Comparison of Internet forum software (PHP)
Encyclopedia
This is a comparison of the features of various Internet forum
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...

 packages written in PHP
PHP
PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...

.

General information

Basic general information about the forums: creator/company, license/price etc.
Creator Latest release date Current stable version License Automatic Updates (for security)
Beehive Forum
Beehive Forum
Beehive Forum is a free and open source forum system using the PHP scripting language and MySQL database software.The main difference between Beehive and most other forum software is its frame-based interface, which lists discussion titles on the left and displays their contents on the right.Other...

Project Beehive Forum Developers 2011-02-14 1.0.1 GPL
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....

manually
bbPress Automattic
Automattic
Automattic, Inc. is a web development corporation founded in August 2005.It is most notable for WordPress.com , as well as its contributions to WordPress .-Projects:Other projects include:...

2009-07-28 1.1 GPL
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....

Yes
Discuz Comsenz Technology Co., Ltd. 2010-10-20 7.2 Discuz! EULA (proprietary
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...

, gratis
Gratis
Gratis is the process of providing goods or services without compensation. It is often referred to in English as "free of charge" or "complimentary"...

 for non-commercial use)
manually
e107
E107 (CMS)
e107 is a free software/open source content management system for creating and managing websites through a simple web interface.The e107 software is published as open source under the GNU GPL licence v2.-Built in Features:...

e107 (CMS)
E107 (CMS)
e107 is a free software/open source content management system for creating and managing websites through a simple web interface.The e107 software is published as open source under the GNU GPL licence v2.-Built in Features:...

2011-04-06 0.7.25 GPL
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....

manually
FluxBB
FluxBB
FluxBB is a lightweight free software PHP-based internet discussion board system. FluxBB is a fork of the PunBB project, created in response to developers protesting the increasing emphasis of a partnership with a corporate organization on the PunBB project...

FluxBB.org Developers 2011-09-13 1.4.7 GPL
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....

manually
FUDforum
FUDforum
FUDforum is a free and open source Internet forum software, originally produced by Advanced Internet Designs Inc., that is now maintained by the user community. The name "FUDforum" is an abbreviation of Fast Uncompromising Discussion forum. It is comparable to other forum software...

Ilia Alshanetsky and community 2011-07-17 3.0.3RC1 GPL
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....

manually
ImperialBB ImperialBB.com 2010-02-28 1.0 GPL
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....

manually
IceBB XAOS Interactive 2010-12-02 1.0 GPL
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....

manually
Invision Power Board
Invision Power Board
Invision Power Board is an Internet forum software produced by Invision Power Services, Inc...

Invision Power Services Inc.
Invision Power Services
Invision Power Services, Inc. is a software and web hosting company established in February 2002, best known for Invision Power Board. Its headquarters is based in Forest, Virginia.- History :...

2011-08-31 3.2.2 Proprietary
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...

manually
MercuryBoard Jason Warner, Mark Elliot, and Jonathan West 2008-02-24 1.1.7 GPL
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....

manually
miniBB Paul Puzyrev & Sergei Larionov 2010-10-05 2.5a GPL
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....

manually
MyBB MyBB Group 2011-07-26 1.6.4 LGPL
GNU Lesser General Public License
The GNU Lesser General Public License or LGPL is a free software license published by the Free Software Foundation . It was designed as a compromise between the strong-copyleft GNU General Public License or GPL and permissive licenses such as the BSD licenses and the MIT License...

manually
NextBBS Chris FR & Team 2008-02-18 0.5.3 GPL manually
NinkoBB Nijikokun 2010-03-16 1.3 RC5 GPL manually
NovaBoard Developers and Community 2010-06-13 1.1.4 Artistic License 2.0
Artistic License
The Artistic License refers most commonly to the original Artistic License , a software license used for certain free and open source software packages, most notably the standard Perl implementation and most CPAN modules, which are dual-licensed under the Artistic License and the GNU General Public...

manually
OvBB Jonathon Freeman & Brian Otto 2007-04-06 V0.16a MIT
MIT License
The MIT License is a free software license originating at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . It is a permissive license, meaning that it permits reuse within proprietary software provided all copies of the licensed software include a copy of the MIT License terms...

manually
Phorum
Phorum
Phorum is an open source message board system written in PHP.-History:In April 1998, Brian Moon developed three scripts that would meet the basic needs of . With 30 days of testing, the code was prepared enough to put into production. It was named WebThreads, though this name was later found to...

Brian Moon 2011-09-09 5.2.18 Phorum License 2 (BSD
BSD licenses
BSD licenses are a family of permissive free software licenses. The original license was used for the Berkeley Software Distribution , a Unix-like operating system after which it is named....

 like)
manually
phpBB
PhpBB
phpBB is a popular Internet forum package written in the PHP scripting language. The name "phpBB" is an abbreviation of PHP Bulletin Board...

3
phpBB Ltd.
PhpBB
phpBB is a popular Internet forum package written in the PHP scripting language. The name "phpBB" is an abbreviation of PHP Bulletin Board...

2011-07-10 3.0.9 GPL
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....

Yes
PunBB Rickard Andersson 2011-09-18 1.3.6 GPL
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....

manually
Quicksilver Forums Geoff Dunn, Roger Libiez (Samson) & The Quicksilver Forums Development Team 2011-01-16 1.5 GPL
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....

manually
Simple Machines 1
Simple Machines Forum
Simple Machines Forum is a free Internet forum application. The software is written in PHP and uses a MySQL database backend, although multi-database support is being developed for version 2.0...

Simple Machines 2011-09-18 1.1.15 Proprietary
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...

manually
Simple Machines 2
Simple Machines Forum
Simple Machines Forum is a free Internet forum application. The software is written in PHP and uses a MySQL database backend, although multi-database support is being developed for version 2.0...

Simple Machines 2011-09-18 2.0.1 BSD License
BSD licenses
BSD licenses are a family of permissive free software licenses. The original license was used for the Berkeley Software Distribution , a Unix-like operating system after which it is named....

manually
Simply AJAX Forum System (SAFS)
Simply AJAX Forum System (SAFS)
Simply AJAX Forum System is an Internet forum application written in the PHP scripting language. It was originally built from the Simply Secure Forum System but was later revised and more features added.- History :...

Fast Track Sites 2010-05-20 3.10.05.20 Proprietary
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...

manually
Tritanium Bulletin Board Tritanium Scripts 2011-11-04 1.6 CC 3.0 by-nc-sa
Creative Commons licenses
Creative Commons licenses are several copyright licenses that allow the distribution of copyrighted works. The licenses differ by several combinations that condition the terms of distribution. They were initially released on December 16, 2002 by Creative Commons, a U.S...

manually
UBB.threads
UBB.threads
UBB.threads is an Internet forum software package originally written by Rick Baker. Written with PHP using a MySQL database backend, it is comparable to other forum software written in PHP....

Mindraven, Inc. 2010-08-21 7.5.6 Proprietary
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...

manually
UseBB Dietrich Moerman 2011-11-04 1.0.14 GPL
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....

manually
Vanilla Vanilla Forums Inc. 2011-11-03 2.0.18 GPL
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....

manually
vBulletin
VBulletin
vBulletin is a proprietary Internet forum software produced by Jelsoft Enterprises and vBulletin Solutions, both subsidiaries of Internet Brands. It is written in PHP and uses a MySQL database server.-History:...

vBulletin Solutions Inc. 2011-11-04 4.1.7pl2 Proprietary
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...

manually
WhiteBoard Eli White & SaroSoftware 2010-05-30 0.1.30 GPL
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....

manually
Woltlab Burning Board WoltLab GmbH 2011-08-26 3.1.6 proprietary
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...

manually
XenForo
XenForo
XenForo is a commercial Internet forum software written in the PHP programming language using the Zend Framework. The software is developed by a team led by former vBulletin lead developers Kier Darby and Mike Sullivan. The first public beta release of XenForo was released in October 2010...

XenForo Ltd. 2011-11-22 1.1.0 Proprietary
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...

manually
XMB XMB Software 2009-03-01 1.9.11 GPL
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....

manually
NitPick2011 ? 2011-09-18 1.0 ? manually
Creator Latest release date Current stable version License Automatic Updates (for security)

Features

Flat Threaded User-selectable themes Calendar Image attachment Unread message tracking WYSIWYG Editor
WYSIWYG
WYSIWYG is an acronym for What You See Is What You Get. The term is used in computing to describe a system in which content displayed onscreen during editing appears in a form closely corresponding to its appearance when printed or displayed as a finished product...

Beehive Forum
Beehive Forum
Beehive Forum is a free and open source forum system using the PHP scripting language and MySQL database software.The main difference between Beehive and most other forum software is its frame-based interface, which lists discussion titles on the left and displays their contents on the right.Other...

Full (using TinyMCE
TinyMCE
TinyMCE, also known as the Tiny Moxiecode Content Editor, is a platform-independent web-based JavaScript/HTML WYSIWYG editor control, released as open source software under the LGPL by Moxiecode Systems AB. It has the ability to convert HTML textarea fields or other HTML elements to editor instances...

)
bbPress Plugin Plugin Plugin Plugin
Discuz
e107
E107 (CMS)
e107 is a free software/open source content management system for creating and managing websites through a simple web interface.The e107 software is published as open source under the GNU GPL licence v2.-Built in Features:...

FluxBB
FluxBB
FluxBB is a lightweight free software PHP-based internet discussion board system. FluxBB is a fork of the PunBB project, created in response to developers protesting the increasing emphasis of a partnership with a corporate organization on the PunBB project...

Session
FUDforum
FUDforum
FUDforum is a free and open source Internet forum software, originally produced by Advanced Internet Designs Inc., that is now maintained by the user community. The name "FUDforum" is an abbreviation of Fast Uncompromising Discussion forum. It is comparable to other forum software...

Full
IceBB Full
Invision Power Board
Invision Power Board
Invision Power Board is an Internet forum software produced by Invision Power Services, Inc...

Full
kusaba ?
MercuryBoard Session
miniBB
MyBB Full Plugin
NextBBS Full
NinkoBB ?
NovaBoard Full
Phorum
Phorum
Phorum is an open source message board system written in PHP.-History:In April 1998, Brian Moon developed three scripts that would meet the basic needs of . With 30 days of testing, the code was prepared enough to put into production. It was named WebThreads, though this name was later found to...

Full
phpBB
PhpBB
phpBB is a popular Internet forum package written in the PHP scripting language. The name "phpBB" is an abbreviation of PHP Bulletin Board...

3
Plugin Full Planned
PunBB Plugin Plugin Plugin Session Plugin
Quicksilver Forums Full
Simple Machines 1
Simple Machines Forum
Simple Machines Forum is a free Internet forum application. The software is written in PHP and uses a MySQL database backend, although multi-database support is being developed for version 2.0...

Full
Simple Machines 2
Simple Machines Forum
Simple Machines Forum is a free Internet forum application. The software is written in PHP and uses a MySQL database backend, although multi-database support is being developed for version 2.0...

Full
Simply AJAX Forum System (SAFS)
Simply AJAX Forum System (SAFS)
Simply AJAX Forum System is an Internet forum application written in the PHP scripting language. It was originally built from the Simply Secure Forum System but was later revised and more features added.- History :...

Full
Tritanium Bulletin Board Planned Full
UBB.threads
UBB.threads
UBB.threads is an Internet forum software package originally written by Rick Baker. Written with PHP using a MySQL database backend, it is comparable to other forum software written in PHP....

Full Planned (Version 8.0)
UseBB Session
Vanilla Plugin Plugin Plugin Plugin Plugin Plugin
vBulletin
VBulletin
vBulletin is a proprietary Internet forum software produced by Jelsoft Enterprises and vBulletin Solutions, both subsidiaries of Internet Brands. It is written in PHP and uses a MySQL database server.-History:...

Full
WhiteBoard Planned Full
Woltlab Burning Board Full
XenForo
XenForo
XenForo is a commercial Internet forum software written in the PHP programming language using the Zend Framework. The software is developed by a team led by former vBulletin lead developers Kier Darby and Mike Sullivan. The first public beta release of XenForo was released in October 2010...

Full
XMB ?
NitPick2011
Flat Threaded User-selectable themes Calendar Image attachment Unread message tracking WYSIWYG Editor
WYSIWYG
WYSIWYG is an acronym for What You See Is What You Get. The term is used in computing to describe a system in which content displayed onscreen during editing appears in a form closely corresponding to its appearance when printed or displayed as a finished product...


Data storage

Information about what data storage system can be used.
MySQL
MySQL
MySQL officially, but also commonly "My Sequel") is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. It is named after developer Michael Widenius' daughter, My...

PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL, often simply Postgres, is an object-relational database management system available for many platforms including Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, MS Windows and Mac OS X. It is released under the PostgreSQL License, which is an MIT-style license, and is thus free and open source software...

MSSQL
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...

Oracle
Oracle database
The Oracle Database is an object-relational database management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation....

SQLite
SQLite
SQLite is an ACID-compliant embedded relational database management system contained in a relatively small C programming library. The source code for SQLite is in the public domain and implements most of the SQL standard...

Firebird
Firebird (database server)
Firebird is an open source SQL relational database management system that runs on Linux, Windows, and a variety of Unix. The database forked from Borland's open source edition of InterBase in 2000, but since Firebird 1.5 the code has been largely rewritten ....

Beehive Forum
Beehive Forum
Beehive Forum is a free and open source forum system using the PHP scripting language and MySQL database software.The main difference between Beehive and most other forum software is its frame-based interface, which lists discussion titles on the left and displays their contents on the right.Other...

bbPress
Discuz
e107
E107 (CMS)
e107 is a free software/open source content management system for creating and managing websites through a simple web interface.The e107 software is published as open source under the GNU GPL licence v2.-Built in Features:...

FluxBB
FluxBB
FluxBB is a lightweight free software PHP-based internet discussion board system. FluxBB is a fork of the PunBB project, created in response to developers protesting the increasing emphasis of a partnership with a corporate organization on the PunBB project...

FUDforum
FUDforum
FUDforum is a free and open source Internet forum software, originally produced by Advanced Internet Designs Inc., that is now maintained by the user community. The name "FUDforum" is an abbreviation of Fast Uncompromising Discussion forum. It is comparable to other forum software...

IceBB
Invision Power Board
Invision Power Board
Invision Power Board is an Internet forum software produced by Invision Power Services, Inc...

Yes ($75)
kusaba
MercuryBoard
miniBB
MyBB
NextBBS
NinkoBB
NovaBoard
Phorum
Phorum
Phorum is an open source message board system written in PHP.-History:In April 1998, Brian Moon developed three scripts that would meet the basic needs of . With 30 days of testing, the code was prepared enough to put into production. It was named WebThreads, though this name was later found to...

phpBB
PhpBB
phpBB is a popular Internet forum package written in the PHP scripting language. The name "phpBB" is an abbreviation of PHP Bulletin Board...

3
PunBB
Quicksilver Forums
Simple Machines 1
Simple Machines Forum
Simple Machines Forum is a free Internet forum application. The software is written in PHP and uses a MySQL database backend, although multi-database support is being developed for version 2.0...

Simple Machines 2
Simple Machines Forum
Simple Machines Forum is a free Internet forum application. The software is written in PHP and uses a MySQL database backend, although multi-database support is being developed for version 2.0...

Simply AJAX Forum System (SAFS)
Simply AJAX Forum System (SAFS)
Simply AJAX Forum System is an Internet forum application written in the PHP scripting language. It was originally built from the Simply Secure Forum System but was later revised and more features added.- History :...

Tritanium Bulletin Board Planned (Version 2.0)
UBB.threads
UBB.threads
UBB.threads is an Internet forum software package originally written by Rick Baker. Written with PHP using a MySQL database backend, it is comparable to other forum software written in PHP....

UseBB
Vanilla
vBulletin
VBulletin
vBulletin is a proprietary Internet forum software produced by Jelsoft Enterprises and vBulletin Solutions, both subsidiaries of Internet Brands. It is written in PHP and uses a MySQL database server.-History:...

WhiteBoard
WoltLab Burning Board
XenForo
XenForo
XenForo is a commercial Internet forum software written in the PHP programming language using the Zend Framework. The software is developed by a team led by former vBulletin lead developers Kier Darby and Mike Sullivan. The first public beta release of XenForo was released in October 2010...

XMB
NitPick2011
MySQL
MySQL
MySQL officially, but also commonly "My Sequel") is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. It is named after developer Michael Widenius' daughter, My...

PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL, often simply Postgres, is an object-relational database management system available for many platforms including Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, MS Windows and Mac OS X. It is released under the PostgreSQL License, which is an MIT-style license, and is thus free and open source software...

MSSQL
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...

Oracle
Oracle database
The Oracle Database is an object-relational database management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation....

SQLite
SQLite
SQLite is an ACID-compliant embedded relational database management system contained in a relatively small C programming library. The source code for SQLite is in the public domain and implements most of the SQL standard...

Firebird
Firebird (database server)
Firebird is an open source SQL relational database management system that runs on Linux, Windows, and a variety of Unix. The database forked from Borland's open source edition of InterBase in 2000, but since Firebird 1.5 the code has been largely rewritten ....


See also

  • Comparison of forums written in ASP and ASP.NET
    Comparison of Internet forum software (ASP)
    This is a comparison of the features of various Internet forum packages written in ASP, ASP.NET, and variations thereof.-General information:Basic general information about the forums: creator/company, license/price, etc.asp.net fourms-Features:...

  • Comparison of forums written in other languages
    Comparison of internet forum software (other)
    -----Comparison of Internet forum software...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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