10 Best Simple Ajax Chat Alternatives in 2026
Updated October 22, 2026 · Ranked by how closely each plugin matches, from WordPress.org data · How this works
Simple Ajax Chat sits at #10 in the WordPress.org Forum Plugins ranking. These 10 plugins share its category or its tags on WordPress.org, are actively maintained, and each has at least 100 active installs. They are ordered by how closely they match, not by our opinion.
The 10 closest alternatives to Simple Ajax Chat
- 1
Private groups
Closest match4.9 (49) 1,000+ active installsFor bbPress - Creates private forum groups
#9 in the WordPress.org Forum Plugins ranking. About half the installs, last updated August 20, 2026.
- 2
4.9 (100) 6,000+ active installsFor bbPress - Lets you style bbPress, and add display features
#7 in the WordPress.org Forum Plugins ranking. About 3 times the installs, last updated 6 days ago.
- 3
4.7 (211) 10,000+ active installsAsgaros Forum is the best forum-plugin for WordPress! It comes with dozens of features in a beautiful design and stays simple and fast.
#3 in the WordPress.org Forum Plugins ranking. About 5 times the installs, rated 4.7 against 4.9, last updated March 21, 2026.
- 4
4.7 (390) 20,000+ active installsNumber one WordPress forum plugin with AI features. Full-fledged forum solution with modern forum design. Community builder WordPress forum plugin.
#1 in the WordPress.org Forum Plugins ranking. About 10 times the installs, rated 4.7 against 4.9, last updated 24 days ago.
- 5
4.2 (23) 300+ active installsThe most versatile and feature-rich forum plugin for WordPress. Create unlimited forums with awesome features directly in your WordPress site.
#5 in the WordPress.org Forum Plugins ranking. 300+ installs against 2,000+, last updated September 17, 2026.
- 6
ForumWP – Forum & Discussion Board
3.6 (12) 800+ active installsAdd a forum to your website with ForumWP.
#6 in the WordPress.org Forum Plugins ranking. About a third of the installs, last updated April 1, 2026.
- 7
Forumax – AI Powered Advanced Community Forum Plugin
5.0 (18) 500+ active installsBuild powerful communities with Forumax. A fully standalone, feature-rich forum plugin with voting, private replies, and Elementor integration.
#4 in the WordPress.org Forum Plugins ranking. About a quarter of the installs, last updated 10 days ago.
- 8
FluentCommunity – Ultra-Fast High-Performance Social Network, Community, LMS & Online Courses
4.8 (95) 8,000+ active installsGet a fast & all-in-one community plugin. Create unlimited communities, and courses with robust social networking and LMS features.
#8 in the WordPress.org Forum Plugins ranking. About 4 times the installs, rated 4.8 against 4.9, last updated 6 days ago.
- 9
3.9 (343) 100,000+ active installsbbPress is forum software for WordPress.
#2 in the WordPress.org Forum Plugins ranking. About 50 times the installs, rated 3.9 against 4.9, last updated 7 days ago.
- 10
Chat Widget: Floating Customer Support Button for 30+ Channels, Supporting SMS, Calls, and Chat – Bit Assist
4.9 (111) 10,000+ active installsFloating sticky chat button for WhatsApp Chat, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Instagram, SMS, Call, Discord chat, TikTok, Line & 30+ channels
Shares the chat tag on WordPress.org. About 5 times the installs, last updated July 29, 2026.
Simple Ajax Chat against each of them
Head to head on installs, ratings, reviews and updates. Each measure names its own leader; there is no overall winner.
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Simple Ajax Chat vs Private groups2,000+ vs 1,000+ installs · 4.9 vs 4.9
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Simple Ajax Chat vs bbp style pack2,000+ vs 6,000+ installs · 4.9 vs 4.9
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Simple Ajax Chat vs Asgaros Forum2,000+ vs 10,000+ installs · 4.9 vs 4.7
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Simple Ajax Chat vs wpForo Forum2,000+ vs 20,000+ installs · 4.9 vs 4.7
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Simple Ajax Chat vs Simple:Press Forum2,000+ vs 300+ installs · 4.9 vs 4.2
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Simple Ajax Chat vs ForumWP2,000+ vs 800+ installs · 4.9 vs 3.6
Switching from Simple Ajax Chat: common questions
What is the best alternative to Simple Ajax Chat?
Private groups is the closest match: it shares the Forum Plugins top 10 with Simple Ajax Chat and has 1,000+ active installs with a 4.9 out of 5 rating.
Which Simple Ajax Chat alternative has the most users?
bbPress, with 100,000+ active installs reported by WordPress.org.
Which Simple Ajax Chat alternative is rated highest?
Bit Assist, rated 4.9 out of 5 by 111 reviewers. Only plugins with at least 50 reviews are counted.
Are these Simple Ajax Chat alternatives free?
Every plugin listed here is free to install from WordPress.org. Where WordPress.org marks a plugin as commercial, the developer also sells a paid version or add-ons, and that is shown on each plugin.
How are alternatives chosen?
Automatically, from WordPress.org data: plugins that share a category top 10 with Simple Ajax Chat score highest, then plugins that appear in the same WordPress.org rankings, then plugins with the same tags, weighted so rare tags count more than common ones. Plugins by the same author and plugins rated under 4.0 are left out.
How we choose these alternatives
Nothing on this page is picked by hand. Every day we walk the whole WordPress.org directory, then score every plugin against Simple Ajax Chat on three signals: sharing a category top 10 counts most, then appearing in the same WordPress.org rankings, then carrying the same tags, with rare tags counting for more than common ones like "wordpress". Plugins by the same author are excluded, so an author's own add-ons cannot fill the list, and so is anything rated below 4.0 or with fewer than 100 active installs. The ten highest scores are what you see, in that order. Full methodology.
The bottom line
Private groups is the closest match to Simple Ajax Chat by the data we track, and bbPress has the widest reach with 100,000+ active installs. FluentCommunity shipped the most recent release, on October 16, 2026. The list is rebuilt every day from WordPress.org, so a plugin that stops being maintained drops out on its own.
Weekly · free
What moved this week
One email a week, built from the same daily snapshots these rankings come from: the plugins that climbed, what launched, and one ranking worth a look.