phpBB vs. SMF vs. vBulletin

General phpBB SMF vBulletin
Version
3.0.8
2.0.6
4.1.5
Release Date
2010-11-19 (13 years ago)
2013-10-21 (10 years ago)
2011-07-26 (12 years ago)
Last Update here
2011-06-22 (12 years ago)
2013-10-25 (10 years ago)
2011-08-25 (12 years ago)
Author
The phpBB Group
Simple Machines
vBulletin Solutions
URL
Free and Open Source
Yes
Yes
No
License
General Public License
BSD
commercial / visible source
License cost
0.00
0
$285 Suite or $195 Forum
Main View
Thread-Type
Flat
Flat
Threaded or Flat
Setup phpBB SMF vBulletin
Installation method
wizard
wizard
wizard
Upgrade method
wizard with manual interactions
wizard
wizard with manual interactions
Hosting available
No
No
No
Technology phpBB SMF vBulletin
Programming Language
PHP
PHP
PHP
UTF-8 Support
Yes
Yes
Yes
Data Storage
6
Firebird Database, Microsoft SQL Database, MySQL Database, Oracle Database, PostgreSQL Database, SQLite File Database
3
MySQL Database, PostgreSQL Database, SQLite File Database
1
MySQL Database
Other Storage
Source Code Repo
Issue Tracker
Posts phpBB SMF vBulletin
BBCode
Yes
Yes
Yes
HTML
No
Yes
Yes
Emoticons
Yes
Yes
Yes
Formatting Toolbar
Yes
Yes
Yes
WYSIWYG Editor
No
Yes
Yes
Quoting
Nested
Nested
Nested
Syntax Highlighting
Yes
Yes
Yes
Attachments
Multiple files
Multiple files
Multiple files
Tags
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Mark as solved
Forums phpBB SMF vBulletin
Categories
Yes
Yes
Yes
Subforums
unlimited
unlimited
unlimited
Last Post
Yes
Yes
Yes
Redirect Forums
Yes
Yes
Yes
Trashcan Forum
No
Yes
Yes
Anti-Spam and Security phpBB SMF vBulletin
CAPTCHA
Yes
Yes
Yes
Groups
Multiple groups
Multiple groups
Multiple groups
Flood Control
Yes
Yes
Yes
ACLs
Yes
Yes
Yes
Blacklist
Yes
Yes
Yes
Warnings
Yes
Yes
Yes
Suspension
Yes
Yes
Yes
Bans
Yes
Yes
Yes
IP-Block
Yes
Yes
Yes
Audit Logging
Yes
Yes
Yes
User Reports
Yes
Yes
Yes
Other
Plugin-based CAPTCHA system, Newly Registered Users permissions
An Akismet mod is available
Akismet
Notification phpBB SMF vBulletin
RSS/ATOM
Yes
Yes
Yes
E-Mail
Yes
Yes
Yes
Instant Messaging
Jabber
Bookmarks
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Community phpBB SMF vBulletin
Avatars
Yes
Yes
Yes
User Ranks
Yes
Yes
Yes
Rating/Karma System
Patch
Yes
Yes
Signatures
Yes
Yes
Yes
Users Online List
Yes
Yes
Yes
Private Messaging
Yes
Yes
Yes
Custom profile fields
Yes
Yes
Yes
Moderation phpBB SMF vBulletin
Moderators
global and forums
global, forums and threads
global and forums
Move Threads
Yes
Yes
Yes
Split Threads
Yes
Yes
Yes
Close Threads
Yes
Yes
Yes
Shadow Topics
Yes
Yes
Yes
Sticky Threads
Yes
Yes
Yes
Important Threads
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Search phpBB SMF vBulletin
Full-text search
Yes
Yes
Yes
Author search
Yes
Yes
Yes
Advanced search
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unread Topics
Database tracked
Database tracked
Database tracked
Customization phpBB SMF vBulletin
Languages
0
0
0
Mobile View
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Templates
global and forum specific
global and forum specific
global and forum specific
Custom BBCodes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Skin-Editor
Yes
Yes
Yes
Smiley Packs
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugins
Yes
Yes
Yes
Special Features phpBB SMF vBulletin
Statistics
Yes
Yes
Yes
Polls
Yes
Yes
Yes
Calendar
No
Yes
Yes
Friendly URLs
Plugin
Plugin
Yes
Data Management phpBB SMF vBulletin
Available Importers
Pruning
Yes
Yes
Yes
Archiving
No
Plugin
Yes
Export Formats
SQL Dumps in .sql, sql.gz, and .sql.bz2
WAP(2), IMode
Single Table CSV, Single and Multi-Table SQL
Export private messages
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Lo-Fi View
Yes
Yes
Yes
remove phpBB remove SMF remove vBulletin