vBulletin vs phpBB

[EmbraceUnity]

Just wondering why Phoronix Forums uses vBulletin. Why not support open source forum software such as phpBB?

[Michael]

Just wondering why Phoronix Forums uses vBulletin. Why not support open source forum software such as phpBB?

vBulletin is a much better and more polished forum software package overall. I use Linux, etc because it's superior software, just not because it's open-source. When it comes to forum software, vBulletin is closed-source but it's better when I picked it out back in 2006 and as far as I know is still better than phpBB and the rest today, so that's what I use.

[crazycheese]

vBulletin is a much better and more polished forum software package overall. I use Linux, etc because it's superior software, just not because it's open-source. When it comes to forum software, vBulletin is closed-source but it's better when I picked it out back in 2006 and as far as I know is still better than phpBB and the rest today, so that's what I use.

Michael, what would you need phpBB to support in order for you to make a switch, if you remove the costs bound to switch itself ?
What does it lack in order to be considered better or equal choice?

[deanjo]

Michael, what would you need phpBB to support in order for you to make a switch, if you remove the costs bound to switch itself ?
What does it lack in order to be considered better or equal choice?

Well I've setup and ran many a forum with phpBB and the biggest difference has to be security. phpBB always has numerous security issues when compared to vBulletin plus phpBB (and hackers do love to exploit them), although very customizable it is a bear to do so. What really used to tick me off about phpBB it seemed like everytime a security update was actually available it broke many of the addons. vBulletin in that reguard is far more stable. Ease of OOB setup also lies heavily in vBulletins favor.

[DeepDayze]

What deanjo has said is true as I had managed a small forum that was vBulletin-based. Vbulletin is quite robust and they are quick to release updates for known exploits while phpBB has many more holes that are much easier to exploit and it seems to take longer to fix them. Most forums that have been taken over and exploited are phpBB rather than vBulletin or Invision Power Board (another closed source forum package)

[RealNC]

I have created phpBB and SMF forums. I once used vBulletin. It's like day and night. Too much work is required for phpBB and SMF. It's not fun modifying the actual PHP code in order to mod the forum or install a theme and then getting a big middle-finger when you want to update the forum software.

Not using vBulletin simply costs too much (in time or money, or both.) The guys behind vB know this of course, and that's why they have the price policy they do.

Bottom line: vB rocks. Nothing comes close.

[Wyatt]

phpBB is awful. If you need something free, use mwForum.

[DeepDayze]

I have created phpBB and SMF forums. I once used vBulletin. It's like day and night. Too much work is required for phpBB and SMF. It's not fun modifying the actual PHP code in order to mod the forum or install a theme and then getting a big middle-finger when you want to update the forum software.

Not using vBulletin simply costs too much (in time or money, or both.) The guys behind vB know this of course, and that's why they have the price policy they do.

Bottom line: vB rocks. Nothing comes close.

Yup, there's even a community that has created many mods, patches, themes and plugins for vB so its well worth the money to use vB as the forum platform.