PHPBB or vbulletin?

u can try SMF too if u dont have $$ to invest in vbulletin

 

VB...of course!
Because it's the best.

 

phpbb can do everything vb can and its free

 

you should trying MyBB.
it looks like free VB

 

VB is worth the money you shell out for, phpbb due to its fantastic community backing is good choice if you cant shell out the money for VB.

 

VB out of your choices. phpBB isn't that good security wise. (I use IPB )

 

Vbulletin is an excellent board but the fact that PHPBB is free will reduce the 'wealth' feel of your site. It is the embodiment of cheap to be honest. If you are going to go for a free board then i recommend Vanilla.

It's a sexy looking message board, free and is more unique in operationally terms over PHPBB which can give your message board a more exclusive feel.

The first forum system I used was PHPBB and after I secured a number of users I realised that I had the user base to justify purchasing vBulletin. VB comes with an import tool called Impex which allows you to migrate your PHPBB/Vanilla/PUN/etc.... database into a Vbulletin one.

I would first go for a free message board (Vanilla - my choice) and then if your forum is a success get Vbulletin.

 

phpbb are very easy to be hacked , but we found many succesfull foorums with more than 500.000 members and without any problem ...
it is free , and ther are many Mods to dowload

vbulleting is more secure and will cose you 160$ . but it is a good software with a pro interface

you have the choice

 

vbulletin if you aren't on a budget

 

If you can afford vBulleti then go for it. If you're on a tight budget then phpBB is fine to start out with as long as you keep up to date with the patches. Then, if your forum is a success you can upgrade at a later date. VB do provide decent tools to convert other forum DBs over to their software, so your choice doesn't trap you forever.

 

2bnumber1 is spot on the money, couldnt of said it better myself.

 

If you have the money, vbulletin is the way to go. InvisionBoard is real good too (great admin cp), but vbulletin is just a bit cleaner.

But if you want free, phpbb is great as long as you install a number of mods, particularly anything that improves the captcha, as the default one is useless. We were completely overrun with bots and SPAM until I installed an anti-spam CP mod and it's been well over a week know without a single bot making it through.

 

I have vBulletin, it's a great forum but the annual fee is a huge turnoff after paying the initial $160. (you'll have to pay $160 every single time you want to use an additional forum too, there is no discount).

I'm looking to make several other forums and am having a hard time deciding on a free one. I like phpbb but I'm afraid about the security, and I've heard nothing but bad things about the pre-RC version that's coming out next. I guess my choice is now between taking a chance with phpBB, SMF (which I know nothing about) and Vanilla, which I heard about for the first time several posts above

 

If you have the budget, go for VB. Else, try out SMF before considering PHPBB

 

offhand, how is the security for Vanilla forum?

 

Well I know how to tackle with the SPAM. Even an Xrumer cant Spam on a Board manage by me. ..

 

vBulletin is good, and I like the design compared to the PHPBB one

 

I think if you can you should go to phpbb, firstly it is free and more importantly unlike VB they wouldnt shut you down if you run a site that is not acceptable by them. Phpbb 3.0 is great just wait for RC1 which is going to be released soon.

 

VB of course but if you can't afford it Mybb is almost the same.

 

I use VB but phpbb is great software, nothing wrong with using it.