Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

bbPress VS phpBB

Compare bbPress VS phpBB and see what are their differences

bbPress logo bbPress

bbPress is forum software with a twist from the creators of WordPress.

phpBB logo phpBB

Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi is a cheap, credit-card sized computer. The official website uses phpBB for their discussion forums. phpBB is not affiliated with nor responsible for any of the sites listed on the showcase.
  • bbPress Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-07-25
  • phpBB Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-23

bbPress features and specs

  • WordPress Integration
    bbPress is developed by the same team that built WordPress, making it seamlessly compatible and easy to integrate with WordPress sites, utilizing the same login and administration areas.
  • Lightweight
    bbPress is known for being lightweight and fast. It doesn't take up much server space and is efficient in terms of resources, making it a good choice for sites concerned about performance.
  • Open Source
    As an open-source project, bbPress is free to use and can be customized as per the needs. It benefits from community contributions and wide support.
  • Plugin Ecosystem
    bbPress has a variety of plugins and themes available, allowing for extensive customization and feature enhancement without touching the core codebase.
  • Simple Setup
    The setup process of bbPress is straightforward, especially for those familiar with WordPress, allowing users to create forums quickly without complex configurations.

Possible disadvantages of bbPress

  • Limited Features
    Compared to other forum software, bbPress may lack some advanced features out of the box, requiring additional plugins or custom development.
  • Community Size
    The bbPress community, while active, is smaller compared to larger forum software communities, which may impact the variety and speed of support.
  • Basic Design
    bbPress comes with a very basic, minimalistic design. Users seeking more visually appealing or modern forum styles may need to rely on additional themes or custom work.
  • Dependency on WordPress
    Since bbPress is a WordPress plugin, it's dependent on WordPress, which may not be ideal for those looking to build standalone forums without using WordPress as a base.
  • Learning Curve
    For users not familiar with WordPress, there might be a learning curve to effectively manage and customize a bbPress forum.

phpBB features and specs

  • Open Source
    phpBB is an open-source software, which means it is free to use, modify, and distribute. This can drastically reduce the cost of setting up a forum.
  • Customizability
    phpBB offers extensive customization options, including a wide array of plugins and themes to tailor the forum to specific needs.
  • Extensive Documentation
    The platform has comprehensive documentation, tutorials, and a supportive community, making it easier for users to navigate and solve issues.
  • Strong Security Features
    phpBB comes with built-in security features such as anti-spam measures and CAPTCHA validation to protect against unauthorized access and spam.
  • Scalability
    It is highly scalable, capable of handling small communities and large, high-traffic forums effectively.
  • Active Community
    There is a large, active user community which contributes to ongoing development and provides support.

Possible disadvantages of phpBB

  • Complex Setup and Maintenance
    Setting up and maintaining phpBB can be complex and may require a certain level of technical expertise, especially for beginners.
  • Frequent Updates
    The need for frequent updates can be considered a downside as managing updates and compatibility with plugins and themes can be time-consuming.
  • Performance Issues
    Large forums with high traffic can experience performance issues if not properly optimized.
  • Limited Built-in Features
    Some advanced features are not available out-of-the-box and require additional plugins or custom development.
  • Potential Security Vulnerabilities
    As with any popular platform, phpBB can be a target for hackers if not properly maintained with timely updates and security best practices.

bbPress videos

bbPress Review - How To Create a Simple Forum on a WordPress Blog

More videos:

  • Tutorial - How To Create A Forum In WordPress using bbPress (Part - I)
  • Tutorial - BBPress Wordpress Tutorial - Set up a Forum in Wordpress

phpBB videos

PHPbb for Beginners - Creating a Community Forum

More videos:

  • Review - A SQL injection example using phpBB | Ars Technica

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to bbPress and phpBB)
Forums And Forum Software
Forums
18 18%
82% 82
Community Platform
15 15%
85% 85
WordPress
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare bbPress and phpBB

bbPress Reviews

Top 10 Best Free Open Source Forum Software to Setup own Discussion Forum
bbPress makes it very simple for a user to create a unique discussion forum within the WordPress based website as it enables easy setup and offers various useful features to reduce the load. It concentrates more on fast performance, effortless integration, web standards, and extensive usability. It has clean and modern design and provides simple installation process. You can...
Source: technofizi.net

phpBB Reviews

We have no reviews of phpBB yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, bbPress should be more popular than phpBB. It has been mentiond 5 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

bbPress mentions (5)

  • Is Wordpress suitable for my project ?
    Your description has a lot of room for specifics, but if forum is what you want you should check bbpress. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Best way to create a community website
    For something simple, I'd look into bbpress. For something more complex (but that can still integrate with WordPress, check out Xenforo (my favorite) or Vanilla. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Nextdoor replacement?
    I've never used either, but there's BBpress and BuddyPress from the makers of WordPress: Https://bbpress.org/ Https://buddypress.org/. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • Looking for a simple forum-based WP theme that can be customized to add custom pages
    Bbpress.org is going to be best place to start. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • [HELP] Plugin for Discussion Board/Forum
    Have you checked out bbpress? It's from the creators of WordPress Https://bbpress.org/. Source: almost 4 years ago

phpBB mentions (2)

  • Best way to host a small forum?
    Excellent! Glad we could get you sorted! Hosting can be scary and it's okay to be afraid to touch things or not understand certain settings or terms. Especially if you're new. The key is to read the documentation. For your forum needs, this can be found at https://mybb.com and https://phpbb.com. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Looking for resources to learn authentication and security in-depth
    You may find a current, object-oriented version of phpBB to be just the ticket. It will teach you how to structure the database, authenticate users, manage sessions and selectively display content according to user level, group membership, and other policies. Source: about 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing bbPress and phpBB, you can also consider the following products

CreativeMinds WordPress Q&A Plugin - The WordPress Question and Answer Plugin lets users post and answer questions, featuring voting, moderation, and categories. Ideal for creating a community-driven knowledge base or support forum, it enhances user engagement and information sharing.

Discourse - Discourse is an open source discussion platform built for the next decade of the Internet.

XenForo - Intuitive. Social. Engaging. Fast. XenForo brings a fresh outlook to forum software.

Flarum - Flarum is the next-generation forum software that makes online discussion fun. It's simple, fast, and free.

MyBB - MyBB is a discussion board software that runs on PHP and MySQL

Vanilla Forums - Build an engaging community forum using Vanilla's modern cloud forum software.