# need PHPBB alternatives



## webgenius (Mar 15, 2011)

Hi,

My site forum is currently running on PHPBB. I am finding it difficult to manage PHPBB due to the complexity of installing mods to make it look and function better.

Please suggest some free alternatives to PHPBB. Had a look at VBulletin, but it is a commercial version. I'm interested in open source software like PHPBB. Please suggest.


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## ico (Mar 15, 2011)

MyBB >>> phpBB.


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## webgenius (Mar 15, 2011)

Thanks ico. Had a quick review of MyBB. It defintely looks better than PHPBB.
Especially like the ease of installing mods, which is a pain in PHPBB.

BTW, nice siggy


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## ico (Mar 15, 2011)

MyBB is actually like a free vBulletin. There's also a very good migration system available for it.

But you might get disappointed by the number of mods and plug-ins available. No free BB software beats phpBB in that respect.


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## Liverpool_fan (Mar 15, 2011)

Simple Machines Forum (SMF) - Home of SMF: Free PHP and MySQL forum software is pretty good too.
You may also consider PunBB - PunBB - because it is lighweight and simple to use.

If you want a Q&A kind of site, this may help - *www.webappers.com/2010/02/26/stack-overflow-like-open-source-qa-systems-for-download/


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## gagan007 (Mar 15, 2011)

Just repeating what ico said....I would suggest you go for SMF. MyBB may look easy in the beginning and one can get impressed by the ways it look so similar to vBulletin but the truth is nearly all of the plugins of this bulletin board are paid (I repeat, not all but most of them) which is really frustrating at times when you are looking for a particular feature and it comes out that you need to pay for each and every thing.


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## webgenius (Mar 15, 2011)

If plug-ins are not free, then there in no point in using it.

What about bbPress? How good is it? Read somewhere that it integrates well with sites built using Wordpress.

Will research on SMF now and see how the forum looks like.


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## ico (Mar 15, 2011)

bbPress is a simple forum. Nothing more and nothing less. Too basic.

SMF is good too. A good example of SMF would be: Red and White Kop Liverpool FC Forum - Index


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## webgenius (Mar 15, 2011)

How about the installation of mods for SMF? Is it easy like MyBB?


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## gagan007 (Mar 15, 2011)

never tried that.maybe someone who has tried it already should answer that.but as it is free to download (and use) why don't you have a small setup on your local computer and test all the aspects of it. Ohhhh so for techfanz you are looking for a discussion board. Then go for bbPress because that way you don't have to worry about dual membership. I mean those who are registered at your main site will be able to access forum(bbPress) without having to creat a new account.

I had nightmares when I used to have phpBB forum and Joomla/Wordpress as main site. Whatever bridges happen to exist out there always have one issue or another and were never perfect.
Just check if a good bridge for Wordpress/SMF do exists. Else bbPress is your best bet IMHO.


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