vBulletin vs. phpBB

[bnaze13]

I noticed that this site is using vBulletin... is there any reason why you would use vBulletin over something that is free like phpBB?

[noppid]

It's like, if I have to explain, you wouldn't understand.

Once you know your way around, as with anything, you will not want to run a forum without the backend admin features and ease of enhancement to the forums with it.

The staff over there can be jerks at times, they are coders not salesmen it seems, but the product is solid and they do their job with the code.

[digitalpoint]

There are a bunch of threads on it if you want to do some reading. :)

Here, here, here, etc...

[Smyrl]

You get what you pay for. My experience with phpbb was horrid. Automated spam by porn monger was a daily battle. I would not consider ever running phpbb again.

Shannon

[bnaze13]

I haven't seen the backend that they have.... it's it significantly better than phpBB

[bnaze13]

are there any other good free alternatives to vBulletin?

[noppid]

I haven't seen the backend that they have.... it's it significantly better than phpBB

Head over there and try the admin demo, it's live and real.

vBulletin Admin Demo (http://www.vbulletin.com/?AID=10294051&PID=1603635)

[digitalpoint]

The backend of phpBB isn't 1% as good as the backend of vBulletin.

[nullbit]

If you want an Admin demo for phpBB you just need to find someone elses phpBB board, and use the latest exploit to login.

[AzAkers]

Man
I never thought of some of this stuff...I was looking at phpBB for a forum for my SaverSites.com site...but only becasue it is free and installs at the click of a button with my current server.

any sort of expertise I'll need to run and install Vbulletin...?

Oh and -
Is it possible to purchase - used' Vbulletin license...? like from a forum that closes etc..? or is it attatched to a particular domain..?

[nullbit]

Man
I never thought of some of this stuff...I was looking at phpBB for a forum for my SaverSites.com site...but only becasue it is free and installs at the click of a button with my current server.

any sort of expertise I'll need to run and install Vbulletin...?

Oh and -
Is it possible to purchase - used' Vbulletin license...? like from a forum that closes etc..? or is it attatched to a particular domain..?

You can transfer a license, the original owner has to contact vBulletin to switch the associated domain to yours.

[joeychgo]

If you want an Admin demo for phpBB you just need to find someone elses phpBB board, and use the latest exploit to login.


ROFL - Good point!


Here is the biggest differences IMO.


vBulletin costs $85 a year - PHPBB is free

vBulletin is more search engine friendly

vBulletin is more user friendly to the site owner

vBulletin is more customizable

vBulletin has great communities supporting it, like vBulletin Webmaster (http://www.vbwebmaster.com) and vBulletin.org (http://www.vbulletin.org)


- the best proof is this. Look at the strongest boards around, especially webmaster and SEO boards -- most are using vBulletin. Proof is in the experts. THese boards wouldnt use vBulletin if it wasnt better then phpbb.

-

[AzAkers]

cool thanks - oh hey nullbit ;) [Edit: and thanks joey - my post crossed yours]

Would this be a good time to ask if anyone has an extra Vbulletin license they want to sell, trade.....?

[Smyrl]

Man
I never thought of some of this stuff...I was looking at phpBB for a forum for my SaverSites.com site...but only becasue it is free and installs at the click of a button with my current server.



That was the reason I tried it also. Should have asked questions first. He he.

Shannon

[joeychgo]

You get what you pay for.

I forgot to add vBulletin is more secure and Jelsoft tries to keep it that way. PHPBB is under attack cause any kid who wants to play can get a copy and find ways to tear into it.

[AzAkers]

Another excellent point - The price is low enough not to be outrageous, and cover costs, but high enough to keep 'bottom feeders' from getting to familiar with it.

Thats it...which one of you gets the commission...? I'm SOLD ;)

[noppid]

Another excellent point - The price is low enough not to be outrageous, and cover costs, but high enough to keep 'bottom feeders' from getting to familiar with it.

Thats it...which one of you gets the commission...? I'm SOLD ;)

That would be me... Follow the link I posted to the admin panel. :)

Regards.

[neonrider]

I had vBull for barely 2 days and it's not completely set up yet, but I'm already having problems with it. I've had problems logging in and problems with "Announcement Manager" screen becoming big screen-wide and the left navigation menu disappears disallowing access to the rest of AdminCP. Some problems are hard to explain. The main problem I'm here is the "wide screen" problem. Once I posted a message, it's subject text made the whole index.php screen shift to the right, become wider, the Google Ad and text shifted to the right as well. I've seen this problem described in posts around 2001-2004 but no fix was posted (surprisingly) in those forums, including vBull's own suport forum.

In addiution to that vBull support does not pay attention enough to your problems and responds whatever just to get rid of you quicklier. I had the feeling that I was the beggar and that they paid $160 for me to use the software. Still, I'll give it the last chance, given if the problem with excessively wide screen can be fixed.

That is my first impresion of vBulletin. I hope someone changes my opinion about it by helping me fix the problems. Please post your idea how can this "wide screen" problem be fixed. The support suggested creating a new style and use it, but that did not work. And after that support stopped responding, I guess they don't have a solution to that problem, which makes vBulletin undesirable to me and even a refund seems like the best option. Perhaps I should get Invision Board or something else.

[saadahmed007]

Vbulletin is best.You just have to check admincp and understand every option then i bet you will love VB :p
PHPBB is worst forum script IMO even SMF is alooot better then Vbulletin.
Saad :)

[casperl]

PHPBB is worst forum script IMO even SMF is alooot better then Vbulletin.

Did i undertand correclty? Do you prefer SMF to Vbulletin? If so why do you think so?

[saadahmed007]

Did i undertand correclty? Do you prefer SMF to Vbulletin? If so why do you think so?
Actually if you want to use some free forum then i recommend SMF and if you want to use paid then definately vbulletin!.Reason Vbulletin is better then IPB and other paid bb scripts..and SMF is alot better then PHPBB.You can install modifications with few clicks alot of skins better support on thier forums. :)
Saad

[Imran]

Actually if you want to use some free forum then i recommend SMF and if you want to use paid then definately vbulletin!.Reason Vbulletin is better then IPB and other paid bb scripts..and SMF is alot better then PHPBB.You can install modifications with few clicks alot of skins better support on thier forums. :)
Saad

I agree with you.
VBulletin is simply the best forum software available on internet today(prove me wrong). You can virtually do anything with VB ad mods, customize the way you want, looks,functionality, mods, plugins, etc....

phpBB is free it comes with lots of issues, security, not so easy to modify, I wont be running a forum with phpbb, If I'm doing some serious business.

SMF is free as well, security wise its best compare to phpbb or other boards, I have 4 smf forums and 3 vb boards. I'm completly happy with vb I can do Any modifications with ease, recently added photoplog gallery, downloads mod all with simple steps. Not the case with smf though have to really scratch my head before do any modification to template, most mods needs default template to run/work, wont work on other templates.
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/images/icons/icon14.gifVB and its team.

[dojo]

The best forum for me is phpBB, even if I have VB, IPB and myBB.

I know how to install the hacks and mod the themes and the hacks WORK no matter the version they were created for. I have VB 3.5 and I'm scared to upgrade since the 20 hacks I installed for my forums MIGHT not work. Never had any issues with phpBB. Just made the code changes in one of my board and the 20 hacks I had previously installed work perfectly. No issues or worries.

I dislike VB since it's not offering features it should offer, they make updates monthly now and I need to see if the hacks I installed work or not. Excuse me but I have 10 forums and not time to play with the script whenever the good guys at VB release a new line of code in an update. Never worked with the support, don't need it. After 5 years of phpBB I thnk I know what I am doing.

Not to mention that winning phpBB of the year at phpBBhacks makes me even more in love with the good free script I use on 6 of my forums :)

[thuonghieu]

vBB is best in secure, phpBB is "BEST" in INSECURE :D
http://google.com and search key: vBB bug
After that search key: phpBB bug
That is reason why big forums use vBB

[chopsticks]

I don't really think that is a reliable way to compare the security using google search. If you use a different search such as vbulletin bug instead of vbb bug then it returns a whole 80,000 more results than what phpBB bug does. :D

My favourite to use is phpBB because of its ease of use in template modification and how the code is separated from the html. It may not have as many features as the other bulletin board systems but with all the modifications which are available on the phpBB site i'm sure it can be brought close to it.

In regards to security, as some have said that it is the most "insecure" there is I myself don't entirely think so. As it is said on the phpBB site in numerous posts a phpBB forum which is kept up to date and has html disabled is quite secure. That is something I had observed in the past. My forum in the past had been hacked twice, both times only when phpBB was 8 versions behind the latest release. Since always having it up to date I have had no problems with being hacked whatsoever.

SMF is another good choice for forum software (free choice). I've snooped around the Administration Panel of a live site and liked what I saw, although I still prefer phpBB over it anyday. (thats just me)

One thing to note though, the new phpBB is going to totally kick some butt when it is released, with all the new features and the like. Maybe it may be able to be compared to the paid solutions for forum software.

:)

[thuonghieu]

I don't really think that is a reliable way to compare the security using google search. If you use a different search such as vbulletin bug instead of vbb bug then it returns a whole 80,000 more results than what phpBB bug does. :D
:)
Securityfocus.com is biggest site in security. Try search it :D
phpBB bug: http://www.securityfocus.com/swsearch?query=phpBB&sbm=%2F&metaname=alldoc&sort=swishrank
Too many :p
Change key vBB and vBullentin and you will see

[chopsticks]

30 pages for phpBB and 9 pages for vBulletin. There is quite a significant difference, but remember there are alot of unsecure mods which are created by the users. :)

The base phpBB seems quite safe.

[thuonghieu]

For free forum, I like ikonboard in Perl.