What are some good alternatives to imgur for communities?

If you mean Imgur-like services for a community where members upload images, share them, comment, and embed them elsewhere, there are several good directions.

🥇 Chevereto

chevereto.com is probably the closest community-oriented replacement for Imgur.

It supports user accounts, public/private albums, social features, search, tagging, APIs, and configurable registration/upload permissions. It can also integrate directly with forums such as Discourse, XenForo and MyBB and generate BBCode, HTML and Markdown for embedding.Chevereto+2

The big advantage is that you own the platform and storage. It can use external storage such as S3-compatible storage and supports large-scale media libraries.Chevereto

This is the one I'd investigate first if you're building an actual community rather than simply looking for somewhere to upload pictures.

Flickr

flickr.com is much more community-centric than a typical image host. Groups have discussions, shared photo pools, comments, and their own membership/community structure.Flickr+1

It's particularly suitable if the community is about photography itself, rather than images being attachments to discussions.

Pixelfed

pixelfed.com is an open/decentralized photo-sharing platform. It has posts, albums, collections, comments, hashtags, likes, sharing and federation between servers.Pixelfed+1

It's more like Instagram/Mastodon for images than Imgur, so it's less ideal if your main requirement is "upload an image and get a convenient URL to embed in a forum."

Another interesting approach: build the image host into your community

If you already run something like Discourse, XenForo, MyBB, phpBB, or a custom forum, I'd seriously consider keeping the community there and using a dedicated media backend.

For example:

Community → Chevereto → S3-compatible storage → CDN

That gives members a seamless uploader while keeping the actual media storage separate from the forum. Chevereto explicitly supports embedded uploads into several forum platforms.Chevereto

If you tell me what kind of community you're running (Reddit-like, forum, Discord, gaming community, photography, etc.) and whether you want hosted vs. self-hosted, I can narrow this down to 3–5 options that fit particularly well.

If by “alternatives to Imgur for communities” you mean a place where members can upload images and then embed/share them in forum posts, Reddit-like communities, or Discord, there are several good options.

• postimages.org — Probably the closest fit for traditional forums. It supports direct links, BBCode, HTML embedding, galleries, and says images aren't removed for inactivity. Free uploads are currently limited to 32 MB.Postimages
• imgbb.com — Simple image hosting with a familiar Imgur-like workflow. Good if you primarily need upload → share link/embed.
• imgchest.com — More community-oriented than a pure image CDN, with albums and public sharing. It also supports video, which can be useful for communities.Reddit
• catbox.moe — Popular for quick sharing and direct links, particularly among technical/internet communities. It's more of a file host than an Imgur-style social community.
• flickr.com — Better if the community revolves around photography rather than memes/screenshots. It provides actual galleries and social features rather than just image URLs.
• chevereto.com — Interesting if you want to run the community yourself. It's a dedicated image-hosting platform that can be self-hosted, giving you control over storage, accounts, moderation, and branding. Self-hosted Imgur-like software is also a common recommendation among self-hosting communities.Reddit
• discourse.org — If you're actually looking for an entire community platform, rather than just an image host. It has image uploads built into forum discussions and gives moderators considerably more control.
• Lemmy — If you want a Reddit-style community with posts, comments, voting, and image sharing, rather than an image-hosting service. It's federated, so communities can be hosted independently.Forumera

If you're building your own community

I'd narrow it down to:

One thing I'd specifically check before migrating is hotlinking, permanence, upload limits, moderation tools, and API availability. Imgur itself explicitly says it isn't intended to be used as a CDN, so communities that have historically used it as a backend for forum images can run into problems.Imgur Help

If you tell me whether you mean “an Imgur replacement for an existing Reddit/forum community” or “a platform where we can build an entire community like Imgur itself,” I can narrow this to the 3–5 most suitable choices.

Depending on what you mean by "for communities"—whether you need a quick-dump image host for forums/Reddit, a photography community, or a self-hosted alternative for a private group—different platforms fit different needs.

Quick Forum & Community Image Sharing (No-Account / Fast Links)

• • Postimage: A long-time favorite for message boards and forums. It allows instant, anonymous uploads, provides pre-upload resizing options specifically optimized for forums, and generates reliable hotlink/BBCode without forcing a heavy community UI on you.elementor.com
• • ImgBB: Great for fast, drag-and-drop anonymous uploads with generous file size limits (up to 32MB). It also gives you options to set auto-deletion timers (e.g., delete after 6 months) if you only need temporary hosting.elementor.com
• • Freeimage.host: Clean, fast, and completely ad-free. It provides direct image URLs instantly and has a very straightforward user interface.reddit.com
• • Imgpile: Gaining traction as a flexible alternative that supports larger files, GIFs/videos, and doesn't aggressively block content types or clutter your screen with heavy corporate ads.imgpile.com

For Photography & Visual Art Communities

• • Flickr: If you miss the old days of community-focused photo sharing where people actually leave detailed comments, critique shots, and join specialized groups, Flickr has made a quiet resurgence as a clean, high-resolution home for enthusiasts.
• • 500px: Excellent for photographers who want a clean, minimalist portfolio layout paired with an active community that rates and critiques artistic submissions.

Flickr has a decent UI, not much spam, doesn't look dumb, and you can host whatever you want at high resolution, and even get some minor amount of exposure. — A community user on r/photography

Self-Hosted / Private Community Alternatives

If you run a dedicated community, Discord server, or forum and are tired of third-party hosts breaking links or going down:

• • Chevereto: A robust self-hosted image hosting software (available as a free core or paid tier) that lets you run your own private "Imgur" for your community or gaming clan.
• • Lychee: A free, open-source photo-management system that runs on your server, offering a clean, modern interface for sharing albums with specific groups or the public.

If you can tell me how you plan to use the host (e.g., embedding images in forum posts, sharing photos with a private group, or building a community site), I can help you pick the best-suited option.

If by “alternatives to Imgur for communities” you mean a place where people can post images, browse a community feed, comment, vote, and build topic-based groups, there are several good directions in 2026.

• Lemmy — Probably the closest fit if you want an Imgur/Reddit-style community system. Communities have posts, images, voting, threaded comments, moderation, and federation between independently run servers. Listicles Reddit Best for: public topic communities and niche groups.
• PieFed — A newer federated Reddit-like platform that's worth considering if you want something community-oriented but don't particularly like Lemmy's interface. It supports custom feeds, keyword blocking, wikis, and instance blocking. Reddit Reddit Best for: Reddit-like communities with more feed customization.
• Mbin — Another federated option combining Reddit-style communities with microblogging. It can interact with the wider Fediverse, so the audience isn't confined to one site. Reddit Best for: communities that want both discussions and social-media-style posts.
• Pixelfed — Much closer to “Instagram for communities” than Imgur. It's focused specifically on photos/images and is federated, meaning different servers can interact. Reddit Best for: photography, artwork, screenshots, portfolios, and visual communities.
• Discord — Surprisingly good if the important part is community interaction around images rather than having a permanent public image gallery. Channels, threads, roles, and forum channels make it easy to organize niche groups. Its weakness is that older image posts can become difficult to discover. Listicles Best for: active communities where conversation matters more than archival browsing.
• Discourse — A traditional forum platform, but much better suited than Imgur if you want to own the community yourself. You can have categories, image attachments, discussions, moderation, user trust levels, etc. Brndle Best for: long-lived, organized communities.

If you mean “Imgur specifically, but better”

If what you really want is:

Upload image → get a permanent URL → embed it in forums/Reddit/etc. → optionally have a community around the images then I'd look at Postimages, Catbox, ImageBam, or self-hosting rather than Lemmy/Pixelfed. Those are image hosts rather than full community platforms.

The important distinction is that Imgur historically combined two different products: an image host and a social community. Most alternatives are better at one or the other.

My picks:

• 🖼️ Image hosting + simple sharing: Postimages/Catbox
• 👥 Reddit-like communities: Lemmy or PieFed
• 📷 Image-first social network: Pixelfed
• 💬 Private/active community: Discord
• 🏠 You want to own the community: Discourse

If you're actually looking to build a community platform to replace Imgur, rather than just join one, tell me what you're trying to build (e.g. “Reddit for images,” “imageboard,” “forum with image hosting,” or “public Imgur clone”) and I can narrow it down to the best 3–5 options.

If you mean alternatives to Imgur that work well for online communities—where people can upload images, share direct links, embed them in posts, and ideally have some community/discovery features—there are several good choices.

Best options

• flickr.com — Best if you want an actual photo community rather than just an image host. Flickr has user-created groups, discussions, photo pools, and moderation tools.Flickr+1
• imgbb.com — Probably the closest straightforward Imgur replacement for forums, Reddit-style communities, and image embeds. It's more of a hosting utility than a social network.
• postimages.org — Excellent for forum communities because it provides direct links, thumbnails, BBCode, Markdown, etc.Privacy Guides Community
• catbox.moe — Very simple, low-friction file/image hosting. Particularly popular among communities that want anonymous uploads and direct URLs rather than a social feed.
• imagebam.com — More oriented toward galleries and community image sharing, including thumbnail galleries. It currently reports a hosting-provider outage, though, so I wouldn't choose it for a new project without checking its status.ImageBam
• Self-hosted options — If this is your own community, something like github.com can give you your own Imgur-like service. You control storage, moderation, retention, and branding.Privacy Guides Community

If you mean "community platform" rather than just image hosting

I'd also consider:

• Lemmy — Reddit-like communities with posts, comments, voting, and federation. Good if you want the community itself to be independent.
• Discord — Better for real-time communities, though image uploads aren't really an Imgur replacement.
• Flickr — The strongest option if the images themselves are the center of the community. Its groups have discussions, shared photo pools, and themed activities.Flickr

My picks by use case

If you're asking because you're building a community and want an Imgur replacement that members can upload to, I can also narrow this down to the best options for NSFW/mature communities, API access, direct embedding, moderation, anonymity, and long-term image retention.