Which forum software is least of a hog?

[samsam]

Hi

I'm about to install one of the more mature freebie PHP forums on one of my sites - either Invision or PHPBB, specifically. I like them both.

I was wondering though - which one is less of a resource hog on the server side, in terms of MySQL usage, potential CPU loads etc, given that these issues are pretty important on Dathorn :-).

I've used both forums across many other sites as a user, so it seems that they are about the same in terms of features, usability, stability etc, but what I haven't had experience of is their performance at the back-end.

SO if each was to handle an equal number of users, for arguments sake, which one would leave the smallest performance footprint on a shared server?

Is anyone on Dathorn who has actually run either (or both products) able to comment?

sam

[Andy]

I remember reading somewhere before (maybe old forums) that invision was the better of the two for the use resources. Try searching google, and see what comes up.

[Jonathan]

I must say I think Invision is better.
Someone (another hoster) once told me the
reason his site used Invision is because it used less resources.

That and right now I host some-odd 10+
IPB forums, and 2 phpBB; IPB is better I believe.

[KyleC]

everyone has their own passionate opinion about board software

i don't know if their is any definitive studies on which one uses the least resources.

[ChrisTech]

Im partial to IPB, I run 2 of them, have set it up numerous times. Working on one now as well, playing with all the mods on it. To me IPB seems to run faster/cleaner than phpBB does. But Ive never run phpBB, only been to those sites. Any site can become bloated with un-nessarcy crap.

If phpBB has a free one, Id test them both out, for a bit, and see which looks better I guess. But I know I will be stickin with IPB.

If u want to see my one IPB forum its forums.vampyrezkave.com
around 7700 posts, 2200 members. I still need to skin it, but Im waitin for the 2.0 to come out before I bother to do that.

[Frank Hagan]

phpBB is open source, and free ... and installs from Cpanel's "Scripts Library" or "Bulletin Board" icon.

I use it, and like it, but I can't really compare it to IPB as I have never run IPB.

[adarack]

I use IPB and have got to say it's really nice. Their support forums tightened up and now some of them are only for registered users. I've set one up for the company I work for, so we registered it. They also have an integrated photo album for $65-70. It still needs some work done to it, but it's really useful to have that fully integrated.

Just my 2 cents - though it had nothing to do with the original question about server load...sorry!

[piku]

least hog aye?! .... minibb.net!

[samsam]

Thanks for all the tips

Thanks everyone for all the advice.

I prowled around quite broadly looking into this topic.

In general, it seems that there is a kind of consensus in terms of server-side performance in relation to the three main forums, based on people's feedback, experiences and also one incomplete benchmark effort I stumbled across (based on a Windows server, using older versions of the software etc).

My reading of the issue (no flames please - it is not really such an exciting issue) is that of the big 3 PHP/MySQL forum packages (Invision, phpBB, vBulletin), Invision seems to be the performance leader at the back-end, followed by phpBB, then vBulletin.

There is not a whole lot in it in terms of performance though between them. No one forum package stood out anywhere as a hands-down performance leader, which seems apt, since all of the big 3 packages are all so huge and feature-bloated nowadays.

Furthermore, in real world environments forum performance will be impacted by a lot of things - the setup of the forum, any mods or hacks, and of course issues such as user base, database size etc etc.

And since all of the packages are under active development, things will probably change all the time, from version to version of the code.

And thanks to Piku for pointing out miniBB. I had a look at that and it would indeed probably take the crown as the fastest decent forum package around. I'll probably use it for other projects.

But while I like their minimal and performance oriented coding philosophy, miniBB lacks some features I know users of a particular site I am developing will probably like (eg avatar support). I know they can be added in by a miniBB hack, but then if you do that, you may as well go for Invision or something.

So to sum up, the server-side performance stakes for decent, stable, mature PHP/MySQL forum code IMHO probably looks like this:

-miniBB
-Invision
-phpBB
-vBulletin

One final observation - if any of the Linux sites or web developer sites ever wanted to get a whole lot of traffic, they should setup a proper benchtest one day between the main forum software, simulating certain user loads on identically configured, fully instumented servers, and write the results up.

Like I have seen comparing, for example, the performance of SQL Server vs Oracle under various load scenarios, and as you often see when PC magazines do reviews where they compare particular network file servers against one another.

From my research on the subject, there are a lot of people out there who would be interested in that kind of story.

Samsam

[XE|Sebastian B.]

least hog aye?! .... minibb.net!

Thats great, thanks for pointing that out.....

[samsam]

PunBB

I have also come across another very fast but light-weight PHP/MySQL based forum:

http://www.punbb.org/

What is PunBB?

In short, PunBB is a fast and lightweight discussion board. It is released under the GNU Public License. It's primary goal is to be the faster, smaller and less graphic alternative to otherwise excellent discussion boards like phpBB, Invision Power Board and vBulletin. PunBB has fewer features than many other discussion boards, but PunBB is also faster and it outputs radically smaller pages. The page you are looking at now is hosted on a 450Mhz Pentium 3 using a DSL uplink with 40 KB/s maximum upload.

It is indeed very fast, and not too bad feature-wise. It also has some mods, etc available.

[reviewum.com]

RE: MiniBB.net

I have a project where I wanted a very integrated forum and my programmer strongly suggested minibb.

Sure it doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but:

1) Doesn't hog system resources.
2) Was VERY easy to integrate into the site.
3) Is super user friendly with a quick learning curve, especially for those new to the whole fourm atmosphere.

[MindlessOath]

what about CGI scripts? like the ones from http://www.infopop.com/ ubb? i know they made it into php now.. you may wana see how that is aswell.

i think, but i cant be certain, that cgi scripts take up CPU time.. dunno if its more than it would vers php/mySQL

mabe someone can test that one out

[Jonathan]

what about CGI scripts? like the ones from http://www.infopop.com/ ubb? i know they made it into php now.. you may wana see how that is aswell.

i think, but i cant be certain, that cgi scripts take up CPU time.. dunno if its more than it would vers php/mySQL

mabe someone can test that one out

CGI takes up more CPU time...
PHP/mySQL is 10x better, in terms of CPU use, etc. verus CGI/PERL,
provided its not an extremely sloopy code etc.


I downloaded and tried to install miniBB, as it seemed
to be the PERFECT "small" solution to the good ol' IPB forums.

Saddly, I installed it but it wouldn't let me
log in as the admin???
And I know the user/pass was right....

Then I tried to install/run it on my personal XP comp,
and it worked perfectly; so decided to ditch it.

Right now, I just downloaded punBB, and I've already customized
all the colors, background, etc. to PERFECTLY match my website;
took me maybe 30mims, mainly because my CSS knowledge is lacking
and I had to constently check my HTML reference book

[smartcard]

Why no one is coming up wiht a forum similar to vBulletin but FREE