When it comes to free forum scripts, there are plenty of options out there. And a lot of those scripts have support for themes, captcha, anti spam and other modern forum features. SMF also known as simple machines forum, has decent interface which makes managing the forum lot easier. In case of MyBB, it's pretty frugal on features yet more effective software that can look and work like premium forum scripts.
If you are to choose a good forum software between the two, which one you'd choose?
I would choose MyBB because it has more mobile friendly themes. However, though, for beginners, who might be terrible at cPanel, FTP etc. - having a way to upload things directly, like WordPress does, is a big plus.
Anyway, not only does SMF lack mobile ready themes, I think it has only one - and that one's premium!
Please delete the double post, but not the original.
If I had to choose between MyBB and SMF I would definitely go for MyBB. It has a lot of themes available some of which are mobile friendly which is very important nowadays as at least 40% of the users use their phones to browse the net. Also, it's very customizable with a lot of plugins, add-ons and has good support. It's my favourite free forum software currently and I don't think I would use any other.
There's no right or wrong free forum software. Both have their pluses and their minuses. At the end of the day, it comes down to personal preference and experience as a webmaster.
I have my reasons and I favour MyBB rather than SMF.
I choose MyBB as they are popular and still developing. They have good no of plugins, themes and active users. I have personal experience with MyBB and it is awesome.
It is nice we have a variety to choose between free forum scripts. I don't think there is one right solution. it depends on what you are after and what you feel more comfortable with.
I heard that SMF is a lot more customizable to create your themes than the other alternatives. MyBB I heard the customer service is not what it used to be and the updates were stagnating as they were working on releasing an important new version... but that was years ago, so Idon't know if those impressions are outdated by now.
I've been a member for phpBB, SMF and MyBB communities. I have more experience in the admin panel side of MyBB. That said, it's been years since I used it. If I had to start a project I'd probably choose MyBB since it is the one I am used to better.
even though the mybb software really does lack support, I know its the better of the two and the one I would go with.
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I would say the same as above MyBB is a bit better than SMF, as a long standing admin in the past using SMF they are still yet to move things forward that little bit more than what they have done so far. SMF are getting there slowly so at the moment i am hearing a lot of good things about MyBB