Hosting for forums and communities

Forum hosting for your community, free for 30 days

Start your own forum free for 30 days. Run it on real DirectAdmin web hosting, not an account on a closed forum-building platform: install phpBB, SMF or MyBB in a couple of clicks, on your own domain, with your own rules. No card needed to start, then it’s the same £0.99 a month as every Traxio account.

Start your website freeWhat you get
  • No card to start
  • No setup fee
  • Cancel anytime

Same Traxio hosting, same £0.99. This isn’t a separate plan — it’s the one service.

Communities that run well on Traxio

Hobby and interest forums

Cars, gaming, crafts, collecting — the classic discussion board.

Club and society boards

Members’ areas for sports clubs, societies and groups.

Support communities

A place for your customers or users to help each other.

Local community forums

Village, neighbourhood and regional discussion.

Private boards

Invite-only forums for teams, families or projects.

Moving an existing forum

Bring a forum and its database across from another host.

What forum software needs

Forum software is PHP and a database, which is exactly what Traxio provides.

Full specification

  • One-click forum installs

    Softaculous lists popular forum software, such as phpBB, SMF and MyBB.

    How to install a forum

  • MySQL databases

    Where every post, member and setting is stored. Managed with phpMyAdmin.

    Using phpMyAdmin

  • Email that arrives

    Registration and notification emails, with DKIM, SPF and DMARC to keep them out of spam.

    Sending email from your site

  • Free SSL

    HTTPS for logins and private messages, set up automatically.

    Force HTTPS

  • Cron jobs

    Run your forum’s scheduled tasks reliably, from one-minute intervals.

    Create a cron job

  • Backups

    Download your forum’s files and database whenever you like.

    Take a full backup

Launch a forum in four steps

  1. Connect your domain

    Or use a subdomain like forum.yourname.co.uk.

    Connect your domainCreate a subdomain

  2. Choose your software

    phpBB, SMF and MyBB are all mature and free.

    Choosing forum software

  3. Install it

    Softaculous creates the database and admin account for you.

    Install a forum

  4. Protect it from spam

    Registration checks, email verification and updates.

    Running a forum

Your forum, your rules

Hosted community platforms are easy to start but hard to leave. The members, the posts and the address all belong to someone else, and features can disappear with a pricing change.

A self-hosted forum is yours. Because you’re getting actual shared web hosting rather than a forum account, you control:

  • Your domain — the forum lives at your address, or on forum.yourname.co.uk.
  • The forum software — phpBB, SMF, MyBB or another PHP forum, and the version you run.
  • The files — through the file manager, FTP or SFTP.
  • The database — every post and member, with phpMyAdmin to manage it.
  • Themes and extensions — install the styles, mods and plugins your software supports.
  • Backups — download the whole forum whenever you like.

A small or growing forum fits comfortably on shared hosting. Text posts are tiny; what takes space is attachments and avatars, so it’s worth setting sensible upload limits from day one. A very large, very busy board will eventually want more than shared hosting, and the backups you’ve kept mean you can move it when it does.

Looking for a design for your forum? Browse our free SMF themes, made for SMF 2.1.

Is Traxio right for your forum?

A good fit for

  • New and growing forums
  • Club, hobby and support communities
  • Moving a small or medium forum from another host
  • Admins happy to install and update their own software

Needs more than shared hosting

  • Very large, very busy boards
  • Real-time chat platforms that need persistent processes
  • Forums that host lots of large file downloads

What it costs

The same simple price as every Traxio account.

First 30 days£0

The complete hosting service. Every feature, no card needed.

After your trial£0.99/month

Same hosting, same price, this year and next. That’s £11.88 a year.

  • No card to startUse all 30 days without giving payment details.
  • No automatic chargeNothing is taken during the trial. You pay only if you continue.
  • No setup feeStarting costs nothing. There’s no admin or activation charge.
  • No price rise£0.99 is the ongoing price, not a first-year teaser.
  • Nothing added on topNo VAT, card fees or paid SSL on the £0.99.
  • Leave whenever you likeMonthly billing, no minimum term, no cancellation fee.

Guides for forum owners

Free for everyone in the Traxio help centre, whether you’re a customer yet or not.

Open the help centre

Forum hosting questions

Is the forum hosting free?

For the first 30 days, yes, with no card needed to start and nothing held back. After that it’s £0.99 a month if you want to keep the forum online. It isn’t free forever, and there are no adverts on your forum at any point. How the free 30 days work

Can I host a phpBB forum for free?

For your first 30 days, yes. phpBB installs in a couple of clicks from Softaculous, with its database created for you, and nothing is charged during the trial. To keep the forum online after that it’s £0.99 a month. SMF and MyBB work the same way.

How is this different from a free forum platform?

A hosted forum platform gives you an account on their service, on their terms. Traxio gives you real web hosting: you choose and install the software, own the database and files, add your own themes and extensions, and can take a full backup and move whenever you want.

Which forum software can I use?

Any PHP forum software that runs on MySQL, including phpBB, SMF and MyBB. Softaculous lists popular forum apps for one-click installs; you can also upload software yourself.

Can I move my existing forum to Traxio?

Yes. Copy the files, export and import the database, and update the forum’s configuration. Large databases can be imported over SSH. Importing a large database

How many members can it handle?

There’s no member limit. What matters is storage (3GB, where attachments use the most) and how busy the forum is at peak times.

Will registration emails reach people?

They will if your domain’s email is set up properly. Enable DKIM and publish SPF and DMARC records. Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC

Can the forum run on a subdomain?

Yes. Run it on forum.yourname.co.uk alongside your main website, on the same account.

Running SMF? SMF hosting covers Simple Machines Forum in detail, the Forum Hub collects our free SMF themes and guides, and our comparisons set Traxio fairly against Forumotion, ProBoards and Create A Forum.

Start free.
Keep it for 99p.

Proper shared hosting for your website and email, with DirectAdmin. First month free, £0.99/month afterwards: no card to start, no setup fee, and the same price every year.

Start your website freeHow it works
  • £0 today
  • No card required
  • £0.99/month afterwards
  • Cancel anytime

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