Relay Forums Coming soon

Forum software for communities, built like a modern product.

The forum layout people already know, with categories, boards, threads and page numbers. Add an editor people enjoy, notifications that reach them, and pages that work on every phone. We host it, on your own domain.

Coming soon

A Relay Forums community's board index: its banner, a welcome line, and categories of boards with thread counts and the latest post in each.
A thread on a phone.
A Relay Forums community's board index on a phone: its banner, a welcome line, and its boards.

Everything a forum needs, done properly

The parts that make forums work, built new, with nothing bolted on.

The classic layout

Categories, boards, threads with page numbers, quotes, signatures and post counts. Everything long-time forum members expect, in the place they expect it.

A powerful editor

One toolbar with every tool: formatting, tables, photos, YouTube videos, spoilers and quotes. Drafts save as you type.

Made for phones

Every page is built for a phone first and a desktop second, with light and dark themes that follow the device.

Notifications that reach people

Watch a thread or a board. Replies and quotes show up under the bell, by email, or as a notification on the phone.

Tools for moderators

A queue for reported posts. Lock, pin, move, merge, warn and ban. Boards only staff can see. A log of every action.

Search, inside and out

Full-text search across every thread and post. Real pages, clean addresses and a sitemap, so search engines find your threads too.

Threads that are a pleasure to read

Posts keep what their writers meant: headings, lists, tables, code and links, laid out cleanly at any size.

  • Who wrote it, with their avatar, post count and signature
  • A link to every single post
  • The first unread post, one tap away
A thread: the opening post with a heading, a list and a table of before and after measurements, beside the author's card.
A thread on a phone: the opening post with a heading and a list, under the author's name.

An editor people actually enjoy

Members write the way they do everywhere else. No codes to learn and no modes to switch between: what you see while writing is what gets posted.

  • Photos straight from the phone, with captions
  • YouTube videos, tables and spoilers
  • Quote any post with one tap
The reply editor: one toolbar of formatting tools above a reply with bold text, a bulleted list and italics.

Your community, your look

Each community has its own name, colors, logo and cover banner, on its own domain. Add-ons are switched on one community at a time, so a ham radio forum can link call signs while a woodworking forum stays simple.

  • Owners run their community from their own pages
  • Light and dark themes for every community
A woodworking community in the dark theme, with its own orange color and a wood banner.
The same woodworking community on a phone.
A woodworking community on a phone in the dark theme, with its own orange color and a wood banner.

We run it. You run your community.

Relay Forums is hosted for you. There are no servers to look after, no upgrades to install and no plugins to keep patched.

  • Your own domainOr a free relayforums.com address to start.
  • Always up to dateNew features arrive without you lifting a finger.
  • Private by designPhotos are stripped of location data before anyone sees them.

Coming soon.

We are building Relay Forums now. The first community to move in is a forum for ham radio operators.