SMF vs phpBB Software Review Author: BCModder -- Posted: 2007-03-05
Thought I would post my views on smf vs phpBB forum software, well after using phpBB for so long SMF was deffinately a change.
SMF Review
Well here goes the pro's and con's of SMF as opposed to phpBB. It has more options then phpBB in the admin panel for one, another thing I have noticed about it is that unlike phpBB not only does it show who the last person who posted was in the different forum areas but also the topic that was posted in which is a nice feature to have. One of the best things I like about SMF over phpBB is that if you ever had to delete a crap load of spam bot accounts you can select and delete multiple profiles at once rather then spend hours on end sitting there going through each and every account 1x1 like with phpBB(seriously it can take hours).
There are honestly some big drawbacks to it though, for starters although it has alot more options in the admin panel then phpBB does the interface is kinda clumsy and scattered so it makes it kinda difficult to find things when it comes to configuring all of your options, another thing Ive noticed is its needlessly complicated when it comes to trying to get new smiley and avatars installed(I still haven't figured that one out). The final and has to be the biggest drawback to it is the database backup function for it, Ive backed up my database using its backup function and when I went to restore it I got nothing but the same error over and over an I gotta say its just lucky I kept a backup from phpmyadmin or I would have been screwed.
phpBB Review
Well here goes on the phpBB review. Well lets seen my views on the pro's and cons of phpBB, I would have to say the big thing I like about phpBB is its over all easy to install not to mention its easy to setup and arange your forum boards and categories however you may want them and may want them in the future. Another thing about phpBB is the permission levels are alot more straight forward and easier to setup then they are with smf, the forum themes albeit are just as easy to install on smf are much easier to edit and change on phpBB which would come in very handy for someone with little or no experience with forum software. Also a plus to phpBB is the avatar and smiley galleries are setup much better then they are with smf, smf requires you to install packages for everything. With avatars you can just transfer them into their directory listing and they work smileys albeit have an install file work just the same you transfer over go to edit smileys and install the new set which its really straight forward in phpBB for both. The backup and restore functions for the database are built much better in phpBB, especially in the manner that smf only has the backup protocol and from what Ive seen it corrupts the database and phpBB has both backup and restore which makes a huge difference when it comes time and you need to backup and do server maintenance. In fact the only negative side of phpBB that I can see really is the lack of admin options....well that and you can't mass delete accounts. lol
So all in all if I were to give a rating out of 10 on these 2 forum softwares, SMF would rate about a 4 out of 10 5 tops and I would have to rate phpBB at about 8 out 10
