phpBB vs. vBulletin

[nextgen]

Price is a valid comparison point. This is the phpBB Discussion forum, and comparing phpBB with other boards certainly seems valid to me.

I also don't have a problem with bumping an old topic if something new is being discussed. That seems better to me than starting a new topic, thereby fragmenting discussion about the comparison into multiple topics.

Steve

Sorry kid step of arguing with you

[darksminky]

I would jump for phpBB
it's more extensible, as we have an active MOD community, and the two boards are nearly identical minus cost and MOD abilities. I also, personally, prefer the style of phpBB's prosilver over Vbulletin: I can't even NAVIGATE their home site whatsoever, it's convoluted, and not worth a hundred dollars. phpBB also has cross-platform compatibility that Vbulletin doesn't (Tikiwiki, Wordpress, Tiki Wiki, Docuwiki, and I'm sure there is more)
I personally think it's a rather simple choice. Unless your hosting a site that depends on one or two of their unique features (which aren't that cool or useful.), that haven't been released as MODs.

[Big-Jim]

Why anyone would come to this forum and ask if vBulletin is better than phpBB completely baffles me. It is like going to a Ford dealership and asking them if Toyota builds a better vehicle than Ford does.

[noth]

yeah too true but it's a blinding read for sure

and from looking at vBulletin About Us ....

vBulletin™ is the world leader in forum and community publishing software. Customers have created vibrant communities for over 10 years on vBulletin's stable and mature platform. Developed with security, powerful administration features and speed in mind, it serves over 40,000 online communities. We provide world-renowned technical support, with the average support ticket answered within 3 hours, at any time of the day or night, 7 days a week. To learn more about our products, please visit the features page.

Our team is all over the world. Our headquarters are located in Southern California. vBulletin Solutions, Inc is a company registered in California, US and a division of

..... I get the picture that they launched just after phpBB did

phpBB launched in 2000 but vBulletin kicked off "over 10 years" ago .. so 11 years ago? and phpBB started 12 years ago

what I would be curious to know is ..... was vBulletin actually created by exphpBB coders?? out to make a few dollars!!

[tbackoff]

vB started circa 1999.

[Arty]

what I would be curious to know is ..... was vBulletin actually created by exphpBB coders?? out to make a few dollars!!

I don't think any phpBB developers, former or current ever had anything to do with vBulletin. Same goes for vB developers helping phpBB.

Though I don't know who current vB developers are. As far as I know, current vBulletin developers have nothing to do with team that created vBulletin. It was sold several years ago, old developers moved on and created XenForo.

[darksminky]

i think that vbulletin is a crappy system, but has a lot of important features....
it has a crappy design
it has a crappy interface
its very complicated to understand where is everything in the ACP
it you need a real good design you have to create yourself cause you cant find a normal one online like here

but the features, it has many important features as:
soft delete
quick reply with no refresh
ban into group
wysiwyg editor
and a lot more

i think if you combine phpbb with vb you willget the prefect system

at least one of those things exist in a MOD. Ban into group, I actually have installed.
(It came from a less reputable site, but I checked the source and it looked fine.)
WYSIWYG is useless anyway. Insisting on it is like being a marksman and insisting on wearing a blindfold that lets you see minimally. Soft delete is also in a third-party MOD, I've scrolled over it before. These features also may be made into mods in time.

[noth]

but the features, it has many important features as:
soft delete
quick reply with no refresh
ban into group
wysiwyg editor
and a lot more

this is all one person's OPINION!

soft delete? who needs it? quick reply full stop? members who want to reply are fully capable of pressing REPLY and do, what a waste of time

ban into group? http://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/mod/ban_list_mod/ this is 3.0.5 but works perfectly well, you don't NEED a group!

wysiwyg editor? oh dear, the whole lot is less than impressive to me that is for sure

[Pony99CA]

but the features, it has many important features as:
soft delete
quick reply with no refresh
ban into group
wysiwyg editor
and a lot more

this is all one person's OPINION!

And the following are just your OPINIONS. So what?

soft delete? who needs it?

Given that Soft Delete is an Accepted RFC, apparently phpBB does.

quick reply full stop? members who want to reply are fully capable of pressing REPLY and do, what a waste of time

What is "full stop"? But I think that you're missing the point. This is probably an AJAX-style Quick Reply where the post just appears in the topic without the intermediate confirmation screen. You still have to press a Reply button (otherwise how will the system know that you're done typing ).

Sure, it's eye candy, but it can speed up the process (for better or worse).

ban into group? http://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/mod/ban_list_mod/ this is 3.0.5 but works perfectly well, you don't NEED a group!

I don't think that MOD is a replacement at all. I'm not exactly sure what "ban into group" means in vBulletin, but in phpBB, it could allow "softer bans" -- bans where the user wasn't completely prohibited from accessing the board, but had reduced functionality (maybe they couldn't PM and had to have posts approved).

Sure, you could always create a Banned group to put those users in, but putting people into groups is an Admin function, while banning is a Moderator function.

wysiwyg editor?

I know that BBCode isn't that difficult, but a lot of people have requested this. If you can't recognize that, you haven't been paying attention.

oh dear, the whole lot is less than impressive to me that is for sure

Again, in your opinion. But we know that you're a phpBB lover (not that there's anything wrong with that) almost to the point of being an apologist.

As much as some people here say that they don't compete with other boards, the fact is that there is competition out there for users to choose from. If you don't stay competitive, you'll die. I don't want to see phpBB become the LaserDisc or Betamax of the board world. Sure, there are probably some people still watching movies on LaserDisc or Betamax, but most of the world has moved on to DVD (if not BluRay).

Steve

[Go2GamerGuys]

The major reason I prefer phpBB is because it is not only free (which is a major contributing factor), however it is Open Source.

Yes you can do what you wan't with vBulletin once you have it's database, but it is even harder to mod as most people want to charge you for even simple things like scripts. Skins and Mods can go up to 100 dollars. I have seen a vBulletin Mobile Forum Retina Skin go for 139 USD.

phpBB3 developers and modders are nice enough to post free tutorials, skins, mods, and have the area 51. Plus I think phpBB3's community is much nicer, while the people at vBulletin are a bunch or tubbies in suits behind a desk making money off of over priced licenses.

But in all honesty the vBulletin skins that are out there are nicer than most of the phpBB3 skins, but that is only because it is some styles guys jobs to do that so they work forever, but I am indeed satisfied with the current phpBB3 selection of skins.

[Danielx64]

The major reason I prefer phpBB is because it is not only free (which is a major contributing factor), however it is Open Source.

That one thing that I love about phpBB, I can make it run on one domain and make some of the mods run on a different domain without having to worry about encoded scripts and licenses cost. (one example, madeing a gallery mod run under it own subdomain, try doing that with IP.Board, they may ask you to buy 2 copies of the base software)

Not only that, security seens to be much better as well, because anyone can look at the code and inprove the security side of things if need be.

Thats my 1 cents

[noth]

yeah security is one of the top areas of phpBB no doubt

and so to the money! how much does vbulletin charge? the charges start at $195 for a single forum, what a bargain!!


and those are the special offers!! there must be a lot of fairly well off Administrators around to pay charges like that, why do they do it?

one reason could be the ticket support, just ask and you will receive "ticket support" (similar to host tech support) for $80 a year

I suppose it is doable for one forum but many of us run 3,4,5 I certainly run a dozen forums (to try out new discussion areas! ) so for me that would be (a discounted) $167 x 12 forums = $2004

[stevemaury]

What is "full stop"?

Brit-speak for the period at the end of a sentence.

[Mick]

without buying it first

Also a major part of the argument

[Cpt. Blackbeard]

Even as a user I prefer phpBB, never used it as an Admin and have no plans to.