Ok, which do you prefer phpBB or vBulletin

6 replies
Hi guys, maybe you can help me out.

I'm torn between which forum to use for my membersite. To date, I've only used phpBB. It's easy, customizable....

But most of the other more functional forums use vBulletin. It seems that, although visually vBulletin isn't as visually customizable as phpBB, it has a lot more features and mods that seem to be well used and useful.

I'd like to use a forum that is easy to use and people intuitively understand. It seems both do the job, but I suspect that vBulletin may just have more user and admin features. Is that so, or it is a case of the grass is green on the other side?

As well, the license that you pay for vBulletin (Owned License), if you get the license, can it be installed in multiple sites or just one site at a time?

Opinions?
(yes, you can say it doesn't matter, just pick one, but I really would like the one that's easier and have the most functionality)
#phpbb #prefer #vbulletin
  • Profile picture of the author powerspike
    I'd go vb hands down any day of the week, vb is just as customization, if not more then phpbb, it just has a higher learning curve.

    I use to be a phpbb user, but i got sick of my forums getting hacked all the time, spamed etc. If you can afford VB, go for it, i'd also suggest the vbseo plugin if possible =)

    the security history of phpbb is pretty bad, and that is the main reason i'll never touch it again, if you want a free forum software - try looking at SMF (simple machines).

    (sorry missed License question - one license per install, you can have a second install for "development and testing" but it can't be live).
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    • Profile picture of the author optimuswarrior
      I see. Do they both integrate equally as well with aMember or is one better?

      has anyone heard of an email registration parser being written for either, ever?
      Signature

      Ryan
      "I am here to serve you, you are here to serve me, together we win:

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  • The skins and backend of VB are better in my opinion. I am currently using PHPBB3 because I am too lazy to invest time in forums anymore and don't want to redo any of my existing forums. The older versions of PHPBB were horrible for Spam.

    There are some really cool add ons for SEO for Vbulletin.

    If I were starting over from scratch I'd pony up and use Vbulletin. When I started my forums a couple of years ago the choice was not as easy for me.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bright Wings
    Question: Does PHPBB3 have better spam filters and security? And are there ways to get VB at a discount?
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  • Profile picture of the author Quang Van
    Couldn't you start with phpBB then once the site gets popular, switch to vbulletin. To be honest I don't thing vbulletin is needed unless your site is really popular, because they have good load balancing...

    A popular phpbb blog is The Get Rich Slowly Forums :: Index
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  • Profile picture of the author Brian W. Wang
    I prefer vBulletin. It just has more features, and is much easier to work with. Hands down, I would always choose vBulltetin over phpbb.
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