PhpBB vs MyBB?

[Illusion23]

Alrighty, I was just browsing TAZ forum's and I didn't see a topic comparing people's thoughts on whether PhpBB or MyBB was better than the other. I've done some research and I'm going to be creating a forum community eventually and I can't seem to decide for myself so I wanted to get peoples opinion on this subject before I made a final decision. Thanks in advance.

 

[Jura]

I keep hearing how MyBB is like vBulletin, but the demo makes me think otherwise. phpBB3 has a bigger community behind it, so I'd go for that.

phpBB4 is a must if they really want to stay competitive.

 

[shadow82x]

Go with myBB 1.4 - it is going to be released soon and its faster and easier to navigate. Also it has more useful features imo.

 

[Ddraiggoch08]

Tried MyBB1.3 and 1.4, and phpBB3, and I can say I prefer phpBB. For me, MyBB is too IPB 1.3ish for me, and while the ACP is nice in V1.4, I just like how phpBB is set out, easy to use but really powerful and how MODs can basically do anything to the forum, with more and more being officially added to the database everyday. It might just be me, but parts of MyBB seem a bit unfinished and a bit "shoddy" to me, I don't know why, it just doesn't seem as polished as phpBB3. Also, phpBB3 has a bloody great permissions system, not just a "Can Read Topics?, Can Create Topics?" system like most forums have.

 

[ExplicitSense]

phpBB has so much support behind it and so many people contribute so much to their community.

 

[Baldilocks]

MyBB 1.4 and also older version have much better message tracking/subscritpion features than phpBB does in my opinion.
Also the In-Line moderation tools make moderation easy.

 

[ZiNgABuRgA]

My personal criticism:
phpBB3 looks good (I kinda like the UI), until you see how much system resources it uses, compared to basically every other popular forum system out there...
The permissions system is overboard IMO - tell me, how many BIG forum admins like to control permissions down to the user level? It's unnecessary. If you're thinking you need that kind of control, you should probably be thinking in a different direction.

 

[JanS]

I prefer MyBB any day over the other free forum softwares

 

[HarryWx]

Tried MyBB1.3 and 1.4, and phpBB3, and I can say I prefer phpBB. For me, MyBB is too IPB 1.3ish for me, and while the ACP is nice in V1.4, I just like how phpBB is set out, easy to use but really powerful and how MODs can basically do anything to the forum, with more and more being officially added to the database everyday. It might just be me, but parts of MyBB seem a bit unfinished and a bit "shoddy" to me, I don't know why, it just doesn't seem as polished as phpBB3. Also, phpBB3 has a bloody great permissions system, not just a "Can Read Topics?, Can Create Topics?" system like most forums have.

Speaking of mod's. The GREATLY OUTDATED Phpbb 3 is a nightmare to install them UNLESS you have a little knowledge of that stuff. A number of mods that are ALREADY built in with mybb mind you. Such as quick reply, ( Ajax quick reply in 1.4 ), Inline moderation, better subscription options as someone else mentioned, Ajax quick log in-(1.4 will have ), Plug in system makes it simple to install mod's via a switch in acp, forum warning system built in to 1.4. I can go on all day and night.

Yeah phpbb has a bigger community ( for now ) but that is as far as that goes.

Oh and btw give 1.4 a spin on a test site. See the mybb forums for more. They have opened up beta testing to most. Give it a spin and see for yourself. If you have a site to test it on anyways.

 

[tony84]

there is no competition.
MyBB wins every time.

When i started out many many years ago i used phpbb2 as it was the standard other than vb. I never rally liked it but it was all i knew, i then seen good reviews on smf so i moved to that which i quite liked i was really happy with it infact. I then bought a website which had been using mybb so i thought i would try it and if i didnt like it i would transfer to either vb or smf but i loved it. Mods were easy to install, it was easy to skin it seemed very easy on the resources and good to load. My problem at the time was lack of mods and skins. Over time however my sites were all transferred from SMF to mybb. Mods are easy to come by now as are skins the support obviously isnt as big as phpbb but there are enough people to answer your questions.

Give mybb a try i very much doubt you will regret it.

 

[Ddraiggoch08]

I've tried MyBB, the 1.3 version and the beta 1.4 version with admin access, and I still prefer phpBB3. I agree, MyBB is really good, and does have more out of the box features than phpBB, and the plugin system on it rocks, which makes installing plugins a breeze. I also like the little bonus features of MyBB, like the ratings system. I've tried them both, and phpBB just beats MyBB for my needs a anyway, although MyBB looks very promising and looks like it will do great.

The GREATLY OUTDATED Phpbb 3 is a nightmare to install them UNLESS you have a little knowledge of that stuff.

I don't know what you mean by that, phpBB3 is not outdated at all, and installing took me about 4 minutes, the same as MyBB took. I don't see how it's a nightmare to install.

 

[HarryWx]

I've tried MyBB, the 1.3 version and the beta 1.4 version with admin access, and I still prefer phpBB3. I agree, MyBB is really good, and does have more out of the box features than phpBB, and the plugin system on it rocks, which makes installing plugins a breeze. I also like the little bonus features of MyBB, like the ratings system. I've tried them both, and phpBB just beats MyBB for my needs a anyway, although MyBB looks very promising and looks like it will do great.


I don't know what you mean by that, phpBB3 is not outdated at all, and installing took me about 4 minutes, the same as MyBB took. I don't see how it's a nightmare to install.

Was talking about installing Mods not the forum. As far as outdated goes it STILL lacks most of the basics and worse yet it is a hog on resources as Zingaburga mentioned. Took them 5 YRS to go from phpbb 2 to 3! Still no ajax, No quick reply, and the list goes on. All they did was totally screw up the ACP with that new rotten permission system and make it a hog on resources and added a fresh new skin.

But as others will say to each their own. If your looking for more features ( but without the load ) go with MYBB. If your looking for less features built in and are good with code/installing all the extras then phpbb3 is the way to go.

 

[aboyd]

Hmm. I'll answer this from a mod developer's perspective.

I've been modding phpBB for years. In the version 2 days, mods were awful to create -- there were no hooks in the code, so if you wanted to mod phpBB, you would actually rewrite their code. If two modders wanted to change the same code, well, that was a prime source of broken mods. That method also made it painful to install the mods. If you didn't know PHP, good luck.

With version 3, phpBB has started adding hooks. But lots & lots of mods still modify code -- I guess the hook system isn't extensive enough. They do have a new system for installing mods that tries to resolve the differences automatically, or else flag the issues for you to resolve. So it's at least better.

However, even with version 3, you still have to mod the heck out of the system in order to bring it up to near-parity with VBulletin. And on top of that, they run the phpbb.com forums in a very heavy-handed way. Have you read their rules? Pretty extensive. They'll lock things that almost any other forum admin would appreciate. I had a topic to ask modders to praise their fellow modders so that we could reinforce the good community and maybe even learn from the best code out there. Instead, it was shut right down because the modder forum "is only for asking questions about mods." I thought I was asking about mods, but apparently it was too poll-ish, even though I didn't have a poll. I thought, "Dude, if I had people creating such nice topics on my forums, I'd love it!"

They just don't care. They had a big debate over the new ModX system, with a lot of developers asking for the old system to remain an option -- and even citing some compelling advantages to it. But the basic response was "Tough. We like the new way, so no to you."

That attitude comes with success, and it comes with the stress of having a few people managing hundreds of thousands. So I partly don't blame them. But also, it makes me want to look at other forum systems.

MyBB is much better to develop for in a sense. Their hooks system is much better, and that's partly why people on this thread are saying that mods are much easier to install. There's a real factual basis behind that.

MyBB also isn't GPL or BSD licensed, however. You need to be careful. If they ever get "too big for their britches," well, tough. They own the code, so you have to walk. In particular, this clause in their license:

The MyBB Group also reserve the right to revoke redistribution rights of MyBB from any corporation or entity for any specified reason.

...Means that if they don't want you to fork their code, you ain't forking their code. In light of the recent PunBB/FluxBB fork, preventing forks seems like a pretty dangerous level of lock-in. Having said that, for a non-GPL & non-BSD license, it's otherwise pretty good. I think I like it.

Having grown tired of phpBB, I'm currently looking for a new home for about 50 mods I've built. I'm considering FluxBB, MyBB, Phorum, and Vanilla. At this point, I just don't know which community is most friendly to developers and customers. MyBB is the most feature-rich, though. That's for certain.

 

[Ddraiggoch08]

Was talking about installing Mods not the forum. As far as outdated goes it STILL lacks most of the basics and worse yet it is a hog on resources as Zingaburga mentioned. Took them 5 YRS to go from phpbb 2 to 3! Still no ajax, No quick reply, and the list goes on. All they did was totally screw up the ACP with that new rotten permission system and make it a hog on resources and added a fresh new skin.

But as others will say to each their own. If your looking for more features ( but without the load ) go with MYBB. If your looking for less features built in and are good with code/installing all the extras then phpbb3 is the way to go.

I don't find it a resource hog at all, with a medium sized forum everything loads just as quick as a test SMF forum I have installed. I don't get why they didn't include quick reply though, that's a bit stupid. I also don't understand how they "screwed up the ACP with that new rotten permission system". It's fully integrated with the ACP, and while I don't use all the features of it, I do use most of them quite often, you can customise it all the way to the core. And also, setting permissions on a per-user basis is really hand sometimes, instead of making a new group for them, you can say right, I want them to have a permission set for themselves.

Hmm. I'll answer this from a mod developer's perspective.

I've been modding phpBB for years. In the version 2 days, mods were awful to create -- there were no hooks in the code, so if you wanted to mod phpBB, you would actually rewrite their code. If two modders wanted to change the same code, well, that was a prime source of broken mods. That method also made it painful to install the mods. If you didn't know PHP, good luck.

With version 3, phpBB has started adding hooks. But lots & lots of mods still modify code -- I guess the hook system isn't extensive enough. They do have a new system for installing mods that tries to resolve the differences automatically, or else flag the issues for you to resolve. So it's at least better.

However, even with version 3, you still have to mod the heck out of the system in order to bring it up to near-parity with VBulletin. And on top of that, they run the phpbb.com forums in a very heavy-handed way. Have you read their rules? Pretty extensive. They'll lock things that almost any other forum admin would appreciate. I had a topic to ask modders to praise their fellow modders so that we could reinforce the good community and maybe even learn from the best code out there. Instead, it was shut right down because the modder forum "is only for asking questions about mods." I thought I was asking about mods, but apparently it was too poll-ish, even though I didn't have a poll. I thought, "Dude, if I had people creating such nice topics on my forums, I'd love it!"

They just don't care. They had a big debate over the new ModX system, with a lot of developers asking for the old system to remain an option -- and even citing some compelling advantages to it. But the basic response was "Tough. We like the new way, so no to you."

That attitude comes with success, and it comes with the stress of having a few people managing hundreds of thousands. So I partly don't blame them. But also, it makes me want to look at other forum systems.

MyBB is much better to develop for in a sense. Their hooks system is much better, and that's partly why people on this thread are saying that mods are much easier to install. There's a real factual basis behind that.

MyBB also isn't GPL or BSD licensed, however. You need to be careful. If they ever get "too big for their britches," well, tough. They own the code, so you have to walk. In particular, this clause in their license:



...Means that if they don't want you to fork their code, you ain't forking their code. In light of the recent PunBB/FluxBB fork, preventing forks seems like a pretty dangerous level of lock-in. Having said that, for a non-GPL & non-BSD license, it's otherwise pretty good. I think I like it.

Having grown tired of phpBB, I'm currently looking for a new home for about 50 mods I've built. I'm considering FluxBB, MyBB, Phorum, and Vanilla. At this point, I just don't know which community is most friendly to developers and customers. MyBB is the most feature-rich, though. That's for certain.

I agree with most of that. While the system has improved since V2m it is still pretty annoying now. Upgrading a hugely MODded forum is a nightmare, but isn't so bad now with the DIFF system on the auto upgrader if there is a problem. MyBB has got more out of the box features, while phpBB does have features MyBB got, MyBB has more, although not a lot of them I would use.

The community forum has a ton of rules, yea, but it's not that bad. The staff are friendly most of the time, and usually are really helpful. While I don't agree with the "it's ours, tough" attitude sometimes, you have to remember that they are huge, and that it is theirs, so that is to be expected with big companies. The MODs on phpBB seem more "well built" than MyBB mods, to me anyways.

I think it's what your looking for:

phpBB: Huge community, great MODs, easy but powerful.
MyBB: Best out-of-the-box, plugin system easy to use, looks really promising.

 

[Mmarzex]

Time for my two cents.

phpBB is something were they started out early with a crappy system but people are afraid to change to a better system because they are worried it won't have the plugins you want. I have a mybb site that loads almost 3 seconds faster then phpBB and the mybb site is twice as big as the phpBB site. phpBB might have a huge community but I used to use phpBB I never once got a response to a support thread now with mybb you post asking for help within 30 minutes you have an answer. Their mods are good and they release updated versions to stay competitive. phpbBB doesn't have good MODs because you still have to edit files which the only mod I had to do that for mybb was a bridge I made between it and wp.


Plain and simple if you want a resource hog get phpBB
if you want the strongest freeware forum out there get MyBB better support, and features plain and simple.

 

[Kellanved]

My personal criticism:
phpBB3 looks good (I kinda like the UI), until you see how much system resources it uses, compared to basically every other popular forum system out there...

phpBB3 is very lightweight compared to almost any other script. It is very far from being a resource hog and one of the very few scripts able to handle a big community.

 

[Ddraiggoch08]

phpBB3 is very lightweight compared to almost any other script. It is very far from being a resource hog and one of the very few scripts able to handle a big community.

Agreed. MyBB is also very fast, but I don't see how you can say that phpBB3 is a resource hog. There are many reasons why it might load faster on one page than the other, everything from GZIP, Ajax stuff, Index Page MODs installed, Users online, Style/Theme etc. You can't just say "That page loads faster, and so is better".

 

[HarryWx]

Hmm. I'll answer this from a mod developer's perspective.

I've been modding phpBB for years. In the version 2 days, mods were awful to create -- there were no hooks in the code, so if you wanted to mod phpBB, you would actually rewrite their code. If two modders wanted to change the same code, well, that was a prime source of broken mods. That method also made it painful to install the mods. If you didn't know PHP, good luck.

With version 3, phpBB has started adding hooks. But lots & lots of mods still modify code -- I guess the hook system isn't extensive enough. They do have a new system for installing mods that tries to resolve the differences automatically, or else flag the issues for you to resolve. So it's at least better.

However, even with version 3, you still have to mod the heck out of the system in order to bring it up to near-parity with VBulletin. And on top of that, they run the phpbb.com forums in a very heavy-handed way. Have you read their rules? Pretty extensive. They'll lock things that almost any other forum admin would appreciate. I had a topic to ask modders to praise their fellow modders so that we could reinforce the good community and maybe even learn from the best code out there. Instead, it was shut right down because the modder forum "is only for asking questions about mods." I thought I was asking about mods, but apparently it was too poll-ish, even though I didn't have a poll. I thought, "Dude, if I had people creating such nice topics on my forums, I'd love it!"

They just don't care. They had a big debate over the new ModX system, with a lot of developers asking for the old system to remain an option -- and even citing some compelling advantages to it. But the basic response was "Tough. We like the new way, so no to you."

That attitude comes with success, and it comes with the stress of having a few people managing hundreds of thousands. So I partly don't blame them. But also, it makes me want to look at other forum systems.

MyBB is much better to develop for in a sense. Their hooks system is much better, and that's partly why people on this thread are saying that mods are much easier to install. There's a real factual basis behind that.

MyBB also isn't GPL or BSD licensed, however. You need to be careful. If they ever get "too big for their britches," well, tough. They own the code, so you have to walk. In particular, this clause in their license:



...Means that if they don't want you to fork their code, you ain't forking their code. In light of the recent PunBB/FluxBB fork, preventing forks seems like a pretty dangerous level of lock-in. Having said that, for a non-GPL & non-BSD license, it's otherwise pretty good. I think I like it.

Having grown tired of phpBB, I'm currently looking for a new home for about 50 mods I've built. I'm considering FluxBB, MyBB, Phorum, and Vanilla. At this point, I just don't know which community is most friendly to developers and customers. MyBB is the most feature-rich, though. That's for certain.

Bolded part first. In the end THAT is what WILL do them in. IMHO My guess as well why a couple of project managers have left such as SHS' who IMHO wasnt a big loss anyways as he had the worst attitude of ANYONE involved with that project. For me he was the tipping point of why i never went back to them. He wanted to keep the project in the dark ages and his excuses about why this or that dont/wont get added ( such as quick reply ) amounted to garbage. BUT as well what doesnt help there is those MODDERS have WAY WAY TO MUCH INFLUENCE over the project and why i am about certain alot of stuff such as quick reply doesnt get added. Dont get me wrong i appreciate what they do but they have way over stepped their bounds by forcing people to have all of theose endless hacks just so one can have a decent community. Very EASY to have the largest modding community when the developers make sure that the most requested features dont get added to the core system. WHY this project will ALWAYS remain in the dark ages. It is a shame too because there is some decent people over there who have poured in alot of time and sweat and naturally dont wanna just give up.
The more people start hearing / finding the REST of the systems the more users that will start turning away from or going elsewhere other then phpbb. Bad enough to not wanna add the most requested features but then to have attitudes about it? Oh hell no. That IS what will do them in eventually. Ofcourse they will always have the fan base via the modders etc but that will be it. Free or not you dont treat your USERS like that. Too many other and better systems coming along.

Seriously give mybb a spin. YES the developers there are very friendly towards mod/plugin/theme developers and users. MYBB is starting to explode and thus the best possible time ever to get involved with it. Yeah the mod/theme community is still rather small compared to the rest ( At this point ) but that should be a GOOD thing as that helps you with getting yourself known quicker/better. There is tons of excitement going there ( always a positive with any community ) as this software now explodes into the market with the full/gold release of 1.4 due out any day. Thus the best time ever to get involved. Not many chances like this often comes along.
Just remember if you do decide to give it a spin be sure that it is 1.4 your giving a spin YES they are allowing alot more beta testers ( as long as you have a TEST site to test it on ) to rid out the final bugs. As said above see the mybb forum for more. Announcement section.

 

[Ddraiggoch08]

I don't think that the community will kill phpBB. It's not the nicest community in the world, but it is certainly not the worst. The phpBB team are focusing on the core thing, they are not deliberately removing the requested features. Sure, I don't know why they didn't include quick edit or quick rely for example, but not everyone uses them, and I don't, so it doesn't effect me.

Also, I have tried MyBB 1.4. Looks really nice too, but I still prefer phpBB.

 

[HarryWx]

I don't find it a resource hog at all, with a medium sized forum everything loads just as quick as a test SMF forum I have installed. I don't get why they didn't include quick reply though, that's a bit stupid. I also don't understand how they "screwed up the ACP with that new rotten permission system". It's fully integrated with the ACP, and while I don't use all the features of it, I do use most of them quite often, you can customise it all the way to the core. And also, setting permissions on a per-user basis is really hand sometimes, instead of making a new group for them, you can say right, I want them to have a permission set for themselves.


I agree with most of that. While the system has improved since V2m it is still pretty annoying now. Upgrading a hugely MODded forum is a nightmare, but isn't so bad now with the DIFF system on the auto upgrader if there is a problem. MyBB has got more out of the box features, while phpBB does have features MyBB got, MyBB has more, although not a lot of them I would use.

The community forum has a ton of rules, yea, but it's not that bad. The staff are friendly most of the time, and usually are really helpful. While I don't agree with the "it's ours, tough" attitude sometimes, you have to remember that they are huge, and that it is theirs, so that is to be expected with big companies. The MODs on phpBB seem more "well built" than MyBB mods, to me anyways.

I think it's what your looking for:

phpBB: Huge community, great MODs, easy but powerful.
MyBB: Best out-of-the-box, plugin system easy to use, looks really promising.

Again bolded part first. Not trying to be rude but i find that comment to be one of the funniest things i have ever read on these boards. It is that rotten system that has partly allowed phpbb to get it's bad rap about security. You have got to be kidding me? Either that or you are still fairly new to all of this? In either case that couldnt be further from the truth. Plus as said above installing mods on phpbb is basically a nightmare unless ofcourse you know a little about messing with code. And ofcourse they are gonna have a larger community as for one they have been around FOR ALOT longer. As said above PHPBB refuses to add alot of the most requested features and so ofcourse they are gonna have a larger mod community/selection. Lets not forget either that till the last 2yrs or so ( BEFORE smf and MYBB really came along ) they were basically the only real game in town as far as free systems go. That has greatly helped with getting that name out. With SMF and more so MYBB now FINALLY taking free to the next level they are now really taking off. Heck i would go with SMF before i would phpbb. Still though prefer MYBB above all else.

As for the reply to my other post i guess we will just have to dissagree. One of those to each their own. I enjoy MYBB ACP ( 1.4 ) which gives you alot more power over everything right down to themes/skins but is very easy to use. Also allows you to turn off alot of features as well if you dont care to use them via acp which ofcourse you can turn back on later if you feel you need/want them. The plugin system makes it all the better. For me anyways. As said to each thier own.

As far as what someone may be looking for.

phpBB: 8yrs old and with a Huge community, Ton's of MODs to install ( as it doesnt come with many built in ) IF you enjoy messing with the code. This is for you if you enjoy/know how to do that sort of thing.
MyBB: Best out-of-the-box, plugin system easy to use, It is rising fast in the forum world. Yeah even i have some worries which are releated to those plugins ( people wanting to charge for them ) but a number of new plugin developers are finding their way there and thus this has become less of a issue lately. We will see i suppose. This however is a gift from the god's for those who enjoy theming/creating mods as there is still alot of room for new developers. I plan to do themes ( a first for me ever ) after 1.4 is out in gold. It for me anyways is pretty easy to theme ( Learned the system pretty easy ) and i have come to enjoy doing that.