Which forum software do you prefer?

[jchamb2010]

I'm very non-bias about many forum software, so I'll just give the pros and cons of a few of the most popular forums that I have used in the past.
VBulletin:
Pros:

1. Really easy to mod: mods for this software do not require any file edits, unlike PHPbb or IPB.
2. Easy template editing system: all templates are in the database, and can be edited via the admin panel, unlike PHPbb.
3. Easy to make mods: The mod making API, and the ability to easily integrate custom made scripts with vBulletin makes it my primary forum to modify.
4. Nice front end, and possibly the best GUI BB editor that there is, in fact I like it so much that I actually went to a vBulletin powered site to make this post.

Cons:

1. The admin panel sucks: I believe that vBulletin stole their admin panel from IPB when it first came out, and even though the front-end of both of the programs has moved forward, the admin panel of vBulletin has stayed in the past, while IPB's admin panel has moved along with it's software.
2. Licensing: I personally do not like the way that vBulletin deals with their leased licenses. You have to pay xxx.xx/year in order to use their software, and at the end of that year you must pay xxx.xx again in order to continue using their software.
3. Permissions: Setting up permissions using vBulletin is not an easy task. Mainly because the permissions are not setup per usergroup, they are setup per forum and then per usergroup. So if you have 25 forums, and 10 usergroups you have to setup permissions 250 times. Which can lead to a really long day.

IPB:
Pros:

1. Very nice admin panel: IPB's admin panel has moved forward at the same pase as it's front-end. It has always had the easiest and most user friendly admin panel to navigate.
2. Very nice default front-end theme: Personally I believe that IPB has always had the nicest default front-end theme of any of the forum software I've used.
3. Excellent support: IPB offers Ticket, Forum, and Phone support for all of their customers.
4. Template edits: Like vBulletin IPB allows you to edit templates from inside of the admin panel, making life much easier when it comes time to customize the way something looks.
5. Licensing System: IPB allows you to pay xxx.xx for the first 6 months of using the software with updates during that term. If after 6 months you decide to not pay for the updates xx.xx, you can continue to use the software without penalty for as long as you wish, however if you wish to recieve additional updates from IPB you must pay xx.xx for another 6 months of updates, which you can do at any time, without paying your backed payments.

Cons:

1. Modding: Modding IPB is like pulling teeth, it's just not fun to do. In order to install mods, generally you have to edit core file of IPB, and/or make manual template edits. Neither of which is something that I want to do on a live forum (can cause website outages). However to fix this problem, some people have made mods like the Universal Mod Installer; which takes out the template edits, and many of the file edits.
2. Bandwidth usage: because of all of the features that IPB has, it is not really friendly to your bandwidth meter at the end of the month, I've never personally had any problems with overages (I always go for plans with unlimited BW) but I've been able to get my bandwidth usage up over 25GB with only a few active users on my forum that month.

PHPbb:
Pros:

1. Price: This forum software is free to use.
2. Community Support: Because of it being free and open source, this forum software is widely supported by the community, and many of the bugs/security holes are fixed realetively quickly.
3. Mod support. Many mods are available for PHPbb because anyone that wants to make mods for it can without having to pay xxx.xx just to make mods for the community.

Cons:

1. Being that it is free and open source, it has become very common on the web. Many if not most websites that have forums now adays use PHPbb. The reason I say that this is a con, is because you can only do so much with PHPbb to make it look different than all of the other PHPbb websites that are out there, making it so that many of the websites lack uniqueness, and making it so that I personally lose interest in the website.
2. Adding forums: Adding forums on an PHPbb based website is not an easy task to perform, you have to go through many menus just to add the forum, and then an equal amount of menus to setup permissions, making it even more time consuming.
3. Modding: As with IPB when you install a mod on PHPbb you usually have to make manual template and core file edits, which is not something that many people want to do. What makes this task worse, is that the templates are in their own files, and cannot be edited from the admin panel like IPB or vB can.

I know that I have not included every forum known to man, as we'd be here all week. Instead I've given the pros and cons that I can think of, of the forum software that I am the most farmiliar with. If you have questions about why I said what I said please feel free to ask, as I can back what I say with facts.

-Jchamb2010

 

[Midnight]

phpbb, however i am starting to like smf -happy-

 

[FilmFoo]

When I used free forum services I always preferred ProBoards. Mainly because the Support board was so friendly.

It's hard to say which I prefer out of vBulletin or phpBB. Both are equally as good in my opinion. phpBB may get the better side because it's free 🙂

 

[Nuke]

I always use ZB. Only thing I needed over a minute to figure out was changing which groups members were in.

 

[The-Wall]

Phpbb for me -😉-

 

[TheIlluminative]

phpbb is the best free forum software -😉-

 

[2008paul]

phpbb3

Every thing is easy to use on it

 

[Itachi69]

Zetaboards ftw in my opinion

 

[Lee Lawson]

I honestly prefer PHPbb, simple to use and got some good features in use.
If i had to choose a second best it would be myBB as i love the plugINS that they have and their cash mod runs so smoothly.