NodeBB Review 2018

Item: NodeBB
Rating: 9
Author: Jonathan Kerns

If you are looking for a way to effectively engage with your customers and even reach them via social networks, NodeBB's forum software may just be the ticket. It offers great flexibility, highly customizable themes, social network integration, multi-language support, and much, much more. To put it simply: NodeBB is definitely a powerful forum software with tons of useful features. That said, if you are looking to utilize this software, be prepared to pay a premium price that is not refundable. Thankfully, they have a free trial so you can take NodeBB out for a test drive.

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Jonathan KernsJune 12, 2019

Pros

Social Integration: With NodeBB, your users can immediately share any content from your forums onto their social media sites like Facebook or Twitter. This not only gives your users a better experience, it also helps promote and advertise your forum on whatever social media site they share the content on.
Mobile Optimization: NodeBB can switch seamlessly between desktop view and mobile view, so you can browse the forum without trouble whatever device you are using.
Multi-Language: NodeBB supports active translation to over 50 languages, so you can tailor-fit your forum to multiple audiences.
Media Embedding: With NodeBB, you can also embed media files like images, videos and audio files to your posts to make them more interesting and engage more people.

Cons

Price: NodeBB is quite expensive, whether you are hosting on their site or on yours. They do provide a free, open source version, but you would have to be a developer (or at least know what you are doing) in order to make use of it.
No Refunds: As stated in their Terms and Conditions, subscription fees are non-refundable - though, at least, you can cancel at any time.

Highly Interactive and Engaging

NodeBB forums are highly interactive and engaging, thanks to the wide range of features that they provide. This is very important if you want to have a successful forum, because the more users enjoy using your forum, the more traffic you can generate.

NodeBB lets you stay informed and up to date on all the topics that interest you with their notifications. You can get fast and convenient desktop notifications or sound notifications to make sure you are alerted immediately, for example. With NodeBB you also need not worry about having to switch to the next page as it allows unlimited scrolling, where the next content automatically loads when you reach the bottom of the page. Of course, they also offer pagination for those that still prefer going page to page.

Meanwhile, you can mark your favorite topics to follow them what interests you most and you can mention other users in your posts to have a more engaging conversation with them about that topic – or any topic for that matter. You also never have to worry about long threads as NodeBB lets you bookmark where you left off so you can continue reading right there. For more easier browsing, NodeBB also lets you search specific content in the forums, including images or other uploaded media.

Beyond that, NodeBB also offers real-time chat, which makes private messaging even more engaging. If your users want, they can also create their own group pages, complete with their own activity feed. So, as you can see, NodeBB’s features really push users to engage and connect with each other in various ways. But what about you connecting with your users, you ask?

Behind the Scenes

NodeBB offers various ways for you to reach out and grow your community. For starters, sharing content from your forum to social networks is made easier thanks to the built-in Facebook, Twitter, and Google integrations. They also provide SEO and analytics features so you can effectively craft the best content that will not only make your forum more visible, but also hook in more users.

Of course, you won’t be able to do that if your forum didn’t look its best. Thankfully, NodeBB also has a solution. Through customizable themes, you can spruce up the look of your forum on you own – or have them create one for you, for a price.

Pricing

Speaking of price, all of NodeBB’s features come at a heavy cost. Starting at $100 per month, this might not be the best option for small businesses, or those with a small budget. Still, you are getting a lot in return, and if you are a developer and you know how to go about installing the forum software on your own, then you can get it for free. If not, then you would have to contend with the high prices. Here is a quick breakdown of their plans:

	Hamlet	Village	City
Price	$100/mo	$250/mo	$750/mo
Page Views	250,000/mo	1,000,000/mo	5,000,000+/mo
Users	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
Daily Backups	Yes	Yes	Yes
SSL	Free	Free	Free

As previously mentioned, NodeBB requires an additional fee if you want a custom theme. While this is great if you really want a bespoke design, it will cost you a pretty penny – $2,500 to be exact. Meanwhile, if you want to host the forum elsewhere, then you will have to pay them as well. Off-site installation starts at $100. Overall, NodeBB is one of the more costly forum software solutions around, so if you are interested in the features that they offer – and there are a lot – then be prepared for the high prices. So before diving in, you may want to give their free trial a shot.

What's the Verdict on NodeBB?

A Must Have

NodeBB Review 2020 – Conclusion

NodeBB provides a good way to get your online forum started. It provides the basic features like most other forum software, but it aprovides some other useful extras that are sure to make your users enjoy their experience. Depending on how large your community is, you can choose from their three different monthly plans to suit your needs and budget. However, be prepared for the premium prices if you are not a developer. More than that, because subscription fees are non-refundable, you have to be sure that you really want what NodeBB offers. Thankfully, they have a free trial that you can check out before committing to anything. So, what are you waiting for?