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phpBB vs. vBulletin

Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 7:37 am
by cspielman
I'm a consultant evaluating forum products for my client and we have it narrowed down to phpBB and vBulletin. This is a general question, but does anybody have definitive opinions of which one is better and why?

Re: phpBB vs. vBulletin

Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 7:44 am
by AdamR
I think you'll find a general consensus on the phpBB community forums that we're rather biased towards phpBB. ;)

All in all, your best option would be to try each out and see which you prefer. Each community has its own needs. If phpBB suits your needs (which for most, it does perfectly well), then all the better. If vBulletin works better for you, then it's the better option.

- Adam

Re: phpBB vs. vBulletin

Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 3:59 pm
by stevemaury
Yes, it really depends on what features and capabilities are important to you, and whether you want a paid, closed source solution or a free, open source one.

Re: phpBB vs. vBulletin

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 3:36 am
by Ephemeraboy
test both
then U will conclude what is the best in your opinion...
after that
Choose that
simple..isn't it..??

Re: phpBB vs. vBulletin

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 2:12 pm
by Desdenova
Ephemeraboy wrote:test both
then U will conclude what is the best in your opinion...
after that
Choose that
simple..isn't it..??
Not exactly legal to do a full-scale test of vBulletin without buying it first. ;)

Re: phpBB vs. vBulletin

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 4:02 pm
by igorw

Re: phpBB vs. vBulletin

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 5:42 pm
by arod-1
there are many matrices that compare features.
i do believe that these two products are pretty much comparable regarding to features, but you can check it here:
http://www.forummatrix.org/compare/phpBB+vBulletin

warning: the feature matrix may not be 100% up to date, but it's sure very close.
i also believe that any significant feature found on one but not on the other (and many that exist on neither) can further be implemented with the use of MODs.

unfortunately, to this day i was not able to find any serious comparison that relates to performance. fwiw, i believe that these two packages lag pretty far behind phorum as far as performance is concerned, altthough i can not back it up by evidence.
if you'll find any good comparative data wrt performance, i will be grateful if you could post it here, or better yet, post a link to the actual source.

peace.

Re: phpBB vs. vBulletin

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 5:58 pm
by Dog Cow
arod-1 wrote: unfortunately, to this day i was not able to find any serious comparison that relates to performance.
That's because performance is too subjective, whereas a straight list of features is to-the-facts and objective.

Re: phpBB vs. vBulletin

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 6:58 pm
by Desdenova
eviL<3 wrote:*cough*
That's just the admin panel though, not a demo of the entire board. :P

Re: phpBB vs. vBulletin

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 7:44 pm
by wmtipton
cspielman wrote:I'm a consultant evaluating forum products for my client and we have it narrowed down to phpBB and vBulletin. This is a general question, but does anybody have definitive opinions of which one is better and why?
I havent used Vbulletin, but I have used a number of other forum options, some very popular ones, and I always end up coming back to phpBB because it just seems to be the best there is at what it does.
I dont think your client will be in any way sorry for choosing phpBB3 :)

Re: phpBB vs. vBulletin

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 11:32 pm
by carloclaessen
i started comparing also but stopped after the first compare on the index page

phpBB 3 $0---vbulletin $195

nah just kidding around here, the advice is indeed best to test the official demo site vbulletin and compare it with a phpbb 3 installed locally or on your host, or get a free host to install it in case you dont have a domain self.

However as mentioned here most people would tell on this board to go for phpbb as logic it is, future based i dont think it makes huge differences, whats not standard in phpbb 3 there probably a mod for around and same goes for vbulletin.

if its safety based dont let you misslead by if i pay for it its safe, the disclaimer of vbulletin still tells that bugs are possible and that its your responsibillity to keep backups and stuff.

same for phpbb.

Re: phpBB vs. vBulletin

Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:15 am
by Generator2009
Desdenova wrote:
eviL<3 wrote:*cough*
That's just the admin panel though, not a demo of the entire board. :P
There are hundreds of vB forums out there if you really must experience the vB thing, every vB forum online is a demo of the front-end isn't it?

Re: phpBB vs. vBulletin

Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 2:59 am
by Desdenova
Generator2009 wrote:
Desdenova wrote:
eviL<3 wrote:*cough*
That's just the admin panel though, not a demo of the entire board. :P
There are hundreds of vB forums out there if you really must experience the vB thing, every vB forum online is a demo of the front-end isn't it?
Moderator powers are not available to be tested, and that's something I would consider, as well.

Besides, in the admin demo, there's bunch of switches...you don't get to see what they do, and how they change how the board works.

Re: phpBB vs. vBulletin

Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:37 pm
by igorw
Desdenova wrote:That's just the admin panel though, not a demo of the entire board. :P
Wrong, you get a full board.

Re: phpBB vs. vBulletin

Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 10:36 am
by Stallyon
I notice in the past 3 days, two major exploits in vBulletin 4: an XSS exploit [ http://inj3ct0r.com/exploits/9697 ] and a password encryption weakness.