ProBoards
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2005
- HeadquartersLake Forest, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
What ProBoards does
ProBoards is a cloud-hosted forum platform that allows individuals, hobby groups and small organizations to create and operate free online discussion communities without any software to install or technical expertise required. It operates as the consumer/free tier of VerticalScope Inc.'s community-software portfolio, powered by the ProBoards v5 platform — an AJAX-driven Web 2.0 system that supports a single global login across forums, live search, WYSIWYG posting, integrated notifications, activity feeds, and an extensible library of user-submitted themes and plugins. Mobile access is delivered through built-in responsive views and a compatibility layer with the Tapatalk family of native iOS, Android and Windows Phone apps.
The business is structured as a dual-brand platform: ProBoards is the free tier, monetized primarily through display advertising shown on free forums and secondarily through low-priced premium add-ons such as custom domain linking ($19.99/year), ad-free subscriptions ($6-8/month) and one-time URL changes ($9.99). Forums.net is a separate paid white-label sub-brand running on the same software, starting at $49.99/month and targeting businesses that need SLAs, SSL, SSO, phone support and data-migration services. Distribution is fully product-led and self-serve via proboards.com, with signup taking under 30 seconds and growth driven by SEO, a public forum directory spanning 20+ categories, a weekly featured-forum program across homepage/Facebook/X, and word-of-mouth across an installed base reported at 22 million registered users, 700,000+ active forums and 16 million monthly visitors.
ProBoards is a privately held subsidiary of VerticalScope Inc., a Canadian corporation headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The firm is small (11-50 employees) and competes primarily against other free forum hosts and modern community/discourse tools; its principal competitive moats are its scale, brand incumbency ("largest free forum host on the Internet," Forum-Software.org "Best Hosted Forum Service" 2011 and 2012) and the switching friction tied to accumulated forum content and member bases.
ProBoards firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- ProBoards
- Legal name
- VerticalScope Inc.
- Website
- https://proboards.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2005
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
ProBoards industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Online Community & Forum Hosting Software
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (513210), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Whiteboarding & Visual Collaboration (BPAMAMAI)
Keywords
Where ProBoards is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Lake Forest
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
ProBoards business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Free Forum Hosting: Core free tier providing unlimited members, posts, and pageviews with cloud hosting and management included. Revenue is generated through display advertising shown on free forums.
- Custom Domain Linking: Premium service allowing users to link their own domain name (e.g., your-domain.com) to their ProBoards forum instead of using the default proboards.com subdomain. Priced at $19.99/year.
- Ad-Free Forum Service: Monthly subscription removing all banner advertisements from a forum. Provides up to 50,000 ad-free pageviews. Priced at $6/month for recurring subscriptions or $8/month for month-to-month. Larger packages available with decreasing cost per pageview.
- Forum URL Change: One-time fee allowing forum owners to change their forum URL (e.g., from old-forum-name.proboards.com to new-forum-name.proboards.com) while keeping all content and members. Priced at $9.99 one-time.
- Display Advertising: ProBoards displays banner advertisements on free forums. Non-paying forums show two banner ads per page which ProBoards controls. Forum owners can advertise on their own ad-free forums after purchasing the ad-free upgrade.
- Advertising Sales: ProBoards offers advertising opportunities to companies wishing to promote products on ProBoards forums. Contact via [email protected].
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free Forum Hosting - 100% free with unlimited scale |
| Subscription | Monthly | Ad-Free Forum - Remove advertisements from your forum |
| Subscription | Annual | Custom Domain Name - Use your own domain |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Forum URL Change - Modify your forum's URL |
| Subscription | Annual | Domain Custom Domain (older pricing) - Use your own domain |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
ProBoards product offering
Product offeringCore offering
ProBoards provides a free, cloud-hosted online forum and message board platform that lets individuals and communities create discussion sites in under 30 seconds with no software to install. The service includes unlimited members, posts, and pageviews on the free tier, with hundreds of user-submitted themes and plugins, mobile-ready access via Tapatalk, and integrated moderation, analytics, and social sharing. A paid sub-brand, Forums.net, offers the same engine as a white-label, SLA-supported product for business and professional communities.
Product overview
ProBoards operates a dual-brand forum hosting platform consisting of ProBoards (free tier) and Forums.net (paid business tier), both powered by the ProBoards v5 forum software. ProBoards Free Forum Hosting is the core free product offering 100% free cloud-hosted forums with unlimited members, posts, and pageviews, supplemented by a Theme Library and Plugin Library of user-submitted customizations. Forums.net is the premium sub-brand at $49.99/month targeting business communities with white-label, SSL, and phone support features. Both tiers share the ProBoards v5 platform which provides Web 2.0 AJAX interactivity. Premium add-ons available across both tiers include custom domain name linking ($19.99/year), ad-free service ($6-8/month), and forum URL changes ($9.99 one-time). Mobile access is enabled through Tapatalk integration.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Forums.net: White-label forum service for business and professional communities, running the same ProBoards platform with additional features and data migration services.
- .proboards.com
- .freeforums.net
- .boards.net
Products and services
- ProBoards Free Forum Hosting ProBoards Free Forum Hosting is a 100% free, cloud-hosted discussion forum service offering unlimited members, posts, and pageviews with built-in themes, plugin extensions, mobile access, analytics, and 24/7 support, targeted at individuals and small communities wanting to launch a forum in under 30 seconds.
- Forums.net Forums.net is a paid, white-label forum hosting service (from $49.99/month) running the ProBoards v5 engine with added business-grade features including SSL encryption, single sign-on, SLA, phone support, and a data migration service for companies and organizations that need a professional community platform.
Quantifiable outcome
- Over 22 million registered users and 3 million forums created
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use ProBoards
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
ProBoards technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration9 records
Feature9 records
ProBoards partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- TapatalkcoreTapatalk provides native mobile apps for ProBoards forums. Every ProBoards forum is compatible with the Tapatalk family of native apps for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone, enabling easier mobile browsing and forum participation. ProBoards is marketed as 'The Internet's largest free forum host is now completely mobile' through this partnership.
- Forums.netcoreForums.net is a white-label version of ProBoards technology designed specifically for business and professional communities. Running the same great ProBoards platform but with additional features including data migration services. Forums.net offers a service level agreement, phone support, and is positioned as the professional counterpart to the free ProBoards service.
- VerticalScope Inc.coreVerticalScope Inc. is the parent company of ProBoards. All websites and mobile applications are operated by VerticalScope Inc. and its subsidiaries and corporate affiliates. The company is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
ProBoards competitors and assessment
Company assessmentMarket position
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
ProBoards social profiles
Digital presenceProBoards financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
ProBoards leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
ProBoards funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
ProBoards M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about ProBoards
What does ProBoards do?
ProBoards provides a free, cloud-hosted online forum and message board platform that lets individuals and communities create discussion sites in under 30 seconds with no software to install. The service includes unlimited members, posts, and pageviews on the free tier, with hundreds of user-submitted themes and plugins, mobile-ready access via Tapatalk, and integrated moderation, analytics, and social sharing. A paid sub-brand, Forums.net, offers the same engine as a white-label, SLA-supported product for business and professional communities.
Is ProBoards a public or private company?
ProBoards is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was ProBoards founded?
ProBoards was founded in 2005. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is ProBoards based?
ProBoards is headquartered in Lake Forest, United States, in the North America region.
How does ProBoards make money?
Six revenue lines are on record. Free Forum Hosting is the primary driver. The others are custom Domain Linking, ad-Free Forum Service, forum URL Change, display Advertising and advertising Sales.
Does ProBoards have an API?
No public API is recorded for ProBoards.
What industry is ProBoards in?
ProBoards's product category is Online Community & Forum Hosting Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMAMAI, Whiteboarding & Visual Collaboration. Its NAICS code is 513210 and its SIC code is 7372.