phpBB
Ranked 2 of 6 forum software by recommenders
People recommend phpBB for running forums with strong access controls, ranks that keep new accounts unposted until verified, and a long track record of stability. The most common caveat is a history of security vulnerabilities and constant patching.
People recommend phpBB for running forums with strong access controls, ranks that keep new accounts unposted until verified, and a long track record of stability. The most common caveat is a history of security vulnerabilities and constant patching.
35 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 19
- criticize it
- 16
- approval share
- 54%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 19 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.1 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 9 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Access controls and ranks stop spam
“That is a simple method in phpBB. Using ranks one can set new accounts to be able to post and nobody can see their message until verified by a moderator.”
Comment from 12 Mar 2026 in “The dead Internet is not a theory anymore” “I still use it for private and semi-private forums. The access controls make it much easier to stop drive-by spammers”
Comment from 1 Feb 2026 in “Finland to end "uncontrolled human experiment" with ban on youth social media” Nostalgia for classic forum experience
“I really love that a phpBB board like this still exists outside the dominant social media hellscape”
Comment from 19 Dec 2025 in “Reconstructed Commander Keen 1-3 Source Code” “I'm also glad I got to experience phpBB message boards”
Comment from 15 Mar 2026 in “Ageless Linux. We are legally required to ask how old you are. We won't” “I loved posting on phpBB forums back in the day.”
Comment from 10 Sep 2026 in “I think I hate the internet” - Comment from 20 Mar 2026 in “The Social Smolnet”
- Comment from 31 Jan 2026 in “Finland to end "uncontrolled human experiment" with ban on youth social media”
- Comment from 23 Jun 2026 in “Spying on kids to save kids from spying is stupid”
Stable and moddable over years
“phpBB also had a reputation for stability”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “Getting phpBB 1.4.4 working in Docker” “as moddable as phpbb was back in the day”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “Getting phpBB 1.4.4 working in Docker” “Don't reinvent the wheel PHPBB, MyBB and others are still updated.”
Comment from 26 Aug 2026 in “Nitter and XCancel receive cease and desist notices” Good for private communities
“I still use it for private and semi-private forums. The access controls make it much easier to stop drive-by spammers”
Comment from 1 Feb 2026 in “Finland to end "uncontrolled human experiment" with ban on youth social media” “If you didn't like one community, it was super easy to find one you did.”
Comment from 10 Feb 2026 in “Discord faces backlash over age checks after data breach exposed 70k IDs”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Security vulnerabilities and constant patching
“phpbb was a nightmare to keep patched (even without any plugins/customization) and free of spam accounts”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “Bring Back Crappy Forums” “The code was rife with vulnerabilities, so the boards needed constant patching”
Comment from 31 Jan 2026 in “Finland to end "uncontrolled human experiment" with ban on youth social media” “it's still having critical security vulns after 26 years”
Comment from 25 Aug 2026 in “Nitter and XCancel receive cease and desist notices” - Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “1D Conway's Life glider found, 3.7B cells long”
- Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “Getting phpBB 1.4.4 working in Docker”
Spam accounts and spambot problems
“phpbb was a nightmare to keep patched (even without any plugins/customization) and free of spam accounts”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “Bring Back Crappy Forums” “even back then those forums were overrun with spambots”
Comment from 7 Aug 2026 in “99% of My Website Traffic Is Bots” “PHPbb kept getting trashed by spammers”
Comment from 24 Jul 2026 in “So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe” Slow performance and throughput
“It was slow, but it worked just fine for my friends and I!”
Comment from 8 May 2026 in “Serving a Website on a Raspberry Pi Zero Running in RAM” “PhpBB is not much better. Pathetic throughput at best and it has not gotten better in decades now.”
Comment from 3 May 2026 in “Videolan Dav2d”
Other forum software people recommend
The four most recommended other forum software, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 6 forum software, rankedWhat people said
38 of the 41 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“phpBB will assign you a randomized session if if you visit it anonymously”
“I loved posting on phpBB forums back in the day.”
“I accidentally SQL injected phpBB without even trying.”
“seems it still feels authentic”
“Discourse UX is so much worse than phpBB because it merges all categories.”
“phpBB also had a reputation for stability”
“as moddable as phpbb was back in the day”
“I don't really miss these times”
“Don't reinvent the wheel PHPBB, MyBB and others are still updated.”
“it's still having critical security vulns after 26 years”
“even back then those forums were overrun with spambots”
“PHPbb kept getting trashed by spammers”
“How did vBulletin/phpBB came to dominate the forum space in the English internet?”
“especially setting up mods and keeping everything patched”
“phpBB rightly has a reputation for being awful.”
“phpbb was a nightmare to keep patched (even without any plugins/customization) and free of spam accounts”
“oldschool phpBB webforums”
“but still extremely critical”
“Nothing wrong with those stacks.”
“It was slow, but it worked just fine for my friends and I!”
“I rarely register at a phpbb forum - I need to store the password”
“At least phpBB died 15 years ago with most communities migrating to Xenforo.”
“PhpBB is not much better. Pathetic throughput at best and it has not gotten better in decades now.”
“I still believe phpbb forums were the best!”
“I'm also glad I got to experience phpBB message boards”
“That is a simple method in phpBB. Using ranks one can set new accounts to be able to post and nobody can see their message until verified by a moderator.”
“vBulletin, phpBB, Discourse don't have the extra features the author is looking for.”
“SMF and PHPBB cost too much and were designed for an era before 80% of people were on mobile”
“the new discussion infrastructure was better than it had been before”
“If you didn't like one community, it was super easy to find one you did.”
“phpBB never made me scan my face.”
“Maybe I am just lucky but I never had a security issue with phpBB.”
“I still use it for private and semi-private forums. The access controls make it much easier to stop drive-by spammers”
“The code was rife with vulnerabilities, so the boards needed constant patching”
“I miss phpBB and Invision forums”
“It truly was a better experience.”
“I really love that a phpBB board like this still exists outside the dominant social media hellscape”
“littered with bugs and security vulnerabilities”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.