Comparison of Internet forum software

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

Contents

1 General Information

General Information

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

	Creator	First public release date	Current stable version	Programming language	Cost (USD)	License
DiscussionBoard	Active Data Online	October 2004	1.5	ASP.NET / C#	$100	Proprietary
phpBB	James Atkinson	July 1 2000	2.0.13	PHP	Free	GPL
Sylphagora	Vystrix Nexoth	September 3 2003	1.2	PHP	Free	GPL
UBB.classic	Infopop Corporation	May 7 1996	6.7.2	Perl	$199 standard license, $99 renewal	Proprietary
UBB.threads	Infopop Corporation	1996	6.5.1.1	PHP	$299 standard license, $125 renewal	Proprietary
UBB.x (part of eve community platform)	Infopop Corporation	April 2002	4.0.3 (with eve 1.2.8)	Java	$25/month on shared server, $499/month on dedicated server	Proprietary
vBulletin	Jelsoft Enterprises	?	3.0.7	PHP	$85 p.a. / $160 lifetime	Proprietary
YaBB	YaBB Development Team	July 2000	1.4 SP	Perl	Free	GPL
	Creator	First public release date	Current stable version	Programming language	Cost	License

Information about what common forum features are implemented natively (without third-party add-ons).

	Flat	Threaded	User-selectable themes	Calendar
DiscussionBoard	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
phpBB	Yes	No	Yes	No
Sylphagora	No	Yes	No	No
UBB.classic	Yes	No	No	No
UBB.threads	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
UBB.x	Yes	No	No	No
vBulletin	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
YaBB	Yes	No	?	No
	Flat	Threaded	User-selectable themes	Calendar

Information about what data storage can be used.

	Flat file	MySQL	PostgreSQL	Firebird	MSSQL	Oracle	SQLite	Access
DiscussionBoard	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
phpBB	No	Yes	Yes	Coming soon	Yes	With Modification	Coming soon	Yes
Sylphagora	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
UBB.classic	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
UBB.threads	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
UBB.x	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
vBulletin	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
YaBB	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
	Flat file	MySQL	PostgreSQL	Firebird	MSSQL	Oracle	SQLite	Access