Welcome to CBACK Forum version 4 (CF4 for short): With a clear focus on usability, security and performance, we have developed the CF4 to meet the needs of modern internet users. Enjoy a responsive design, a revolutionary forum index, easy customizability, simple updates and full control over your data. And, of course, fully compatible to PHP 8.The CF4 is the result of our passion for high-quality web software and offers you all the best for all your forum projects. Lean back and finally focus on the essentials again: Your community!
The CF4 is easy to customize. The color scheme is quickly adapted to your corporate design using LESS variables. And thanks to a flexible plugin interface and API, you can implement all the functions that make your community unique. Integration into existing systems is also very easy.
But you don't have to be a programmer: Thanks to premade themes, many free plugins and a user-friendly admin panel, you can customize your forum conveniently with nothing more than your browser.
Wonderful on all your devices — from your pocket to VR glasses
Desktop computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone, console, smart TV or even spatial computing: If your favorite device has an up-to-date web browser, the CF4 will look great on it thanks to its fully adaptive design and will work reliably as expected. Our revolutionary forum index is ideal for touch and VR and also improves the lucidity when using the mouse on large screens. Of course, you can also switch to a classic index, which is also adaptive. Unlike many other systems, the CF4 is seamlessly responsive and therefore does not need to switch to special mobile versions. This not only scores points with your community, but also with search engines.
Administration without studying
A versatile system like the CF4 naturally has many functions in its administration interface. Making all this clear and simple is a challenge. However, we have developed an admin interface based on many user tests that makes it as easy as possible for you to use the system. A live search on pages with many configuration items will quickly lead you to the right place. The grid authorization system always shows you authorization settings clearly without submenus and allows you to make adjustments with just a few clicks. By the way: the admin panel is also responsive. So you can easily administer your forum on the go. And if you need some representatives: The CF4 allows multiple admins and even the individual enabling of certain admin panel pages for super moderators. An AI-supported check of the forum configuration to automatically correct most errors in the board settings (e.g. when changing domains or moving forums) and a practical HTTPS security assistant allow even beginners to operate their forums easily and reliably at all times.
Your users feel at home
An active community thrives on active users who feel comfortable on the website. We have made the CF4 design as clear and intuitive as possible. During development, we repeatedly consulted web newcomers so that we could look beyond our own horizons and avoid misconceptions caused by "operational blindness".
The result is a system that can be used quickly by anyone. And if your members feel at home in your forum, they will quickly add your site to their bookmarks and come back more often.
Function-rich and popular with search engines
The CF4 offers many features and also has some modern effects in its UI to make the page look fresh and direct. The functions were mainly implemented natively with HTML 5 and CSS 3, so that the entire interface also reacts smoothly on smaller devices with less processing power and thus saves battery power on mobile devices at the same time. Take a look at the CF4 live in the CBACK Community.
In addition, we also thought about search engines from the first to the last line of code: CF4 not only supports rewriting of links into more readable SEO URLs by default (via mod_rewrite), it also excludes irrelevant pages (e.g. the faq) from search engines. Usage of canonical URLs, microdata and dynamic meta tags - also for social networks such as Twitter and Facebook - make the forum perfectly processable for search engine spiders.
CF4: Powerful in every aspect
Our users already loved the speed of our previous system, but with CF4 we were able to step it up a notch thanks to a completely new code structure and new cache technologies: a system that puts less load on your server can handle significantly more users with less capacity. This saves hosting costs and energy. The CF4 uses very little PHP memory and responds quickly and efficiently even with large forums. In addition, we have also optimized the code of the interface - for example, by combining and compressing JavaScript and CSS resources to keep HTTP requests to your site as low as possible. This also allows the browser to process the page faster. See the responsiveness of CF4 live in our own support forum or at Green-24, one of our many CF4 customers with one of the biggest plant communities in Europe.
PageGenTime Topic (100 Posts) — smaller value = better
CF4
0.088 s
Other A
0.184 s
Other B
0.202 s
DB Queries Topic (100 Posts) — smaller value = better
CF4
16 x
Other A
22 x
Other B
27 x
Transmission of usage data to manufacturer
CF4
No
(no data collected)
Other A
Yes & Ad-System
(deactivatable)
Other B
Yes
(deactivatable)
PHP Mem Index (cached) — smaller value = better
CF4
4 MB
Other A
9 MB
Other B
4 MB
Tests carried out between CF4 and two widely used / popular other forum systems. Data volume kept identical. GZIP switched on in all systems. Cache system and "reloading" for "Other B" switched to file, so that the same technology as in the other systems could be compared. Test took place on a local web server (no connection latencies), same environment and PHP / MySQL configuration was used for all tests. The test "transmission of user data" did not take into account any update checks or showing manufacturer news, only an active data transmission of usage or client data back to the manufacturer. Results may vary depending on the system environment. All information without guarantee. Status with versions as of March 2024.
No Censorship. No meddling in your content.
Your data remains your data. Period.
With EU's increasingly vague content filtering and control laws, social networks in particular are prone to so-called "overblocking" and often block posts in groups without requirement simply because an algorithm has wrongfully processed keywords or outraged outsiders are causing (temporary) blocks with "reporting wars" and thus damaging communities. If a local soccer club is blocked by such misfires because an algorithm has overreacted to "shot him on the head", this is annoying. If a person acutely seeking help for abuse or violence gets blocked, this is sometimes even dangerous.Also, in some shared systems or social networks, it is not always possible to use a pseudonym. However, this is essential for some types of forums (such as RPG or self-help forums): your entire friends list may otherwise find out if you have posted in or joined a (public) group.We at CBACK therefore have a clear principle that we see George Orwell's "1984" not as a guide, but as a cautionary tale.
You host the forum software yourself. Not even we as the manufacturer can see what you and your users write or upload in non-public areas of your forum. Nor can we interfere with your data. There are no backdoors; you can read the whole source code. Your data remains your data. Period.
The system pays very close attention to data protection and even secures sessions beyond the current industry standard. There is also a transparent data protection manual for license holders, which describes all functions and security measures in detail.
No user data or usage statistics are recorded or transmitted. Information such as the current software version is retrieved in the ACP, but no personal data is transmitted from your system. Only your forum URL is visible to us as a request source to confirm the validity of your license.
We never use your data for advertising or tracking.
Your CBACK customer account is separate from the CBACK Community account: this means that you can skip registering in our support forum or you can use it with a pseudonym if you wish. Licenses are not subscriptions: You renew the update and/or support package yourself. Your forum will continue to function even if you want to renew your service package for updates/extension downloads/support at a later date.
We are committed to a free Internet wherever possible and have already taken part in demonstrations, petitions and campaigns in the past against laws and measures that restrict this freedom. For example, against "upload filters", against "softening encryption for private individuals", critical parts of the "DSA" and "TERREG" etc.; we are not afraid to express clear criticism here.
We love independent forum systems and thus the CF4: Because in our opinion, free discussion is the most important good we have in a free society.
More benefits for you
Plugins and themes
There are many free plugins and themes that you can install directly via the ACP without any code editing to add new functions to your forum.
Rich in functions
The CF4 comes with many hundreds of functions right out of the box. We have always taken care not to overload the system so that even beginners who have never worked with a forum before can quickly get to grips with it. Complete feature list
Vendor-supported
Do you need a very specific function or a completely individualized design? You can commission this from us at any time (for a fee).
Open code & plugin API
Our plugin API is flexible, versatile and documented, the source code is open. With PHP and HTML/CSS knowledge, you can develop plugins or design themes yourself at any time. We take care to keep the code comprehensible so that you can easily understand it.
PHP 7.2 or higher (PHP >= 8.1 recommended)MySQL 5.4 or higher with InnoDB Support or MariaDB 10.1 or higherPHP file operations (fopen, mkdir etc.) allowed zlib, mbstring, json, pcre Support 40 MB or more webspaceRecommended, but optional for additional features: GDLib, curl, Upload, mod_rewrite
Required Cookies Technically required essential cookies are necessary for the website to work properly and therefore cannot be switched off. In general, we only use cookies if they are absolutely required (e.g. when logging in to the client interface) and we do NOT use tracking or third-party cookies here. More information in our Cookie Policy.
Payment-Provider Our payment provider Stripe needs to set cookies if you buy a license from our shop. This is required for the payment process. So if you turn off this option, you can't buy a new license or a service package.
