Vanilla Forums vs wpForo
Compare WordPress plugins and tools side by side. Pick products with “Compare” in the software directory.
| Feature | Vanilla Forums v1.3.1 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free · ★ 2.8/5 Visit Details | wpForo v3.2.2 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.7/5 Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 100+ | 20,000+ |
| Last updated | July 3, 2020 | September 28, 2026 |
| Editions | Vanilla Forums | wpForo · wpForo AI Features ($) |
| Pros | Embeds the forum or replaces blog comments with forum threads; Forum widgets for discussions, activity and active users; Single sign-on through jsConnect | Boards, topics, replies, profiles and user groups in one plugin; Shortcodes and blocks for forum and login pages; Works with BuddyPress and Yoast SEO |
| Cons | Needs a Vanilla forum, hosted or self-hosted, to connect to; Last tested with WordPress 5.3 per the readme; Replaces native comments once a forum URL is set | AI features need a paid subscription and send content to an external AI service; Add-ons are sold separately; Admin screens cover many settings, so setup takes time |
| Mentioned in our posts | 1 | 1 |
| More features | ||
| Other features | Embed the Vanilla forum inside a WordPress page, Replace native blog comments with Vanilla threads, Discussion, activity and active-user widgets, Single sign-on with jsConnect, Choose forum category for embedded content and widgets | Boards, forums and topics managed from wp-admin, Member profiles and member list, User groups and per-forum access rules, Forum and password-reset shortcodes, Gutenberg blocks for recent topics and online members, Google reCAPTCHA check on forum posts, AI smart search, moderation, summaries and translation ($) |
| Integrations | ||
| Plugins | — | BuddyPress, Yoast SEO, Advanced Custom Fields |
| Other | Vanilla Forums | Google reCAPTCHA, gVectors AI API ($), gVectors store and licence API ($), Google and Bing sitemap ping |
| Requires WordPress | 3 | 5.2 |
| Requires PHP | — | 7.1 |
| Tested up to | 5.3 | 7.1 |
| Phones home | No | No |
| External services | — | www.google.com, www.bing.com, api.gvectors.com, store.gvectors.com |
| Blocks | — | 7 |
| Shortcodes | — | 4 |