i been on pro boards for years and the features they have are really good however i am currently browsing for something better bulletin is a little expensive for me i tried phbpp but it doesn't have the features pro boards has and it is very complicated . i don't think my forum can grow with pro boards however does anyone have suggestions and why?
Forum Software
- Thread starter TheDon90
- Start date
Check this out.
http://www.forummatrix.org/
http://www.forummatrix.org/
I'd give a word of caution about putting too much faith into forummatrix. Their information is out of date in a lot of places. (Like for MyBB they show the latest version being 1.6.3... which is only 4 years out of date. The current version is 1.8.6. vBulletin and IPB are out of date too. Plus there are softwares listed which are no longer even maintained. Like TinyBB, bttlxeForum and PapyrusBB.)
Additionally, it's worth noting that while proboards seems like it has a lot of features it actually gets dwarfed in a hurry by the flexibility and expansion capacity of pretty much any of the more popular free forum softwares. I mean with proboards you're at their mercy on what you can add really. But with a free forum software like MyBB or SMF or phpBB you can choose what plugins to add and when. So this means if you decide you want an alerts plugin you can add that. And there are significantly more plugins for each of the 3 softwares I've listed than there are for proboards.
Plus, if you know what you're doing, you can even build your own custom plugins for your forum. (If you struggle with CSS or HTML... I do not recommend trying this though. Plugins are written in PHP and are a significant step up over coding HTML.)
I'd recommend getting a copy of Xampp and trying out each of the main free forum softwares for a bit before making a final judgement. When I say trying them out I mean:
- Set them up (purposefully grab an older copy like MyBB 1.8.2 instead of the latest version of MyBB 1.8.6)
- Install or create a skin
- Create a few test forums
- Set up permissions
- Install a couple plugins
- Create a test member account
- Update the forum to latest version (this is why I stated to grab an old version, you'll need to update eventually might as well experience it in a safe/controlled environment first.)
And just generally play around with the forum software so you can experience what it'll behave like. Spend the time doing this now so that you don't run into issues later with something that could have easily been avoided. (EX- if you went with phpBB 3.0 and discovered how much harder it was to add a plugin compared with phpBB 3.1.)
Though I will caution you... self-hosting is a lot more in-depth and complicated than using proboards. If you can't handle the increased work load and complexity of it then you should reconsider going self-hosted. (Choosing to go self-hosted otherwise will likely result in disaster for you.) Stick with proboards or another free forum host (EX- IcyBoards or Jcink Forum Hosting) instead and you'll be much happier.
Plus self-hosting tends to cost more. (Have to get a domain name, whoisguard, your web hosting and then if you buy a paid software like Xenforo that too.) So it can cost you easily a couple hundred dollars to get set up for self-hosting depending on what you choose to use.
Additionally, it's worth noting that while proboards seems like it has a lot of features it actually gets dwarfed in a hurry by the flexibility and expansion capacity of pretty much any of the more popular free forum softwares. I mean with proboards you're at their mercy on what you can add really. But with a free forum software like MyBB or SMF or phpBB you can choose what plugins to add and when. So this means if you decide you want an alerts plugin you can add that. And there are significantly more plugins for each of the 3 softwares I've listed than there are for proboards.
Plus, if you know what you're doing, you can even build your own custom plugins for your forum. (If you struggle with CSS or HTML... I do not recommend trying this though. Plugins are written in PHP and are a significant step up over coding HTML.)
I'd recommend getting a copy of Xampp and trying out each of the main free forum softwares for a bit before making a final judgement. When I say trying them out I mean:
- Set them up (purposefully grab an older copy like MyBB 1.8.2 instead of the latest version of MyBB 1.8.6)
- Install or create a skin
- Create a few test forums
- Set up permissions
- Install a couple plugins
- Create a test member account
- Update the forum to latest version (this is why I stated to grab an old version, you'll need to update eventually might as well experience it in a safe/controlled environment first.)
And just generally play around with the forum software so you can experience what it'll behave like. Spend the time doing this now so that you don't run into issues later with something that could have easily been avoided. (EX- if you went with phpBB 3.0 and discovered how much harder it was to add a plugin compared with phpBB 3.1.)
Though I will caution you... self-hosting is a lot more in-depth and complicated than using proboards. If you can't handle the increased work load and complexity of it then you should reconsider going self-hosted. (Choosing to go self-hosted otherwise will likely result in disaster for you.) Stick with proboards or another free forum host (EX- IcyBoards or Jcink Forum Hosting) instead and you'll be much happier.
Plus self-hosting tends to cost more. (Have to get a domain name, whoisguard, your web hosting and then if you buy a paid software like Xenforo that too.) So it can cost you easily a couple hundred dollars to get set up for self-hosting depending on what you choose to use.
Cost per year...
1 year of web hosting - $60. (Note that this is not a perfect number, there are hosts which cost less and those which cost more. So this is to be used as a rough average for planning purposes.)
1 year Domain cost - $12.
1 year Whoisguard - $1.
One time fee to buy software
Xenforo - $140 / IPB - $175 / vBulletin - $250
Recurring support fees (waived for your first year.)
Xenforo - $40 per year / IPB - $50 per year / vBulletin - $200 per year (for phone/ticket support)
So for a new self-hoster you can reasonably expect to pay between $213 and $323 for your first year.
For every year after that you can expect to pay $73 (for no support) to $273 (if you go with vBulletin and want phone support.)
This also does not include any extra costs like themes or plugins you purchase.
1 year of web hosting - $60. (Note that this is not a perfect number, there are hosts which cost less and those which cost more. So this is to be used as a rough average for planning purposes.)
1 year Domain cost - $12.
1 year Whoisguard - $1.
One time fee to buy software
Xenforo - $140 / IPB - $175 / vBulletin - $250
Recurring support fees (waived for your first year.)
Xenforo - $40 per year / IPB - $50 per year / vBulletin - $200 per year (for phone/ticket support)
So for a new self-hoster you can reasonably expect to pay between $213 and $323 for your first year.
For every year after that you can expect to pay $73 (for no support) to $273 (if you go with vBulletin and want phone support.)
This also does not include any extra costs like themes or plugins you purchase.
You could try XenForo. As a ProBoards user myself, XenForo has several of the same features and more. Plus, you're not as limited with space as you are with PB. However, I do believe you have to host the forum yourself as I don't believe they offer free hosting like ProBoards does.
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