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Xentium compared

Xentium is a community platform built for how communities run today: a forum and articles that share one set of members, a design you shape page by page in a live preview, and moderation that helps your team instead of burying it. Here’s how it stacks up against the software you probably use now, and where it fits best.

Why communities choose Xentium

Section titled “Why communities choose Xentium”
Design every page, liveTheme Studio arranges blocks on every page, the header and footer included, in a live preview of your site. Colours, fonts and layouts publish together when you’re ready, and you can roll back from the history.
Themes you can trustA Xentium theme is pure data: colours, fonts and layouts. It can’t run code on your server, so trying a new theme is never a security decision.
One community, not a plugin stackArticles, profiles, notifications, progression ranks and moderation are part of core. The forum and other official plugins plug into the same members, permissions and editor.
Moderation that thinks aheadReports, warnings and bans in one place, plus abuse detection for rapid logins, multi-accounts, registration bursts and ban evasion. It opens a case for a human and never acts on its own.
Sign-in members actually usePasskeys, sign-in links by email, and Google, GitHub and Discord, built in. Every access rule is a permission you can see and change in the admin panel.
Open and yoursThe core is open source under MIT. You host it, your data stays on your server, and the update check is anonymous. Paid official plugins extend it, and a lapsed licence never takes your site down.

Side by side

Section titled “Side by side”

✓ built in or official · ~ through an add-on, an extension or partly · – not available

Licence and hosting

Section titled “Licence and hosting”
Xentium WordPress phpBB XenForo WoltLab Suite vBulletin
Open-source core ✓ MIT ✓ GPL ✓ GPL – ✓ LGPL (apps proprietary) –
Core free to use ✓ ✓ ✓ – paid licence – paid licence – paid licence
Self-hosted on your own server ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Hosted plan from the vendor – ~ WordPress.com – ✓ ✓ ✓
Runs on shared PHP hosting – needs a server ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Built with TypeScript, Node.js, PostgreSQL PHP, MySQL PHP, MySQL and others PHP, MySQL PHP, MySQL PHP, MySQL

Community

Section titled “Community”
Xentium WordPress phpBB XenForo WoltLab Suite vBulletin
Forum ✓ official plugin ~ bbPress plugin ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Articles and pages ✓ ✓ – ~ add-ons ✓ ✓
Private messages ✓ official plugin ~ plugins ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
File library ✓ official plugin ~ plugins ~ extensions ~ official add-on ✓ app not checked
Media gallery – ~ plugins ~ extensions ~ official add-on ✓ app ~ photos in posts and profiles
Calendar and events – ~ plugins ~ extensions ~ add-ons ✓ app not checked
Ranks earned by activity ✓ ~ plugins ~ by post count ✓ ✓ not checked

Design

Section titled “Design”
Xentium WordPress phpBB XenForo WoltLab Suite vBulletin
Colours and fonts without code ✓ Theme Studio ✓ – edit the CSS ✓ ✓ ✓
Whole pages by drag and drop ✓ live preview ✓ Site Editor – ~ widgets ~ boxes ✓ Site Builder
Themes contain no code ✓ – – – – –
Plugin and theme ecosystem just starting huge established established established established

Members and moderation

Section titled “Members and moderation”
Xentium WordPress phpBB XenForo WoltLab Suite vBulletin
Passkeys ✓ ~ plugins – ✓ not checked not checked
Authenticator-app two-factor – ~ plugins ~ extensions ✓ ✓ not checked
Sign in with another account ✓ Google, GitHub, Discord ~ plugins ✓ ✓ ✓ not checked
Reports, warnings, bans ✓ ~ plugins ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Spam and abuse checks for a human ✓ review cases ~ plugins ~ extensions ✓ not checked not checked
Languages bundled 5 many English + packs English + packs English, German not checked

“Not checked” means we couldn’t confirm it from an official source on the date below, so we leave the cell open instead of guessing.

Is Xentium right for you?

Section titled “Is Xentium right for you?”
A great fit if
  • you want a forum and articles under one roof, with one set of members
  • you care how your site looks and want to change it without touching code
  • your moderators need better tools against spam, multi-accounts and ban evasion
  • you want an open-source core and your data on your own server
  • you can run a small Linux server (or have someone who can)
Not the right fit yet if
  • you need a gallery, a calendar or authenticator-app codes today
  • your site has to stay on shared PHP hosting, or you want it hosted for you
  • you rely on specific add-ons from your current platform that Xentium doesn’t have
  • you need a platform with many years of production behind it right now

Switching is free

Section titled “Switching is free”

Our migration tools are free and open source. They bring your members, forum structure, threads and posts over, and always start with a dry run that writes nothing.

Coming from Migration tool Members keep their passwords
WordPress ✓ – they reset once
phpBB ✓ ✓
XenForo ✓ ✓ for standard password hashes
WoltLab Suite ✓ members, articles and forum ✓
vBulletin ✓ versions 3 to 6 ✓

Each platform’s page covers what you gain, what you give up, exactly what moves over and the steps to switch. The technical reference is Migrating from another platform.

Questions people ask

Section titled “Questions people ask”
Is Xentium ready for my community?

Xentium is in a closed alpha. It works and we build on it every day, but no community runs on it in production yet, so expect rough edges and changes between releases. If you’re starting a new community or can move at your own pace, now is a good time to try it on a test server.

Is it free?

The core is free and open source under the MIT licence: articles, members, profiles, moderation, Theme Studio, the plugin engine and more. We also offer paid official plugins that extend it. A plugin licence that lapses never breaks your site.

What do I need to host it?

A server where you can run Node.js, PostgreSQL and Redis. A small VPS is enough to start. The installer sets up the database and Redis for you (see Installing Xentium on a server). Shared PHP hosting won’t work, and we don’t offer hosting ourselves.

What happens to private messages and attachments?

Private messages come over as conversations, from phpBB, XenForo, vBulletin and WoltLab, when the messaging plugin is enabled on your Xentium site. Each conversation goes only to its original participants, ones a member had deleted arrive archived, and everything counts as read. Attachments stay where they are: imported posts link to them, so keep the old files online or copy them over. The migration report lists everything that was skipped.

Will my old links keep working?

Yes, if you let the migration tool write redirects. Xentium’s URLs differ from your old platform’s, so with --redirects the tool writes an nginx file (and a CSV for other web servers) that sends every old thread, post, board, member and article link to its new page with a permanent redirect. Search engines follow those and carry your rankings over.

Who builds Xentium?

A small, independent team. Everything we know is in these docs, and the code is on GitHub, where you can follow along and open issues.

How we compared

Section titled “How we compared”

We checked every claim on this page on 15 October 2026, against each vendor’s own website, release notes and repositories. We compare features and licensing, not prices; those change, so follow the links below. Spotted something wrong or out of date? Open an issue and we’ll fix it.