HelloBox
hellobox.co
What it is
HelloBox is a hosted forum and community platform for publishing and discussion, positioned as an alternative to Discourse, Circle, and Facebook Groups. It handles hosting, scaling, backups, and SSL; communities can be public or private, with admin approval for new members. Members can sign in with Twitter, Google, GitHub, LinkedIn, or email, and email sign-ups are verified. The editor offers rich-text, inline, and Markdown modes, plus image, code, map, and tweet blocks, drafts, and optional post approval. Its writing assistant can continue or rewrite drafts, summarize threads, or create a draft from a prompt. HelloBox can post automatically to Twitter, Slack, and Discord, connect with analytics, search, and chatbot tools, and send newsletters featuring popular posts. Customers can import subscriber lists, link existing newsletters, run ads and keep 100% of the revenue, use a custom domain, and export data anytime. The free plan allows 50 members and 10K views per month with limited features. Paid plans start at $5 a month; Starter includes 100 members and 50K monthly views.
Spec sheet
- What it does
- HelloBox is a fully hosted forum and community platform positioned as an alternative to Discourse, Circle and Facebook Groups.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Product
- HelloBox is a fully hosted forum and community platform positioned as an alternative to Discourse, Circle, and Facebook Groups.Read 8 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Intended users
- HelloBox lists creators, course communities, startups, newsletter communities, podcasters, businesses, bloggers, and existing groups as use cases.Read 8 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- API
- The homepage shows a JavaScript example using feed.latest() under a getting-started API section.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Integrations
- Listed integrations include automatic posting to Twitter, Slack and Discord, Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and chatbot tools such as Intercom, HubSpot and Drift.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Security
- The privacy policy says HelloBox uses security technologies and measures designed to protect information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure, while noting internet security cannot be guaranteed.Read 8 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Support
- The pricing page says the free plan includes email support, and the help center directs users to email support for unanswered questions.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Advertising
- Customers may place their own advertising and keep all resulting revenue.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- AI
- The writing assistant can continue drafts, rewrite for clarity, summarize threads, and draft from a prompt inside the editor.Read 8 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- AI writing
- The writing assistant can improve clarity, fix grammar, summarize, translate, shorten, expand, change tone and follow custom prompts.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- API documentation depth
- The public pages show an API snippet but do not link to a complete API reference or SDK documentation.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Authentication
- Members can sign in with Twitter, Google, GitHub, LinkedIn or email, and email registrations are verified.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Capterra listing identity
- Capterra describes its HelloBox listing as an omnichannel website contact widget, which does not match the current hellobox.co community-forum product.Read 15 Oct 2026 · capterra.in
- Community access
- Communities can be public or private, with administrator approval available for new members.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Company project history
- LinkedIn identifies HelloBox as an online community management startup project dating from February 2014.Read 15 Oct 2026 · au.linkedin.com
- Data and domains
- HelloBox says customers can use their own domain with automatic SSL and export their data anytime.Read 8 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Data portability
- The homepage says customers own their data and can export it at any time.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Discussion organization
- Discussions can be organized with categories and styled tags.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Documentation
- The help center provides guides for content sources, access control, custom domains, design, newsletters, widgets, Search Console, Discord, Slack, X/Twitter and advertising.Read 15 Oct 2026 · help.hellobox.co
- Hosted operation
- The service says it handles hosting, scaling, backups and SSL without requiring customers to manage servers.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Hosting
- HelloBox says it handles hosting, scaling, backups, and SSL for customers.Read 8 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Legal jurisdiction
- HelloBox terms state that the agreement is governed by Australian law and that legal actions belong in Sydney, New South Wales courts.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Licence and ownership
- The terms reserve HelloBox intellectual property rights and grant users no licence to reproduce its trademarks or software, indicating a proprietary service rather than open source.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Limit: Capterra reviewers
- Reported shortcomings for the listed widget included a crowded expanded layout, limited widget positioning, imperfect translation, slow loading and weak chatbot, CRM and appointment capabilities.Read 15 Oct 2026 · capterra.in
- Limits
- The free plan has limited features and allows up to 50 members and 10K views per month; HelloBox says it prompts customers to change plans if they reach their member limit.Read 8 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Monetization
- Customers can run their own ads and keep 100% of the revenue; paid memberships and premium content are described as being on the roadmap.Read 8 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Newsletter
- HelloBox can send newsletters containing popular posts and can import existing subscribers or link to an existing newsletter.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Newsletters
- The platform can send automatic newsletters featuring popular posts, and customers can import an existing subscriber list or link to an existing newsletter.Read 8 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Notable policy date
- The privacy policy is marked as last updated September 2026.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Notable terms date
- The terms page is marked as last updated October 2026.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Payment data
- The privacy policy says payment information is directed to a third-party processor and HelloBox does not store financial account information on its systems.Read 8 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Payment handling
- Payment details are sent to a third-party processor and HelloBox says it does not store financial account information on its own systems.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Praise: Capterra reviewers
- Reviewers praised the number of contact channels, ease of setup, customization and responsive support for the listed widget.Read 15 Oct 2026 · capterra.in
- Pricing on TrustRadius
- TrustRadius lists a separate HelloBox Basic SaaS plan at 8 per month, without specifying a currency.Read 15 Oct 2026 · trustradius.com
- Profiles and notifications
- Member profiles support avatars, biographies, social links and granular controls for posts, mentions, replies and digests.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Publishing
- The editor supports image, code, map, and tweet blocks, rich-text, inline, and Markdown modes, drafts, and optional post approval.Read 8 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Publishing editor
- The editor supports image, code, map and tweet blocks, rich text, inline or Markdown editing, drafts and optional post approval.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Rating on Capterra
- 4.3 out of 5 from 16 reviews.Read 15 Oct 2026 · capterra.in
- Roadmap limits
- Paid memberships, premium content and member-sold advertising are described as roadmap items rather than current features.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Security statement
- The privacy policy says HelloBox uses security technologies and measures intended to protect information from unauthorized access, use or disclosure, while warning that internet security cannot be guaranteed.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Support on TrustRadius
- TrustRadius marks chat support as available on both free and paid tiers for its HelloBox listing.Read 15 Oct 2026 · trustradius.com
- Terms limitation
- The terms disclaim warranties that the service will be error-free or continuously available and cap liability at fees paid during the preceding 12 months.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Themes and branding
- Ready-made themes include Ocean and Jellyfish, with controls for logos, favicons, colors, fonts and page-level styling.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Uptime claim
- The homepage advertises 99.9% uptime.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
- Widgets
- The product includes built-in widgets and a widget editor for creating custom widgets.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
Plans and prices
Free Free per month 50 members · 10K views/month · .hellobox.co subdomain · limited features Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
Starter $5 a month per month 100 members · 50K views/month · custom domain with SSL · all features included Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
Growth $10 a month per month 200 members · 200K views/month · custom domain with SSL · all features included Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
Pro $20 a month per month 500 members · 500K views/month · custom domain with SSL · all features included Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
Business $50 a month per month 2,000 members · 1M views/month · custom domain with SSL · all features included Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
Scale $100 a month per month 10,000 members · 2M views/month · custom domain with SSL · all features included Read 15 Oct 2026 · hellobox.co
Strong points and limits
Strong points
- Public or private communities with member approval
- Multiple editor modes and content blocks
- AI writing assistance within the editor
- Custom domains and data export
- Customers keep 100% of ad revenue
Limits
- Free plan limited to 50 members
- Free plan limited to 10K views monthly
- Paid memberships and premium content are on the roadmap
Who it suits
HelloBox suits creators, businesses, startups, and groups that want a hosted place to publish and discuss content. It also lists course, newsletter, and podcast communities among its use cases.
Verdict
HelloBox combines community publishing, moderation, newsletters, and integrations in a hosted service. The free plan has member and view caps; paid plans add capacity, starting at $5 a month.
Where Specifiction places it
- Customer Community Software#5 of 378.9
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