>> B
_> Blursoft MetaForum
Web Server: N/A
Programming Language: PHP
Database: MySQL
License: Free
Description: Blursoft MetaForum sprang from a need that simply was not being filled by any other forum software. We concentrated on the user, not the system. We maximized the efficiency of the click-economy. You shouldn't need to go 12 pages deep to find the information you want and you should be able to see all you want at once while filtering out what you don't. We've rethought forums from the ground up and simply made them easier and better to use.

_> bttlxeForum
Web Server: N/A
Programming Language: ASP
Database: MySQL, MS SQL 7/2000, MS Access
License: Free
Description: bttlxeForum 2.0  is a popular feature rich database-driven Internet forum solution.
Written entirely in Active Server Pages and is designed to run under Microsoft Windows platforms supporting ASP 3.0 or later and supporting a variety of common database formats, it is supplied free of charge with a software-based installer to allow you to easily install and configure it on your testing and live web servers.
bttlxeForum can also be adapted to use your existing web site's design and layout with ease using it's drag-and-drop design templates.

_> BurningBoard
Web Server: N/A
Programming Language: PHP
Database: MySQL
License: Commercial
Description:  ... is a professional discussion board system ... is easily to be integrated into your homepage design ... is extendable in functionality ... supports multilingual usage

>> C
_> Community Server
Web Server: Microsoft Windows Server 2003
Programming Language: ASP.NET; C#
Database: Microsoft SQL Server
License: Free and Commercial
Description: Community Server is the award winning platform for rapidly enabling online communities and includes all the integrated tools, such as discussion forums, email lists, newsgroups, weblogs (blogs), file galleries, content management, and more to help enable you to create your community presence quickly and easily!

>> E
_> E-Blah
Web Server: Apache
Programming Language: Perl
Database: Texfiles
License: GNU General Public License (GPL)
Description: E-Blah is a perl-based forum system that can power your website community with a fast, free, secure, stable, and very reliable backend. E-Blah boasts thousands of features, some of which includes sub-forums, member groups, and portal, among many others. 

_> Invision Power Board
Web Server: Apache
Programming Language: PHP
Database: MySQL, Oracle, MS SQL
License: Commercial
Description: Invision Power Services is a leading provider of site and community-building products and services based in Virginia, USA.
With a focus on developing both high quality products and first-class service, we are able to meet the needs of any size business. 

>> J
_> JForum
Web Server: Tomcat, Resin, JBoss
Programming Language: Java
Database: MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, HSQLDB, SQL Server
License: Free BSD
Description: JForum is a powerful and robust discussion board system implemented in Javatm. It provides an attractive interface, an efficient forum engine, an easy to use administrative panel, an advanced permission control system and much more.
Built from the ground up around a MVC framework, it can be deployed on any servlet container or Application Server, such as Tomcat, Resin and JBoss. Its clean design and implementation make JForum easy to customize and extend.
Best of all, JForum is freely available under the BSD Open Source license.

>> K
_> K4 Bulletin Board
Web Server: N/A
Programming Language: PHP
Database: MySQL, SQLite, PostgreSQL
License: MIT/X Consortium License
Description: k4 Bulletin Board is a full featured open-source (free) bulletin board solution. Having hundreds of features while still in beta, it compares to its expensive counterparts. Its standard features include: AJAX integration, advanced searching, unlimited categories and forums, unlimited topics and replies, multilingual support, fully templateable and a dedicated community. It runs on PHP4/PHP5 and currently works with MySQL, MySQLi and SQLite and is in testing with PostgreSQL. 

>> M
_> MercuryBoard
Web Server: Apache
Programming Language: PHP
Database: MySQL
License: GNU General Public License (GPL)
Description: MercuryBoard is a powerful message board system dedicated to raw speed with a mixture of features, ease of use, and ease of customization coupled with expandability, and diverse language services. Now just over two years in the making, version 1.0.0 is an immensely stable, thoroughly tested, and well-written piece of internet software ready for any webserver, running on PHP versions as low as 4.0.0 and MySQL versions as low as 3.22.
 
_> miniBB
Web Server: Apache
Programming Language: PHP
Database: MySQL, PostgreSQL
License: GNU General Public License (GPL)
Description: Want to make your own discussion board? miniBB ( = mini bulletin board) is a free forum software, original PHP message board script, you can build online community on. Security, speed and stability - three S's of our conferencing software concepts.
Based on original technology, miniBB provides everything to make your web discussions fast, simple and attractive for visitors. First of all, it's a content- and support-oriented board.
 
_> Monkey Boards
Web Server: N/A
Programming Language: PHP
Database: SQLite
License: GNU General Public License (GPL)
Description: Monkey Boards is a small, fast and lightweight discussion board. It is released under the GNU General Public License. Its primary goals are to be a faster, smaller and more easy to use alternative to the many other discussion boards available. It outputs semantically correct XHTML-compliant pages with external CSS stylesheets. It is quick and simple to install, use and administer.

_> mvnForum
Web Server: Tomcat
Programming Language: java (Jsp/Servlet)
Database: MySQL
License: GNU General Public License (GPL)
Description: mvnForum is an open source, powerful, easy to use, easy to setup bulletin board (forum) built on the Java J2EE technology (Jsp/Servlet). mvnForum is compatible with any Servlet Containers which supports Jsp 1.2 and Servlet 2.3. mvnFourm is free, opensource and released under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

_> MyBB
Web Server: N/A
Programming Language: PHP
Database: MySQL
License: Other Free / Open Source License
Description: MyBB is a powerful, efficient and free forum package developed in PHP and MySQL. MyBB has been designed with the end users in mind, you and your subscribers. Full control over your discussion system is presented right at the tip of your fingers, from multiple styles and themes to the ultimate customisation of your forums using the template system. 

>> P
_> Phorum
Web Server: N/A
Programming Language: PHP
Database: MySQL
License: Free / Phorum License
Description: Phorum is a little different from the other web based message boards out there. It was designed to meet different needs of different web sites while not sacrificing performance or features.
The group of developers of Phorum had very different needs. Some needed software that could run a single forum with over 2,000 new posts per day. Others hosted over 4,000 forums on one server. The end result is a versatile product that can serve anyone's needs. 

_> phpBB
Web Server: N/A
Programming Language: PHP
Database: MySQL, MS-SQL, PostgreSQL, Access/ODBC
License: GNU General Public License (GPL)
Description: phpBB is a high powered, fully scalable, and highly customizable Open Source bulletin board package. phpBB has a user-friendly interface, simple and straightforward administration panel, and helpful FAQ. Based on the powerful PHP server language and your choice of MySQL, MS-SQL, PostgreSQL or Access/ODBC database servers, phpBB is the ideal free community solution for all web sites. 
 
_> punBB
Web Server: preferably Apache
Programming Language: PHP
Database: MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite
License: GNU General Public License (GPL)
Description: PunBB is a fast and lightweight PHP-powered discussion board. It is released under the GNU General Public License. Its primary goals are to be faster, smaller and less graphically intensive as compared to other discussion boards. PunBB has fewer features than many other discussion boards, but is generally faster and outputs smaller, semantically correct XHTML-compliant pages. 

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_> SMF - Simple Machines Forum
Web Server: Apache, ISS, all that support PHP
Programming Language: PHP
Database: MySQL
License: Simple Machines License (Free)
Description: Simple Machines Forum - SMF in short - is a free, professional grade software package that allows you to set up your own online community within minutes. Its powerful custom made template engine puts you in full control of the lay-out of your message board and with our unique SSI - or Server Side Includes - function you can let your forum and your website interact with each other. SMF is written in the popular language PHP and uses a MySQL database. It is designed to provide you with all the features you need from a bulletin board while having an absolute minimal impact on the resources of the server. SMF is the next generation of forum software, and best of all it is and will always remain completely free! 

>> U
_> UBB.threads
Web Server: N/A
Programming Language: PHP
Database: MySQL 3.x and 4.x (will not run on MySQL version 5.x.)
License: Commercial
Description: UBB.threads is a full featured forum with over 9 years of development history. Many of the features that have become standard today started long ago in UBB.threads. Version 7 can replace an entire website with built the built in portal that is extremely customizable. If you're not interested in the portal options, it can be completely turned off with a single checkbox.
Everything you'd expect to find in forum software is here along with many new features that take advantage of AJAX to make them even better, such as the fully AJAXed shoutbox, preview screens and more. You'll also find things you might not expect from a forum. With UBB.threads you'll be getting much more than just a forum and our outlook goes beyond just providing typical forum features as a typical forum just isn't enough anymore.

_> Unclassified NewsBoard
Web Server: Apache
Programming Language: PHP
Database: MySQL
License: GNU General Public License (GPL)
Description: The Unclassified NewsBoard (short UNB) is an open-source, PHP-based internet bulletin board system, mostly like those you may already know. But the difference is in a lot of details that make your life with this board, both as administrator and user, much easier. You’ll be surprised how easy things can be and how fast you can work with such a system! The Unclassified NewsBoard has a lot of innovative features the world has never seen before in this way. I run this project in my spare time, mostly because over two years ago, none of the freely available forum systems fully convinced me and because I found fun in that job.

_> UseBB
Web Server: N/A
Programming Language: PHP
Database: MySQL
License: GNU General Public License (GPL)
Description: UseBB is a light and Open Source PHP 4 and MySQL based forum package, distributed freely under the GPL license. Developed with simplicity and usability in mind, UseBB is ideal for small to medium sized websites which need a clear and efficient forum package. 

>> V
_> Vanilla
Web Server: Almost any server
Programming Language: PHP
Database: MySQL
License: GNU General Public License (GPL)
Description: Vanilla is an open-source, standards-compliant, multi-lingual, fully extensible discussion forum for the web. Anyone who has web-space that meets the requirements  can download and use Vanilla for free!
In Vanilla you can quickly and easily see which discussions you haven't read, and how many new comments are in each discussion. You can run advanced searches through discussion topics, comments, and users. You can change the way Vanilla operates using per-user preferences. Finally, you have a very customizable account profile where you can provide pictures of yourself and add as much information about yourself as you like.

_> vBulletin
Web Server: N/A
Programming Language: PHP
Database: MySQL
License: Commercial
Description: vBulletin is a powerful, scalable and fully customizable forums package for your web site. It has been written using the Web's quickest-growing scripting language; PHP, and is complemented with a highly efficient and ultra fast back-end database engine built using MySQL.
vBulletin is the ideal community solution for all medium-to-large sites.

_> Vikingboard
Web Server: N/A
Programming Language: PHP
Database: MySQL
License: GNU General Public License (GPL)
Description: Vikingboard is a PHP-based community board designed by the principle of “less is more”, and features a powerful web-based extension-system, a lighting-fast cache system and dynamic web update. Small, but incredibly fast and powerful.
Vikingboard is currently in the development phase; we have just reached the beta stage of development. Most basic, required features are finished, but the most advanced (and less used) features are not finished yet. Bugs roam free, so we won’t recommend you to use the board for a production website yet. The public beta is available for download now.

_> Viscacha
Web Server: N/A
Programming Language: PHP
Database: MySQL
License: GNU General Public License (GPL)
Description: Viscacha is a free bulletin board system with an integrated content management system. The intention of the software engineers is to combine the current standards with new and user friendly features. The system supports plugins and components for easily extending the core system. Viscacha uses an database abstraction layer to support as many databases as possible. Currently there is only a layer for the open source database engine MySQL. With this software you can easily set up a complete (personal) homepage. The CMS extends the bulletin board system to have a homepage which is connected to the community. 

>> W
_> w-Agora
Web Server: Apache
Programming Language: PHP
Database: MySQL, PostgreSQL, mSQL, Oracle, Microsoft SQL server
License: GNU General Public License (GPL)
Description: More than "just another web BBS/forum software", w-Agora (Web-Agora) is a powerful database-driven communications system designed to be adapted to a various needs.

>> X
_> XMB
Web Server: Apache
Programming Language: PHP
Database: MySQL
License: N/A
Description: N/A

>> Y
_> Yazd
Web Server: Apache with Tomcat, JRun, IBM Websphere, Weblogic, iPlanet, Resin, Enhydra
Programming Language: Java, JSP
Database: Oracle, MySQL, DB2, Microsoft SQLServer, Sybase, Interbase, Hypersonic SQL, Pointbase, Informix, Postgres
License: Apache License (Free)
Description: Yazd is an open-source (Apache License) discussion forum software that you can download customize and use. Yazd is a Java based forum software that can easily be configured through an admin interface. This discussion forum software is highly flexible and uses JDBC to connect to a backend database.
Yazd discussion forum software is absolutely free and open-source. Please consider finanical support for the project, this is very important to the success of it. You can also help the project by purchasing support. The least you could do is visit one of our sponsors. And we thank you for considering Yazd Discussion Forum software.