Comparison of Internet forum software: Difference between revisions
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!License |
!License |
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|- |
|- |
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!style="background: #ececec;"| [[bbPress]]<ref>http://bbpress.org/</ref> |
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[bbPress]] <ref>http://bbpress.org/</ref> |
||
| WordPress Foundation |
|||
| From the creators of WordPress |
|||
| 2014-06-06 |
| 2014-06-06 |
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| 2.5.4 |
| 2.5.4 |
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| [[GNU General Public License|GPL]] |
| [[GNU General Public License|GPL]] |
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|- |
|- |
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!style="background: #ececec;"| [[Beehive Forum]]<ref>http://beehiveforum.net/</ref> |
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[Beehive Forum]] <ref>http://beehiveforum.net/</ref> |
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| Project Beehive Forum Developers |
| Project Beehive Forum Developers |
||
| 2014-08-04 |
| 2014-08-04 |
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| [[GNU General Public License|GPL]] |
| [[GNU General Public License|GPL]] |
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|- |
|- |
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!style="background: #ececec;"| [[Discuz!]]<ref>http://discuz.eu/</ref> |
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[Discuz!]] <ref>http://discuz.eu/</ref> |
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| Comsenz Inc. |
| Comsenz Inc. |
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| 2013-09-23 |
| 2013-09-23 |
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| [[GNU General Public License|GPL]] |
| [[GNU General Public License|GPL]] |
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|- |
|- |
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!style="background: #ececec;"| [[eXo Platform]]<ref>http://sourceforge.net/projects/exo/</ref> |
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[eXo Platform]] <ref>http://sourceforge.net/projects/exo/</ref> |
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| eXo Platform SAS |
| eXo Platform SAS |
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| 2014-01-25 |
| 2014-01-25 |
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| [[Apache License]] |
| [[Apache License]] |
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|- |
|- |
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!style="background: #ececec;"| [[Iko (software)|Iko]]<ref>http://iko.im</ref> |
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[Iko (software)|Iko]] <ref>http://iko.im</ref> |
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| Codetana |
| Codetana |
||
| 2014-06-02 |
| 2014-06-02 |
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| [[MIT License|MIT]] |
| [[MIT License|MIT]] |
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|- |
|- |
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!style="background: #ececec;"| [[Ikonboard]] |
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[Ikonboard]] <ref>http://ikonboard.net/</ref> |
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| Matt Mecham (original creator) Joshua Johnson |
| Matt Mecham (original creator) Joshua Johnson |
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| 2011-11-01 |
| 2011-11-01 |
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| [[proprietary software|Proprietary]] |
| [[proprietary software|Proprietary]] |
||
|- |
|- |
||
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[Invision Power Board]] |
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[Invision Power Board]] <ref>http://www.invisionpower.com/</ref> |
||
| [[Invision Power Services|Invision Power Services Inc.]] |
| [[Invision Power Services|Invision Power Services Inc.]] |
||
| 2013-10-29 |
| 2013-10-29 |
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| [[GNU General Public License|GPL]] |
| [[GNU General Public License|GPL]] |
||
|- |
|- |
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!style="background: #ececec;"| [[ModernBB]] |
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[ModernBB]] <ref>http://modernbb.be/</ref> |
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| ModernBB Group |
| ModernBB Group |
||
| 2014-09-09 |
| 2014-09-09 |
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| [[GNU General Public License|GPL]] |
| [[GNU General Public License|GPL]] |
||
|- |
|- |
||
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[MyBB]] |
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[MyBB]] <ref>http://www.mybb.com/</ref> |
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| MyBB Group |
| MyBB Group |
||
| 2014-09-01 |
| 2014-09-01 |
||
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| [[GNU Lesser General Public License|LGPL]] |
| [[GNU Lesser General Public License|LGPL]] |
||
|- |
|- |
||
!style="background: #ececec;"| NodeBB |
!style="background: #ececec;"| NodeBB <ref>http://nodebb.org/</ref> |
||
| NodeBB Inc. |
| NodeBB Inc. |
||
| 2014-09-17 |
| 2014-09-17 |
||
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| [[GNU General Public License|GPL]] |
| [[GNU General Public License|GPL]] |
||
|- |
|- |
||
!style="background: #ececec;"| NoNonsense Forum |
!style="background: #ececec;"| NoNonsense Forum <ref>http://camendesign.co.uk/code/nononsense_forum</ref> |
||
| Kroc Camen |
| Kroc Camen |
||
| 2013-02-26 |
| 2013-02-26 |
||
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| CC BY 3.0 |
| CC BY 3.0 |
||
|- |
|- |
||
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[Phorum]] |
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[Phorum]] <ref>http://www.phorum.org/</ref> |
||
| Brian Moon |
| Brian Moon |
||
| 2012-08-24 |
| 2012-08-24 |
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| [[BSD License]] |
| [[BSD License]] |
||
|- |
|- |
||
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[PHPWind]] |
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[PHPWind]] <ref>http://www.phpwind.net/</ref> |
||
|Hangzhou Detian Information Technology Co. Ltd |
|Hangzhou Detian Information Technology Co. Ltd |
||
| 2013-04-11 |
| 2013-04-11 |
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| PHPWind EULA ([[proprietary software|proprietary]], [[gratis]] for non-commercial use) |
| PHPWind EULA ([[proprietary software|proprietary]], [[gratis]] for non-commercial use) |
||
|- |
|- |
||
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[phpBB]] |
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[phpBB]] <ref>https://www.phpbb.com/</ref> |
||
| [[phpBB|phpBB Ltd.]] |
| [[phpBB|phpBB Ltd.]] |
||
| 2013-09-28 |
| 2013-09-28 |
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| [[GNU General Public License|GPL]] |
| [[GNU General Public License|GPL]] |
||
|- |
|- |
||
!style="background: #ececec;"| PlushForums |
!style="background: #ececec;"| PlushForums <ref>https://plushforums.com/</ref> |
||
| Plush Content Services Ltd. |
| Plush Content Services Ltd. |
||
| 2014-08-01 |
| 2014-08-01 |
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| [[proprietary software|Proprietary]] |
| [[proprietary software|Proprietary]] |
||
|- |
|- |
||
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[PunBB]] |
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[PunBB]] <ref>http://punbb.informer.com/</ref> |
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| PunBB |
|||
| Rickard Andersson |
|||
| 2012-02-10 |
| 2012-02-10 |
||
| 1.4.2 |
| 1.4.2 |
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| [[GNU General Public License|GPL]] |
| [[GNU General Public License|GPL]] |
||
|- |
|- |
||
!style="background: #ececec;"| pyForum |
!style="background: #ececec;"| pyForum <ref>http://pyforum.org/</ref> |
||
| Julio Flores-Schwarzbeck |
| Julio Flores-Schwarzbeck |
||
| 2011-08-17 |
| 2011-08-17 |
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!style="background: #ececec;"| Saito <ref>http://saito.siezi.com</ref> |
!style="background: #ececec;"| Saito <ref>http://saito.siezi.com</ref> |
||
| Schlaefer |
| Schlaefer |
||
| 2014- |
| 2014-09-28 |
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| 4. |
| 4.3.1 |
||
| [[PHP]] |
| [[PHP]] |
||
| [[MIT License|MIT]] |
| [[MIT License|MIT]] |
||
|- |
|- |
||
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[Simple Machines Forum |
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[Simple Machines Forum]] <ref>http://www.simplemachines.org</ref> |
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| Simple Machines |
|||
| 2013-02-01 |
|||
| 1.1.19 |
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| [[PHP]] |
|||
| [[proprietary software|Proprietary]]<ref name="simple machines proprietary license">http://www.simplemachines.org/about/smf/license.php</ref> |
|||
|- |
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!style="background: #ececec;"| [[Simple Machines Forum|Simple Machines 2]] |
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| Simple Machines |
| Simple Machines |
||
| 2014-06-18 |
| 2014-06-18 |
||
| 2.0.8 |
| 2.0.8 |
||
| [[PHP]] |
| [[PHP]] |
||
| [[ |
| [[BSD License]] |
||
|- |
|- |
||
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[Snitz Forums 2000]] |
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[Snitz Forums 2000]] <ref>http://forum.snitz.com/</ref> |
||
| Snitz Communications |
| Snitz Communications |
||
| 2009-03-16 |
| 2009-03-16 |
||
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| 0.1.3 |
| 0.1.3 |
||
| [[Python (programming language)|Python]] |
| [[Python (programming language)|Python]] |
||
| [[MIT License |
| [[MIT License]] |
||
|- |
|- |
||
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[Syndie]] |
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[Syndie]] <ref>https://www.syndie.de/</ref> |
||
| Anonymous (related to [[I2P]]) |
| Anonymous (related to [[I2P]]) |
||
| 2014-01-20 |
| 2014-01-20 |
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| Open source, multiple licenses |
| Open source, multiple licenses |
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|- |
|- |
||
!style="background: #ececec;"| Zimbra Community |
!style="background: #ececec;"| Zimbra Community <ref>http://community.zimbra.com/</ref> |
||
| Zimbra, Inc |
| Zimbra, Inc |
||
| 2014-03-31 |
| 2014-03-31 |
||
| 8.0 |
| 8.0 |
||
| [[ASP.NET]] |
| [[ASP.NET]] |
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| [[ |
| [[Proprietary software|Proprietary]] |
||
|- |
|- |
||
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[UBB.classic]] |
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[UBB.classic]] <ref>https://www.ubbcentral.com/</ref> |
||
| [[Social Strata]] |
| [[Social Strata]] |
||
| 2005-09-16 |
| 2005-09-16 |
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| [[Proprietary software|Proprietary]] |
| [[Proprietary software|Proprietary]] |
||
|- |
|- |
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!style="background: #ececec;"| [[UBB.threads]] |
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[UBB.threads]] <ref>https://www.ubbcentral.com/</ref> |
||
| |
| UBB Systems, LLC |
||
| 2013-12-15 |
| 2013-12-15 |
||
| 7.5.8 |
| 7.5.8 |
||
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| [[proprietary software|Proprietary]] |
| [[proprietary software|Proprietary]] |
||
|- |
|- |
||
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[Vanilla Forums]]<ref>http://vanillaforums.org/</ref> |
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[Vanilla Forums]] <ref>http://vanillaforums.org/</ref> |
||
| [[Vanilla Forums]] |
| [[Vanilla Forums]] |
||
| 2014-04-29 |
| 2014-04-29 |
||
| 2.1 |
| 2.1 |
||
| [[PHP]] |
| [[PHP]] |
||
| [[GNU General Public License|GPL]] |
| [[GNU General Public License|GPL]] |
||
|- |
|- |
||
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[vBulletin]] |
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[vBulletin]] <ref>http://www.vbulletin.com/</ref> |
||
| vBulletin Solutions Inc. |
| vBulletin Solutions Inc. |
||
| 2013-09-24 |
| 2013-09-24 |
||
| 5.1.3 |
| 5.1.3 |
||
| [[PHP]] |
| [[PHP]] |
||
| [[Proprietary software|Proprietary]] |
|||
|- |
|||
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[Webcrossing]] |
|||
| Elliptics, Ltd. |
|||
| 2013-02-21 |
|||
| 6.4 |
|||
| [[C (programming language)|C]] |
|||
| [[Proprietary software|Proprietary]] |
| [[Proprietary software|Proprietary]] |
||
|- |
|- |
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Line 331: | Line 317: | ||
| Alpha |
| Alpha |
||
| [[PHP]] |
| [[PHP]] |
||
| [[BSD License]] |
| [[BSD License]] |
||
|- |
|- |
||
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[XenForo]] |
!style="background: #ececec;"| [[XenForo]] <ref>https://xenforo.com/</ref> |
||
| XenForo Ltd. |
| XenForo Ltd. |
||
| 2014-07-15 |
| 2014-07-15 |
Revision as of 14:53, 2 October 2014
This article needs additional citations for verification. (June 2011) |
This article outlines the general features commonly found in various Internet forum software packages. It highlights major features that the manager of a forum might want and should expect to be commonly available in different forum software. These comparisons do not include remotely hosted services (such as ProBoards, ZetaBoards, ...) which use their own proprietary software, rather than offering a package for download which webmasters can host by themselves.
General information
Basic general information about the forums: creator/company, license/price etc.
Creator | Latest release date | Current stable version | Programming language | License | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
bbPress [1] | WordPress Foundation | 2014-06-06 | 2.5.4 | PHP | GPL |
Beehive Forum [2] | Project Beehive Forum Developers | 2014-08-04 | 1.4.4 | PHP | GPL |
Boardsolution [3] | Script-Solution | 2014-01-06 | 1.45 | PHP | GPL2 |
CipherPixel [4] | CipherPixel.net | 2014-08-19 | 1.2 | PHP, Ajax | GPL |
Dinette [5] | Agiliq | 2010-10-22 | 1.2a | Python | BSD License |
Discourse [6] | Civilized Discourse Construction Kit, Inc. | 2014-09-23 | 1.0.2 | Ruby (programming language), Javascript | GPL |
Discuz! [7] | Comsenz Inc. | 2013-09-23 | X3.1 | PHP | Discuz! EULA (proprietary, gratis for non-commercial use) |
esoTalk [8] | Toby Zerner | 2014-05-17 | 1.0.0g4 | PHP | GPL |
eXo Platform [9] | eXo Platform SAS | 2014-01-25 | 4.0.4 | Java | LGPL |
FlaskBB [10] | FlaskBB Team | 2014-06-23 | Alpha | Python | BSD License |
FluxBB [11] | FluxBB.org Developers | 2014-01-09 | 1.5.6 | PHP | GPL |
ForumFive [12] | David Pennington | 2013-03-11 | Alpha | PHP | MIT |
Forum Monster [13] | Mike Kelley | 2013-07-03 | Alpha | Ruby (programming language) | MIT |
FUDforum[14] | Ilia Alshanetsky and community | 2013-10-06 | 3.0.5 | PHP | GPL |
GitRap [15] | Codebox | 2013-12-21 | Alpha | JavaScript | Apache License |
Iko [16] | Codetana | 2014-06-02 | 1.3.4 | PHP | MIT |
Ikonboard [17] | Matt Mecham (original creator) Joshua Johnson | 2011-11-01 | 3.1.5A | Perl | Proprietary |
Invision Power Board [18] | Invision Power Services Inc. | 2013-10-29 | 3.4.6 | PHP | Proprietary |
MVCForum [19] | Aptitude | 2014-09-06 | 1.5 | ASP.NET | MVCForum Public License |
Misago [20] | Rafał Pitoń | 2014-06-13 | 0.5.4 | Python | GPL |
ModernBB [21] | ModernBB Group | 2014-09-09 | 3.5.0 | PHP | GPL |
MyBB [22] | MyBB Group | 2014-09-01 | 1.8.0 | PHP | LGPL |
NodeBB [23] | NodeBB Inc. | 2014-09-17 | 0.5.0 | Node.js | GPL |
NoNonsense Forum [24] | Kroc Camen | 2013-02-26 | v25 | PHP | CC BY 3.0 |
Phorum [25] | Brian Moon | 2012-08-24 | 5.2.19 | PHP | Phorum License 2 (BSD like) |
Phosphorum 2 [26] | Phalcon | 2014-03-14 | Alpha | PHP | BSD License |
PHPWind [27] | Hangzhou Detian Information Technology Co. Ltd | 2013-04-11 | 9.0 | PHP | PHPWind EULA (proprietary, gratis for non-commercial use) |
phpBB [28] | phpBB Ltd. | 2013-09-28 | 3.0.12 | PHP | GPL |
PlushForums [29] | Plush Content Services Ltd. | 2014-08-01 | 1.10 | PHP | Proprietary |
PunBB [30] | PunBB | 2012-02-10 | 1.4.2 | PHP | GPL |
pyForum [31] | Julio Flores-Schwarzbeck | 2011-08-17 | 1.1.1 | Python | BSD License |
Saito [32] | Schlaefer | 2014-09-28 | 4.3.1 | PHP | MIT |
Simple Machines Forum [33] | Simple Machines | 2014-06-18 | 2.0.8 | PHP | BSD License |
Snitz Forums 2000 [34] | Snitz Communications | 2009-03-16 | 3.4.07 | ASP | GPL |
Spirit [35] | Esteban Castro Borsani | 2014-08-18 | 0.1.3 | Python | MIT License |
Syndie [36] | Anonymous (related to I2P) | 2014-01-20 | 1.105b | Java | Open source, multiple licenses |
Zimbra Community [37] | Zimbra, Inc | 2014-03-31 | 8.0 | ASP.NET | Proprietary |
UBB.classic [38] | Social Strata | 2005-09-16 | 6.7.3 | Perl | Proprietary |
UBB.threads [39] | UBB Systems, LLC | 2013-12-15 | 7.5.8 | PHP | Proprietary |
Vanilla Forums [40] | Vanilla Forums | 2014-04-29 | 2.1 | PHP | GPL |
vBulletin [41] | vBulletin Solutions Inc. | 2013-09-24 | 5.1.3 | PHP | Proprietary |
Webkosa [42] | Elliptics, Ltd. | 2013-06-19 | 1.0 | C, Javascript | MIT Licence |
Wedge [43] | René-Gilles Deberdt | 2014-04-15 | Alpha | PHP | BSD License |
XenForo [44] | XenForo Ltd. | 2014-07-15 | 1.3.4 | PHP | Proprietary |
XMB Forum [45] | XMB Group. | 2012-02-04 | 1.9.11 | PHP | GPL |
YAF.NET [46] | YetAnotherForum.NET & Ingo Herbote | 2014-06-02 | 2.1.2 | ASP.NET | Apache License |
Creator | Latest release date | Current stable version | Programming language | License |
Features
This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2014) |
Flat | Threaded | User-selectable themes | Calendar | Image attachment | Unread message tracking | WYSIWYG Editor | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
bbPress | Yes | Yes | No | No | Plugin | Plugin | Yes (using TinyMCE) |
Beehive Forum | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Full | Yes (using TinyMCE) |
Boardsolution | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Full | Yes |
Discourse | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Full | No |
Discuz! | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
eXo Platform | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
FluxBB | Yes | No | Yes | No | Plugin | Session | No |
FUDforum | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Full | Yes |
Iko | Yes | No | Yes | No | Planned | Yes | Yes |
Ikonboard | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Session | No |
Invision Power Board | Yes | Yes | Yes | Plugin | Yes | Full | Yes |
ModernBB | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Session | Yes |
MyBB | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Full | Yes |
NodeBB | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
Phorum | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Full | Yes |
phpBB | Yes | No | Yes | Plugin | Yes | Full | Planned |
PunBB | Yes | Plugin | Yes | Plugin | Plugin | Session | Plugin |
Simple Machines 1 | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Full | No |
Simple Machines 2 | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Full | Yes |
Snitz Forums 2000 | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
Syndie | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Full | Yes |
Zimbra Social | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
UBB.classic | Yes | No | No | No | No | Session | No |
UBB.threads | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Full | Planned (Version 8.0) |
Vanilla Forums | Yes | No | Yes | No | Plugin | Yes | Plugin |
vBulletin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Full | Yes |
Webcrossing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Webkosa | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
XenForo | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Full | Yes |
XMB Forum | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Full | No |
Flat | Threaded | User-selectable themes | Calendar | Image attachment | Unread message tracking | WYSIWYG Editor |
Data storage
Information about what data storage system can be used.
MySQL | PostgreSQL | MSSQL | Oracle | SQLite | NoSQL | Firebird | Flat file | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
bbPress | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Beehive Forum | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Boardsolution | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Discourse | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Discuz! | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
eXo Platform | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
FluxBB | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes (SQLite 2)[47] | No | No | No |
FUDforum | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Iko | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Ikonboard | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
Invision Power Board | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
kusaba | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
ModernBB | Yes | No | No | No | Yes (SQLite 2)[48] | No | No | No |
MyBB | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
NodeBB | No | No | No | No | No | Yes (Redis, MongoDB, LevelDB)[49] | No | No |
Phorum | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
phpBB | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (SQLite 2)[50] | No | Yes | No |
PunBB | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
Simple Machines 1 | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Simple Machines 2 | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
Snitz Forums 2000 | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No |
Syndie | Yes (HSQLDB) | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Zimbra Social | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
UBB.classic | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
UBB.threads | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Vanilla Forums | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
vBulletin | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
XenForo | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
XMB Forum | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
MySQL | PostgreSQL | MSSQL | Oracle | SQLite | NoSQL | Firebird | Flat file |
Feature explanation
Below is a brief explanation for each of the features compared in the subarticles. For a forum to qualify for a feature, the functionality must be available out of the box, not as an add-on, plugin, etc.
Flat vs. threaded
- A flat forum is one where each message is added onto the end of the discussion, with no set relation to any prior messages (other than being on the same discussion topic — except in case of Off-Topic posting). But, there is normally a feature to 'quote' another user's post, to allow referencing back to other posts.
- A threaded forum is one where users can specify their message is a reply to an existing message. Threaded forums can display relationships between message topics and associated replies, such as by indenting replies and placing them below the post they reference. Threaded forums are most commonly used for discussions where individual messages tend to be short, such as on social news sites (e.g. Slashdot or reddit), or in commenting systems like Disqus.
Duplicate thread prevention
Many users do not bother to search a forum and directly create new threads to seek an answer to a question. On some forums, when the user types a new thread subject, the forum software brings up similar threads automatically on the side. This helps keep the number of redundant threads (or the overall forum pollution) to a lower level as users who neglect to search for a topic and are posting a thread may find the answer to their question as they are creating the new thread. Instead of having to search the forum, and then creating a thread if there is no satisfying answer, duplicate thread prevention allows the user to go and seek the answer to a topic. An example is Stack Overflow.
User-selectable themes
Most forums provide an option for the forum owner to customize the look and feel. Some forums also allow the administrator to create multiple styles or themes, and allow the user to choose which one they wish to view. Themes may simply be a different set of colors and graphics, or they may involve a different layout to the forum, such as one optimized for small-screen devices.
Calendar
Some forums provide calendar functionality for storing events and appointments, either per-user or as a forum-wide shared calendar.
Image attachments
Most forums provide the option for a user to upload an image along with a message posting. This is usually accompanied by a space limit (e.g. 1MB per user) to prevent users from filling up the forum host's webspace. Some forums also allow other types of files to be uploaded. Some allow inline linking to images hosted on image hosting services.
One major usability issue is whether images can be uploaded to a forum and displayed inline in message postings easily (or at all). The presence of "image attachment uploading" does not imply that in-message display of images within the flow of message text is possible (or if possible, easy to achieve).
Unread message tracking
Unread message tracking refers to the way that is used by forum software to track and display messages that have not yet been read by the current user. This can be one of the following:
- Session — when a user's session starts, this method relies on the user's "last visit time" to display all messages created since that date as unread. Everything that was posted before "last visit time" is considered "read" regardless of whether the user has actually seen it or not. Until the user's session expires, this method properly tracks read/unread messages, starting with messages that were selected as "unread" when the user's session started. This method is broadly used, due to the simplicity and speed benefits of only storing and checking against a single database value.
- Full — forum software which properly tracks what messages have been read or unread by each user, regardless of user session expiration. Some forum software also allows the user to 'mark as unread', so that they can come back to a message later.
Forum spam defenses
Most forums are at risk of continuous attack by forum spammers, largely promoting websites with no relevance to the forum's niche. Systems vary in how they are geared to defense, and checking the offering is an important consideration before selection. A forum cannot succeed unless there is an effective system of defense, and an efficient set of tools for spam removal.
CAPTCHAs are a common feature used among most internet forum software and are often used to prevent automated registrations.
Banning or deleting membership should come as standard, with the ability to blacklist the username, email address or IP address for variable time spans.
Reference to an anti-forum spam database can be built into the forum software, or offered as add-ons for specific databases.
User-friendly URLs
Human-friendly forum URLs do not have a query string and instead contain only the path of the topic. A user-unfriendly URL may contain cryptic parameters, numeric IDs, or file type extensions (e.g. .php) that do not matter to the user and could change if the forum is reimplemented using a different programming language. User-friendly URLs are easy to remember and to type, and may enhance search engine optimization.
- Unclean URL example: http://example.com/forum/index.php?t=rview&th=120029
- Clean URL example: http://example.com/usability-issues/user-friendly-urls
In most forum software packages, human-friendly URLs are an afterthought implemented via web server rewrite rules, and URLs often contain a numeric ID which represents the thread, while the remainder of the URL can in reality be any string: http://example.com/forum/12345/lets-use-friendly-urls and http://example.com/forum/12345/bogus-path-actually point to the same thread, http://example.com/forum/12345/.
The only non-controversial counter-argument to using clean URLs is that they would be leaked in the HTTP referrer header field when a user clicks on an external link from a post, which is undesirable for private (sub)forums, since a URL derived from the topic title could convey sensitive information.[51] This issue can be resolved by rewriting external links to point to a redirection page that performs referer hiding.
References
- ^ http://bbpress.org/
- ^ http://beehiveforum.net/
- ^ http://www.boardsolution.de
- ^ http://cipherpixel.net
- ^ https://github.com/agiliq/Dinette
- ^ http://www.discourse.org/
- ^ http://discuz.eu/
- ^ http://esotalk.org/
- ^ http://sourceforge.net/projects/exo/
- ^ http://flaskbb.org/
- ^ http://fluxbb.org/
- ^ https://github.com/Xeoncross/forumfive
- ^ https://github.com/codezomb/forum_monster
- ^ http://fudforum.org/
- ^ https://github.com/FriendCode/gitrap
- ^ http://iko.im
- ^ http://ikonboard.net/
- ^ http://www.invisionpower.com/
- ^ http://www.mvcforum.com/
- ^ http://misago-project.org/
- ^ http://modernbb.be/
- ^ http://www.mybb.com/
- ^ http://nodebb.org/
- ^ http://camendesign.co.uk/code/nononsense_forum
- ^ http://www.phorum.org/
- ^ http://forum.phalconphp.com/discussion/1675/welcome-to-phosphorum-2
- ^ http://www.phpwind.net/
- ^ https://www.phpbb.com/
- ^ https://plushforums.com/
- ^ http://punbb.informer.com/
- ^ http://pyforum.org/
- ^ http://saito.siezi.com
- ^ http://www.simplemachines.org
- ^ http://forum.snitz.com/
- ^ http://spirit-project.com/
- ^ https://www.syndie.de/
- ^ http://community.zimbra.com/
- ^ https://www.ubbcentral.com/
- ^ https://www.ubbcentral.com/
- ^ http://vanillaforums.org/
- ^ http://www.vbulletin.com/
- ^ http://sourceforge.net/projects/webkosa/
- ^ http://wedge.org/
- ^ https://xenforo.com/
- ^ http://www.xmbforum2.com/
- ^ http://yetanotherforum.net/
- ^ https://github.com/punbb/punbb#requirements
- ^ https://github.com/ModernBB/ModernBB#requirements
- ^ https://docs.nodebb.org/en/latest/configuring/databases.html
- ^ http://tracker.phpbb.com/browse/PHPBB3-9728
- ^ Frèrejean, Erik. "SEO URLs". phpBB "Arsia" 3.2 Development. Area51 phpBB. Retrieved 2011-06-25.