1. 6 Top Social Networking Software
Comparison
Here’s a comparison matrix for 6 Top Social Networking Software. Also make sure to read
comments on installation procedure at bottom.
Category
BoonEx
Dolphin ELGG
Drupal Joomla
Jcow
phpFox
Hosting
Best Boonex
dolphin
hosting
Best Elgg hosting
Best
Drupal
hosting
Best
Joomla
hosting
Best Jcow
hosting
Best
phpfox
hosting
License CC-BY
Open source under the GPL
2.0
GPL
2.0
GPL 2.0
Creative
Commons
Custom
Cost
Free, $39,
$99, $299
Free Free Free Free, $299
$99,
$199,
$299
Source Code
Freely available via stable
releases and development
SVN
Installation
Out of the
box
Out of the box
Out of
the box
Out of the
box
-
Out of
the box
Codebase
PHP,
MySQL
PHP, MySQL/ PostgreSQL
PHP,
MySQL
PHP,
MySQL
PHP,
MySQL
PHP,
MySQL
RSS Blog/Files/Groups/users/tags
Forum (via plugin)
(via
component)
Blog
Media
sharing(Image,
Video, Audio)
(via Plugin)
Via
Video
Module
Messaging
(Text,
Video)
Module
Event Calendar (via plugin) Module
(via
plugin)
Application
Social Grouping Module
(via
plugin)
Tagging Module
Poll
Generation/Tally
(with
sharing)
(via plugin)
Contact
Management
SEO
2. Customizable
(templates,
page
builders,
database
builders,
open-source,
extensions,
plugins)
Extensible via plugins with a
flexible API; skinnable;
available in many languages
Module
Hosting
Best Boonex
dolphin
hosting
Best Elgg hosting
Best
Drupal
hosting
Best
Joomla
hosting
Best Jcow
hosting
Best
phpfox
hosting
Recommended hosting companies for social networking: Bluehost, Arvixe,
WebHostingHub
Dolphin – Installation process is very easy. The admin and frontend appeared to be functional
immediately after installation. Frontend Look, Feel is very good. Dolphin upgrades can be done
very easily. But Administration and customization is not easy when compared to other networking
scripts. There are many bugs in this software. May be they will fix this in future releases. Overall
Dolphin would be the easiest to quickly implement and have tons of features. Boonex dolphin
hosting Providers
<
ELGG – Elgg is the best choice for an all-in-one option without customization.Elgg hosting
Providers
Joomla – The installation wizard is good and you will have a working Joomla core installation
once you complete the wizard.Joomla customization & administration is pretty easy and
straightforward. You will get a very good support from the community. There are many joomla
templates available on market to improve the frontend look & feel. Joomla hosting Providers
Drupal – The installation wizard for Drupal is good and is very similar to Joomla. But the
default Drupal install has little to no functionality for what you need. You must add at least 20
modules to achieve optimal functionality. Drupal has very simple looking on the frontend. But
Administration and customization may not be easy for first time users. However once you have a
grip on the terminology used in Drupal, it is very easy. Drupal hosting Providers
phpFox – can be installed perfectly after changing a few settings in .htaccess file. phpFox
provides a functioning social networking site once completing the installation wizard.
Administration and customization is not easy when compared to Joomla or Drupal. Frontend
Look & Feel is very simple in phpfox.
Socialengine - is another feature-rich and stable platform to build a Social Network and
Community Website. Read full features of socialengine.