What's the Best forum software?

[niktesla]

I'm looking to integrate a PHP + MySQL forum on my site. Which is the best one?

[Sergio]

vBulletin but it costs $160.

The next option would be phpbb, but I suggest you wait for phpbb3 to come out. It's free.

Personally, I prefer vBulletin and it's worth the money. There's also alot of useful mods and they're also free. Well there's some paid ones but they're worth the money as well. Basically, you get what you pay for.

[minnseoelite]

depends are you looking for free or paid. if you have the money i would recommend v bulletin

[Jessica61981]

Here are 2 other options:

This one I costs, can't remember the price: http://www.invisionboard.com/

This one is FREE: http://www.simplemachines.org/

As far as php+sql I'm not sure, you will just have to check them out.

[Jen]

I personally LOVE SMF, its free and has tons of mods and it has come along way. The others are just as good except you need to pay.

[niktesla]

I used phpbb in the past. It's a spammers dream, they abused the hell out of it. I don't know about the most recent version.

I prefer a free one.

[Greg-J]

If you're going to pay for forum software, vBulletin is the only choice. There is no reason to even consider IPB.


The closest thing to vbulletin in the free realm is SMF. I've used it and love it.


If you want something lightweight though, I would recommend minibb.

[niktesla]

If you're going to pay for forum software, vBulletin is the only choice. There is no reason to even consider IPB.


The closest thing to vbulletin in the free realm is SMF. I've used it and love it.


If you want something lightweight though, I would recommend minibb.


Thanks a lot. minibb sounds like the solution for me. i basically just want it to put tutorials in, and give my visitors a place to ask and get questions answered.

[spidertrain]

I would say go with SMF forum. There are 100s of mods and the themes are awesome. I also used to make custom SMF themes before. =)

[niktesla]

OK that one seems to have a bit of credibility. I'll look at that one first.

I would say go with SMF forum. There are 100s of mods and the themes are awesome. I also used to make custom SMF themes before. =)

[JCs]

If ou can afford it go for vbulletin purely for the security.

Phbb is great for a free forum but is too easily hackable.

[1mak]

smf is not bad,
especially coz of the good joomla integration

[MKInfo]

Free....SMF I love this one especially if you are new to using forums it's very easy to add mods/hacks etc.
Paid....VBulletin the best paid one.

[niktesla]

Is vBulletin PHP + MySQL?

[omen]

They're all PHP + MySQL so far.

PhpBB sucks for a high trafficked myspace site, so much spam omg. I had to close it down.

[Sergio]

They're all PHP + MySQL so far.

PhpBB sucks for a high trafficked myspace site, so much spam omg. I had to close it down.
Not even a high traffic resource site. One of mine only gets around 300 uniques and it gets so much spam.

[niktesla]

I know all about phpbb, like sergio i have a site that gets no traffic, i set it up to put my family tree and stuff on. it's get's like 15 spam postings a week. RIDICULOUS i will never use phpbb again.

[Sergio]

I'm coming to the conclusion that SMF is better. It has a free seo mod. I can't get it to work, but if I do then I'll never go back to phpbb.

[Untitled]

vBulletin but it costs $160.

The next option would be phpbb, but I suggest you wait for phpbb3 to come out. It's free.

Personally, I prefer vBulletin and it's worth the money. There's also alot of useful mods and they're also free. Well there's some paid ones but they're worth the money as well. Basically, you get what you pay for.


Wow, I didn't know that you had to actually buy vbulletin, I thought it was free. :S

[Greg-J]

Wow, I didn't know that you had to actually buy vbulletin, I thought it was free. :S
It's well worth the price.

[Dale]

if you can afford it, go for vBulletin. That's what MSP uses :D

[BGray]

The same software used here. VB, hands down.

[chimaera]

I'd back up most of what's been said. If you want something free, go for SMF. If you want to invest a little for a top quality forum, pay for VB. You can do it yearly if you prefer, $80/year.

phpbb is so spam friendly - my forum gets up to 10 sign ups per day by spambots, and lots of posts. I'm currently moving over to VB (but having issues importing the database for some reason).

[niktesla]

I think I'm gonna try SMF first. If it isn't what I need I'll probably buy VB.

[BGray]

SMF is OK but if you are serious about it you would really be well served to save money if you have to for VB.

[minnseoelite]

hmm i never had problems with PHPbb as far as spam posts but I had alot of the anti spam mods installed and did some custom stuff as well.....but I have no clue how well it would handle a high traffic site

[jeremy860]

If you have the money, go for vbulletin.

If you dont have the money , go for http://www.mybboard.net/index.php they are basically a vbulletin clone and its free :)

[PalmOS]

if ur in it for the long haul an can afford it id recommend vbulletin, i bit the bullet years ago and no regrets

[Dale]

im currently using SMF. It works great :)

[Maz]

Yeah, I really like SMF. Although , looking at MyBB, man is that like vBulletin, it looks great.