[Advice Needed] Cheapest Best Forum Software

[tdbnz]

Hi Everyone

I am in need of some advice what is the best reasonable priced Paid forum software

I heard Xenforo is great but quite expensive once you add addons etc

I want something that is resonable priced and that is great for my forum community.

I am a volunteer and have limited money so I want something reasonably cheap

Something that will accept Mybb data migration would help can't afford to loose members / post's currently

I have no supporters / donations at this time so unable to fund from members to upgrade

My Dream is to Have some nice Paid software and give them a premium experience

Any Advice is appricated 🙂

Thomas

 

[Thomasss]

I heard Xenforo is great but quite expensive once you add addons etc

Depends on what you want. Take a demo of XenForo and see what you think, and see what you are missing. Only then will you know what addons you want and you can go from there. 🙂

I want something that is resonable priced and that is great for my forum community.

I'd look at WotLab Suite, that's another option other than XenForo and IPB. 🙂

Something that will accept Mybb data migration would help can't afford to loose members / post's currently

Most will accept MyBB conversions so it should't be an issue!

 

[tdbnz]

Depends on what you want. Take a demo of XenForo and see what you think, and see what you are missing. Only then will you know what addons you want and you can go from there. 🙂



I'd look at WotLab Suite, that's another option other than XenForo and IPB. 🙂



Most will accept MyBB conversions so it should't be an issue!

Hi

Thanks for advice my budget is very low as i volunteer but I wanting to improve my forum and get it looking great

 

[meetdilip]

It would be a good choice to stick with free software for now. phpBB has a responsive theme by default and if you add enough addons, that will help you do most of the forum administration. I am not against using paid software, but if your website is new, it is economical to use free software. Another option is Vanilla forums. Both of them have their own drawbacks but does the job neatly. This is only a suggestion, but I think a good one if you are not looking to earning heavily within a year.

 

[_B_]

MyBB is actually really good. You can turn it into a really good site with custom themes and plugins (yea it will cost some money). But as mentioned, probably stick with free software until you can get paid software. I think you may some people selling their Xenforo or VB licenses for cheaper on some sites though. I would probably recommend Xenforo as the cheaper "premium" one.

 

[overcast]

MyBB is like plague. Extremely annoying and not worth it if you have monetization and long term plan.

If you have long term plans with monetization and selling the community part. Go with IPB or Xenforo. It does have some cost but lot less headache.
If you want to stick with free, then vanilla and SMF are better. Avoid phpbb and mybb, long term both are headache.

 

[meetdilip]

SMF is from 2000 era. More than a decade old. God knows how Google will see it SEO-wise