The platform for communities

First and foremost, this product clearly reflects the years of dedication and hard work put in by its founder, and I'm confident it provides exceptional results for many advanced users who have full time developers dedicated to their CMS.

I successfully launched my own instance on AWS Lightsail ($10 per month). I've installed all essential premium modules and implemented customizations tailored to my brand and community structure.

My experience was really disappointing, as I am used to smoothly working products on Appsumo:

- The step-by-step installation tutorial deserves to be more detailed. 95% of users are probably stopping at that step, but maybe that's done on purpose to filter out their ideal customer.

- This is NOT a user-friendly, ready-to-use product; this is just a skeleton that will require 15 hours to set up a basic configuration, but which cannot be further customized without coding ; They offer paid services, but their pricing page mentions more than $100,000 a year for a half-time coder dedicated to your project (100 hours/mo).

- The product can be downloaded and installed for free; this LTD just offers a few premium modules. The most interesting modules must be purchased from the marketplace. However, the selection is limited, with most modules created by only a few developers.

- There are no UI tips, you keep wondering what each setting is supposed to be about.

- There is no detailed documentation, and you must use a trial-and-error approach, eventually killing your CMS because you cannot set up a 'sandbox' environment or handle versions. You cannot export/import settings, so creating a clone is also not an option.

- I was really surprised by how little customization there is. It’s missing some basic settings you’d expect to set up a simple community platform. Even the premium modules have just a short list of things you can tweak. So, you’ll have to dig in the code, but then there’s the worry that it might not work after updates.

- Finding settings is not straightforward, as there are no convenient search bars available. You will need to navigate through the pages one by one until you locate the option you need to edit. Content, format, menus etc are not regrouped per page. Editing could be made more straightforward, merging everything in the visual page editor.

- At some point, my CMS stopped working: Posts on feeds or discussions posted in public were not visible, even after reinstalling the related modules. There was no way to fix this by myself.

- There are bugs with no ways to fix it, e.g. posting in anonymous mode doesn't work, or setting up an AI agent resulted in all questions and answers being posted on the public feed of the user!! I would expect basic features to be bug-proof and work smoothly, at least.

- This product has undergone numerous updates over the years, with significant revisions occurring every 1 to 2 years. In my opinion, this situation has turned into quite a mess, and I believe the developers ought to adopt a completely new strategy.

- I don't anticipate any significant AI integration in the near future, and we know how much future CMS will require to be reinvented with AI-powered features. At some point google studio, Manus.ai or OpenAI will allow us to code, publish, updade, and maintain, or own products. Or we will see new actors using this AI-optimized coding approach to boost their product update. I therefore don't see myself investing time in a product that might soon become outdated.

- My fundamental question is: What customer segment are they targeting, and why did they release on AppSumo?

This product is full fledge for developing your own social media platform community, website or pretty much any kind of site. It has so many features and customization.

Of course since its so flexible and capable, it has clearly a learning curve but if you are looking a platform to build your community, course platform etc without limitations - UNA.CMS can do it!

Well, the install documentation could be a bit more detailed, but after some tries, it worked. I installed UNA on a AWS Lightsail instance, and all is under control!

UNA is really powerful everything is customizable, sky is the limit!

I am technologically savvy, but I had a hard time installing UNA CMS at first. I tried the DigitalOcean approach and quickly became lost in the process - there just wasn't enough step-by-step documentation. I got further than I thought I could, but could not get to the finish line. But the progress made me more determined.

After watching Mr. Web's video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AULtMgXNdI, I got very close to the finish line. Using Hostinger was amazingly more straightforward. However, I got a couple of messages not shown in Mr. Web's video. I think it's because the current version is newer than he was using. However, I was able to figure it out and install the software. Here is a link to the video (no audio, just shows the steps) I created that addresses the specific messages I got on two separate installations: https://videos.allacesinc.com/s/Pvj0EGzP
Everything else you need for installation is in Mr. Web's video. I hope this is helpful.

This takes a huge commitment, but how many people and organizations can say they have their own social media network? How many create the opportunity to nurture a community of people and organizations that presents so many possibilities for ad revenue, lead generation, sales, and more (especially at these price points)?

It is so rewarding to see the platform live on my domain. Now its all about customization. I have added my apps from the marketplace and have been going through the Launch Checklist: https://unacms.com/wiki/checklist

IMPROVEMENTS
It would be helpful to...
🔘 Access the Spacenook community and starter kit. I could not access the community (as many mention in the Q&A) nor could I find the download.
🔘 Know when the other starter kits are going to be available
🔘 Be able to duplicate fields and permission levels so we do not have to start from scratch
🔘 Have updated and more detailed, tutorial style documentation with visuals or videos

I am so glad I pushed through the process...you will be too. I will update once we have actual people using the platform. Good luck fellow Sumolings!

I purchase the AppSumo Plus just to get UNA because I missed the purchase deadline, and they extended it like 2 days for Plus members. So I essentially paid 3x just to get this deal, and after using it a couple weeks, it's worth 10x. It's worth more than the normal price on their site. If you missed the deal, just go get it from their site, you won't regret it.

You can do whatever you want with this. I have no coding skills and AI is my developer, but I've managed to get this 99.9% how I want it. Which makes me ecstatic. I've tried number other community builders and they're all missing 1-2 must have features. UNA has them all! All the basic features you would expect are all included as modules. Then, what's cool is all the unique features you want, you can easily add with a little bit of code from AI! It's awesome! They say it's because it's all "open source". Idk if that's 100% true as I can't find some stuff in the coding, but I'm not a coder, I'm just familiar with notepad and ctrl+f when I try to find things in code. But, you do get all the files/code to host yourself, therefore you don't need to really worry if something were to happen to Una as a business... even though I doubt that. They seem to have things on lock.

Their support is also superior. They use their own product. Like... they actually use it use it. You can message them right on there and they'll get back to you! I had a slight problem with the installation. I sent a message, they had it fixed within 1 hour. Obviously you can't always expect that, but it was like 10pm at night!

Awesome product. Awesome team. Don't miss out, just go buy from them direct, you won't regret it.

Absolutely amazing customer service. I was super stuck, pulling my hair out and frustrated. I got on a call with Una and they helped me with the installation which I had done very wrong, and helped me understand more of what I was doing very wrong.
Now that I have a bit more info, I'm sad that I missed out on stacking!

FYI, if you need a great installation video, here you go:

https://youtu.be/6AULtMgXNdI?si=iPMG11YKmTvQ7Ac_

Company with long stable history, and UNA appears to have everything that I need, including mobile apps. I was able to quickly install and try the Spacenook starter kit on Windows. I think the new Skool-like starter kit will be better as a start for my needs. Documentation for the new version is lacking in places, but staff responds to questions (find the forum at unacms.com). Get at least tier 3 for the install assistance and mobile apps.

We rarely review services, but this one is just Awesome, here is are the highlights in our opinion:
- The possibilities are countless but UNA CMS is worth considering for those seeking a powerful social network solution.
- It is highly customizable to some extent but the down side is the crazy huge learning curve due to poor documentation.
- Customer support takes in average 4-5 days to reply so it is recommended not to count on it.
- The dashboard is easy to use, pages/functions seem to be coded clean and effective as the loading time are blazing fast.

Overall, do no miss this amazing opportunity, this product saves a lot of development effort already.

UnaCMS (UNA) is be far the deepest tool that I have ever seen come through Appsumo. I say deep because this thing is like a pandora's box. The more you dive into it the more it opens up more superpowers. So the question everyone wants to know is do you need your own server. Yeah, you do but not how you may think. It's not like you go to HP or Dell and asked them to build you a server to run this thing. I mean you could or you could just connect with one of their preferred providers and launch the entire code in less than 20 mins and you are up and running. If you are a DIY'er then yeah you could spend half a day trying to set it up. If you just use one of their providers you could be up and running in less than 20-30 mins. I showed a quick walk through of the tool on my YouTube Channel and will have a setup course available shortly after if enough people request it. You can find that youtube walk through here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxlh-V3l-PI
There is so much to Una CMS that no quick review can show it justice. This is a 7 Taco tool and because people had a difficult time setting it up is not a reason to give it a low rating. This is a BIG BOY Tool that takes time to set up and deploy. This is not like all the other community tools that come to Appsumo you can literally become Mark Z. in 24 hours. The power of knowing everyone on your platform content and messages and seeing all of the intricate details yield great responsibility. You will have to abide by a lot of legal rules as well because again privacy must be protected. They also have a marketplace where you can buy add on modules. The strongest tool that lends itself to it's likeness and power is Briliiant Directories, but even BD protect you from doing 60% of the work. This tool allows you to do 100% of the work so it's a tall task to put this tool in your Appsumo Shopping cart. Not impossible just know that it will require a lot of work. Make no mistake about it. If you want to have a community with 100% customization like no one has ever seen before and have it 100% whitelabled then build away. There are lots of help files and areas but they are not for the average everyday LTD'er looking to tinker around with. This is a full project that once complete could net you a lot cashflow through the setting up of tiers and adding value. I would also like to say that you could mix this tool with a couple of other tools from Appsumo and put together a really nice Ecosystem for years to come.

+PROS
+ Pure power of controlling everything in a community (everything)
+ Marketplace for modules and add-ons

-CONS
- Little to no direction on what to build and how to build it.
- Challenging installation but once set up you are off to the races.

I spent more than 4 hours with the help of ChatGPT to successfully install Una to my own server.

The installation guidelines are not enough for you to build your own community.

You have to learn:

1. How to use Filezilla
2. How to write command line instructions

If you know nothing about coding, I don't suggest Una.

I think the self-hosted AppSumo deals can be some of the best, and UNA CMS may just well be one of them. From first impressions, I'm really impressed. The installation was straightforward. I installed it on an Enhance server running LiteSpeed Enterprise. Remember to whitelist the domain in the account settings! Also, change permissions for FFMPEG and add a storage folder, and voila!

The front end of UNA CMS is a sight to behold, and its extendability is truly impressive. The marketplace is vast, offering a plethora of possibilities. UNA CMS has the potential to become a true labour of love, with intriguing paid third-party modules to explore.

Installing on cPanel or another web hosting panel would be just as straightforward. The instructions for installing on a fresh Ubuntu server seem straightforward if you're used to managing VPSs.

While I'm still considering going full stack, I'm more than satisfied with the results of my project using UNA CMS. For high-end web development agencies, the opportunity to offer clients a scalable, extendable social network could be a significant investment opportunity. It's a prospect worth exploring.

If you have experience with Code Canyon self-installs, the only similarity is the ease of installation. UNA CMS is a much higher-end product and looks and feels like such. Many thanks for bringing UNA CMS to AppSumo.

Listen, community platforms come and go on Appsumo and they are all kind of the same. Not UNA. UNA is on a completely different level.

Now, most people probably want something that is quick and simple to set up and get going right away. If that is you, I don't suggest UNA. UNA is much more advanced than those other platforms. UNA is open source software, so you can pay for their hosting or you can set it up on your own servers, which is challenging if you don't know how to mess with that sort of stuff. I like this because I am not really depending on them to stay in business forever in order for me to succeed...though, through multiple conversations I have had with them (live video chat) I feel comfortable that they will be around for quite some time.

UNA is like Wordpress but for setting up a social media network. It has the base of the site and then you can add whatever plugins and modules that you want/need in order to customize it for you use case. When I say customize, I mean customize...every little aspect of everything! Yes, it has been time consuming and taken some research and learning, but you get to make it yours!

So why am I writing this review instead of keeping it as my little secret? The team at UNA deserves it. It is as simple as that. The support that they have provided to me so far has been, hands down, the best support from any software company I have ever worked with. The owner has had two video meetings with me to go over my concept, answer questions, and tell me about things coming that will help me. They have forums that have active employees answering questions daily, on top of answering direct messages about more unique issues that others in the forum wouldn't care about.

Guys, I am telling you, I couldn't be happier with this purchase. The value you are getting for the product you are receiving will make you feel guilty.