The Best Forum Software?

[JustGoWithIt]

Hi everyone!

I would like to know about the best forum software and why do you think it is good. I like to use vBulletin but its quite costly for me. I am thinking to use phpbb for my new forum. I heard we can also use nulled vBulletin software. What does that mean and what is the disadvantage of using nulled vbulletin software?

Thanks for your suggestion!

[fortunately]

In my opinion vbulletin is the best but u are right, its quite expensive. For free I prefer mybb.

[wink0r]

I have used phpBB on some forums. The admin interface is not as straight forward as it could be. There is a good ecosystem for mods (themes), but I have never looked into that. I do my own themes, but it is not so easy to work with as WordPress.

From the user perspective I like the features that vBulletin offers, but I have never seen the admin side.

I am unfamiliar with the other options.

[Nemanja]

If you have bigger plans(long term), with that forum then go for vb.
If you use nulled script eventualy you will get reported or their prath team will find you.

If you don't want to invest in that go for phpbb, smf, mybb, etc. anything that is actual today.
Me personaly if on budget will use phpbb, because they have many plugins and some support, others come ond go...

But if you are on the budget, then I will suggest to start with the WP blog,
then if you get enough visitors and subscribers go for free forum script like phpbb, if that goes well, then buy VB and make import from phpbb.

[wink0r]

Just for future reference, how easy is the import from phpBB to vBulletin? Is there a good import script and does it work well?

[Nemanja]

Just for future reference, how easy is the import from phpBB to vBulletin? Is there a good import script and does it work well?

Vbulletin offers such a script, but I never had that experience,
but I can assure you that it will be OK as long as you didn't change the database table structure of phpbb.

[wink0r]

I once tried to move a phpBB forum from free forum hosting space to paid space without success. Maybe the free forum host had made changes to the table structure. I knew nothing of databases at that time and very little more now, but I have worked with them more since that time.

[Nemanja]

I once tried to move a phpBB forum from free forum hosting space to paid space without success. Maybe the free forum host had made changes to the table structure. I knew nothing of databases at that time and very little more now, but I have worked with them more since that time.

I doubt that they made changes to the tables, I think the problem was something else, but again who knows...

[JustGoWithIt]

If you have bigger plans(long term), with that forum then go for vb.
If you use nulled script eventualy you will get reported or their prath team will find you.

If you don't want to invest in that go for phpbb, smf, mybb, etc. anything that is actual today.
Me personaly if on budget will use phpbb, because they have many plugins and some support, others come ond go...

But if you are on the budget, then I will suggest to start with the WP blog,
then if you get enough visitors and subscribers go for free forum script like phpbb, if that goes well, then buy VB and make import from phpbb.

Yes, I want forum for long term. I know vBulletin have lots of amazing features. So, thats why I'm intending to use VB. I already have a WP blog to make forum with sub-domain like forums.digitalbunch.com

But it would be difficult to transfer all data from phpbb to VB. So, I go directly with VB it would be great. May be I'll buy license later

---------- Post added 01-20-2011 at 04:33 AM ----------

I have used phpBB on some forums. The admin interface is not as straight forward as it could be. There is a good ecosystem for mods (themes), but I have never looked into that. I do my own themes, but it is not so easy to work with as WordPress.

From the user perspective I like the features that vBulletin offers, but I have never seen the admin side.

I am unfamiliar with the other options.

What main features does phpbb has? Is it good to use for long term?

[wink0r]

PhpBB offers most of the things that vBulletin offers, with the exception of going directly to the last post. It does mark threads with new posts for the users. There is a user group forum that will help if you have problems.

There is an automated registration script out there for phpBB. While most of these are probably just looking for the profile links spamming could be a problem. I do manual activation on all registrations. The service at Stop Forum Spam will catch most of the known forum spammers.

[Rocky]

Several of my buddies are now working on a new forum software called WikidForum. It's a hybrid between a forum and a wiki where you can export important forum threads to a wiki reducing the number of duplicated threads. It's a PHP based open source app which you can tweak to accept usernames and passwords from a WordPress database. give it a whirl. wikidforum.com. Downloads are available from sourceforge.net/projects/wikidforum

[Phoenyx]

I started a new forum a few days ago and am beginning to work on getting it noticed, I have downloaded the software and will check it out. maybe I can tweak the forum before I launch it properly.

[seobunny]

Spielautomaten | Novoline Tricks | Bookofra • Portal is one of my Webproject and this is my own forum I have created. Ived used PhpBB but I wish that I used vBulletin.
With vBulletin you can do more than PhpBB. Also SEO is better in vBulletin...

But Phpbb is easy to design. Also PHP Html options there.

But in PhpBB is no Pingback System like here
And no "thanks" Button...

[royking]

vBulletin and phpBB are powerful bulletin board software. Software comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. Its all down to users personal preference. vBulletin has its own Community which is very active and would help me for queries.

[rain22]

if you need a free forum CMS, go for phpBB, its very good, huge forums like warez-bb also use phpBB

[bluearrow]

VB is pretty expensive So unless you can invest you can't use it. I use SMF and MyBB. Both are good and they have their own differences. I haven't used phpBB but I heard it's good too.

[kaytav]

Vbulletin is the best one .

[Riba]

I will chime in as recently I investigated available options for starting a new forum community, and I pretty much settled on BurningBoard. Not as expensive as VB, but still looks pretty powerful and has a lot of advanced options. I especially like gallery, blog and portal plugins that I will probably need at some point.

[JustGoWithIt]

Just purchased vBulletin license

[bluearrow]

Just purchased vBulletin license

How much did it cost ? It's an annual license, isn't it ?