This is a comparison of the features of various Internet forum packages that exist.

General Information

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Basic general information about the archivers: creator/company, license/price etc.

$499/month on dedicated server

Free for Non-Profit

The Quicksilver Forums Development Team

	Creator	Current stable version	Programming language	Cost (USD)	License	Latest release date
aterr *	Chris Jenkinson	0.9.2	PHP	Free	GPL
bbPress *	Automattic	Nightly Builds Only	PHP 4.2	Free	GPL
Beehive Forum *	?	0.6.2	PHP	Free	GPL
blazeboard *	?	0.55b	PHP	Free	GPL
bttlxeForum *	Battleaxe Software Ltd.	2.0	ASP 3.0	Free	*
Burning Boards *	WoltLab GmbH	2.3.5	PHP	25 Euro	Proprietary	26 June 2006
Community Server *	Telligent	2.0	ASP.NET / C#	Free(Express Edition), $299 (Standard), $1499 (Professional), $9999(Enterprise)	Proprietary
Discussion Board *	Active Data Online	2.0	ASP.NET 2.0 / C#	$200	Proprietary
E-Blah *	Justin Osborne	Platinum 9.71B	Perl	Free	GPL
FUDforum *	Ilia Alshanetsky	2.7.4	PHP	Free	GPL
Fusetalk *	FuseTalk Inc.	3.0	ColdFusion, ASP.NET	$649(Basic Edition) to $4599(Enterprise Edition)	Proprietary
FusionBB *	InteractivePHP, Inc.	1.0	PHP	$149 Standard License, $39 Renewal	Proprietary
Groupee Forums *	Groupee, Inc.	4.0.3 (with Groupee Community 1.2.11)	Java	$25/month on shared server,	Proprietary
Gossamer Forums *	Gossamer Threads	?	Perl	License: US$200	Proprietary
IceBB *	XAOS Interactive	0.9.2	PHP	Free	GPL
Ideal BB *	Ideal Science	1.5.3b	ASP	$299	Proprietary
Ikonboard *	Ikonboard Development Team	3.1.4	Perl	Free	Proprietary
Invision Power Board *	Invision Power Services Inc.	2.1.6	PHP	$69.95 p.a. / $185 perpetual (1 yr support)	Proprietary
Jive Forums *	Jive Software	4.2.2	Java	$1950 - $19950 - plus 20% P.A for support / upgrades	Proprietary
k4BB *	Peter Goodman, Geoffrey Goodman	2.0 RC2	PHP 4.2>	Free	LGPL
Kareha *	Dag Agren	2.0.3	Perl	Free	Public Domain
MegaBBS *	PD9 Software	2.2	ASP	Free / $35 Link Removal & Additional Features	Other
MercuryBoard *	Jason Warner & Mark Elliot	1.1.4	PHP	Free	GPL
miniBB *	Paul Puzyrev & Sergei Larionov	2.0RC5a	PHP	Free	GPL
Monkey Boards *	James Greenwood	0.3	PHP	Free	GPL	10 July 2006
mwForum *	Markus Wichitill	2.8	Perl	Free	GPL
MyBB *	MyBB Group	1.1.6	PHP	Free	Other	15 July, 2006
MyTopix *	Jaia Interactive	1.2.3b	PHP	Free	Other
OvBB *	Jonathon J. Freeman	V0.09a	PHP	Free	MIT-like	July 5, 2006
PasForum *	?	?	Pascal (FPC, Kylix, Delphi)	Free	Artistic/Other
Phorum *	Brian Moon	5.1.12	PHP	Free	BSD like
phpBB *	James Atkinson	3.0 Beta 1	PHP	Free	GPL	7 June 2006
PunBB *	Rickard Andersson	1.2.12	PHP	Free	GPL
Quezza *	LoonyLuke & The Quezza Dev Team	1.1.0	PHP	Free	GPL
Quicksilver Forums *	Geoff Dunn, Roger Libiez (Samson) &	1.2	PHP	Free	GPL
RForum *	Andreas Schwarz	0.2	Ruby	Free	MIT
Shiichan *	Shii	3956	PHP	Free	GPL
SMF *	Simple Machines	1.0.7	PHP	Free	Other
Sylphagora *	Vystrix Nexoth	1.2	PHP	Free	GPL
tForum *	?	b0.94.2.3	PHP	Free	GPL
Tuvai BB *	Leroy Gerrits (Tuvai)	1.5	PHP	Free	Other
UBB.classic *	Groupee, Inc.	6.7.3	Perl	$199 standard license, $99 renewal	Proprietary
UBB.threads *	Groupee, Inc.	6.5.2	PHP	$299 standard license, $125 renewal	Proprietary
Unclassified NewsBoard *	Yves Goergen	1.5.3	PHP	Free	GPL
UseBB *	UseBB Team	1.0	PHP	Free	GPL
Vanilla *	Mark O'Sullivan *	0.9.2.2	PHP	Free	GPL
vBulletin *	Jelsoft Enterprises	3.5.4	PHP	$85 p.a. / $160 lifetime	Proprietary
Vikingboard *	VB Development Team	0.1b	PHP > 4.2	Free	GPL	22. June 2006
Web Wiz Forum *	Bruce Corkhill	8.01	ASP	Free / $54.46 Link Removal / $544.74 Developer	Proprietary
WSN Forum *	Paul Knierim	1.20	PHP	Free / $48.50	Proprietary
XMB *	XMB Software	1.9.3 Nexus Final	PHP	Free	GPL
YaBB *	YaBB Development Team	2.0	Perl	Free	Other
	Creator	Current stable version	Programming language	Cost	License	Latest release date

Features

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	Flat	Threaded	User-selectable themes	Calendar	Image attachment
aterr
bbPress
Beehive Forum
blazeboard			?
BttlxeForum			?
Burning Boards
Discussion Board
E-Blah
FUDforum
FuseTalk
FusionBB
Groupee Forums
Gossamer Forums
IceBB
Ideal BB		?	?
Ikonboard
Invision Power Board
Jive Software
k4BB
Kareha
MegaBBS
MercuryBoard
miniBB
Monkey Boards
mwForum
MyBB
MyTopix
OvBB
PasForum
Phorum
phpBB
phpBB3 Beta 1
PunBB
Quezza
Quicksilver Forums
RForum			?
Shiichan
SMF
Sylphagora					?
tForum
Tuvai BB
UBB.classic
UBB.threads
Unclassified NewsBoard
UseBB
Vanilla
vBulletin
Vikingboard
Web Wiz Forum
WSN Forum
XMB
YaBB
	Flat	Threaded	User-selectable themes	Calendar	Image attachment

Data storage

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Information about what data storage system can be used.

	Flat file	MySQL	PostgreSQL	MSSQL	Oracle	SQLite	Access	Firebird
aterr
bbPress
Beehive Forum
blazeboard
bttlxeForum
Burning Boards
Discussion Board
E-Blah
FUDforum
FuseTalk
FusionBB
Groupee Forums
Gossamer Forums
IceBB
Ideal BB
Ikonboard
Invision Power Board				Yes ($60)	Yes ($60)
Jive Software
k4BB
Kareha
MegaBBS
MercuryBoard
miniBB
Monkey Boards
mwForum
MyBB
MyTopix
OvBB
PasForum
Phorum
phpBB
phpBB3 Beta 1
PunBB
Quezza
Quicksilver Forums
RForum
SMF
Shiichan
Sylphagora
tForum
Tuvai BB
UBB.classic
UBB.threads
Unclassified NewsBoard
UseBB
Vanilla
vBulletin
Vikingboard
Web Wiz Forum
WSN Forum
XMB
YaBB
	Flat file	MySQL	PostgreSQL	MSSQL	Oracle	SQLite	Access	Firebird

External links

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• ForumMatrix - Comparison of forums and features selected by the user

Internet forum software | Software comparisons