PHPbb Vs. Vbulletin

[kektex]

Recently I was wondering why I see so many big forums like namepros and others using vbulletin instead of the free alternative , phpbb.
Any forum administrators care to shed some light on this? What are the main advantages of using vbulletin ? I`ve never tried it and would really like to know.

 

[John Nousis]

I would vote vBulletin mainly for support and simplicity of usage. However, anyone that is short on budget should be ok with phpBB. There is a great community supporting it.

My comment thought (a bit out of topic) is to ALWAYS keep track of the updates and apply them immediately.

 

[zatch]

One "negative" thing with vBulletin is that it's a pretty resource hungry forum, and needs a good (dedicated) server in order to run smoothly.
Many shared webhosting companies doesn't allow vBulletin to be installed on their servers, since it may slow them down...

There's lots of pros and cons with both boards

phpBB is free, but vBulletin costs you a pretty penny, so it may not be a good idea to use it unless you're sure that your forum will be a "success"..
There's been more security issues with phpBB than with vBulletin (but a few have been discovered on vBulletin lately)
Most of the mods on phpBB is free, and it has a great modding community.
vBulletin do also have many great mods, but many of them are not free.
vBulletin is a (much) more moderator/admin friendly board, and you'll need to mod phpBB (a lot) in order to get close to vBulletins features.

The biggest forum on the net uses phpBB by the way..
www.big-boards.com

vBulletin has TONS of free mods --> www.vbulletin.org

 

[IAmAllanShore]

vBulletin is much "better" on its face, although after having used it and phpBB and preds for a while, I stumbled onto SMF and have had great results with it. More powerful than phpBB, a good "hack" community, and not as resource/comp crazy as is vBulletin (Also, not as likely to be hacked as it is not as widely used. Sort of like how my Mac never gets a virus ).
-Allan

 

[PoorDoggie]

i have never tried vBulletin, so I would choose phpBB. I know a few people who use phpbb, and it is no problem.

I suppose it is all a matter of how much you want to pay for each! I don't have the money, or the bother to buy vbulletin so I use phpbb. Simple as that!

 

[Jamison54]

I agree with anybody who has something good to say about vBulletin! I've never owned a vBulletin, but by using one (e.g. this website) it is much better than the freebie, phpBB. The design is always more nice than phpBB. With phpBB, its hard to custumize your own design. With vB, I dont think it is (as I've heard from an old friend who owns/owned a vB).

vBulletin is a :gn: too!

 

[lovelylovely]

i am a newbie,tell me
the hacks u talk about , r they additional stuff like patches that windows give
as i am plaaning to start a forum but with phpbb at the moment to learn a bit
but i do like vbulletin
can the data be transfered from phpbb tovbull....

 

[PoorDoggie]

i hate the vbulletin site as well. I like the phpbb one better, it is more professional, and better designed. The logo is at least half decent. It dosen't really look as though vbulletin has put much effort into their website!

I agree with anybody who has something good to say about vBulletin! I've never owned a vBulletin, but by using one (e.g. this website) it is much better than the freebie, phpBB. The design is always more nice than phpBB. With phpBB, its hard to custumize your own design. With vB, I dont think it is (as I've heard from an old friend who owns/owned a vB).

vBulletin is a :gn: too!

1. phpBB is a :gn: as well! :hehe:
2. phpBB is not hard to customise the themes. Have a look at one I prepared earlier: http://poordoggie.co.uk/9fa1e546d34dd62a768567052aaa9f92-srf/. I designed the site in Photoshop, and exported it. I then just copied the code - half into overall_header.tpl and the other half into overall_footer.tpl. I then changed a few things in the .css file. Easy as... well Pie! Not only that, but there is a massive themes database.
3. phpBB is a great forum system. It is easy to customise. In one of my previous forums I managed to create various mods for my personal use. The support on the phpbb site was great too.

(as I've heard from an old friend who owns/owned a vB)

Now you know from a new friend - who owns phpbb!!!!! :D

 

[ZuraX]

The only hacks I seen for phpbb were to buy and not free.

Yes theres a converter for phpbb to VB but as with anything like that you take a chance things will go bad.

 

[PoorDoggie]

i am a newbie,tell me
the hacks u talk about , r they additional stuff like patches that windows give
as i am plaaning to start a forum but with phpbb at the moment to learn a bit
but i do like vbulletin
can the data be transfered from phpbb tovbull....

not patches... real mods. So like a quick-reply form at the bottom of pages (like here on NP)... cash mod (like NP) and so on........

The only hacks I seen for phpbb were to buy and not free.

http://phpbbhacks.com
http://phpbb.com/mods
http://www.phpbbstyles.com/viewforum.php?f=11

and the list is endless. If there is a mod out there that you have to pay for, then you are bound to find a similar, if not the same, mod somewhere else (before you say anything... mod is the same as a hack!) :wave:

 

[ZuraX]

Google for phpbb cert

Youll be very surprised. I am now hearing after asking friends about phpbb that one guys server got r00ted from running phpbb.

phpbb was/is, amongst other things, the primary host for the Santy.A worm.

 

[GJ]

VBulletin is miles better than phpBB

 

[eddyh]

Its hard to work out and make it do something.. phpbb is miles better!

 

[ZuraX]

VB is easy to mod. phpbb is easy to get your site defaced lol

 

[PoorDoggie]

VB is easy to mod. phpbb is easy to get your site defaced lol

phpbb is easier to mod than VB. VB was made to be closed source. The code is very tight, and more care has been put into the "closed source" software. phpBB on the other hand is MADE to be modded. Thats what the makers intended. They want people to take it and mess about with it. Thats the impression I get of it at least. If you take a look you will find phpBB's knowledge base. This is a large array of articles and tutorials on how to do stuff. EG: how the templates work, how the user system works etc... Its practically TELLING you to hack it! :D

I will not deny, on the other hand, that a lot of phpBB forums have been hacked. I have never been host to any stray code, or been victim to a "script-kiddy" who decided to hack my forum. As long as you have the latest version, and a decent security mod to boost your forum's immunity you should be OK. :talk:

phpBB is a popular choice with many people though because for some people all they want is a forum, for their mates, or to build an online community...

...and lets not forget, the biggest online community (gaia-online) is a phpBB forum!

 

[hotrod12]

I have used phpbb and I have now moved onto http://www.punbb.org but for my new site which is going to have a ton of articles about web development I am going to try and go get a license because I have heard great things about it and even seeing it in action its great and it will be a breeze to keep my database of articles. I also like the fact that is secure and it has a ton of mods at vbulliten.org.

 

[ZuraX]

If you do get VB goto vb.org and get Greek Articles. Nice little article hack.

 

[hotrod12]

Thanks for the suggestion and also if I have a shared hosting account will it be necessary to upgrade to a server for vb or will it function about the same with a shared account?

 

[Zubair1]

as the way i see all bulletin board system has some thing unique to offer
as they come along they make updates to their systems
and make it better as you can see IPB was once a free board system but now
it is a paid BB system, i dont know but maybe some day phpbb will be paid
but dont know for now i think its a open source forum system.

open source has many advantages as many users around the world
with much more knowledge add and fix problems in the BB.

unlike Microsoft who is so scared to give its windows source to open source
because they dont want to let it be shared with others eyes
as it is microsofts backend.....lol :imao:

 

[PoorDoggie]

hmm... I dread the day phpBB goes paid. It will happen... definitely, but hopefully not too soon! :hehe:

A good reason for Microsoft to not go opensource is because ordinary people will mess with it who have no knowledge of what may happen. Ordinary people (as in not programmers, or even bothered with how a computer works, they just use one to word process and to access the internet etc...) whom control about 90% (don't quote me on that) of Microsoft's sucess, will create big problems for Microsoft when they mess up their OS, and at almost £200 a time, I definitely won't be messing with mine.

I downloaded linux to mess with it, and I did :hehe: :lol: - I eventually couldn't run either linux OR windows!

 

[hotrod12]

Thanks for the suggestion and also if I have a shared hosting account will it be necessary to upgrade to a server for vb or will it function about the same with a shared account?

Thanks but you still haven't answered my question.