bbPress vs. Invision Power Board vs. MyBB vs. phpBB vs. SMF vs. YetAnotherForum.NET

General bbPress Invision Power Board MyBB phpBB SMF YetAnotherForum.NET
Version
0.9.0.4
3.2.3
1.6.3
3.0.8
2.0.6
v1.9.3
Release Date
2009-01-02 (15 years ago)
2011-10-17 (12 years ago)
2011-04-16 (12 years ago)
2010-11-19 (13 years ago)
2013-10-21 (10 years ago)
2009-04-21 (14 years ago)
Last Update here
2009-03-11 (15 years ago)
2012-02-07 (12 years ago)
2011-06-22 (12 years ago)
2011-06-22 (12 years ago)
2013-10-25 (10 years ago)
2009-08-02 (14 years ago)
Author
bbpress.org
Invision Power Services
MyBB Group
The phpBB Group
Simple Machines
Tiny Gecko
URL
Free and Open Source
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
License
GPL2
Commercial
Custom
General Public License
BSD
GPL v2.0
License cost
0
License from $175 / Hosted from $5 per month
US$0
0.00
0
Free
Main View
Thread-Type
Flat
Flat
Threaded or Flat
Flat
Flat
Threaded or Flat
Setup bbPress Invision Power Board MyBB phpBB SMF YetAnotherForum.NET
Installation method
wizard
wizard
wizard
wizard
wizard
wizard
Upgrade method
wizard
wizard
wizard
wizard with manual interactions
wizard
wizard with manual interactions
Hosting available
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
Technology bbPress Invision Power Board MyBB phpBB SMF YetAnotherForum.NET
Programming Language
PHP
PHP 5.2+
PHP
PHP
PHP
ASP.NET, C#
UTF-8 Support
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Data Storage
1
MySQL Database
1
MySQL Database
3
MySQL Database, PostgreSQL Database, SQLite File Database
6
Firebird Database, Microsoft SQL Database, MySQL Database, Oracle Database, PostgreSQL Database, SQLite File Database
3
MySQL Database, PostgreSQL Database, SQLite File Database
1
Microsoft SQL Database
Other Storage
Source Code Repo
Issue Tracker
Posts bbPress Invision Power Board MyBB phpBB SMF YetAnotherForum.NET
BBCode
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
HTML
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Emoticons
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Formatting Toolbar
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
WYSIWYG Editor
No
Yes
Plugin
No
Yes
Optional
Quoting
Nested
Nested
Nested
Nested
Nested
Nested
Syntax Highlighting
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Attachments
Multiple files
Multiple files
Multiple files
Multiple files
Multiple files
Multiple files
Tags
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Mark as solved
Forums bbPress Invision Power Board MyBB phpBB SMF YetAnotherForum.NET
Categories
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Subforums
unlimited
unlimited
unlimited
unlimited
unlimited
unlimited
Last Post
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Redirect Forums
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Trashcan Forum
Yes
Yes
Plugin
No
Yes
Optional
Anti-Spam and Security bbPress Invision Power Board MyBB phpBB SMF YetAnotherForum.NET
CAPTCHA
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Groups
One group only
Multiple groups
Multiple groups
Multiple groups
Multiple groups
Multiple groups
Flood Control
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
ACLs
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Blacklist
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Warnings
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Suspension
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Bans
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
IP-Block
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Audit Logging
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
User Reports
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Other
Spam Monitoring Service, Flag As Spammer, Question & Answer System
Akismet plugin available.
Plugin-based CAPTCHA system, Newly Registered Users permissions
An Akismet mod is available
Notification bbPress Invision Power Board MyBB phpBB SMF YetAnotherForum.NET
RSS/ATOM
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
E-Mail
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Instant Messaging
Plugin
No
Jabber
Bookmarks
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Patch
Community bbPress Invision Power Board MyBB phpBB SMF YetAnotherForum.NET
Avatars
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
User Ranks
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Rating/Karma System
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Patch
Yes
No
Signatures
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Users Online List
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Private Messaging
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Custom profile fields
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Moderation bbPress Invision Power Board MyBB phpBB SMF YetAnotherForum.NET
Moderators
global
global and forums
global and forums
global and forums
global, forums and threads
global and forums
Move Threads
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Split Threads
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Close Threads
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Shadow Topics
Unknown
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Sticky Threads
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Important Threads
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Search bbPress Invision Power Board MyBB phpBB SMF YetAnotherForum.NET
Full-text search
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Author search
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Advanced search
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Unread Topics
Database tracked
Database tracked
Database tracked
Database tracked
Session tracked
Customization bbPress Invision Power Board MyBB phpBB SMF YetAnotherForum.NET
Languages
0
0
0
0
0
0
Mobile View
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Templates
global
global and forum specific
global and forum specific
global and forum specific
global and forum specific
global and forum specific
Custom BBCodes
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Skin-Editor
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Smiley Packs
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugins
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Special Features bbPress Invision Power Board MyBB phpBB SMF YetAnotherForum.NET
Statistics
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Polls
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Calendar
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Friendly URLs
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Plugin
Plugin
Yes
Data Management bbPress Invision Power Board MyBB phpBB SMF YetAnotherForum.NET
Available Importers
Pruning
Plugin
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Archiving
Plugin
Yes
No
No
Plugin
No
Export Formats
BBXF
SQL
SQL Dumps in .sql, sql.gz, and .sql.bz2
WAP(2), IMode
Export private messages
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
No
Lo-Fi View
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
remove bbPress remove Invision Power Board remove MyBB remove phpBB remove SMF remove YetAnotherForum.NET