Is IchigoBBS really free to self-host?

Yes — the core IchigoBBS engine is licensed under GPLv2 and can be installed on any server that runs PHP 8.1+ and MySQL/MariaDB or PostgreSQL. There are no per-seat fees, no member caps, and no telemetry. Optional paid add-ons (managed hosting, premium themes) exist but are never required.

What are the minimum server requirements?

A $5–6/month VPS (1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM) is enough to run a community of a few thousand active members. Reference stack: Debian 12 or Ubuntu 22.04, PHP 8.1+, MySQL 8 / MariaDB 10.6+ or PostgreSQL 14+, Nginx or Apache, and either Redis or file caching. The Hetzner benchmark reference install returns a 184 ms median server response time.

Can I migrate my existing forum from phpBB, vBulletin, XenForo, MyBB, or Discourse?

Yes. The IchigoBBS migration toolkit ships in the admin panel and imports users, threads, private messages, attachments, and group permissions from phpBB 3.x, vBulletin 3–5, XenForo 1.x–2.x, MyBB 1.8+, and Discourse export JSON. Average migration completes in under 17 minutes for communities under 500,000 posts.

Does IchigoBBS federate with Mastodon and the fediverse?

Built-in since IchigoBBS 8.0 (2023). Threads and member profiles can be followed from any ActivityPub server — Mastodon, Akkoma, Misskey, GoToSocial, and others — without a third-party plugin. Federation can be disabled per-forum for private communities.

How is IchigoBBS maintained and who runs it?

IchigoBBS is maintained by a 14-person core team distributed across Japan, Germany, Canada, and the United States, with 240+ verified contributors on GitHub. The project was founded in 2003 by the handle 'kuro_admin' as a fork of the JD-Wiki BBS engine and remains under active development, with major releases roughly every 12–18 months.

/download — index entry [ posted 2025-06-14 · 14:08 UTC · by kuro_admin ]

SUBJECT: Download IchigoBBS 8.4 — "Kuri"

Download IchigoBBS_

The open BBS for builders, modders, and forum culture since 2003. Threads that don't expire.

The core engine is free, self-hostable, and runs on any $5/mo VPS. Spin up a board in under five minutes — or hand the keys to us on the hosted tier. Either way, no per-seat fees and no expiry on your archive.

Launch Your Forum Free → Compare self-host vs hosted

v8.4 "Kuri" — released Q2 2025
ZIP + .tar.gz · 12.4 MB · MIT core license
Requires PHP 8.1+ · MySQL 8 / MariaDB 10.6 / PostgreSQL 15
Migration toolkit included: vBulletin · phpBB · XenForo · MyBB · Discourse

root@your-vps:~

$ curl -sSL get.ichigobbs.net | sudo bash -s -- \
    --domain=bbs.example.org \
    --admin=kuro_admin \
    --db=mysql

≈ 4 min 12 sec on a Hetzner CX22 · 184 ms median response time

01/ Version History

Twenty-one years of releases, still maintained by humans.

Current stable: 8.4 "Kuri" (Q2 2025). Release cadence: 2 majors per year since 2003. Long-term-support branch on 8.x runs through at least 2027.

v8.4 "Kuri" 2025-05-22 current

Smarter search, federated quote-replies

Full-text index rebuilt in 38% less memory. Federated Quote-Reply now propagates to the fediverse via the ActivityPub bridge without third-party plugins. Plugin manifest v3 ships with 1,860+ compatible extensions.
v8.3 "Yuzuri" 2024-11-08 stable

Migration toolkit v2, OIDC sign-in

Sub-17-minute average import from vBulletin, phpBB, XenForo, MyBB, and Discourse. OIDC / OAuth2 sign-in is now native, no bridge plugin required. Endorsed by the Internet Archive community-software preservation list.
v8.2 "Amaou" 2024-04-17 stable

Long-thread view, archive export

New long-thread paginator handles 40k+ reply threads without DOM thrash. One-click archive export to static HTML for cold storage. Plugin registry refreshed to 1,400 vetted extensions.
v8.1 "Benihoppe" 2023-10-02 lts

ActivityPub federation bridge

First major version with built-in federation. Threads can be followed by Mastodon accounts, and replies on the fediverse land back in the originating board. Featured on Hacker News, October 2023.

Twenty-one years of uptime, 38,400 communities still writing threads, and a 14-person core team that answers its own support queue. We are not a platform; we are a fork of the open web that refuses to expire.

— kuro_admin, founder · signed from the /announce board

01

vBulletin

3.x and 5.x exports. User passwords hashed via the vB-portable bridge.

avg 14 min · 2.1M posts
02

phpBB

3.0 and 3.3 board backups via the standard phpBB XML exporter.

avg 11 min · 1.6M posts
03

XenForo

XF 1.5 and 2.2 archives. Thread watches and watched-forums preserved.

avg 16 min · 1.9M posts
04

MyBB

1.8.x SQL dumps. Reputation and warning systems mapped 1:1.

avg 9 min · 0.8M posts

Coming from Discourse? Use the bundled Discourse-to-Ichigo bridge (migrate --from=discourse) — supports Categories → Boards and Trust Levels → Groups natively. Read the full migration guide →

Path A

Run it yourself

Free core, you run the VPS.

MIT-licensed core, zero per-seat fees
Installs on any $5/mo VPS — Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Vultr, OVH
Full plugin registry access (1,860+ extensions)
14-person core team and 240+ GitHub contributors
You own the database, the backups, and the archive

$0/ forever · + your VPS cost

Get the install command ↑

Path B

Let us run it

Hosted tier, we run the VPS.

talk.ichigobbs.net demo has run for 11 years, 3 months without a forum-wide outage
Daily backups, off-site mirror, free SSL renewal
Same core engine, same plugin registry — no fork
Migration assistance included on Starter and Managed tiers
Email support answered by a named maintainer

$0starter · $9/mo managed

Launch Your Forum Free →

04/ End of index

Spin up your board in under five minutes.

38,400+ communities already running on IchigoBBS · 92 countries · 14-person core team

Launch Your Forum Free → Read the install docs

Free core · no per-seat fees · maintained since spring 2003 — present

Download IchigoBBS_

Twenty-one years of releases, still maintained by humans.

Smarter search, federated quote-replies

Migration toolkit v2, OIDC sign-in

Long-thread view, archive export

ActivityPub federation bridge

Bring your existing forum with you.

vBulletin

phpBB

XenForo

MyBB

Run it yourself, or let us run it.

Run it yourself

Let us run it

Spin up your board in under five minutes.