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Which is Better SMF Or vBulletin

by yommys01
15 replies
Hello warriors,
I need to know which is better for a forum between vBulletin and SMF. I am using SMF for my soccer forum ( see signature for link) but my friend keeps tell me to switch over to vBulletin.

Is vBulletin better? And is it possible for me to transfer my forum to vBulletin without losing anything?
#smf #vbulletin
  • Profile picture of the author InternetM39482
    1) In my personal opinion, vBulletin is the best out there. I've used it on all my forums, and can recommend it hands down.

    2) Yes that is entirely possible. When you buy vB and get access to their members area, there is a program called ImpEx (Import / Export) which makes the whole importing process a breeze.

    You want to make sure your investment is worthwhile though. :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author yommys01
    Thanks Swastik. How much does it cost per month? Does any one else have anything to say against or for vBulletin?
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  • Profile picture of the author Chuck Evans
    Read about vBulletin's pricing here You can either "own" a license or "lease" one.

    chuck
    Signature

    Chuck Evans - Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher
    Learn How To Play Your Best Golf

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  • Profile picture of the author yommys01
    Thanks Chuck, I checked the link you sent but I don't understand the price. Is the 180 per year or per month?
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeff Usher
    The owned vBulletin Forum license allows you to run the software on your site indefinitely. Along with this license, you will receive one year of free updates. Beyond the first year, a nominal fee of $60 (or $40 if purchased within 60 days of the license expiring) is payable to obtain updates for an additional year.
    Seems simple enough. $180 forever with full support for the first year. If you require support beyond that then it's $60 for every year.

    Jeff
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  • Profile picture of the author mmurtha
    VBulletin is the best forum software that I know of. It's the most versitile anyway, plus most plugins or Mods are free.

    It cost a few bucks, but it is still worth every penny in my book.

    If you go with VBulletin, there is one paid Mod I suggest you get that will help you tremendously - vBSEO. This is one of the few that cost money, but it is the best SEO tool you can get that is on the open market.

    If you want to cut down on spammers, there is a free Mod you can get too called vbStopForumSpam. It's the best spam blocker I've found and taps into the stopforumspam site, so if someone is blacklisted, is a known hacker, or is a known spammer, they will be blocked from registering on your forum immediately.

    Hope this helps ...


    Mary
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    • Profile picture of the author InternetM39482
      Originally Posted by yommys01 View Post

      Thanks Swastik. How much does it cost per month? Does any one else have anything to say against or for vBulletin?
      $180 for a owned license. $100 for a leased license.

      With an owned license, the thing is that you can use it as long as you want to. But, a year from when you bought - the updates will expire. That means if you had vBulletin 4.0 released after your updates expire, you won't be able to download it. But, you'll be able to download all the versions till your updates expire. It costs $60 after an year for updates.

      With a leased license, the license itself expires after 1 year. That means you have no rights to use that software after that 1 year.

      *And, you might find a few websites offering vBulletin hosting and a license on a monthly fees. I'd suggest highly against those*
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      • Profile picture of the author Sandor Verebi
        Because the Warrior Forum uses VBulletin, then there will be in no question what is better. Of course the VBulletin. It is versatile, has many features, and is reliable. So go for it.
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  • Profile picture of the author AverageGuy
    as long as you can afford, use VB. it is the best, as others mentioned. if your forum will be a busy one, use VB from the beginning. otherwise, it will be a problem to convert from others (phpbb3 or smf) to VB. many addons work for one script, may not work for VB. that's the future problem.



    david
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    • Profile picture of the author mmurtha
      Originally Posted by AverageGuy View Post

      as long as you can afford, use VB. it is the best, as others mentioned. if your forum will be a busy one, use VB from the beginning. otherwise, it will be a problem to convert from others (phpbb3 or smf) to VB. many addons work for one script, may not work for VB. that's the future problem.



      david
      Hey David,

      I've used the Mod that converts SMF to VBulletin, and it coverts very well actually, so he should not have a problem with the conversion. Now I'm not sure about any other forum software like phpbb, etc ... I've never worked with them before.
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      • Profile picture of the author InternetM39482
        Originally Posted by mmurtha View Post

        Hey David,

        I've used the Mod that converts SMF to VBulletin, and it coverts very well actually, so he should not have a problem with the conversion. Now I'm not sure about any other forum software like phpbb, etc ... I've never worked with them before.
        PHPBB is flawed on security issues... I'd advise against using it.
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      • Profile picture of the author AverageGuy
        there are some addons, which you can not simply convert. the best choice is using VB from the beginning if you can affod it.


        david

        Originally Posted by mmurtha View Post

        Hey David,

        I've used the Mod that converts SMF to VBulletin, and it coverts very well actually, so he should not have a problem with the conversion. Now I'm not sure about any other forum software like phpbb, etc ... I've never worked with them before.
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        • Profile picture of the author InternetM39482
          Originally Posted by AverageGuy View Post

          there are some addons, which you can not simply convert. the best choice is using VB from the beginning if you can affod it.


          david
          I thought Mary was talking about ImpEx and not bridging SMF mods to vB ones?

          Maybe I'm wrong.
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        • Profile picture of the author mmurtha
          Originally Posted by AverageGuy View Post

          there are some addons, which you can not simply convert. the best choice is using VB from the beginning if you can affod it.


          david
          David,

          That may be your experience converting SMFs to VBulletin, but it isn't mine.

          Actually, the OP stated that he was thinking about an aready existing MSF forum to VBulletin, so the forum he has in mind is not new, and he didn't mention converting the add-ons.

          This is why I said he can use the Mod, and should not have any problems with it.

          Hope this clarifies things ...
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  • Profile picture of the author steveaaa
    I don't know SMF, but VBulletin is as solid as they come. I would advise against the free community-designed ones, since they are designed by multiple programmers (some newbies) and therefore don't hang together well. VB is very solid.

    Thanks to mmurtha for vbStopForumSpam. I am looking into it.

    steve
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