I need to integrate a forum with my Wordpress blog. Do I go with A) BBpress B) Vbulletin C) Phpbb Price doesn't matter. My main concerns are A) User logins MUST be integrated for the forum and blog. Would this be a problem with vbulletin and phpbb? Would upgrading versions of wordpress cause chaos? B) Features. I need a lot of features such as private messaging, avatars, profiles, reputation, etc. Are these even available with BBpress? C) Design. I really like the design of vbulletin a lot better. Looks more professional, imo. Would the design of a different platform be able to be modified to look like vbulletin? In other words, how hard would it be to take BBpress and make a vbulletin skin fit on it? Also, are any of these platforms "better" for SEO?
You might want to check out MyBB. It's free and is somewhat between PHPBB and VBulletin, though their new version MyBB 1.4 due out in a few weeks is like a free VBulletin almost. Also, check out the MyBB / Wordpress Bridge Plugin for MyBB. It may be just what you need, but look it over and decide for yourself. BMR777
There is a bridge for wordpress and vbulletin over at vbulletin.org - http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=177625 Vbulletin is the best commercial grade forum solution on the market. The mods are superior to anything used on those "free" forums, the VB security is better, the tech support is better and the updates are released in a timely manner. Anyone that says a free forum is just as good as VB, has never used VBulletin.
I personally would recommend you to go with vbulletin. But if you have no more budget. you can go with free !
I use bbpress at search1x.com/forum. It integrates with wordpress perfectly and is super easy to use.
Mybb is better in many ways and yes...I tried VB for over a year. I ended up selling my license, converting the site to Mybb and then within 6 months selling it for $xx,xxx so maybe...just maybe...you have never used mybb.