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Forums
Podcatchers
Weblogs
Feature Comparison
| General | bbPress  | Invision Power Board | miniBB | phpBB | punBB | SMF | Vanilla | vBulletin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Version |
 0.9.0.4 |
2.3.5 |
2.4 |
3.0.7-PL1 |
1.2.14 |
1.1.10 |
1.1.5a |
4.0.6 |
| Release Date |
3 January 2009 |
April 29, 2008 |
18-Aug-2008 |
2009-11-17 |
2006-10-15 |
July 14th, 2009 |
24/09/2008 |
2010-08-11 |
| Author |
bbpress.org |
Invision Power Services |
miniBB Team |
The phpBB Group |
PunBB Development Team |
SMF Development Team |
Mark O'Sullivan ; Lussumo. |
vBulletin Solutions |
| URL |
bbpress.org |
www.invisionpower.com |
www.minibb.com |
www.phpbb.com |
punbb.org |
www.simplemachines.org |
www.getvanilla.com |
www.vbulletin.com |
| Free and Open Source |
 Yes |
 No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
| License |
GPL2 |
Commercial |
GPL |
General Public License |
GNU General Public License |
Custom |
GPL |
commercial / visible source |
| License cost |
0 |
Standard $149.99 Business $299.99 |
Free |
0.00 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
$285 Suite or $195 Forum |
| Programming Language |
PHP |
PHP 4.3+ or PHP 5.0+ |
PHP |
PHP |
PHP |
PHP |
PHP |
PHP |
| UTF-8 Support |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Type |
Flat |
Threaded or Flat |
Flat |
Flat |
Flat |
Flat |
Flat |
Threaded or Flat |
| Installation method |
wizard |
wizard |
wizard |
wizard |
|
wizard |
wizard |
wizard |
| Upgrade method |
wizard |
wizard |
manual |
wizard with manual interactions |
|
wizard |
manual |
wizard with manual interactions |
| Data Storage | bbPress | Invision Power Board | miniBB | phpBB | punBB | SMF | Vanilla | vBulletin |
| MySQL |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Postgres |
No |
|
|
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
| Oracle |
No |
Yes |
|
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| SQLite |
No |
|
|
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
| Textfiles |
No |
|
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| other |
|
MS SQL |
|
FireBird 2.0+, MSSQL 2000+, MSSQL 2000+ (ODBC) |
No |
|
No |
|
| Hosting available |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
| Posts | bbPress | Invision Power Board | miniBB | phpBB | punBB | SMF | Vanilla | vBulletin |
| BBCode |
 Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
| HTML |
Yes |
Yes |
 Optional |
No |
 Patch |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
| Emoticons |
Plugin |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
| Formatting Toolbar |
Plugin |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Patch |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
| WYSIWYG Editor |
No |
Yes |
Plugin |
No |
Patch |
No |
Plugin |
Yes |
| Quoting |
Nested |
Nested |
Single |
Nested |
Nested |
Nested |
Single |
Nested |
| Syntax Highlighting |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Patch |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
| Attachments |
Multiple files |
Multiple files |
Multiple files |
Multiple files |
No |
Multiple files |
Multiple files |
Multiple files |
| Forums | bbPress | Invision Power Board | miniBB | phpBB | punBB | SMF | Vanilla | vBulletin |
| Categories |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Subforums |
unlimited |
unlimited |
one level |
unlimited |
No |
unlimited |
No |
unlimited |
| Last Post |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Redirect Forums |
Plugin |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Plugin |
No |
Yes |
| Trashcan Forum |
Yes |
Optional |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| Anti-Spam and Security | bbPress | Invision Power Board | miniBB | phpBB | punBB | SMF | Vanilla | vBulletin |
| CAPTCHA |
Plugin |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Patch |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
| Groups |
One group only |
Multiple groups |
No |
Multiple groups |
One group only |
Multiple groups |
Multiple groups |
Multiple groups |
| Flood Control |
Yes |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| ACLs |
No |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Blacklist |
Plugin |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Warnings |
Plugin |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
No |
Plugin |
No |
Yes |
| Suspension |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Bans |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| IP-Block |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| Audit Logging |
Plugin |
|
Plugin |
Yes |
|
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| User Reports |
Plugin |
|
No |
Yes |
|
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
| Other |
|
|
|
Plugin-based CAPTCHA system |
|
An Akismet mod is available |
|
Akismet |
| Notification | bbPress | Invision Power Board | miniBB | phpBB | punBB | SMF | Vanilla | vBulletin |
| RSS/ATOM |
Yes |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
| E-Mail |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
| Instant Messaging |
Plugin |
0 |
0 |
Jabber |
0 |
|
none |
|
| Bookmarks |
Yes |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
| Community | bbPress | Invision Power Board | miniBB | phpBB | punBB | SMF | Vanilla | vBulletin |
| Avatars |
Plugin |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| User Ranks |
Plugin |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| Rating/Karma System |
Plugin |
Yes |
Plugin |
No |
Patch |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Signatures |
Plugin |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
| Users Online List |
Plugin |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
| Private Messaging |
Plugin |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Patch |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Custom profile fields |
Plugin |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Patch |
Plugin |
Plugin |
Yes |
| Moderation | bbPress | Invision Power Board | miniBB | phpBB | punBB | SMF | Vanilla | vBulletin |
| Moderators |
global |
global and forums |
global and forums |
global and forums |
global and forums |
global, forums and threads |
global |
global and forums |
| Move Threads |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Split Threads |
Plugin |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Patch |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| Close Threads |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Shadow Topics |
|
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| Sticky Threads |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Important Threads |
Plugin |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
No |
Plugin |
No |
Yes |
| Search | bbPress | Invision Power Board | miniBB | phpBB | punBB | SMF | Vanilla | vBulletin |
| Full-text search |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Author search |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Advanced search |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Unread Topics |
|
|
Database tracked |
Database tracked |
Session tracked |
Database tracked |
Database tracked |
Database tracked |
| Customization | bbPress | Invision Power Board | miniBB | phpBB | punBB | SMF | Vanilla | vBulletin |
| Languages |
Dozens |
Integrated language editor |
more than 40 available |
61 at the time of writing, see www.phpbb.com |
40 |
47 |
23: English, Chinese, French, German, Spanish... |
Official: English, German; Translatable into any language |
| Templates |
global |
global and forum specific |
global |
global and forum specific |
global |
global and forum specific |
global |
global and forum specific |
| Custom BBCodes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Patch |
Yes |
Patch |
Plugin |
No |
Yes |
| Skin-Editor |
No |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| Smiley Packs |
Plugin |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Patch |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
| Plugins |
Yes |
Optional |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Special Features | bbPress | Invision Power Board | miniBB | phpBB | punBB | SMF | Vanilla | vBulletin |
| Statistics |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
| Polls |
Plugin |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Patch |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
| Calendar |
No |
Yes |
Plugin |
No |
Patch |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
| Friendly URLs |
Yes |
|
Optional |
Patch |
Patch |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
| Data Management | bbPress | Invision Power Board | miniBB | phpBB | punBB | SMF | Vanilla | vBulletin |
| Pruning |
Plugin |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| Archiving |
Plugin |
Yes |
Plugin |
No |
No |
Plugin |
No |
|
| Export Formats |
BBXF |
Word, HTML |
Users' logins/emails can be exported in CSV or TXT |
|
|
WAP(2), IMode |
None |
Single Table CSV, Single and Multi-Table SQL |
| Export private messages |
Plugin |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
No |
Plugin |
No |
Yes |
| Lo-Fi View |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Last updated | 2009-03-11 | 2008-05-06 | 2009-09-02 | 2010-08-24 | 2007-02-15 | 2010-07-26 | 2008-11-15 | 2010-08-16 |
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