Vanilla Forums

By VanillaForums

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2.8

Rating summary

Reviews

200

Active installations

Download the Plugin

Overview

Compatibility

Installation instructions

Customer support & learning resources

Main benefits

Easy integration with WordPress

Native mobile version

Power of open-source

Fully customizable

Seamless migration tools

About this plugin

Categories: Integration and APIs

Version: 1.3.1

Last updated: 03-07-2020

WordPress version: false

Tested up to: 5.3.18

PHP version required: false

Languages:

Tags:

Vanilla Forums Community Forum Vanilla forums

Learning resources: View resources

Overview

The Vanilla Forums plugin for WordPress is designed to seamlessly integrate Vanilla's comprehensive community forum software with your WordPress blog, enhancing user engagement and interaction. It enables the creation of a customized community that rewards positive participation and automates content curation, while providing users the flexibility of open-source software. With over 500 add-ons and contributions from more than 10,000 developers, Vanilla is fully adaptable, standards-compliant, and easy to migrate from other forum platforms. The plugin offers a robust blog commenting system to synchronize blog posts and comments with your forum, thereby fostering an active and engaged readership. Features include easy installation, embedded forum appearance control, forum widgets, and the convenience of managing your forum directly from your WordPress dashboard.

Easy Integration with WordPress

Instantly integrate your Vanilla Forum with your blog by adding the Vanilla Forums plugin.
Embed your forum directly into your blog without requiring any additional theming.
Manage your Vanilla forum from within the WordPress dashboard.

Native Mobile Version

Provides a native mobile version for easy browsing and posting from any mobile device.
Ensures a seamless user experience across different devices.

Open-Source Flexibility

Over 10,000 developers contribute to the project, ensuring continuous improvement and innovation.
More than 500 addons available to customize and extend the functionality of your community forum.

Blog Comment Integration

Vanilla’s blog commenting system can replace native WordPress comments and other tools like Disqus or Livefyre.
New blog posts and comments are mirrored in the forum, enhancing engagement and increasing pageviews.

Features list

Feature

Free version

Premium version

Basic Plan

A starter plan with essential features.

Pro Plan

An advanced plan with additional features.

Enterprise Plan

A comprehensive plan for large organizations.

Standard Plan

Includes additional features for small teams.

Premium Plan

Offers advanced features for larger organizations.

Free Trial

Allows users to try the service for a limited time at no cost.

Monthly Billing

Charges users on a monthly basis.

Annual Billing

Offers a yearly payment option with potential discounts.

User Management

Enables administrators to manage user accounts and permissions.

Priority Support

Provides faster response times for customer support inquiries.

Custom Integrations

Allows integration with third-party applications tailored to user needs.

Analytics Dashboard

Offers detailed insights and reports on usage and performance.

Pricing

Free Plan

$0 / monthly

Plan includes

Basic Plan

Pro Plan

Enterprise Plan

Buy Now

Cloud Plan

$99 / monthly

Plan includes

Basic Plan

Standard Plan

Premium Plan

Free Trial

Monthly Billing

Annual Billing

User Management

Priority Support

Buy Now

In some cases companies have different prices based on various components like a location. As a result the prices displayed here can differ from the ones you see on their websites.

See all pricing options

Rating and reviews

2.8

Rating summary

Reviews

200

Active installations

User sentiment analysis

Users generally appreciate this plugin for facilitating Single Sign-On (SSO) between WordPress and Vanilla Forums, streamlining user registration across platforms. It is praised for being easy to set up if instructions are followed, and for functions like automatic registration synchronization. However, users also reported significant drawbacks including outdated documentation, bugs related to SSO and role propagation, and poor integration with custom permalinks leading to 404 errors. Many express frustration over the necessity of additional Vanilla plugins (e.g., jsconnect) and inadequate compatibility with all WordPress themes. Some criticize it as a paid service, misleading for those expecting a standalone tool. These issues have driven several users to alternative solutions.

Tennant

03 Dec, 2019

Works fine with WordPress 5.2.4 and Vanilla 2.8.1. Likely works with upgraded versions of both. Any comments about it not working, either have other problems going on, outdated versions of software, or incorrect configuration. Read the install instructions and enjoy easy SSO with this plugin. Developers, thank you for updating this!

Tennant

03 Dec, 2019

Sirmadsen

01 Oct, 2018

Plugin not working, can’t change page url, youtube video is outdated and the embed only creates an empty page.

dbrooke1007

28 Sep, 2018

This plugin does not change with wordpress changes or Vanilla app changes. There are bugs in the current version having to do with SSO and role propagation and the company has taken the position they don’t support SSO for the open source community. We are moving to Discourse. ‘edit: 10102018’ I’m adding back a star to my review. It’s true most of what I said, but I figured out the Role Propagation issue after months of looking for an answer. Adding back a star. Would be nice if Vanilla cared about us plug-in users though. This topic was modified 5 years, 10 months ago by dbrooke1007. Reason: 1 issue resolved

Bobthearch

08 Jul, 2018

I’ve tested about every method of integrating a forum into WordPress websites. I’ve used plugin forums, standalone forums as separate sites, and standalone forums in iFrames. So far it looks like Vanilla might be the best solution, the easiest and best-integrated. So why four-stars instead of five? You can add sub-forums to forums, but you cannot group forums into true categories in the same way that mainstream forum software does. There is a Vanilla plugin to address this but the plugin is many years old, has reported bugs, and was never released as a stable version.

See All Reviews

Vanilla Forums

Overview

Compatibility

Installation instructions

Customer support & learning resources

Main benefits

About this plugin

Overview

Easy Integration with WordPress

Native Mobile Version

Open-Source Flexibility

Blog Comment Integration

Features list

Pricing

Plan includes

Plan includes

Rating and reviews

User sentiment analysis

FAQ

What is Vanilla Forums?

How do I install the Vanilla Forums WordPress Plugin

Why use Vanilla for blog comments?

How do Vanilla Comments work?

What about my existing comments?

How is Vanilla different from other commenting systems such as Disqus and Intense Debate?

Can I use this with Vanilla Forums self-hosted?

Can I see some examples of Vanilla Comment implementations?