# XenForo

7 Hacker News commenters recommended XenForo and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Forum software that people find a better, more traditional experience than Discourse and older vBulletin-style forums. Some critics report security problems and bot traffic.

## Why people recommend it

- Better experience than other forums (3 comments): "IMO it has a much nicer UX than Discourse, if only because it uses a more traditional approach." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47805802)) "while I've just been on forums that have been using xenoforo, I found it a better experience" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47805294)) "the default design was quite refreshing compared to vB and IPB" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49620679))
- Modern take on vBulletin (2 comments): "The original vB developers built Xenforo, which is still in the spirit of vB 3 but with some modern amenities" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47804168)) "the default design was quite refreshing compared to vB and IPB" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49620679))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [vBulletin](https://hackerapproved.com/p/vbulletin.md): 11 recommend
- [PieFed](https://hackerapproved.com/p/piefed.md): 8 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://xenforo.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "XenForo", https://hackerapproved.com/p/xenforo/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).