Elgg vs Forumbee
Elgg
elgg.org
Forumbee
forumbee.comSide by side
| Figure | Elgg | Forumbee |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $50/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 10 |
| Spec score · Online Community Platforms | 8.7 (#8) | 8.9 (#4) |
| Spec score · Community Platforms | 8.1 (#59) | 8.7 (#19) |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Integrations | Elgg provides RPC web services for integrations with external applications and mobile clients. | The pricing page names Slack, Google Analytics, Front, Zendesk and other integrations. |
| License | The full package with core plugins is available under GPLv2, while the framework without those plugins is also available under MIT. | The terms retain Forumbee intellectual-property rights and grant customers service access, indicating proprietary software rather than an open-source license. |
| Private spaces | Yes | Yes |
| Purpose | Elgg is an open source social networking engine for building social environments such as campus networks, organizational collaboration platforms, and company communications tools. | Forumbee provides online communities and a knowledge base to engage users, deflect support tickets, and accelerate product adoption. |
| Security | Elgg documents bcrypt password hashing, login throttling, input filtering, CSRF tokens, and access control lists. | Forumbee says its safeguards include encryption in transit, access controls, monitoring, and secure storage practices. |
| Self-hosting | Elgg's installation guide describes installing it on your own server using Composer or a pre-packaged ZIP file. | The opened product and terms pages describe hosted service operation and provide no self-hosting option. |
| Support | Elgg lists community discussions, technical support forums, and professional service providers as support resources. | The Premium plan includes email support, while the Enterprise plan includes a dedicated success manager with an annual subscription. |
| What it does | Elgg is an open source framework for building socially aware web applications where users log in and share information. | Forumbee is a cloud platform for branded communities combining forums, Q&A, knowledge-base content and idea collection. |
Plans
Forumbee
- Premium$250 a month
- Enterprise$750 a month
- Additional Admin Users$50 a month
- Additional Members$100 a month
- Professional Services$200 a month
- Personalized Training$300, paid once
- Assisted Account Setup Package$1,500, paid once
- Custom Theme Package$3,500, paid once
- Gamification Module$4,200 a year
- Custom PlanPriced on request
In their own words
Elgg
Elgg is a free, open-source framework for building web applications where people sign in and share information. It can serve as a foundation for campus networks, organizational collaboration platforms, or company communications tools. Hooks and events let plugins extend or change application behavior, while the view system supports custom themes. Granular content access policies can support private networks and intranets; user groups and a file storage API provide building blocks for managing members and their files. Elgg supports on-site and email notifications, as well as RPC web services for external applications and mobile clients. Its listed security features include anti-CSRF validation, XSS filters, HMAC signatures, and password hashing. The project offers documentation, tutorials, an API reference, community discussions, and a repository with more than 1,000 open-source plugins. It is free to download, install, and use. The full package with core plugins is offered under GPLv2; the framework without plugins is offered under MIT. Self-hosting requires a database and a configured cron job for background tasks.