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25 Best WordPress bbPress Themes to Create a Modern Forum on Your Website in 2024

Last Updated on December 26th, 2023

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WordPress is ideal for creating online forums. When you pick an item from this collection of the best bbPress themes, your website is sure to look great. As a bonus, it will have all the features and functionality necessary.

The themes offered include features for creating online forums or integration with leading plugins. Whichever theme you decide is best for your website, you’ll be able to create an online forum with WordPress.

Many of the themes in this collection can support popular social networking features. Through integration with a plugin like BuddyPress, many of the themes featured here make it easy to enable features such as these:

  • Private messaging
  • Advanced user profiles
  • User connections
  • Relationships
  • Activity feeds
  • Discussion groups

If you are looking to have an interactive online forum, these are the themes for you.

While reviewing this collection of the best bbPress forum themes, be sure to watch the demos. This will give you an idea of how your website may look if you choose that theme. If there’s anything that doesn’t mesh with your requirements or your brand, check to see if the theme is customizable and whether it’s possible to make changes to the design. Some themes include page builder tools which will allow you to get imaginative with the site design.

As these themes prove, everyone should be able to launch their own discussion board or online forum with WordPress. You can do this by combining handy features with your unique, elegant design. 

BOSS 2.0

Be sure to watch the live Boss demo if you need to increase site traffic speed and user retention rate. This bbPress theme’s free version is an excellent example of a winning BuddyPress integration. It includes the necessary social networking features. There are plenty of ways to personalize your website, and coding knowledge is not required. Customization availability is excellent, including: 

  • Color schemes
  • Widgets
  • Logos
  • Navigation
  • Covers

Boss 2.0 is translation-ready and provides real-time notifications. Having the Social Learner Add-on and WooCommerce support are two bonus benefits.

Go to Boss 2.0

OneSocial

If you want to use the best bbPress themes for your WordPress website, you may want to start with an easy-to-navigate theme. OneSocial WordPress theme is always an excellent choice. This is because it combines function and minimalism. This is a good theme for bbPress forums and also an effective interface for BuddyPress. Some other features are:

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  • Mobile ready
  • Customizable
  • Multilingual support 
  • Social login integrated
  • WooCommerce support
  • User Blog Add-on

This theme is an excellent choice for your WordPress bb theme.

Go to OneSocial

ForumPress

ForumPress is a WordPress bb theme created solely for online forums.

The default pre-built model and layout of the ForumPress theme guarantees your forum is the first thing seen on your website. It does this by placing the discussion area in the middle of your WordPress website. If this style isn’t your preference, change it to display a page, blog post, or your newest blog content. For those looking to create a website with an online forum as the key feature, ForumPress is ideal.

ForumPress is powered by the ever-popular bbPress plugin, as are many of the other options in this collection of the best bbPress themes. The theme has all the templates a bbPress-powered forum will need. You can be confident that your website has consistent design features. These features include: 

  • Homepage
  • Forum topics
  • User profiles
  • Search results
  • Live search
  • Quick setup guide 

Be sure to include your brand on your site and personalize your forum with the WordPress Customizer tool. If you’re looking for a theme to show off your forum, ForumPress from HeroThemes is an excellent choice.

Go to ForumPress

bbPress

When it comes to including a forum into WordPress, bbPress is hands-down the best choice of plugin. It is a sister project of WordPress.org. This means that it’s built according to WordPress standards and uses the existing WordPress core.

Anyone can create a forum in WordPress using this plugin. bbPress is easy to set up and moderate. The code is simple to maintain besides being fast and clean. If you need detailed instructions, look for a tutorial on how to set up bbPress in WordPress.

Go to bbPress

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Noozbeat

The Noozbeat theme has a modern, refreshing design. It would be ideal for a magazine/news-style website. The bbPress support provided means your forum will run smoothly without any hiccups.  

As a news theme, the layout focuses on your excellent content. Your eye-catching headlines will attract readers. The drag-and-drop builder means you can create your theme and organize your widgets easily. The WordPress bb theme includes these features:

  • Multiple featured posts layouts 
  • Complete color personalization
  • Compatible with social media 
  • WordPress page builder plugins integrated

Go to Noozbeat

ASK me

Similar to popular Q&A sites such as Yahoo Answers and Quora, ASK me is a WordPress bb theme for building basic question and answer forums. Successful brands want to know what their customers are thinking. They want their customers to be able to ask questions and receive answers in a timely fashion. The ASK me theme has been designed for just this situation.

Keep things in order by creating user guidelines. Account-holders can communicate with other community members by liking a post or by sharing their thoughts. You can even create a points and badges system to increase traffic and promote brand loyalty. 

ASK me has incorporated a popular ‘star’ function. Members can ‘star’ a good response, making it easier for future users. It does this by raising the ‘starred’ responses to the top of the thread. Often new members join a site because they need a solution to a problem. Having the best solutions at the top of the thread means your users will find a solution quickly. This will incentivize them to come to your site with their next problem. 

Go to ASK Me

Cinematix

Cinematix is designed for online communities powered by BuddyPress and bbPress.

Cinematix has customizable color schemes. While it comes with pre-built color layouts, you can still use a custom color palette to match your brand. This helps customer recognition. You can quickly create or adjust the style of your online forum.

Cinematix uses the industry-standard WPBakery Page Builder plugin. This assists with customizing your website. You can create your own unique custom page design for your website using this easy-to-use page builder. 

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Cinematix has good online forum features including:

  • Private messaging
  • Member profiles
  • Activity feeds
  • Friendship capability
  • Connection functionality
  • Enable email and browser notifications
  • Users can create custom groups  
  • bbPress plugin and its add-ons included

Watch the Cinematix demo for even more features. This is a well-priced theme that would be of benefit to new and seasoned WordPress users.

Go to Cinematix

BuddyBoss

BuddyBoss works with the best plugins to help you create an online WordPress bb theme forum. It has been designed with elements of popular plugins for WordPress. There is a large library of templates for these plugins. This means you can pull from many different features as well as from the pre-built designs. Including its own features, BuddyBoss has everything you’ll need to create a successful online forum.  

The pre-built layouts will make it easier for your users to connect with other members. They can create social groups, message other users privately. Control will be yours to choose what you want to enable your users to access. You can use these features to help brand your business’s community. Think about who your members are and how do you want them to communicate with other members. 

BuddyBoss has multiple templates to assist with fleshing out your website. Included is a complete set of blog themes for sharing your best content. You will be able to advertise events, support career and freelance opportunities online.

BuddyBoss has what you need to create a membership section for your online forum. This gives you more control access to your website. You can analyze new ways to produce revenue for your business.

The BuddyBoss WordPress bb theme includes the option for incentivizing to promote engagement. The integrated page builder means your website can be fully customized. You can create mobile apps for publishing in popular app stores. These apps are a popular feature for retaining member loyalty to your product or brand.

Go to BuddyBoss

Flatbase

Flatbase is a knowledge base theme. It will help your users access troubleshooting and customer support.  

Members can ask the support team questions, or they can ask other community members. Perhaps a user needs a late-night solution, but your staff can’t respond until the next business day. Another member may have encountered the same problem and can offer a solution to their fellow user. 

The ‘Article View’ or ‘FAQ Scroll’ functions are very popular. This theme also comes with several pre-built templates, or you can customize your own. 

Go to Flatbase

Forum Engine

Forum Engine is ideal for creating a discussion-based community forum. Once a member creates a new account, they can create subcategories, add posts, or upload photos. The search function is popular because your members can search for a specific topic, avoiding frustration. 

The ‘User Badges System’ feature encourages members to increase their activity in the forum. This theme allows you to enable notifications. This will remind your members to stay current and active on the forum.

Go to Forum Engine

HelpGuru

As far as customer support websites go, HelpGuru is at the top of the list. This theme has created a knowledge base that reduces unnecessary tickets. It does this by using an excellent search feature. Members can locate the answer they need without having to create a new ticket. 

This WordPress bbPress theme helps your members communicate with your customer community. It is fast, responsive, and cross-device compatible.

Go to HelpGuru

QAEngine

QAEngine is designed for a Q&A-style forum. 

The ‘Pump’ feature engages members who are learning for answers to their questions. For a fee, the member can have their question put at the top of the category. This can result in both a satisfied customer and extra revenue for you. 

QAEngine uses the always popular badge/point system. It allows the admin to appoint moderators who can assist in keeping your community forum content up to date. Comments can be rated, and content has a filter feature.

Go to QAEngine

Hestia

Of all the free bbPress themes, Hestia is the most multi-purpose. It is full of helpful features so you can create a popular online community. Some of these features include:

  • SEO-friendly
  • Translation-ready
  • Custom backgrounds
  • Supports all the popular page builders
  • Completely responsive
  • Compatible with WooCommerce
  • Live theme customizer support
  • Megamenu

Go to Hestia

Disputo

Disputo is a bbPress friendly theme offering a pre-built FAQ design. This WordPress bb theme means your users will be able to get solutions to their most frequently asked questions. The ‘Best Answer’ feature will allow the best response to show higher in the thread as it is rated by other users. Customers will be more likely to share their questions if they are presented with solutions quickly.

Go to Disputo

Tessera

The Tessera template is one of the best bbPress themes to build a support website. It uses clean CSS code for the bbPress plugin. Included with the theme are additional shadow styles within the forum tables. 

One happy user shares, “Tessera is fully compatible with the most popular WordPress forum plugin, bbPress. This means you can create your own fully functional forum in minutes.”

Go to Tessera

Excellent

Excellent WordPress theme is one of the better free bbPress themes. It is a flexible theme. This gives you the ability to create a multi-purpose website according to your brand. There are several templates available, including:

  • Gallery
  • Corporate
  • Contact form

Its sleek design and multiple sidebars make it worth checking out. Excellent is optimized on cross devices and is SEO responsive. It supports some of the most popular plugins such as these:

  • WP-PageNavi
  • Breadcrumb NavXT
  • Contact Form 7
  • Jetpack by WordPress.com
  • WooCommerce
  • Polylang

You can count on various customization options with Excellent, making it an obvious choice for your WordPress bbPress theme.

Go to Excellent

AVA

The AVA WordPress bb theme is a great choice for creating a lifestyle or influencer blog website. It has a fresh but elegant design and the ability to create an online forum. It has a ton of handy features; some of these are:

  • Icon fonts
  • Custom fonts
  • Header styles
  • Page templates
  • Plenty of widgets and shortcodes
  • A custom theme options panel
  • Unlimited colors 
  • AJAX search
  • 100% responsive
  • Parallax background
  • Retina-ready

Go to AVA

Arise

Arise is a multi-purpose and responsive WordPress theme that works with bbPress. This theme integrates with popular plugins such as: 

  • Polylang
  • WPML Compatible
  • WP-PageNavi
  • JetPack by WordPress.com
  • WooCommerce
  • Contact Form 7
  • Newsletter

Go to Arise

Kira Light

Kira Lite is a free multi-purpose theme for WordPress. It is easily customizable with a list of powerful features. This theme lets you customize each separate element needing to write code. Kira Lite supports these plugins:

  • MailChimp
  • bbPress
  •  WooCommerce

The theme has a responsive design with the following options included:

  • Mobile optimized
  • CSS
  • SEO friendly
  • HTML5
  • Safe and clean code
  • Fast load times
  • Retina ready

It’s perfect for these types of websites: 

  • Small business
  • Portfolio
  • Photography
  • eCommerce websites
  • Personal
  • Landing Pages
  • Corporate

Go to Kira

Ekko Forum

Ekko is a superior multi-purpose WordPress page builder. It has pre-built forum themes that are bbPress friendly. Custom categories include:

  • Most Popular Topics
  • Topics With No Replies
  • Forum Statistics

The forum statistics feature is a bonus because it tells your users the size of the group. As the community grows, users will be more inclined to join the group or return at a later time.

Go to Ekko

Insight

This WordPress bbPress theme is ideal for forums, blogging, and news websites. Insight WordPress bbPress theme has a modern and flexible design. You can create unique color schemes according to your brand or use the color palettes provided. For blog posts, you can choose from a grid or list layout. The live customizer will help you build your dream theme. Insight is responsive and translation-ready.

Go to Insight

Magazine Pro

Magazine Pro is an excellent WordPress bbPress theme for magazine-style websites. It’s built on the Genesis theme framework. The theme has a minimalist design which makes it lightweight and visually appealing. It is WooCommerce compatible if you want to sell products. The live customizer helps you build your brand with the colors you have chosen or experiment with something new.

Go to Magazine Pro

Maisha

Maisha is a WordPress bb theme designed for not-for-profit or charity organizations, especially if they want to incorporate a community forum into their website. 

This theme includes the Soliloquy slider plugin, which is a huge bonus. There are 15 unique page templates available with three header styles and blog layouts. If you prefer a one-of-a-kind style, there are also customization options available. 

Maisha is cross-device compatible and WooCommerce ready.

Go to Maisha

Basic

Basic is an excellent choice for those looking at free bbPress themes. As the same suggests, it has a basic minimalist design. This is why Basic is a fast, fully responsive, translation-ready theme. Some of the most popular features of Basic are these:

  • Background images
  • Full-width page template
  • Custom header
  • Optional left and right sidebar templates

Go to Basic

KLEO

KLEO is designed to create an online forum with a focus on social networking and community. This strong theme already has 18 thousand sales and a high rating review. Check out the bonus features for the KLEO theme:

  • eLearning functionality in combination with the Sensei plugin
  • Full set of templates for the discussion areas
  • Collection of widgets
  • Wide range of customization options and settings
  • eCommerce support
  • Support for the bbPress and BuddyPress plugins

You don’t need to worry about this mature theme. KLEO is regularly updated to keep it current and SEO-friendly. This theme has an excellent demo. You will see the pre-built options, but there are plenty of customizable options as well.

Go to KLEO

Creating a Forum Website Conclusion

Hosting resources such as WordPress bbPress theme plugins will help you to create a popular community forum online. These can be installed on a shared hosting plan or package. Bluehost is a recommended hosting company, especially for WordPress bbPress themes. 

If you find your forum speed is starting to slow or you are experiencing crashes. You can upgrade your hosting plan to use WPEngine as a WordPress host. SiteGround is another recommended bbPress host.

If we haven’t mentioned the bbPress theme you love, please share. What’s your favorite bbPress theme and why?

A team of WordPress experts that love to test out new WordPress related software, WordPress plugins and WordPress themes.