Hi there, I am running a forum on SMF which is working quite nicely for more, but i see that phpbb give more better results in search rather then SMF, so suggest me which one is the best from both these!!!
Try MyBB it is way better. It takes the best of both worlds. SMF= Simplicity phpBB= lots of customization.
SMF was good. Its package manager is the best feature in any forum software, even in today's standards. However, they no longer have a team to back up the software (and also, [Unknown] left the team). If Project Phoenix ever comes out, then SMF is dead. I'll back up bootsandrew and give a vote to MyBB. I have had licenses with both IPB and vBulletin (I still have my IPB license), but a lot of my good forums came with MyBB. The only thing they're missing is Facebook Connect. I still love IPB. IPB 3.0/3.1 is a complete and excellent software overall. Definitely MUCH better than what vBulletin would ever offer, now that Darby is gone. But the bottomline is that you're good as long as you're not vBulletin and giving your money to Internet Brands.
I've licences for vb and ipb. I was using 3.8 but like others I can't warm to vb4 and IB seem to be more concerned with making money than releasing a polished product. So I'm now using ipb 3.1, running sweet but the drawback is that the modding community isn't as strong as vb's. A bit of a 50/50 call as both have their good and bad points.