Which is the best forum software right now (2013)?

Hi guys. I've been looking to start a forum in the coming months and I'm stuck with deciding the forum software.

I had zeroed in on vBulletin (but it was a close one with XenForo). Now that vBulletin 5 is out, I'm not so sure...

It seems like vBulletin 5 is still in the beta-ish phase with people trying to figure out things. I'm yet to see a custom vBulletin skin (one of the most important things for my forum - styling and branding).

Also, being a newbie, I'm not sure if would be the best option for me. Moreover, I don't want to install vBulletin 4.2 and miss out on any new features when I will be paying for the full suite anyway.

Now I really liked XenForo the first time I saw it but I'm not so sure. It looks like you cannot really customize it.

Which forum software would you go for (considering that you had a budget of ~$250 - most forum software fall under it)?

By the way, my forum is going to have tons of sub-forums just like DP.

 

Why don't you try agriya's free discuzz forum software.

 

Why not try some free forum software(s) first? That's how i started... I tried PHPBB, but it got hacked couple of times, and i came to realize that its not secure. At one time, i have found that even their main forum phpbb.com got hacked, and someone posted their database (including member base) online.

Then, i moved to a more secure forum software SMF, and used it for over a year. It was lacking a few features, and like many people out there, i am not a PHP coder myself, so i decided to go with VBulletin, because its feature rich, and as per my experience so far, worth its price.

I haven't tried XenForo yet, but DP is using it, so i am pretty sure its something good, or else DigitalPoint wouldn't have bothered to move this forum from VBulletin to XenForo. That's all i can advise as if now

Hope this helps.

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Just logged in to Digital Point for the first time in a while and see they've moved away from vBulletin themselves.... Anyone know which forum system Digital Point is using now?

 

Its XenForo, confirmed by (digitalpoint)

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Yea, it's Xenforo
In my opinion, Xenforo would be my first choice, followed by Invision board
Vbulletin isn't something I recommend, their latest software is bloody awful and will probably take a couple of years to get to a decent, gold standard.

 

I'm using vb4 and am happy with it, but vb5 seems to have a lot of problems. I would consider xenforo instead of vb5 (even though I already pd for vb5) but still no blog software that I can see for xenforo. I guess I'll wait and see what develops.

What are other xenforo users using for their blogs?

 

vBulletin is at the very bottom of the pit right now.

The best is either XenForo or IPB.

 

I was a fan of vBulletin but version 5 shows me how wrong something can go. At the moment I would vote for Xenforo.

 

Wish I found this thread a few days ago before I purchased VB5.

Someone please come round here and beat me with a large stick.

Don't make the mistake I made and stay away from VB5 for at least 6 months.

 

I didn't purchased any software yet, so from what I've read Xenforo worth buying.

Now I'm thinking what knowledge I need to get my forum online.

Is there any step by step installation guide? Thanks in advance.

 

If it would help, after my own analysis for the best money can buy (and modify) I chose IPB. the xenforo seemed to have a lot of complicated way to deal with basically paying more money. IPB is no different when it comes to cost with the yearly 120$ update fee. However I am perfectly happy with my IPB and the 4 addons.

 

If the op is a newbie I would say - start off with something open source and free like phpbb, I did that years ago and then migrate to a paid platform as and when you are ready. I currently use IPB and Xenforo. I used to use VB, (but not anymore .......)

 

Seems like every one is leaning toward XenForo, but there is a feature that i need which I thing VB5 has I need to be able to create groups or better yet members them selves create groups as I would be running a gaming forum and the group feature would be for members to start there clans/groups for their online gaming could I do this with XenForo, one bonus is i see XenForo is half the price.

 

Ok Digitalpoint I think you just sold me on XenForo, I think with that forum software and that social group addon I could have a successful gaming community, Cheers.

 

Being too busy to take the time required to check out all options, this thread convinced me to go with XenForo. I think it's ok to call myself a PHPBB expert as I know the software inside out. Hopefully XenForo would not be a pain in the butt to customize.

 

vBulletin/IB has left a sour taste in a lot of its customers mouths. Not only because they keep putting out things that customers aren't even asking for, but because it's done in such a haphazard way. They can't even get the editor to work correctly in IE10. Their solution? Disable the editor. They release a Facebook app product then abandoned it. The 'Mobile Suite' was/is a disaster. You can't upgrade from a 3.x license to a 4.x license without paying $200. They attempted to sue Xenforo for creating a competing product, which really made a lot of people mad and is just bad PR.

But their biggest mistake as of late is they released vB5 before it was even close to being done. It's slowly getting usable, but it's still missing a lot. There are lots of things that were seemingly changed/added for no apparent reason, which makes things confusing. For example, the latest activity stream in a post, or the comment on individual post.

On the bright side, they have made a lot of improvements since the beta versions on load time and SEO.

If it tells you anything, I've been using vBulletin for 10+ years, and I just bought my first Xenforo license. I haven't gotten too far into it yet, but already I can see how much more sense things make. It loads faster, looks better, and has features that you and your members will actually use.

 

A big fan of Xenforo here vBulletin is no longer the same when it was not under Internet brands.