| General | MyBB  | NextBBS | Phorum | phpBB | punBB |
 Version |
 1.4.2 |
0.4.5 |
5.2.9a |
3.0.1 |
1.2.14 |
| Release Date |
09 September 2008 |
10/22/2006 |
10/13/2008 |
2008-04-07 |
2006-10-15 |
| Author |
MyBB Group |
Chris FR & Team |
Phorum Dev Team |
The phpBB Group |
PunBB Development Team |
| URL |
www.mybboard.net |
www.nextbbs.com |
www.phorum.org |
www.phpbb.com |
punbb.org |
| Free and Open Source |
 Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| License |
Custom |
GPL |
The Phorum License (BSD) |
General Public License |
GNU General Public License |
| License cost |
US$0 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
0 |
| Programming Language |
PHP |
PHP |
PHP |
PHP |
PHP |
| UTF-8 Support |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
 No |
| Type |
Threaded or Flat |
Threaded or Flat |
Threaded or Flat |
Flat |
Flat |
| Installation method |
wizard |
|
wizard |
wizard |
|
| Upgrade method |
wizard |
|
wizard |
wizard with manual interactions |
|
| Data Storage | MyBB | NextBBS | Phorum | phpBB | punBB |
| MySQL |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Postgres |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Oracle |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
| SQLite |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
| Textfiles |
No |
|
No |
No |
No |
| other |
|
|
|
FireBird 2.0+, MSSQL 2000+, MSSQL 2000+ (ODBC) |
No |
| Hosting available |
No |
Yes |
|
No |
Yes |
| Posts | MyBB | NextBBS | Phorum | phpBB | punBB |
| BBCode |
Yes |
Yes |
 Optional |
Yes |
Yes |
| HTML |
Yes |
Optional |
Optional |
No |
 Patch |
| Emoticons |
Yes |
Yes |
Optional |
Yes |
Yes |
| Formatting Toolbar |
Yes |
Yes |
Optional |
Yes |
Patch |
| WYSIWYG Editor |
 Plugin |
Yes |
Plugin |
No |
Patch |
| Quoting |
Nested |
Nested |
Nested |
Nested |
Nested |
| Syntax Highlighting |
Yes |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Patch |
| Attachments |
Multiple files |
Multiple files |
Multiple files |
Multiple files |
No |
| Forums | MyBB | NextBBS | Phorum | phpBB | punBB |
| Categories |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Subforums |
unlimited |
unlimited |
multiple levels |
unlimited |
No |
| Last Post |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Redirect Forums |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
| Trashcan Forum |
Plugin |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| Anti-Spam and Security | MyBB | NextBBS | Phorum | phpBB | punBB |
| CAPTCHA |
Yes |
Yes |
Optional |
Yes |
Patch |
| Groups |
Multiple groups |
Multiple groups |
Multiple groups |
Multiple groups |
One group only |
| Flood Control |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| ACLs |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Blacklist |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Warnings |
Yes |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
No |
| Suspension |
Yes |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
| Bans |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| IP-Block |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Audit Logging |
Yes |
|
Optional |
Yes |
|
| User Reports |
Yes |
|
Yes |
Yes |
|
| Other |
Akismet plugin available. |
|
Aksimet Plugin |
|
|
| Notification | MyBB | NextBBS | Phorum | phpBB | punBB |
| RSS/ATOM |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| E-Mail |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Instant Messaging |
|
|
0 |
Jabber |
0 |
| Bookmarks |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Community | MyBB | NextBBS | Phorum | phpBB | punBB |
| Avatars |
Yes |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
| User Ranks |
Yes |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
| Rating/Karma System |
Yes |
Yes |
Plugin |
No |
Patch |
| Signatures |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Users Online List |
Yes |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
| Private Messaging |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Patch |
| Custom profile fields |
Yes |
Patch |
Yes |
Yes |
Patch |
| Moderation | MyBB | NextBBS | Phorum | phpBB | punBB |
| Moderators |
global and forums |
global and forums |
global and forums |
global and forums |
global and forums |
| Move Threads |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Split Threads |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Patch |
| Close Threads |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Shadow Topics |
Yes |
|
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Sticky Threads |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Important Threads |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Search | MyBB | NextBBS | Phorum | phpBB | punBB |
| Full-text search |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Author search |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Advanced search |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Unread Topics |
Database tracked |
Database tracked |
Database tracked |
Database tracked |
Session tracked |
| Customization | MyBB | NextBBS | Phorum | phpBB | punBB |
| Languages |
Many |
English |
Many user contributed. |
61 at the time of writing, see www.phpbb.com |
40 |
| Templates |
global and forum specific |
global and forum specific |
global and forum specific |
global and forum specific |
global |
| Custom BBCodes |
Yes |
Yes |
Plugin |
|
Wikis
Forums
Podcatchers
Weblogs
