is vbb a free software

[nectar2]

my classmater told me that there are many free bbs software on sourceforge.net, for example, phpbb, e-blah, yabb. But i knew vbb is a excellen bbs software, i wish that it is a free software, at least it is free for personal.

[mholtum]

uh, no.

[Floris]

Nope, this is a professional and commercial forum software.

[nVaux]

There are various software out there, I think one of the ongoing battles today though is vb vs invision, however I have used invision, and vbulletin wins hand down, there is just nothing like vb.

[Zachery]

Every few months invision updates their TOS, its a one year trial only now fyi.

[Beather]

I like Vbulletin, but they shouldn't be ripping off everyone with 160 $ for one...
Yeah, they did hard work, but so did phpbb...

[Floris]

I like Vbulletin, but they shouldn't be ripping off everyone with 160 $ for one...
Yeah, they did hard work, but so did phpbb...
I'm sure you are just a bit upset because you can't purchase it right now.

vBulletin is a professional forum software package targetted lower then competition forum software vendors and we offer a discounted lease license to those who can't afford to take the plunge for $160.

[Mark.B]

I like Vbulletin, but they shouldn't be ripping off everyone with 160 $ for one...
Yeah, they did hard work, but so did phpbb...I wouldn't say they are ripping people off. The licence is extremely good value, especially when you compare it to the cost of things like Photoshop or MS Office.

phpbb is fine and well developed, but IMO doesn't offer as many features as vB. Having a vB forum also gives a site a massive credibility boost. The licence is almost worth that alone.

[Brad.loo]

I like Vbulletin, but they shouldn't be ripping off everyone with 160 $ for one...
Yeah, they did hard work, but so did phpbb...
I can't even begin to count how many times i've seen a post like this. If you think vBulletin is high in price check out some other companys for quotes. I remember when they first started selling vBulletin, compared to the ubb.classic license that I owned vBulletin was the best deal I had ever seen.

[Zachery]

I think uBB.x still runs 300 a year. :)

[Floris]

One could goto big-boards.com and see that vBulletin is used over 50% :)

[Andrew111888]

I like Vbulletin, but they shouldn't be ripping off everyone with 160 $ for one...
Yeah, they did hard work, but so did phpbb...

If you don't think vBulletin is worth $160, then go use phpBB. No one's stopping you :p.

By the way, am I the only one that noticed this person joined solely to post that?

[Admiral Spock]

I like Vbulletin, but they shouldn't be ripping off everyone with 160 $ for one...
Yeah, they did hard work, but so did phpbb...
Jelsoft does NOT rip anyone off. For $85 or $160 you get access to the most professional BB software (my opinion), you get access to download the hundreds of hacks at vBulletin.org (I reckon phpBB has thousands, because it doesn't have many good features), and the template hacks and styles at VBulletinTemplates.com.

With vBulletin you have an extremely stable, reliable, secure, flexible, supported forum system. Can you say that about phpBB or Invision Board's Trial?

When you pay for vBulletin, you pay for quality. It's like when buying hosting: with free hosting you have ad-filled, small, hardly supported web space. When you pay for web space, you get full support, with techs that will go out of their way to help you (with a good host), no ads, and you PAY for the quality. Do the support people at phpBB or Invision (official forums, for free users) go out of their way to help you?

With what I have said, vBulletin is well worth $85 per year or $160 and $30 per year.

Good Luck. :)

[Icheb]

The support is simply outstanding. Some time ago even Kier fixed a problem for me. Now if that's not awesome support I don't know what.

[Andy Huang]

Every few months invision updates their TOS, its a one year trial only now fyi.I just checked their TOS, it's not one year trial; its still as long as you need to trial it... But in all cases, vB 3 is still the winner until IPB 2.0 comes out in full.

[BlueFlame]

Hmmm another pointless thread. Just IMHO :)

[Admiral Spock]

Agreed. This should be closed.

[TosaInu]

Hello,

Our site has used a flatfile forum (problems problems), then we moved to a PERL board using SQL. We are very happy with it, but it seems to be causing problems with the server now it grows.

I've seen a few PHP forums and this one seems the nicest I've seen. A pity though that it doesn't have a nifty back-up like PERL Ikonboard has (essentialy makes many small dumps and TARs them). Fast, complete and powerful, even for 400 mb databases. You can pull some nice tricks like merging different databases. Nice alternative for SSH and the only convenient way to merge backups (I agree that we are in a odd situation).
This is not a con for anyone who considers using a PHP board as I haven't seen any yet that does.

We'll probably continue using the PERL one (free, works, powerful, support) but this is a very tempting alternative even while not free. Is there an importer/convertor for Ikonboard 3.1.1?

[DarknessDivine]

Check here...
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=92