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Simple Machines Forum vs AsmBB: catalog facts
Simple Machines Forum	AsmBB
Free Free and open source under the BSD-3-Clause license.	Free Free and open source under the EUPL-1.2.
Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Release packages install without extra build steps Permissive BSD license	Very small resource footprint Single SQLite database, no separate database server
Traditional forum layout rather than a modern discussion interface Needs a PHP and database server to host	Small community and few extensions compared with mainstream forums Documentation lives mainly in forum threads
Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Open source	Open source
License: BSD-3-Clause	License: EUPL-1.2
Not stated if an account is needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.