bbPress vs. FluxBB vs. FUDforum vs. Invision Power Board vs. MyBB vs. Phorum vs. phpBB vs. SMF

General bbPress FluxBB FUDforum Invision Power Board MyBB Phorum phpBB SMF
Version
0.9.0.4
1.4.5
3.0.9
3.2.3
1.6.3
5.2.9a
3.0.8
2.0.6
Release Date
2009-01-02 (15 years ago)
22/03/2011
2018-05-17 (5 years ago)
2011-10-17 (12 years ago)
2011-04-16 (12 years ago)
2008-10-12 (15 years ago)
2010-11-19 (13 years ago)
2013-10-21 (10 years ago)
Last Update here
2009-03-11 (15 years ago)
2011-05-05 (12 years ago)
2018-11-01 (5 years ago)
2012-02-07 (12 years ago)
2011-06-22 (12 years ago)
2008-10-16 (15 years ago)
2011-06-22 (12 years ago)
2013-10-25 (10 years ago)
Author
bbpress.org
FluxBB development team
The FUDForum development team and user community.
Invision Power Services
MyBB Group
Phorum Dev Team
The phpBB Group
Simple Machines
URL
Free and Open Source
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
License
GPL2
GPL v2
GNU General Public License
Commercial
Custom
The Phorum License (BSD)
General Public License
BSD
License cost
0
0
Free
License from $175 / Hosted from $5 per month
US$0
0
0.00
0
Main View
Classic forum list
Thread-Type
Flat
Flat
Threaded or Flat
Flat
Threaded or Flat
Threaded or Flat
Flat
Flat
Setup bbPress FluxBB FUDforum Invision Power Board MyBB Phorum phpBB SMF
Installation method
wizard
wizard
wizard
wizard
wizard
wizard
wizard
wizard
Upgrade method
wizard
wizard
wizard
wizard
wizard
wizard
wizard with manual interactions
wizard
Hosting available
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
Technology bbPress FluxBB FUDforum Invision Power Board MyBB Phorum phpBB SMF
Programming Language
PHP
PHP
PHP
PHP 5.2+
PHP
PHP
PHP
PHP
UTF-8 Support
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Data Storage
1
MySQL Database
3
MySQL Database, PostgreSQL Database, SQLite File Database
7
DB2 Database, Firebird Database, Microsoft SQL Database, MySQL Database, Oracle Database, PostgreSQL Database, SQLite File Database
1
MySQL Database
3
MySQL Database, PostgreSQL Database, SQLite File Database
2
MySQL Database, PostgreSQL Database
6
Firebird Database, Microsoft SQL Database, MySQL Database, Oracle Database, PostgreSQL Database, SQLite File Database
3
MySQL Database, PostgreSQL Database, SQLite File Database
Other Storage
Source Code Repo
Issue Tracker
Posts bbPress FluxBB FUDforum Invision Power Board MyBB Phorum phpBB SMF
BBCode
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Optional
Yes
Yes
HTML
Yes
Patch
Yes
Yes
Yes
Optional
No
Yes
Emoticons
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Optional
Yes
Yes
Formatting Toolbar
Plugin
Patch
Yes
Yes
Yes
Optional
Yes
Yes
WYSIWYG Editor
No
Patch
Plugin
Yes
Plugin
Plugin
No
Yes
Quoting
Nested
Nested
Nested
Nested
Nested
Nested
Nested
Nested
Syntax Highlighting
Plugin
Patch
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Attachments
Multiple files
No
Multiple files
Multiple files
Multiple files
Multiple files
Multiple files
Multiple files
Tags
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Mark as solved
No
Forums bbPress FluxBB FUDforum Invision Power Board MyBB Phorum phpBB SMF
Categories
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Subforums
unlimited
No
unlimited
unlimited
unlimited
multiple levels
unlimited
unlimited
Last Post
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Redirect Forums
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Trashcan Forum
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Plugin
No
No
Yes
Anti-Spam and Security bbPress FluxBB FUDforum Invision Power Board MyBB Phorum phpBB SMF
CAPTCHA
Plugin
Patch
Yes
Yes
Yes
Optional
Yes
Yes
Groups
One group only
One group only
Multiple groups
Multiple groups
Multiple groups
Multiple groups
Multiple groups
Multiple groups
Flood Control
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
ACLs
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Blacklist
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Warnings
Plugin
Patch
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Suspension
Plugin
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Bans
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
IP-Block
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Audit Logging
Plugin
Patch
Yes
Yes
Yes
Optional
Yes
Yes
User Reports
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Other
Several others like SpamBot detection, prevent new users from posting links, etc.
Spam Monitoring Service, Flag As Spammer, Question & Answer System
Akismet plugin available.
Aksimet Plugin
Plugin-based CAPTCHA system, Newly Registered Users permissions
An Akismet mod is available
Notification bbPress FluxBB FUDforum Invision Power Board MyBB Phorum phpBB SMF
RSS/ATOM
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
E-Mail
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Instant Messaging
Plugin
Yes - via ICQ, AIM, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, Jabber, Google Chat or Skype.
No
0
Jabber
Bookmarks
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Community bbPress FluxBB FUDforum Invision Power Board MyBB Phorum phpBB SMF
Avatars
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Yes
User Ranks
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Rating/Karma System
Plugin
Patch
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Patch
Yes
Signatures
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Users Online List
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Private Messaging
Plugin
Patch
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Custom profile fields
Plugin
Patch
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Moderation bbPress FluxBB FUDforum Invision Power Board MyBB Phorum phpBB SMF
Moderators
global
global and forums
global and forums
global and forums
global and forums
global and forums
global and forums
global, forums and threads
Move Threads
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Split Threads
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Close Threads
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Shadow Topics
Unknown
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Sticky Threads
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Important Threads
Plugin
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Search bbPress FluxBB FUDforum Invision Power Board MyBB Phorum phpBB SMF
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
Session tracked
Database tracked
Database tracked
Database tracked
Database tracked
Database tracked
Database tracked
Customization bbPress FluxBB FUDforum Invision Power Board MyBB Phorum phpBB SMF
Languages
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Mobile View
Unknown
Unknown
Yes
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Templates
global
CSS only
global
global and forum specific
global and forum specific
global and forum specific
global and forum specific
global and forum specific
Custom BBCodes
Plugin
Patch
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Plugin
Skin-Editor
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Smiley Packs
Plugin
Patch
Patch
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Plugins
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Special Features bbPress FluxBB FUDforum Invision Power Board MyBB Phorum phpBB SMF
Statistics
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Polls
Plugin
Patch
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Calendar
No
Patch
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Friendly URLs
Yes
Patch
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Plugin
Plugin
Plugin
Data Management bbPress FluxBB FUDforum Invision Power Board MyBB Phorum phpBB SMF
Available Importers
Pruning
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Archiving
Plugin
Patch
Optional
Yes
No
No
No
Plugin
Export Formats
BBXF
PDF (Adobe), ATOM, RSS, RDF, HTML
SQL
SQL Dumps in .sql, sql.gz, and .sql.bz2
WAP(2), IMode
Export private messages
Plugin
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Plugin
Lo-Fi View
Plugin
No
Optional
Yes
Yes
Optional
Yes
Yes
remove bbPress remove FluxBB remove FUDforum remove Invision Power Board remove MyBB remove Phorum remove phpBB remove SMF