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Compare them all:
Wikis
Forums
Podcatchers
Weblogs
Feature Comparison
| General | bbPress  | punBB | SMF | Vanilla |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Version |
 0.9.0.4 |
1.2.14 |
2.0.1 |
2.0.18.4 |
| Release Date |
3 January 2009 |
2006-10-15 |
September 18th, 2011 |
26/03/2012 |
| Author |
bbpress.org |
PunBB Development Team |
SMF Development Team |
Vanilla Forums Inc |
| URL |
bbpress.org |
punbb.org |
www.simplemachines.org |
vanillaforums.com |
| Free and Open Source |
 Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| License |
GPL2 |
GNU General Public License |
BSD |
GPL |
| License cost |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Programming Language |
PHP |
PHP |
PHP |
PHP |
| UTF-8 Support |
Yes |
 No |
Yes |
Yes |
| Type |
Flat |
Flat |
Flat |
Flat |
| Installation method |
wizard |
|
wizard |
wizard |
| Upgrade method |
wizard |
|
wizard |
manual |
| Data Storage | bbPress | punBB | SMF | Vanilla |
| MySQL |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Postgres |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Oracle |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| SQLite |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Textfiles |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| other |
|
No |
|
No |
| Hosting available |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| Posts | bbPress | punBB | SMF | Vanilla |
| BBCode |
 Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Plugin |
| HTML |
Yes |
 Patch |
Yes |
Yes |
| Emoticons |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Plugin |
| Formatting Toolbar |
Plugin |
Patch |
Yes |
Plugin |
| WYSIWYG Editor |
No |
Patch |
Yes |
Plugin |
| Quoting |
Nested |
Nested |
Nested |
Single |
| Syntax Highlighting |
Plugin |
Patch |
Yes |
Plugin |
| Attachments |
Multiple files |
No |
Multiple files |
Multiple files |
| Forums | bbPress | punBB | SMF | Vanilla |
| Categories |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Subforums |
unlimited |
No |
unlimited |
unlimited |
| Last Post |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Redirect Forums |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Trashcan Forum |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
| Anti-Spam and Security | bbPress | punBB | SMF | Vanilla |
| CAPTCHA |
Plugin |
Patch |
Yes |
Yes |
| Groups |
One group only |
One group only |
Multiple groups |
Multiple groups |
| Flood Control |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| ACLs |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
| Blacklist |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Warnings |
Plugin |
No |
Yes |
Plugin |
| Suspension |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Bans |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| IP-Block |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Audit Logging |
Plugin |
|
Yes |
Yes |
| User Reports |
Plugin |
|
Yes |
Plugin |
| Other |
|
|
An Akismet mod is available |
Community Curation & SPAM removal |
| Notification | bbPress | punBB | SMF | Vanilla |
| RSS/ATOM |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| E-Mail |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Instant Messaging |
Plugin |
0 |
|
|
| Bookmarks |
Yes |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
| Community | bbPress | punBB | SMF | Vanilla |
| Avatars |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| User Ranks |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Rating/Karma System |
Plugin |
Patch |
Yes |
Yes |
| Signatures |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Plugin |
| Users Online List |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Plugin |
| Private Messaging |
Plugin |
Patch |
Yes |
Yes |
| Custom profile fields |
Plugin |
Patch |
Yes |
Plugin |
| Moderation | bbPress | punBB | SMF | Vanilla |
| Moderators |
global |
global and forums |
global, forums and threads |
global, forums and threads |
| Move Threads |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Split Threads |
Plugin |
Patch |
Yes |
Plugin |
| Close Threads |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Shadow Topics |
|
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Sticky Threads |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Important Threads |
Plugin |
No |
Plugin |
Yes |
| Search | bbPress | punBB | SMF | Vanilla |
| Full-text search |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Author search |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Advanced search |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Unread Topics |
|
Session tracked |
Database tracked |
Database tracked |
| Customization | bbPress | punBB | SMF | Vanilla |
| Languages |
Dozens |
40 |
47 |
23: English, Chinese, French, German, Spanish... |
| Templates |
global |
global |
global and forum specific |
global and forum specific |
| Custom BBCodes |
Plugin |
Patch |
Plugin |
Plugin |
| Skin-Editor |
No |
Plugin |
Yes |
Plugin |
| Smiley Packs |
Plugin |
Patch |
Yes |
Plugin |
| Plugins |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Special Features | bbPress | punBB | SMF | Vanilla |
| Statistics |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Polls |
Plugin |
Patch |
Yes |
Plugin |
| Calendar |
No |
Patch |
Yes |
Plugin |
| Friendly URLs |
Yes |
Patch |
Plugin |
Yes |
| Data Management | bbPress | punBB | SMF | Vanilla |
| Pruning |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Archiving |
Plugin |
No |
Plugin |
Yes |
| Export Formats |
BBXF |
|
WAP(2), IMode |
Proprietary or MySQLDump |
| Export private messages |
Plugin |
No |
Plugin |
Yes |
| Lo-Fi View |
Plugin |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
| Last updated | 2009-03-11 | 2007-02-15 | 2011-09-19 | 2012-05-03 |
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