There's been threads about this in the past, but right now I'm more concerned with what you get for the money. Esyndicat offers something that phpld does not and I don't think ever will which is an option to run it on as many sites as you want with no copyright link and complete support for $125 right now. In contrast, phpld would be an $85 solution for the same set up. I don't blame phpld for their pricing structure at all. I don't provide an unlimited license for any of my software either - but I'm on the purchasing end of this deal and in this case I'll be setting up 10 directories and I have no interest in a recip. link on my site for various reasons. 10 sites no copyright link with support esyndicat: $125 phpld: $760 ($75*10+$10) It's hard to argue with those numbers, but there's a reason phpld is so popular and I'd like to think it's not just because a few of the more popular ld's use it - so..... In my situation, what about phpld would make the price difference for this project justifiable?
IF you go with phpld ask to see if there's a discount for quality. I would go with esyndicat..its a great directory script.
I have the same questions Greg-J does... I'm reviewing the features of both phpld and esyndicat and other directories.... trying to determine what might be the best solution for multiple directories considering all things and price is one of them. (other considerations would be support/templates/performance/seo/business direction/consistent development/etc)
First of all, Merry Christmas all Nice thread, Greg-J. Currently we do offer a discount for our software due to Christmas. Regular price is $149 so if you purchase until 25th, December you get a disount of $24 . I see there are very few scripts that offer unlimited license at all. If they offer the price is incredibly high. So at eSyndiCat we decided to go in other way - you get one license and use the software for as many sites as you wish + we have optimized our code and I can say it's going to be one of the fastest full featured scripts(do not take this statement as an advertisement %) ). We did tests and compared it with some other most popular script. If you are interested I can publish the results soon. Just let me know.
The simple fact that you responded so quickly and informatively is enough for me. As a fellow developer who prides himself on support, it is refreshing to see others doing the same. My order is coming through now Simon. I look forward to it.
Welcome to our community, Greg Thanks for the purchase Pro downloads & forums area have just been enabled for you.
Show me someone with 10 successful sites. The most successful are those such as alivedirectory.com and avivadirectory.com For the owners of those sites, $760 is nothing. They make that much every few days. When it comes to # of features, mods, templates, users and ability to customize phpLD is ahead in all these areas. I think esyndicat is a great script, and will work great for many people, so I would never say it would be a bad decision to choose esyndicat, but at the same time, there are many reasons to choose phpLD as well.
Have not tried esyndicat, only what I can say is phpld is easy to use and there are many people work for the template and mod.
I have tried both esyndicat and phpld. My concern is layout designers and templates...I could not find any esyndicat designers & coders, so I converted one of my dirs to phpld. Maybe, Simon, you need to offer at least paid templates(non unique, like 15-30$ each), on your site. You will earn extra + you will gain more users including me
Agreed! Make 10 sites successful at a time is too hard! 1 or two directories is enough (if you really wanna develop them).As David said,$760 is nothing if you've a GOOD directory.
I don't follow your logic at all... A successful directory is really a success if it serves its intended purpose. To that effect, my directories will begin serving their purposes almost immediately so to me, they will be successful immediately. I think people all too often make the mistake of placing a specific monetary value on the success (or lack of) a given sight has obtained. So when you say "show me 10 successful sites" I need to ask what your definition of successful is. When you're a developer you tend to be surrounded by those who run your software, obviously. I'm sure there are people who make most of their income from their directories, and to them they are successful. I wouldn't argue. For me, no given site in my portfolio is the end-all-be-all. I couldn't imagine putting that many eggs in one basket. No site stands on its own. Their success rides on several sites within its parenting network. Another thing I should note is that I don't put up a site and try to make it a success, I wait until my network of sites has a demand and I fill that demand. For me, esyndicat is the clear choice. After looking at both of them, I think it's really only a matter of opinion. I don't need support or a community based around the product nor do I need dozens of freely available templates. I'm hardly the rule though, so I wouldn't place your decision on my comments by any means.
I've got a free one here: http://www.avivadirectory.com/downloads/category/esyndicat-15/ Developed by balkanboy
Oh come on, I meant that at generally There are like 10 free templates available and none decently paid. That's what I was talking about. Anyway, yes I know you had it
I see, that's a real problem that bothers us a lot. That's why our templates can be found here. If you notice there is a word 'shop' in url. Webmasters can add their free or paid templates here and sell right on our site. Now we are working on more and more templates for our software. Soon we will release them.
@ Rezo: Hi, You can check our demo version now. I have just updated a set of templates there. We made a holiday present for our customers and release a set of color schemes for every template!!! These templates will be available in our templates repository in few minutes.
Simon, The templates are nice, but I'd advice you to announced each template in differetn thread in many forums. The free templates available for 2.1, announced by different persons, in different threads, I suppose brought alot of new downloads for the free version of PHPLD. Just a thought though.
Thanks Rezo for your useful advice. It seems to be another good way to promote the site and software of course. I think I will do that very soon. Merry Christmas