Reply Timeline Navigation Automatically loads more replies when users scroll down. A reply timeline is visible beside the replies to help users follow long discussions easily. Live Chat Adds a private real-time chat system. A chat icon is visible on the right side of the site to open the chat box. Admins can set default assistants from the settings. Users can chat with the assistant or with forum participants. Messages support likes, replies, emojis, and file or video sharing. Chat can also be started by hovering over forum, topic, or reply users. Emoji for Topics and Replies Allows users to add expressive emojis to forum topics and replies, making conversations more engaging, emotional, and easier to understand. Real-Time Alerts Displays instant notifications when new topics are published or existing discussions are updated, keeping users informed without refreshing the page. Social Login Allow users to sign up and log in instantly using Google, Facebook, or Twitter, reducing friction and increasing overall registration conversion rates. Analytics Get powerful insights into forum performance with real-time statistics, activity trends, user engagement metrics, and resolution data—all presented in a clear, actionable dashboard view. AI Integration (via Our AI Plugin) Forumax can be extended with powerful AI capabilities using the AI Tools, designed to automate support workflows, improve engagement, and transform forum discussions into valuable long-term content. Important: AI features require the Antimanual AI Plugin and an active AI provider connection. AI-Powered Forum Replies Instantly generate intelligent, context-aware replies to forum topics. Improve response time, reduce moderator workload, and maintain consistent support quality across your community. Ideal for: Support forums Product discussions Knowledge-sharing communities Convert Solved Topics into Posts Automatically convert resolved forum topics into structured WordPress posts. Each generated post can include: Problem summary Accepted solution Key insights and takeaways This feature turns your forum into a living knowledge base while improving SEO and long-term content value. Smarter Community Management By combining Forumax core features with AI automation, moderators can: Reduce repetitive replies Scale support without increasing team size Keep forums clean, searchable, and helpful Forumax + AI transforms discussions into long-term assets. Important Links Get Pro Version Live Demo Full Documentation Learn More WHAT’S NEXT? If you like Forumax, then consider checking out our other WordPress Plugins: EazyDocs – Powerful knowledge base plugin to easily create and manage professional documentation, wikis, and helpdesk sections. Antimanual – AI-powered assistant that automates content creation, documentation, and support, transforming static sites into dynamic experiences. Advanced Accordion Block – Lightweight Gutenberg block for creating visually appealing, organized accordion sections with extensive styling options. Changeloger – Transform plain text changelogs into visually stunning, organized representations with pagination and version links. Jobus – Comprehensive job board solution transforming your site into a recruitment platform with dashboards and ATS. Spider Elements – Versatile library of 20+ creative widgets to enhance Elementor and build professional websites. Why Choose Forumax? The Trusted Choice for Communities 1000+ Active Users: Join thousands of community managers using Forumax Actively Maintained: Regular updates with new features and security patches Security First: Built with WordPress security best practices Scalable Solution: Handles small communities to large enterprise forums Beginner-Friendly: Intuitive UI requires no technical knowledge Expert Support: Responsive team ready to help you succeed Open Source: Community contributions welcome on GitHub Ready to Transform Your Forum? Start with Forumax Free today and upgrade to Pro when you’re ready for advanced features. Get Started → | View Pricing → | Read Documentation → Support & Community Complete Documentation Report Issues & Suggest Features Visit Official Website Contact: [email protected]

Easily improve site security with WordPress Hardening, Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), Login Protection, Vulnerability Detection and SSL certificate. Really simple, Effective and Performant WordPress Security Really Simple Security is the most lightweight and easy-to-use security plugin for WordPress. It secures your WordPress website with SSL certificate generation, including proper 301 https redirection and SSL enforcement, scanning for possible vulnerabilities, Login Protection and implementing essential WordPress hardening features. We believe that security should have the absolute minimum effect on website performance, user experience and maintainability. Therefore, Really Simple Security is: Lightweight: Every security feature is developed with a modular approach and with performance in mind. Disabled features won’t load any redundant code. Easy-to-use: 1-minute configuration with short onboarding setup. Security Features Easy SSL Migration Migrates your website to HTTPS and enforces SSL in just one click. 301 redirect via PHP or .htaccess Secure cookies Let’s Encrypt: Install an SSL Certificate if your hosting provider supports manual installation. Server Health Check: Your server configuration is every bit as important for your website security. WordPress Hardening Tweak your configuration and keep WordPress fortified and safe by tackling potential weaknesses. Prevent code execution in the uploads folder Prevent login feedback and disable user enumeration Disable XML-RPC Disable directory browsing Username restrictions (block ‘admin’ and public names) and much more.. Vulnerability Detection Get notified when plugins, themes or WP core contain vulnerabilities and need appropriate action. Login Protection Allow or enforce Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for specific user roles. Users receive a two-factor code via Email. Improve Security with Really Simple Security Pro Protect your site with all essential security features by upgrading to Really Simple Security Pro. Advanced SSL enforcement Mixed Content Scan & Fixer. Detect files that are requested over HTTP and fix them to HTTPS, both Front- and Back-end. Enable HTTP Strict Transport Security and configure your site for the HSTS Preload list. Firewall Really Simple Security Pro includes a performant and efficient WordPress firewall, to stop bots, crawlers and bad actors with IP and username blocks. 404 blocking – Blocks crawlers as they trigger unusual numbers of 404 errors. Region blocking – Only allow/block access to your site from specific regions. Automated and customisable Firewall rules. IP blocklist and allowlist. Security Headers Security headers protect your site visitors against the risk of clickjacking, cross-site-forgery attacks, stealing login credentials and malware. Independent of your Server Configuration, works on Apache, LiteSpeed, NGINX, etc. Protect your website visitors with X-XSS Protection, X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options, a Referrer Policy and CORS headers. Automatically generate your WordPress-tailored Content Security Policy. Vulnerability Measures When a vulnerability is detected in a plugin, theme or WordPress core you will get notified accordingly. With Vulnerability Measures, you can configure simple but effective measures to make sure that a critical vulnerability won’t remain unattended. Force update: An update process will be tried multiple times until it can be assumed development of a theme or plugin is abandoned. You will be notified during these steps. Quarantine: When a plugin or theme can’t be updated to solve a vulnerability, Really Simple Security can quarantine the plugin. Advanced Site Hardening Choose a custom login URL Automated File Permissions check and fixer Rename and randomize your database prefix Change the debug.log file location to a non-public folder Disable application passwords Control admin creation Disable HTTP methods, reducing HTTP requests Login Protection Secure your website’s login process and user accounts with powerful security measures. Two-Step verification (Email login) 2FA (two factor authentication) with TOTP Passwordless login with passkey login Enforce strong passwords and frequent password change Limit Login Attempts With Limit Login Attempts you can configure a threshold to temporarily or permanently block IP addresses or (non-existing) usernames. You can also throw a CAPTCHA after a failed login (hCaptcha or Google reCaptcha) Access Control Restrict access to your site for specific regions. Add specific IP addresses or IP ranges to the Blocklist or Allowlist. Useful Links Documentation Security Definitions Translate Really Simple Security Issues & pull requests Feature requests Love Really Simple Security? If you want to support the continuing development of this plugin, please consider buying Really Simple Security Pro, which includes some excellent security features and premium support. About Really Simple Plugins Our mission is to make complex WordPress requirements really easy. Really Simple Security is developed by Really Simple Plugins. For generating SSL certificates, Really Simple Security uses the le acme2 PHP Let’s Encrypt client library, thanks to ‘fbett’ for providing it. Vulnerability Detection uses WP Vulnerability, an open-source initiative by Javier Casares. Want to join as a collaborator? We’re on GitHub as well!