XenForo is the incumbent. We respect what they built — and we built something that takes a different shape. Lifetime license, modern PHP 8.2 stack, shared-host friendly, fully responsive default theme, built-in migration. Compare row-by-row below.
| RaxBoard | XenForo | |
|---|---|---|
| License model | Lifetime, one-time payment | Yearly renewal required |
| Entry price (USD) | $99 one-time | $160 / year |
| Includes 12 months updates | Yes | Yes |
| Renewal cost | $49 / year (optional) | $60 / year (mandatory for support) |
| Runtime | PHP 8.2+ (modern) | PHP 7.4 / 8.x |
| Hosting | Any shared host (no Docker) | Shared or VPS |
| Frontend | Alpine.js + custom template engine | jQuery + custom XF template engine |
| Glassmorphism / modern theme | Default theme | Add-on / third party |
| Multi-locale built-in | English, Turkish, Spanish (more on the way) | English (community translations) |
| Migration import | One-click XenForo importer (users, posts, attachments, redirects) | — |
| Signed update channel | Ed25519 JWS over HTTPS | HTTPS download with manual key |
| Self-host source code | Yes (license-gated) | Yes (license-gated) |
| Marketplace | Open: free + $5 listing for paid | Resource Manager, paid |
RaxBoard ships with a one-click XenForo importer that copies posts, users, attachments, permissions, custom fields, and 301 redirects so your existing URLs keep their links. Typical migration finishes in under one hour for boards with up to 1 million posts.
Community operators who want to drop yearly license renewals, run on lighter hosting, and ship a modern default theme without buying a third-party design pack. If you currently pay XenForo $160+ per year per board, RaxBoard recovers that cost in the first year and is yours to keep.