vBulletin vs Invision Power Board?

[AvailableName]

Well, excuse me for trying to do the OP a favor and direct him to more suitable and free software.

@ahstanford: I'm just looking between vB and IPB. Still haven't found a convincing opinion or answer..

Edit: Which one is better adapted for a private forum?

If you take a moment to read vBull.net you will see that since vB was sold (I used to be an avid user of vBulletin) it has sort of gone down the tubes. It's become more and more bloated and is now considered a full-blown publishing suite. On top of that, it's quite expensive. Developmentally-speaking, it's a bit behind the times.

As for IPB - well, it was never a preferred solution of mine. I haven't used the new version - which seems to have a lot of new features. I'm not as experienced with IPB as I am with any other forum software, because it's just not of my preference. With that said, back when I used it - it had horrible SEO results due to non-semantic markup. Judging on a quick view source of their new version, nothing has changed - it appears to be highly non-semantic and generally bloated.

To answer your question directly, I would prefer to use vBulletin over IPB for a private forum due to preference and familiarity. Though, I admit I'm not entirely qualified to determine the better of the two considering I haven't used the new version of IPB.

With that said, SMF is free and I really like the software they offer. One of the great things offered with SMF is the logic flow control that is offered in the templating system - something most forums lack to offer at all. This was the reason SMF was always favorable to me - BUT... SMF is kind of in the middle of "imploding." The guy who did the majority of the programming to make SMF has left and is rumored to be creating another forum software. You can read more on that here.

Finally, due to the "implosion" of SMF I have been using one of the younger forum software packages. This is MyBB and it's free. My only problem with MyBB is the lack of logic flow control that it offers in the templating system - but there is a mod to resolve that issue. Another perk of MyBB is that it has a thriving community with endless modifications, themes and support offered for free. For the time being, this is my forum software of choice.

Best of luck to you.

Many thanks for this thorough analysis of the other free software. I'll read on the SMF update and will research how suitable MyBB will be for me on my website.

I just preferred a comparison between vB and IPB because I know that there are endless things offered for them as they are the "brand names" of the forum market. Maybe your recommendations might save me some cash along the way but for now I'm still debating between vB and IPB. I have a feeling that vB is preferred by most people than IPB.

Anyone willing to share their feedback of IPB? I would appreciate it so I can compare. It's hard to see the features IPB offers because on their website they don't give a list of things like vB.

Can anyone link me to some aesthetically good looking websites for both side of the forums? I do want it to look eye-appealing.

Once again, thanks to those who answered!

[ahstanford]

Well, excuse me for trying to do the OP a favor and direct him to more suitable and free software.



If you take a moment to read vBull.net you will see that since vB was sold (I used to be an avid user of vBulletin) it has sort of gone down the tubes. It's become more and more bloated and is now considered a full-blown publishing suite. On top of that, it's quite expensive. Developmentally-speaking, it's a bit behind the times.

As for IPB - well, it was never a preferred solution of mine. I haven't used the new version - which seems to have a lot of new features. I'm not as experienced with IPB as I am with any other forum software, because it's just not of my preference. With that said, back when I used it - it had horrible SEO results due to non-semantic markup. Judging on a quick view source of their new version, nothing has changed - it appears to be highly non-semantic and generally bloated.

To answer your question directly, I would prefer to use vBulletin over IPB for a private forum due to preference and familiarity. Though, I admit I'm not entirely qualified to determine the better of the two considering I haven't used the new version of IPB.

With that said, SMF is free and I really like the software they offer. One of the great things offered with SMF is the logic flow control that is offered in the templating system - something most forums lack to offer at all. This was the reason SMF was always favorable to me - BUT... SMF is kind of in the middle of "imploding." The guy who did the majority of the programming to make SMF has left and is rumored to be creating another forum software. You can read more on that here.

Finally, due to the "implosion" of SMF I have been using one of the younger forum software packages. This is MyBB and it's free. My only problem with MyBB is the lack of logic flow control that it offers in the templating system - but there is a mod to resolve that issue. Another perk of MyBB is that it has a thriving community with endless modifications, themes and support offered for free. For the time being, this is my forum software of choice.

Best of luck to you.

Many thanks for this thorough analysis of the other free software. I'll read on the SMF update and will research how suitable MyBB will be for me on my website.

I just preferred a comparison between vB and IPB because I know that there are endless things offered for them as they are the "brand names" of the forum market. Maybe your recommendations might save me some cash along the way but for now I'm still debating between vB and IPB. I have a feeling that vB is preferred by most people than IPB.

Anyone willing to share their feedback of IPB? I would appreciate it so I can compare. It's hard to see the features IPB offers because on their website they don't give a list of things like vB.

Can anyone link me to some aesthetically good looking websites for both side of the forums? I do want it to look eye-appealing.

Once again, thanks to those who answered!

No problem.

As for the features of IPB, take a look here.

[AvailableName]

Many thanks for this thorough analysis of the other free software. I'll read on the SMF update and will research how suitable MyBB will be for me on my website.

I just preferred a comparison between vB and IPB because I know that there are endless things offered for them as they are the "brand names" of the forum market. Maybe your recommendations might save me some cash along the way but for now I'm still debating between vB and IPB. I have a feeling that vB is preferred by most people than IPB.

Anyone willing to share their feedback of IPB? I would appreciate it so I can compare. It's hard to see the features IPB offers because on their website they don't give a list of things like vB.

Can anyone link me to some aesthetically good looking websites for both side of the forums? I do want it to look eye-appealing.

Once again, thanks to those who answered!

No problem.

As for the features of IPB, take a look here.

Oh, I totally couldn't see the "Features" bar when I was navigating that site. Thanks

[ahstanford]

No problem.

As for the features of IPB, take a look here.

Oh, I totally couldn't see the "Features" bar when I was navigating that site. Thanks

No problem.

[AvailableName]

I found a sweet Comparison Chart. Its fascinating to see how much IPB caught up to vB within those years.
I also read somewhere IPB is easier to code with.
IPB is sounding real promising and matter of fact may beat vB in my opinion.

[ahstanford]

@AvailableName: You may want to wait and see what happens with Project Pheonix, too...

[AvailableName]

@AvailableName: You may want to wait and see what happens with Project Pheonix, too...

Thanks!
I'll look into this.