vBulletin vs. phpBB

[sharpweb]

Anyone have any thoughts on which is better and why. I'm looking to start a new forum and am interested in possibly trying vBulletin this time. Is it worth the money?

[Nintendo]

You get what you pay for. Cheepos get viruses day in and day out while people who get the quality script (vBulletin) hardly ever do. Upgrading phpVIRUS doesn't get rid of them, a new one comes out almost weekly!!!

[just-4-teens]

well before trying of vbulleting i would have said PHPbb because its free, open sourced etc etc but now i own a vbull forum i can see the difference in quality already.

Its much more user-friendly and nice bunch of options to play around with :D

Another vote 4 vBulletin

[RectangleMan]

As someone who has used both...phpbb.

Starting out is easier with phbb as it's FREE. There are tons of mods for it to beef it up. VB is crap imho. Most VB sites look exactly the same vs phpbb has a large variety of templates (FREE AS WELL). I prefer the phpbb template system as it's straightforward and simple to use.

Yes, you should subscribe to the phpbb newsletter in case of an update. It's been a tough year for phpbb but's it's really not bad. I run patch on each of my forums (over 8 of them) and in about 30 minutes it's all done. With any site you should backup frequently. If you think your safe cuz your are on VB you're just stupid.

VB does not have 1 single thing in it's software that you can say is better than PHPBB. If VB has the hack then so does PHPBB except the phpbb version is FREE and without restrictions.

[digitalpoint]

VB does not have 1 single thing in it's software that you can say is better than PHPBB. If VB has the hack then so does PHPBB except the phpbb version is FREE and without restrictions.How about the plug-in system so you don't need to modify any files when upgrading (and not loosing your hacks)? :)

[sharpweb]

I do like the freeness (is that a word?) of phpBB. Is the virus problem with it all that serious?

[sarahk]

I've just moved a forum from phpBB to vBulletin and the owners are ecstatic.

As a user I prefer vBulletin because I can subscribe to forums of interest and track them with daily emails. Even easier than using my RSS reader. I've signed up to a few phpBB forums in the past few days and it's a drag not knowing what's new in them. I don't imagine I'll be active at them. Perhaps that's no great loss but ...

Listen up forum owners! (http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=18679)

[DiscJockey]

vbulletin in my opinion is worth the money (In one way)

phpBB is total crap :)

good luck !

[Smyrl]

Minstral? sp likes phpbb but after battling spammers I have nothing good to say about it. Yes I can patch until the cows come home but I did not want the hassles of keeping it clean.

Shannon

[toocoolforschool]

Vb is more powerful, but phpbb is free. Make your choices accordingly.

[digitalpoint]

Vb is more powerful, but phpbb is free. Make your choices accordingly.That's the simplest way to sum it up.

[carowan]

vBulletin hands down. you can spend $150 and be done with your mods and upgrades in an evening, or mess around with phpbb piecemeal everytime a new threat emerges. If you would rather not spend the money initally, maybe try phpbb and then migrate if the forum takes off.

[RectangleMan]

1. You can easily upgrade phpbb with the patch files...take about 30 seconds. I have 30-40 mods installed and still the patch does all my changes for me no problem.

2. You can install a mod for better management of watched topics (easy to install).

VB might be more powerful than PHPBB...I will give ya that....but then again..the #1 forums on the web is PHPBB. You can go a long way with phpbb.

If VB was cheaper I might think differently but really most people starting a site are just wasting their money on a VB license. How often do you see licenses for sale? How about dead forums that just simply didn't go anywhere? Also VB sites imho are harder to sell since the license is always an issue. With phpbb...you are good to go. Also if you are sure your site is taking off...it's easy to switch. VB will even do it for you fairly cheap.

There are lots of users that like phpbb over VB. Of course many like VB over phpbb. Personally I like certain features of VB but overall I prefer phpbb.

The security of phpbb can at times be an issue but that's the price you pay for free software. Backups are free and only take a few minutes a week to perform. Cron a backup nightly and you're good to go.

Also there are TONS more mods for phpbb than VB. TONS AND TONS...with more coming every week.

[intek]

Vb is by for the best forum software. Obviously it is quite expensive but with the amount of features you will find out that this should have been 100x as much as you paid.

[SaN-DeeP]

Vb is by for the best forum software. Obviously it is quite expensive but with the amount of features you will find out that this should have been 100x as much as you paid.
i agree to this statement.

[Max Power]

VB is probably the best, but PHPBB is definitely NOT CRAP! It's an excellent system - free, stable, secure (yes, secure, just apply patches as they release them, not months and month later) and with tons of free mods. Applying multiple mods is a PAIN though, I agree on this ;)

[jpcesar]

VB is very more powerfull than PHPBB, i've used in the past and i recommend !

[daboss]

i'd recommend that beginners tinkle around with phpbb first to get a feel of running a forum...

[SEbasic]

vB is certianly the best IMO...

I set up a forum recently, and after being harrassed about it being set up on phpBB, decided to make the switch to vB...
Man, you will NEVER go back...

And first and foremost in my opinion, it's the members of a forum that matter most - And 90% of those prefer vB in my experience...

[minstrel]

Applying multiple mods is a PAIN though, I agree on this
Not if you install EasyMod... then applying MODs is a 2 minute snap in most cases. Also makes it fast and easy to apply the phpBB updates.

[vbgamer45]

vBulletin is the best forum software if you are willing the spend the money. Most of the mods and hacks that other forum software vBulletin already have installed. Sub forums, paid subscriptions are just some of the things that are part of it.

phpBB is free. Used to be a big fan of phpbb But all really has going for it is the mod community. The software hasn't really had any major updates, and no word yet when phpbb3 will come out. I tried the cvs builds, basically just brings phpbb on par with other forum software. phpBB has had some security problems in the past.

If you are still looking for a free forum software. I suggest you try out SMF, (Simple Machines Forum). I just really found out about it a couple weeks ago, and have to say it is way better than phpbb. The main thing that I enjoyed was the package manager, in which you can download mods and hacks then have them instantly installed without any file editing. It really is a better system, the templates rock.

Other paid software to look into would be Invision Power Board. Haven't really used it much, so I can't really comment other than most of the major forums are based on vBulletin like digitalpoint.

[teamshop]

Having used both, phpBB's main strong suite is also it's main weakness. Because so many people use it, it is a target for just about every hacker out there and as such no matter whether you keep your forum up to date or not it is just a matter of time before you get hacked especially if you are running a somewhat popular site. While running phpbb for my forum I was hacked twice in a matter of 2 months, both times I was running the latest version so if spending a large amount of time constantly updating you phpBB board after each security patch is released than phpBB will work just fine. On the other hand if you wish to install it and spend your time enhancing your forum and gaining users, VB is the better choice and worth the price IMO

[digitalpoint]

Also, since vBulletin is a commercial product, they have a little more incentive to test and retest (then retest again) and look for potential security exploits. Not only that, but vBulletin sends the source to a 3rd party security auditing company before every major release:

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=955663#post955663

[Willy]

Note to anyone about to buy a vBulletin license: please support your favorite forum (the one you're in right now is a pretty good choice ;) ) by clicking through to vbulletin.com using the forum's affiliate link, located right at the end of every forum page (it's the link with the vBulletin version and copyright, "vBulletin v3.5.0 Release Candidate 2..." etc.)

This will ensure your favorite forum's owner earns a 20% commission from your vBulletin license purchase (see vBulletin's FAQ (http://www.vbulletin.com/faqsales.php) for details).

I just purchased a vBulletin leased license, and since I'm growing roots here at Digital Point, I used DP's vBulletin link as a small gesture of appreciation to Shawn for this very useful online community :cool:

[Max Power]

Note to anyone about to buy a vBulletin license: please support your favorite forum (the one you're in right now is a pretty good choice ) by clicking through to vbulletin.com using the forum's affiliate link, located right at the end of every forum page (it's the link with the vBulletin version and copyright, "vBulletin v3.5.0 Release Candidate 2..." etc.)
Good idea, thanks for pointing it out!

[Swordfish]

I'm running phpbb on one of my main sites www.swordfishingcentral.com/forums/

The forums have over 10,000 pages indexed in google thanks to some seo mods. I also am running a quick reply mod and a few other minor mods for my users...

I would probably of prefered to go with Vbulletin, but phpbb is doing me fine. The updates are annoying but with easymod, they take seconds and dont mess with my mods.

The threats that come out are usually serious, so backups are critical.

Good luck.

Mike

[minstrel]

My experience is similar, Swordfish... I have my forums modded similar to yours, too. And as for updates, it's true there were about 4 in short succession earlier this year but there hasn't been a need for one for a while now...

[Willy]

I never bothered to look at vBulletin much before their 3.5 release, as phpBB, and more recently Simple Machines, were serving fine. But the new "hook" API in 3.5 really got my attention, as I need to integrate one forum with Drupal (which is a CMS with a similarly well-designed hook/add-on API) and convert another one which is extensively custom-modded.

The mod system in vBulletin 3.5 means that for the vast majority of mods, no changes are necessary to vBulletin's core files, making upgrades a snap (already did my first update on my test installation, from RC2 to RC3, hehe...)

Also, using vB 3.5 forums, such as DP here, has convinced me that from an end-user perspective vB currently has a clear usability advantage, what with the Ajax and all. Others may certainly disagree...

Of course, if your forum works, don't break it ;) ...but I for one am not going back to phpBB, ever :)