Forum System Reviews

[DDRtists]

After all the questions regarding forum systems ( Both FreeHosted forums, and install forums ), i've decied to write a review on the most used forums.
If you find one that you would like me to look at, post it and i'll take a look

Install Forums:

Simple Machines 1.1.x
URL: http://simplemachines.org
Price: Free

Simple Machines ( SM ) is probaly the second most used free forum system, beside PHPBB, and is highly customizable. The site provides high detailed Instructions on how to install, run, and manage your forum. It also comes with a unique "SSI.php" page that lets you incorporate the forum system into other pages of your site. That file can be used to create pages that only members can see, and vise versa.

SM also comes with a package installer, and a package browser that can be viewed from the administrative panel of the site. The package installer is a automated system to install mods and upgrades to your site, and the easy to use package browser lets you view a list of mods, each with a "Install Now" button, to easily install new mods.

The community for SMF is also very active, and new fixes and releases are released all the time for the forum system. Security updates can be installed right from your forums package management system without having to download or upload anything, let alone do more than push a few buttons.

Pros:

• Easy to Install
• Easy to Upgrade and Mod
• Good Administrative Panel
• Secure
• Nice User Profile Section

Cons:

• Board Permission Page Harder to set up
• Profile pages take awhile to load on most servers
• Not too many themes compared to most forum systems

Overall: 8/10
Admin: 8/10
Easy to use: 7/10
Themes: 5/10

____________________________


PHPBB2
URL: http://www.phpbb.com
Price: Free

PHPBB2 is the most used free forum system out of the bunch, because it is most widely known. And with that stat, its also the most exploited, because a lot of sites run it. The system isn't as safe as SMF, or VB, but it has a large community of members at their forums, that help you with problems.

PHPBB2 is very strict on server settings, and if they aren't JUST RIGHT, it won't work correctly. There are also very many exploits, as stated above, that are for PHPBB2. So I would only recommend PHPBB2 for smaller sites, and use SMF or VB for larger sites.

Pros:

• Easy to Install
• Good Community
• Lots of themes
• Easy to use

Cons:

• Uses Frames
• Exploitable
• Very picky with server settings
• Not as fancy as the others
• Manual mod/upgrade installing

Overall: 6/10
Admin: 6/10
Easy to use: 8/10
Themes: 9/10

____________________________


VBulletin
URL: http://www.vbulletin.com/
Price: $160.00 for "owned" License, $85.00 for "Leased" License

VBulletin ( VB ) is one of the better PHP forum systems, but that comes with a price. VB is what we use here at TH, and its mostly for bigger sites, that have lots of members. The admin panel can make someone who hasn't worked with forums before go insane, its huge, and has lots of optional options, as well as timed execution of scripts. If you are planning on starting a professional site, this would be the forum system for you.

VB also has a bunch of user controls, and a nice profile editing system, making it ideal for a site in which most of your members haven't had much forum experience, or aren't to "bright" with forums. Its one of the most easy to navigate, and use. The admin panel is wonderful, and the community helps with any problems you might have, as long as you have a legit key.

Pros:

• Easy to Use
• Good Community
• Easy for users
• Help is easy to get

Cons:

• Price is high
• Hard to use the Admin panel at first
• Phone Help costs extra
• After the first year, updates are $30

Overall: 9/10
Admin: 9/10
Easy to use: 8/10
Themes: 6/10

__________________________________________________________

Invision is next.

 

[phyrex1an]

>Help is only avilible the first year, unless you buy more

Support/help is 'lifetime', it's the upgrades that you have to pay for.

 

[sqrage]

>>Support/help is 'lifetime', it's the upgrades that you have to pay for.
You pay yearly for support

 

[phyrex1an]

>You pay yearly for support
Hmm, where do they state that? I thought it was only the upgrades you had to pay for.

 

[sqrage]

There phone support, to be exact.

1 month $60.00
6 months $180.00
12 months $300.00
vBulletin Phone Support
Purchasing a phone support contract will provide you access to toll-free (US/Canada only) phone support from 9 - 5 PST (GMT -8), Monday to Friday during the length of your contract.

Note: This does not include server support. It is only for vBulletin issues. Also email and forum support is free to all customers.

This can be found here http://www.vbulletin.com/order

 

[phyrex1an]

Also email and forum support is free to all customers.

Hmm. No yearly fee?

 

[DDRtists]

I'll fix that.

 

[phyrex1an]

You still got it wrong

Phone support always cost extra money, it isn't included in the price and you don't get a free first year. And seriusly that can't be called a con, I think it is amazing that they even offer phone support when they also have forum, mail and 'ticket' support avaible.

However, a possible con that you don't mention is that you have to pay for the upgrades after the first year. 30$ per upgrade time and after that you get another 1 year of free upgrades.

 

[The Helper]

Only if you decide to upgrade. If you have an owned license you only need to pay the 30 if you are going to upgrade then you have support in the members forum and free upgrades for a year or something. Phone support is always extra and you can also pay extra and they will set it up on your system for you.

 

[Oninuva]

Vbulletin ftw, only thing I will recommend atm, untill ofcourse something better comes out. Also VB support is excelent. It is definatly worth the 160 dollars. I purchased it a while back and I have made alot more than its worth from making modifications and skins for people.

 

[DDRtists]

I've never really used VB too much, though it is pretty nice.

 

[Rad]

Which version of phpBB are you referring to here?

phpBB2, its admin panel is kind of iffy but its got a ton of addons and themes.
phpBB3 has a much more expansive admin system, but most older themes arent compatible. You can easily make BBCodes with bb3

 

[phyrex1an]

Probably phpBB2 since phpBB3 was in pre-beta at time of writing.

 

[Rad]

Lol

2006

oops...

this is in his sig too though which is how i found it

 

[DDRtists]

It's all good.
I have not tried PHPBB3 however, I'm a fateful SMF user.

 

[duyen]

Time to update this for phpbb3?

 

[Bluewind]

And maybe add Invision since he promised it...

 

[TFlan]

bump?

active?

 

[1337Elite]

PHPBB uses frames where? vBulletin does too, in the ACP. I guess all forum software I've used has frames in the ACP, except for PHPBB3 and SMF.

 

[Oninuva]

vBulletin is not that expensive. If you run any decent website, you can make more than that cost in the year you get for it. Also, themes 6/10 why is that? IMO vB themes are way nicer than any other forum software, besides the default skin.