I have the opportunity to purchase Vbulletin or Invision power. I’ve used both about two years ago but haven’t fiddled around with forums since. Which one do you think is better in terms of,
-SEO
-Look and feel
-Wordpress implementation
-Flexibility
Thanks. And I’m able to get a new license for Invision power for $115 for 6 months with chance to renew after for $25. On the other hand, I’d have to pay $195 for vbulletin.
What do you guys think is the best out of the two?
1st question you need to ask yourself is:
“How much traffic do I expect the forum to get?”
If you don’t expect to get too much traffic then can you justify a paid for (which both IPB and VB are) forum software. You should also look into free forum software two examples of them are phpBB and SMF (note that SMF has a slightly different licence from normal GPL licensed software).
At first not much, I expect very minimal traffic.
I have looked at free software but it doesn’t really have the look or functionality that I want. I know you can change the theme to match a look you want, but I plan on using the existing theme that comes with the product.
I also plan to sell the website in about a year, the license for IPB is transferable I believe, so if it doesn’t work out I can also resell the license.
I’m just wondering what is best.
You can find free IPB on the net (http://www.invisionfree.com/ is one that i’ve used in the past. I don’t know what links that site has with the creators of IPB ie i don’t know if those behind the site are the same as those behind IPB).
You could use that to try out IPB to see if it meets your needs.
Invision power lets me test out IPB before purchasing it, I think I might just do that. I believe that the link you gave me is a very old version of what IPB is now.
I much prefer vBulletin to IPB (having worked with both extensively), and most of the big forums generally run on vB meaning users are more used to it’s functions and navigating around it.
I haven’t used much of the new vBulletin though (v4), as I don’t like the look of it much… so that might be a completely different ballgame. 3.x is pretty much the best forum software i’ve ever used though.
I read somewhere that vBulletin has a new development team behind it I don’t know if it was the old or the new development team behind vBulletin v4.
Vbulletin 3.8 is the best forum script you can have. :twocents:
note: Vbulletin 4.0 is buggy, slow and harder to read. I don’t recommend it.
Exactly the same idea I have! I hate v4. look and feel too!
go with vbulletin it is recommended by many people and its best forum software.
This is an often debated topic. They are both quite good. vBulletin is a little more recognizable, but ipb also has a great community and lots of ways to customize and integrate. I don’t think you can go wrong with either.
and which ever you choose consider these well
price offcourse…i feel price of vbulletin is high despite having so large consumer base
spam control measure…(This is very handly …situation will make u close your forum)
support and extendibility…
mods or plugins available…
not all but i hope definately will help u