What Bulletin Board Software?

[WuLabsWuTecH]

What would you use for a completely forum site? PHPBB, IPB or vBulletin?

Thanks!
-Ambrose

 

[wackyjoe]

well i would say vB for sure...if your looking for something free in that range then try Mybb exactly the same as vB except some aspects of it are diffrent but mostly the same

 

[dojo]

phpBB is my choice.

 

[peter phillips]

Currently using phpBB but planning to get vBulletin soon

 

[khuldun]

phpBB isnt recommended? I thought its the best free forum out there, mybb is great too but isnt phpBB the best one?

 

[The_Ryan]

IPB is by far my choice. 70usd for the year is not a bad offer.

 

[gprime]

Off the bat I'd say vB. But I'll be beta testing CX-Boards. So it remains to be seen if it turns out to be better or not.

 

[faisj]

vBulletin
punBB
and phpBB

 

[bluenoser]

VB

And that is all I have to say

 

[GTAce]

phpBB isnt recommended? I thought its the best free forum out there, mybb is great too but isnt phpBB the best one?

No, for free, go with SMF

Easier to customize/mod, cleaner, faster developing, more featured packed, more secure.

phpBB is a lame duck

 

[000]

My favorite is vBulletin (I have several lifetime licenses) - it might be expensive at $160 for a lifetime license, but it's definitely the best :imho:

Invision Power Board definitely comes in second, though. Too bad it's not free anymore

Also, I'm hearing lots of good things about MyBB.

 

[thomaslgates]

I prefer using PHPBB. It is really good and is great to use.

 

[nameresolved.com]

well, i think main concerned is whether its meeting the purpose or not. As i run a forum with several hundred members and phpbb is serving the purpose and am happy. In other hand i have vB for some other forum too to meet the purpose there.

 

[seeker]

after vb, SMF is the way to go.
sure, less 3rd party stuff for it (although its growing) but its the cleanest and most secure design out there that is for free.
SMF is really great.

 

[cx409]

Invision Board - definitely the best pay one. Cheaper than vB and one-year license ALLOWS you to keep your board, although you won't get upgrades. vB you must pay even to RUN the board. 2.1.4 also comes with a hell load of new features. The admin panel is 3000 times better than before, and obviously better than vB.

PhpBB - great free one

 

[aznchong91]

Ekinboard looks good too, try it out. http://www.ekinboard.com . It's still in early stages, but it has potential I think.

 

[LeetPCUser]

VBulletin is by far the best. You can purchase it for a lifetime on a site for around $100. Also you can buy and download mods which are great. It all depends on what kind of website you are using it with.

 

[GTAce]

vB you must pay even to RUN the board.

Wrong. The vB owned license lets you use the software forever...the only thing you have to pay for yearly is support/upgrades - and that is optional. The only difference between the IPB and vB yearly license (besides price of course) is the fact that IPB comes with lifetime support, vB does not. Both can be used forever and both require a yearly fee to gain control of upgrades.

 

[Jim_]

phpBB for free.
punBB for free, when you want it to be nice simple and fully CSS.
IPB for payed.
MyBB if you want vB.

I wouldn't suggest...
SMF, because I find it to be too bulky.
vB, because its over-priced.

 

[Xombie]

phpBB is beautiful. Unless of course you have a legitimate vBulletin liscense.

 

[yann]

possible to switch?

here's a newbie question:

if i start a forum site on phpbb and later want to switch to vBulletin???

can i transfer the databases to transfer the posts? I guess it's impossible...??

thanks

 

[Jim_]

here's a newbie question:

if i start a forum site on phpbb and later want to switch to vBulletin???

can i transfer the databases to transfer the posts? I guess it's impossible...??

thanks

I believe there is an option (or an add-on) for vBulletin called 'ImpEx' that allows you to import your old phpBB database.

 

[GTAce]

Yeah, you can do that, and it is indeed called ImpEx...the transfer process is amazingly simply, so I wouldn't worry about having too much trouble down the road if you decide to move.

 

[yann]

Live chat room...

Hi,

What about Live chat rooms?

Is this feature available only on Vbulletin?

 

[GTAce]

None of the software, to my knowledge, come with a built in live chat room...Most of them will come with addons/hacks to do this though....Most likely a shoutbox, which is not a chat room but similar.

 

[Jim_]

You can find an irc chat add-on for most forums.