phpBB vs. MyBB vs. FUDforum vs. XMB vs. SMF vs. bbPress

General phpBB MyBB FUDforum XMB SMF bbPress
Version
3.0.8
1.6.3
3.0.9
1.9.11
2.0.6
0.9.0.4
Release Date
2010-11-19 (13 years ago)
2011-04-16 (12 years ago)
2018-05-17 (5 years ago)
Febuary 28, 2009
2013-10-21 (10 years ago)
2009-01-02 (15 years ago)
Last Update here
2011-06-22 (12 years ago)
2011-06-22 (12 years ago)
2018-11-01 (5 years ago)
2012-03-02 (12 years ago)
2013-10-25 (10 years ago)
2009-03-11 (15 years ago)
Author
The phpBB Group
MyBB Group
The FUDForum development team and user community.
The XMB Group
Simple Machines
bbpress.org
URL
Free and Open Source
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
License
General Public License
Custom
GNU General Public License
General Public License
BSD
GPL2
License cost
0.00
US$0
Free
0.00
0
0
Main View
Classic forum list
Thread-Type
Flat
Threaded or Flat
Threaded or Flat
Flat
Flat
Flat
Setup phpBB MyBB FUDforum XMB SMF bbPress
Installation method
wizard
wizard
wizard
wizard
wizard
wizard
Upgrade method
wizard with manual interactions
wizard
wizard
wizard
wizard
wizard
Hosting available
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
Technology phpBB MyBB FUDforum XMB SMF bbPress
Programming Language
PHP
PHP
PHP
php
PHP
PHP
UTF-8 Support
Yes
Yes
Yes
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
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
1
MySQL Database
Other Storage
Source Code Repo
Issue Tracker
Posts phpBB MyBB FUDforum XMB SMF bbPress
BBCode
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
HTML
No
Yes
Yes
Optional
Yes
Yes
Emoticons
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Formatting Toolbar
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
WYSIWYG Editor
No
Plugin
Plugin
No
Yes
No
Quoting
Nested
Nested
Nested
Nested
Nested
Nested
Syntax Highlighting
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Plugin
Attachments
Multiple files
Multiple files
Multiple files
Multiple files
Multiple files
Multiple files
Tags
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Mark as solved
No
Forums phpBB MyBB FUDforum XMB SMF bbPress
Categories
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Subforums
unlimited
unlimited
unlimited
one level
unlimited
unlimited
Last Post
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Redirect Forums
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Plugin
Trashcan Forum
No
Plugin
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Anti-Spam and Security phpBB MyBB FUDforum XMB SMF bbPress
CAPTCHA
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Groups
Multiple groups
Multiple groups
Multiple groups
Multiple groups
Multiple groups
One group only
Flood Control
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
ACLs
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Blacklist
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Warnings
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Plugin
Suspension
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Plugin
Bans
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
IP-Block
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Audit Logging
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
User Reports
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Other
Plugin-based CAPTCHA system, Newly Registered Users permissions
Akismet plugin available.
Several others like SpamBot detection, prevent new users from posting links, etc.
An Akismet mod is available
Notification phpBB MyBB FUDforum XMB SMF bbPress
RSS/ATOM
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Yes
E-Mail
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Instant Messaging
Jabber
Yes - via ICQ, AIM, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, Jabber, Google Chat or Skype.
Plugin
Bookmarks
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Community phpBB MyBB FUDforum XMB SMF bbPress
Avatars
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
User Ranks
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Rating/Karma System
Patch
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Plugin
Signatures
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Users Online List
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Private Messaging
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Custom profile fields
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Plugin
Moderation phpBB MyBB FUDforum XMB SMF bbPress
Moderators
global and forums
global and forums
global and forums
global and forums
global, forums and threads
global
Move Threads
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Split Threads
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Close Threads
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Shadow Topics
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Sticky Threads
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Important Threads
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Plugin
Search phpBB MyBB FUDforum XMB SMF bbPress
Full-text search
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Author search
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Advanced search
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Plugin
Unread Topics
Database tracked
Database tracked
Database tracked
Session tracked
Database tracked
Customization phpBB MyBB FUDforum XMB SMF bbPress
Languages
0
0
0
0
0
0
Mobile View
Unknown
Unknown
Yes
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Templates
global and forum specific
global and forum specific
global
global and forum specific
global and forum specific
global
Custom BBCodes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Plugin
Plugin
Plugin
Skin-Editor
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Smiley Packs
Yes
Yes
Patch
Optional
Yes
Plugin
Plugins
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Special Features phpBB MyBB FUDforum XMB SMF bbPress
Statistics
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Polls
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Calendar
No
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
No
Friendly URLs
Plugin
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Data Management phpBB MyBB FUDforum XMB SMF bbPress
Available Importers
Pruning
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Archiving
No
No
Optional
No
Plugin
Plugin
Export Formats
SQL Dumps in .sql, sql.gz, and .sql.bz2
PDF (Adobe), ATOM, RSS, RDF, HTML
WAP(2), IMode
BBXF
Export private messages
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Plugin
Plugin
Lo-Fi View
Yes
Yes
Optional
Yes
Yes
Plugin
remove phpBB remove MyBB remove FUDforum remove XMB remove SMF remove bbPress