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A2's SMF Hosting. Fastest. Easiest. Most Reliable.

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The Best SMF Hosting Solution.

Each of our web hosting solutions are fine-tuned, blazing fast and are ready for you! Choose the high speed package tailored for your needs.

When you choose A2 Hosting for your SMF Hosting needs, you get the benefit your forum being hosted on our high-performance SwiftServer platform. Need an even bigger speed boost? Host on our Turbo Serverswith page load speeds up to 20X faster compared to competing SMF hosts.

Fast SMF Hosting Rich With Features!

Here are just a few of the many ways A2 Hosting's solutions will make your life easier...

A mere 1-second page load delay impacts your bounce rate, SEO rankings, your conversion rateand ultimately your bottom line! You won't have to worry about any of this when you choose A2 Hosting and our screaming fast SwiftServer platform! That's because your sites come hosted on our speed optimized servers with your choice of server location, free SSDs, LiteSpeed web server and our up to 20X faster Turbo Server option all leading to better website performance! Our Turbo Servers now feature AMD EPYC Servers with NVMEe drives with:

  • 40% Faster CPU Performance
  • 2X Faster To First Byte
  • Can Handle 9X More Traffic
  • 3X Faster Read/Write Speeds

1-click software setup

Setup your SMF software with a single click using Softaculousin your control panel. It couldn't be easier or faster to get your site up and running! You'll automatically get an email notifying you when a new SMF version becomes available. You'll be able to log into your control panel and update your SMF install with a single click, so you get the latest features and the most secure settings!

perpetual securityAn average of 30,000 sites are hacked each day globally. Our Perpetual Security measures help prevent you from becoming the next victim! That's why your account include free HackScan Protection to help block hacks before they can do damage to your site. KernelCare rebootless kernel updates, brute force defense, a dual firewall and a number of other security features are already in place to help keep your site secure when you choose A2 Hosting. Our Reinforceddistributed denial of service ( DDoS) Protection even improves the likelihood your site will remain online during even the most sophisticated distributed denial of service attacks.

developer friendly hosting

Since our launch in 2003, we've had a strong focus on loading your account with the best versions of the most popular development software. Our servers support older versions too! Just some of the development software available in your account includes:

PHP 5.6, 7.1-7.4, 8.0 or 8.1 (Choose Your Version) MySQL 5.6/ MariaDB PostgreSQL 9.6 Python 3.4 PERL 5.10 Apache 2.4 Node.js 12 FTP / SFTP Free SSH Access SSL& Free SSL

Experience The A2 Difference

SMF Hosting - Industry Best Solutions

Our goal isn't to win awards. Our goal is to offer the best web host solutionsthat are both blazing fast and ultra-reliable. Even so, we're still extremely proud of our team's accomplishments! Since our launch in 2003, their hard work has helped us earn recognition and accolades as the top hosting provider in the industry.

What A2 Hosting Customers Have To Say

97% of our customers would recommend A2 Hosting to a friend. Are you ready to become the next A2 Hosting customer to love their web host?

Additional SMF Hosting Software Alternatives & Options

Easy SMF Web Hosting

At A2 Hosting, we understand that you want to get your forum up and running quickly for your community. Choose A2 Hosting and it will be! That's because you can auto-setup SMF when you order from us, or use our easy 1-click SMF setupSoftaculous tool found in your control panel. Either way, you'll be well on your way to building a powerful, community-backed website.

Not only will your forum perform well for your community because it's hosted on our high performance SwiftServer platform, you will also get dependable service. Our servers are fine tuned and backed by our 99.9% Uptime Commitment so you get ultra-reliable performance.

Have any SMF Hosting questions? You're in luck! Just ask our knowledgeable and friendly 24/7/365 Guru Crew Support team. They'll be happy to help! Just contact them via phone, live chat or email.

Get started now and you'll be able to completely try us risk-free thanks to our Money-Back Guarantee. You won't regret it and you'll love our service!

Looking for additional forum hosting options? A2 Hosting has got you covered with a wide variety of solutions! You may want to consider phpBB, vBulletinor XenForo.

What Is SMF?

SMF is an abbreviation for Simple Machines Forum. SMF is a free, professional level solution allowing you to quickly setup your own online discussion community. SMF's high powered, custom template engine means you'll easily be able to customize the layout and appearance of your forum. The Package Manager is another way to customize your forum. Use it to add a variety of modifications and custom themes so you forum looks exactly how you want it to. SMF also features their own Server Side Includes (SSI) function allowing your site and discussion forum to interact with one another. You'll have access to a huge community of users to help you with any questions you may have as you build your forum site.

Simple Machines Forum History

Back in 2001, the most popular forum solutions was Yet Another Bulletin Board (YaBB). Two of Yabb's original founders, Jeff Lewis and Christian Land, worked with Joseph Fung and Zef Hemel to release Yet Another Bulletin Board Spinter edition (YaBB SE).

Fung and Lewis eventually split from the YaBB SE group to do a complete rewrite of the code. They wanted improve upon YaBB SE by adding new functionality, optimizing it for performance and ensuring that its users could depend on a secure forum platform. Fung and Lewis released the beta version of Simple Machines Forum in September 2003. YaBB SE was shut down a few months later in March 2004. YaBB SE were offered a converter so they could change from the old platform to the new SMF option.

Simple Machines Forum Feature Set

SMF is loaded with functionality to help you create a successful community. Here are just a few of these powerful features to help you along the way.

  • Versatile Technology – SMF support MySQL, PostgreSQL or SQLite as its database backend. Of course if you auto-install SMF at A2 Hosting, you don't have to worry about setting up your database.
  • Easy Editing – SMF's template system offers a user-friendly way for you to make edits to your forum. That way you can customize it to your specific needs.
  • Permissions – You won't want everyone who has access to manage your forum to have full functionality. For example, you may just want to set users to specifically be a moderator. SMF offers you versatile user permissions to give the exact access they need.
  • Search Engine Friendly – SMF is loaded with tools to ensure that you get as much free search engine traffic as possible through specific optimizations.
  • Advanced Search Functionality – You and your forum members don't want to waste time searching for the content and discussions they're looking for. That's why SMF gives you the option to search through your entire forum, search a specific category or merely search for a particular topic. You'll also be able to search through any personal messages that were sent from another forum member.
  • Statistics – Get any statistic you could want about the usage of your forum. View the amount of seconds your members have been online as well as view the number of hits each topic and message have received each day.
  • Keeping Your Forum Safe – Blocking abusive or spammy users is a key to running a successful forum. SMF gives you the ability to block users by their email address, username, IP address and more. You can also set a ban expiration date for abusive users who you don't want to ban permanently.
  • Free Themes – You'll have access to hundreds of free SMF themes to help you give your forum that exact appearance you want. From minimal to professional themes, you're bound to find the perfect template.

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