| General | vBulletin | phpBB | SMF | MyBB | bbPress | Invision Power Board |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Version |
4.1.5
|
3.0.8
|
2.0.6
|
1.6.3
|
0.9.0.4
|
3.2.3
|
| Release Date |
2011-07-26 (12 years ago)
|
2010-11-19 (13 years ago)
|
2013-10-21 (10 years ago)
|
2011-04-16 (13 years ago)
|
2009-01-02 (15 years ago)
|
2011-10-17 (12 years ago)
|
| Last Update here |
2011-08-25 (12 years ago)
|
2011-06-22 (12 years ago)
|
2013-10-25 (10 years ago)
|
2011-06-22 (12 years ago)
|
2009-03-11 (15 years ago)
|
2012-02-07 (12 years ago)
|
| Author |
vBulletin Solutions
|
The phpBB Group
|
Simple Machines
|
MyBB Group
|
bbpress.org
|
Invision Power Services
|
| URL | ||||||
| Free and Open Source |
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
| License |
commercial / visible source
|
General Public License
|
BSD
|
Custom
|
GPL2
|
Commercial
|
| License cost |
$285 Suite or $195 Forum
|
0.00
|
0
|
US$0
|
0
|
License from $175 / Hosted from $5 per month
|
| Main View | ||||||
| Thread-Type |
Threaded or Flat
|
Flat
|
Flat
|
Threaded or Flat
|
Flat
|
Flat
|
| Setup | vBulletin | phpBB | SMF | MyBB | bbPress | Invision Power Board |
| Installation method |
wizard
|
wizard
|
wizard
|
wizard
|
wizard
|
wizard
|
| Upgrade method |
wizard with manual interactions
|
wizard with manual interactions
|
wizard
|
wizard
|
wizard
|
wizard
|
| Hosting available |
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
| Technology | vBulletin | phpBB | SMF | MyBB | bbPress | Invision Power Board |
| Programming Language |
PHP
|
PHP
|
PHP
|
PHP
|
PHP
|
PHP 5.2+
|
| UTF-8 Support |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Data Storage |
1
MySQL Database |
6
Firebird Database, Microsoft SQL Database, MySQL Database, Oracle Database, PostgreSQL Database, SQLite File Database |
3
MySQL Database, PostgreSQL Database, SQLite File Database |
3
MySQL Database, PostgreSQL Database, SQLite File Database |
1
MySQL Database |
1
MySQL Database |
| Other Storage | ||||||
| Source Code Repo | ||||||
| Issue Tracker | ||||||
| Posts | vBulletin | phpBB | SMF | MyBB | bbPress | Invision Power Board |
| BBCode |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| HTML |
Yes
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Emoticons |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| Formatting Toolbar |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| WYSIWYG Editor |
Yes
|
No
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
No
|
Yes
|
| Quoting |
Nested
|
Nested
|
Nested
|
Nested
|
Nested
|
Nested
|
| Syntax Highlighting |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
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 | vBulletin | phpBB | SMF | MyBB | bbPress | Invision Power Board |
| Categories |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Subforums |
unlimited
|
unlimited
|
unlimited
|
unlimited
|
unlimited
|
unlimited
|
| Last Post |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| Redirect Forums |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| Trashcan Forum |
Yes
|
No
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Anti-Spam and Security | vBulletin | phpBB | SMF | MyBB | bbPress | Invision Power Board |
| CAPTCHA |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| Groups |
Multiple groups
|
Multiple groups
|
Multiple groups
|
Multiple groups
|
One group only
|
Multiple groups
|
| Flood Control |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| ACLs |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
Yes
|
| Blacklist |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| Warnings |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| Suspension |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| Bans |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| IP-Block |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| Audit Logging |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| User Reports |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| Other |
Akismet
|
Plugin-based CAPTCHA system, Newly Registered Users permissions
|
An Akismet mod is available
|
Akismet plugin available.
|
Spam Monitoring Service, Flag As Spammer, Question & Answer System
|
|
| Notification | vBulletin | phpBB | SMF | MyBB | bbPress | Invision Power Board |
| RSS/ATOM |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
|
| Instant Messaging |
Jabber
|
Plugin
|
No
|
|||
| Bookmarks |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Community | vBulletin | phpBB | SMF | MyBB | bbPress | Invision Power Board |
| Avatars |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| User Ranks |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| Rating/Karma System |
Yes
|
Patch
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| Signatures |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| Users Online List |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| Private Messaging |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| Custom profile fields |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| Moderation | vBulletin | phpBB | SMF | MyBB | bbPress | Invision Power Board |
| Moderators |
global and forums
|
global and forums
|
global, forums and threads
|
global and forums
|
global
|
global and forums
|
| Move Threads |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Split Threads |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| Close Threads |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Shadow Topics |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Unknown
|
Yes
|
| Sticky Threads |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Important Threads |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| Search | vBulletin | phpBB | SMF | MyBB | bbPress | Invision Power Board |
| Full-text search |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Author search |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Advanced search |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| Unread Topics |
Database tracked
|
Database tracked
|
Database tracked
|
Database tracked
|
Database tracked
|
|
| Customization | vBulletin | phpBB | SMF | MyBB | bbPress | Invision Power Board |
| Languages |
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
| Mobile View |
Unknown
|
Unknown
|
Unknown
|
Unknown
|
Unknown
|
Unknown
|
| Templates |
global and forum specific
|
global and forum specific
|
global and forum specific
|
global and forum specific
|
global
|
global and forum specific
|
| Custom BBCodes |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| Skin-Editor |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
Yes
|
| Smiley Packs |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| Plugins |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Special Features | vBulletin | phpBB | SMF | MyBB | bbPress | Invision Power Board |
| Statistics |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Polls |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| Calendar |
Yes
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
Yes
|
| Friendly URLs |
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Plugin
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Data Management | vBulletin | phpBB | SMF | MyBB | bbPress | Invision Power Board |
| Available Importers | ||||||
| Pruning |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| Archiving |
Yes
|
No
|
Plugin
|
No
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| Export Formats |
Single Table CSV, Single and Multi-Table SQL
|
SQL Dumps in .sql, sql.gz, and .sql.bz2
|
WAP(2), IMode
|
BBXF
|
SQL
|
|
| Export private messages |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| Lo-Fi View |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Plugin
|
Yes
|
| remove vBulletin | remove phpBB | remove SMF | remove MyBB | remove bbPress | remove Invision Power Board |