Wanted: Service Forum Script Recommendation

[ABCV]

Not sure if this is the right thread to ask this, but can anyone recommend the best (and cheapest) forum script available?

Many thanks for your recommendations in advance.

 

[Admin]

vBulletin is the best IMO, not cheap but if your site grows you will be glad you chose it.

 

[AssetDomains]

vbulletin is the king of forum software without doubt and the new cms ad on looks interesting as well.

If your on a budget then phpbb3 is probably the best supported free option.

Haven't used it personally yet but im going to take a look at bbpress on a current project im getting started with simply because of the seamless integration with wordpress.

 

[Aaron Clifford]

myBB, Lightweight, Open Source. And I'm a pretty advanced user if you need any help!

 

[tifosi]

For a simple start up forum then phpBB is the obvious choice... the latest version is an improvement on the old one which was prone to spam.

For paid versions vBulletin is the 'daddy' and vb4 is the latest version. A paid alternative with good reviews is invisionboard.

I use vbulletin. But it's a big 10yr old community. We started with phpBB and migrated to vBulletin when it was a stable & growing community.

S

 

[ABCV]

Thank you, much appreciated!

I guess the best advise is to probably go for something free/cheap to build it up before investing in expensive softwares.

I kinda like invisionboard, and its cheaper than vBulletin, but I really don't see a lot of these on websites which makes me think "how good are they?". The most famous and widely used is no doubt vBulletin, obviously it must be the best which is the reason why so many use it.

 

[Aaron Clifford]

"obviously it must be the best"

I don't agree completly with that, It all depends what you want to do with the forum, if its just a forum then there may be alternative free options, Free doesn't mean worse! (Wordpress is a prime example of a decent free script!).

 

[Ashton]

As someone who has run quite a few forums,

I have had no problems with mybb, vb, ipb or phpbb.

After shelling out for licenses for Vb and Ipb, I am actually quite content to use phpbb depending on the site. Its easier to code for (for example)

Whats the site for tbh?

 

[seomixi]

I recommend phpBB it is free and easy to use.

 

[FagEnd]

I use vbulletin, but purchased my licenses before the jelsoft takeover, and hate the new license terms by the new owners, daylight robbery trying to get current license owners to upgrade for a crazy amount, I will not be upgrading, I'd rather spend for an IPB license, they got a load of new customers when VB done a Dick Turpin on us, and IPB is probably a superior software anyway. I'm still using my old versions of vbulletin, can't really fault it, it is a good product.

 

[DarrenTSO]

Vbulletin + VBseo is a great combination.