Compare IP.Board vs PhpBB 3 vs vBulletin 4

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Popular Forum Comparisons: IP.Board vs PhpBB 3 vs vBulletin 4, MyBB vs Simple Machines 2 vs XenForo, FluxBB vs ProBoards vs PunBB, FUDForum vs Phorum vs Vanilla Forums, MyBB vs UseBB.

Comparison
Results

IP.Board

PhpBB 3

vBulletin 4

Select

Version

3.3.4

3.0.11

4.1.1

Last Release

July 11, 2012

August 25, 2012

December 26, 2010

License

Proprietary License

GPL License

Proprietary License

Price

Standard $175 / Business $299 / Hosting $9.99 per month

Free

$195 for Forum, $285 for Publishing Suite

Resources

Official Website »
Download »

Ergonomy

Perfection

Installation

Fast & Simple

Administration

Really Intuitive

Efficient & Fast

Community Size

Huge Community

Our Opinion

User Reviews

7.1/10 (299 votes)

8.5/10 (780 votes)

4.2/10 (441 votes)

Demonstration

No Live Demo.

Open Demo »

Open Demo »

Server Requirements

IP.Board

PhpBB 3

vBulletin 4

Operating System

GNU/Linux
BSD Unix
Microsoft Windows
Apple Mac OS

GNU/Linux
BSD Unix
Microsoft Windows
Apple Mac OS

GNU/Linux
BSD Unix
Microsoft Windows
Apple Mac OS

Web Server

Apache 1.3
Apache 2.0/2.2
Microsoft IIS
Lighttpd
Nginx

Apache 1.3
Apache 2.0/2.2
Microsoft IIS
Lighttpd
Nginx

Apache 1.3
Apache 2.0/2.2
Microsoft IIS
Lighttpd

Languages

PHP 5

PHP 4
PHP 5

PHP 4
PHP 5

Databases

MySQL

MySQL
Postgresql
SQLite
Microsoft SQL Server
Oracle

MySQL

Browsers & Clients
Requirements

Compatible
Browsers

Mozilla Firefox

Internet Explorer

Google Chrome

Opera

Apple Safari

Konqueror

Mozilla SeaMonkey

Mozilla Firefox

Internet Explorer

Google Chrome

Opera

Apple Safari

Konqueror

Mozilla SeaMonkey

Mozilla Firefox

Internet Explorer

Google Chrome

Opera

Apple Safari

Konqueror

Mozilla SeaMonkey

Plugins/
Technologies

HTML
Javascript
AJAX
CSS

AJAX

Javascript
AJAX

Localization

Yes

Languages

Supported Languages:

Bosnian

Bulgarian

Portuguese (Brazilian)

Catalan

Chinese (Simplified)

German

Danish

Spanish

Finnish

French

Georgian

Greek

Croatian

Hebrew

Persian

Icelandic

Italian

Dutch

Polish

Romanian

Serbian

Russian

Arabic

Thai

Turkish

Ukrainian

Vietnamese

Chinese (Traditional)

Supported Languages:

Albanian

Basque

Bulgarian

Portuguese (Brazilian)

Belarusian

Catalan

Chinese (Simplified)

Czech

German

Danish

Estonian

Spanish

Finnish

French

Galician

Greek

Croatian

Hungarian

Indonesian

Hebrew

Persian

Italian

Japanese

Kurdish

Lithuanian

Dutch

Norwegian

Polish

Portuguese

Romanian

Serbian

Russian

Arabic

Swedish

Slovene

Sindhi

Slovak

Thai

Turkish

Ukrainian

English (British)

English (American)

Vietnamese

Chinese (Traditional)

Supported Languages:

Portuguese (Brazilian)

Chinese (Simplified)

German

Danish

French

Greek

Italian

Dutch

Portuguese

Romanian

Swedish

English (British)

English (American)

Chinese (Traditional)

Compatibility with
Smartphones

Compatible
SmartPhones

Android
iPhone
BlackBerry
Windows Phone 7
Symbian Phones (Nokia)
HP WebOS (ex-Palm)

Android
iPhone
BlackBerry
Windows Phone 7
Symbian Phones (Nokia)
HP WebOS (ex-Palm)

Android
iPhone
BlackBerry
Windows Phone 7
Symbian Phones (Nokia)
HP WebOS (ex-Palm)

Distribution

Android Market
Apple Store
Nokia Ovi Store
BlackBerry App World

Android Market
Apple Store
Nokia Ovi Store
BlackBerry App World

Android Market
Apple Store
Nokia Ovi Store
BlackBerry App World

Threads / Topics

IP.Board

PhpBB 3

vBulletin 4

Forum Style

Flat/Threaded

Flat

Flat/Threaded

Forum Organization

Forum Categories
URL Redirection Forum
Sub Sections
Trashcan Forum

Forum Categories
URL Redirection Forum
Sub Sections

Forum Categories
URL Redirection Forum
Sub Sections
Trashcan Forum
Tags

Topic Tags

Yes

Plugin

Yes

Sticky Threads

Yes

Thread Icons

Yes

Hot Topics

Yes

Related Threads

Plugin

Yes

Detect
Duplicate Threads

Plugin

Yes

Hidden Topics

Yes

Unread Topics

Yes

Announcements

Yes

Forum Posts

IP.Board

PhpBB 3

vBulletin 4

Message
Editing Form

Rich Text Editor
Formatting Buttons
Preview Button

Rich Text Editor
Preview Button

WYSIWYG Editor
Preview Button

Post Editing Format

Plain
BBCode

HTML
BBCode

Plain
HTML
BBCode

Spell Checker

Plugin

Emoticons

Yes

Quick Reply Box

Yes

Syntax Highlighting

Plugin

Message Quoting

Yes

Message Rating

Yes

Plugin

Yes

Attachments

Yes

Image Attachment

Upload via Classic Attachments
Upload via Advanced Attachments
Use BBCode or HTML

Upload via Classic Attachments
Use BBCode or HTML

Upload via Advanced Attachments
Use BBCode or HTML

Embedded Videos

YouTube

No.

YouTube

Forum Features

IP.Board

PhpBB 3

vBulletin 4

Poll Creation

Yes

Private Messages

Yes

Instant Messaging

Plugin

Yes

Calendar

Yes

Members List

Yes

Online Users List

Yes

Technical Features

IP.Board

PhpBB 3

vBulletin 4

Bundled Software

Portal
CMS
Pictures Album Manager
Downloads Manager

No.

Website Home Page
CMS
Blog
Bug Tracker
Projet Manager
Pictures Album Manager

RSS/Atom
Syndication

RSS 2.0

ATOM 1.0

RSS 2.0

Friendly URLs

Yes

Remote Control

XML/RPC

No.

Cache System

Yes

Template Engine

Custom Template Engine

Custom Template Engine

Custom Template Engine

Post By Email

Yes

User Profiles &
Options

IP.Board

PhpBB 3

vBulletin 4

User Profile

Yes

Avatars

Yes

Signatures

Yes

Ranks

Yes

Bookmark Threads

Yes

User Selectable
Themes

Yes

Email Notifications

Yes

Export
Private Messages

Yes

Payment
Subscriptions

Plugin

Yes

Security & Spam
Protection

CAPTCHA

Yes

CAPTCHA Complexity

Hard

Normal

Abnormal Behavior
Detection

Words Filtering

Yes

User Blacklist

Yes

IP Blocking

Yes

Customization

IP.Board

PhpBB 3

vBulletin 4

Plugins

Yes

~433 Available Plugins.

Yes

Plugin Installation

Easy

Normal

Themes

Yes

~90 Available Themes.

Yes

~525 Available Themes.

Yes

Custom BBCodes

Yes

Custom Emoticons

Yes

Custom
Thread Icons

Yes

Custom
Profile Fields

Yes

Third Applications &
Websites

Social Networks

CMS / Blog Bridges

Joomla
WordPress

Drupal
Joomla

Drupal
Joomla
WordPress

User Accounts
Integration

LDAP
Facebook Connect
OpenId
Windows Live ID
Other Databases

LDAP
OpenId

Facebook Connect

Content Aggregation

No.

Moderation &
Threads Management

IP.Board

PhpBB 3

vBulletin 4

Moderation

Pre-Moderation
Post-Moderation
Reactive Moderation
Distributed Moderation

Pre-Moderation
Post-Moderation
Reactive Moderation
Distributed Moderation

Pre-Moderation
Post-Moderation
Reactive Moderation
Distributed Moderation

Moderator
per Section

Yes

Global Moderator

Yes

Move Threads

Yes

Shadow Topics

Yes

Close/Lock Threads

Yes

Users
Management

User Groups

Yes

User Registration

Free Registration
Registration needs Approval
Invitation Only
User Account created by Administrator
Confirmation sent by email for validation

Free Registration
Registration needs Approval
Invitation Only
Confirmation sent by email for validation

Free Registration
Registration needs Approval
User Account created by Administrator
Confirmation sent by email for validation

New Users
Limitation

Yes

Guest Posting

Yes

Multiple
Administrators

Yes

Send Warnings
to Users

Yes

Access Control List

Yes

User Banishment

Yes

Mass Mailing

Yes

Installation &
Upgrading

IP.Board

PhpBB 3

vBulletin 4

Installation Method

Installation Wizard

Upgrade Method

Upgrade Wizard

Update
Notifications

Yes

Forum Migration

Yes

Database
Management

Backup Database

Yes

Prune Database

Yes

Restore Database

Yes

Administration
Tools

Statistics

Yes

Error/Notice
Log Viewer

Yes

Tasks Scheduler

Yes

W3C Norms &
Accessibility

HTML / XHTML

XHTML 1.0 Strict

XHTML 1.0 Strict

XHTML 1.0 Transitional

Stylesheets (CSS)

CSS 2

CSS 2

CSS 2

Accessibility (WAI)

UTF-8 Support

Yes

W3C Norms

Yes

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