I'm stuck on which one of these to go for. According to this list http://www.phpbb.com/about/features/compare.php , phpbb 3 wins on features. But I have used Vbulletin in the past and I quite liked it but haven't used phpbb 3 so extensively. Opinions?
I suppose phpbb is useful for keeping the price of vBulletin down, but I wouldn't use it. I think the huge advantage vBulletin has is that most forum users are familiar with it, and phpbb may put them off. Would you rather eat at McDonalds or McDowells?
PHPBB3 is a whole ton better. I'm upgrading my forum to it. vBulletin is a lot more expensive and the people who run it are a lot more strict about it. (For example, you aren't even allowed to give away your license to someone else.)
i have been experimenting with PHPbb3 and it looks really promising I also use Vbulletin but trust me! unless your site makes money...vbulletin is a pain!! cuz you have to renew the license every year to get updates!! 30$ down the drain [not the mention when you first buy it] also alot of the "good" mods for vbulletin are paid..and they are EXPENSIVE! for example the SEO mod! its like 360$ for vbulletin and FREE for phpbb3
I use phpbb3 on my forum and it is great. I didn't care for phpbb 2.XX because you had to install like 20-30 mods to have a nice featured forum. Phpbb3 has all the features I wanted built in. The ACP and permissions were easy.
i dont see on this list why phpbb3 should be better, i use vb myself and im pleased with it, also phpbb3 compares to vb 3.6.8 but there is already a 3.7 rc1 which has lots of changes and social networking features and other enhancement and changes but it simply depends on what you need or expect from a board software, according to that you should choose the one that most fits you as it is regards
If you have the money to buy a forum vB is not bad, but for free phpBB is not a bad piece of forum software.
I vote for PHPBB 3, it's free and has awesome ccommunity, but you yourself as an admin of the forum must be aware of PHPBB 3 update, and patch your site with the latest update.
You shouldn't use a list that compares phpbb3 features to vBulletin without using a list that compares all of vBulletin features to phpbb3 Everything in vBulletin is 1000x easier to accomplish and you don't have to worry about security updates 24x7
The only thing I've noticed that vB has going for it, *this is purely my opinion*, is that the default design is a tad better and more users are familiar with it. I installed phpBB3 last night on my personal web site to get familiar with it, it's quite a change on both sides but I think with the proper theme/skin it could be much easier to use.