vBulletin vs. IPB

[interestedUser]

I'm glad whitetigergrowl seems to be on the ball. Who cares who uses what? Everything said here about IPB I could find arguments against.

Support: There's a nice topic about it in their feedback forum complaining how a ticket is taking 55 minutes. If their customers are expecting responses that quickly, seems their support can't be all that bad. Some users are reporting responses in 5 minutes.

http://forums.invisionpower.com/index.php?showtopic=238510

Of course I've found the same things here.

Companies using IPB:

NASA - the forums are internal
EMI - This is a recording industry group. It's the individual artists using IPB

http://janetjackson.emiforums.com/index.php?act=idx

http://thirtysecondstomars.emiforums.com/

http://mickjagger.emiforums.com/index.php

and so on

Yahoo - actually it's televisionwithoutpity.com (owned by Yahoo or at least used to be): http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/

And then there's the hundreds of NBC forums (Bravo, NBC, their sports ones, etc.)

But there's a ton of companies using vB too. Who cares what NBC or Yahoo uses? Use what YOU need.

All in all features are pretty close. And yes, everyone saying vb is great or ipb is great and the other one sucks is a fanboy indeed. If you want a forum software, try both (and others) out and see what you like. Like I said before, don't expect to get an unbiased opinion about competition from vb's (or ipb's) site.

[FredBaker]

I can't completely realize why you are heavily insisting on how "ACP" is.
We build our communities for our "members" and there is nothing important than it.

I have a question: From your community members who cares about how elements of your acp are arranged?

You've purchased a software and also must be depended on it so IMO acp is not a good parameter for comparisons.

Another thing in previous post was Web 2.0,
I think it's not important that where you change a user signature must be full of ajaxy menus and graphic images so using tables is ideal.

[Shazz™]

I think everything has been stated, I see a ton of these threads. There all stated before you get your input in.

vBulletin > IPB

[xjuliox]

Here's a joke "Use IPB" lol!

[class101]

Here's a joke "Use IPB" lol!

my joke is I have used phpBB :/ *hides*

[Shazz™]

my joke is I have used phpBB :/ *hides*

I think alot of people have before moving to paid forum software

[msimplay]

I don't know how much this is going to add to this conversation but currently
I'm deciding between which software to use for my community.

vBulletins key factors

• Product / Plugins /Hooks system makes adding modifications simple
• Ability to turn on and off most features like signatures and individual bbcodes
• Dynamic email Notification titles
• Email notifications have bbcode text parser that converts bbcode to text equivalents
• Contact Us uses a sendmessage.php
• BBcode parser allows smilies to parse even when right next to text and allows for special characters due to the way posts are parsed
• Has a reputation system as standard
• Has slightly more powerful administrative controls for example you can undelete threads and posts and multi-moderation also appears on search results and you can edit every aspect of the member such as changing avatars and profile pictures. On Invision Power Board you can only delete and not edit them because of their design ethics
• Allows you to reorder emoticons and post icons in any order and put them in categories
• Has the best postbit layout IMO because it allows for a great field for the text instead of a massive border of wasted space although I know many like the legacy look I prefer the new look vbulletin postbit

Invision Power Board key factors

• Fantastic 1st party modules like the gallery
• Better default skin design although more complicated due to using many css classes for colors that basically due the same thing is arguably more powerful
• Can download threads as standard in html or word document format
• Excellent profile where many 3rd party and first party addons integrate seamlessly
• Wyziwyg editor works with Opera web browser
• Has the best Arcade modification available, although through hacking v3arcade comes very close in overall functionality
• Has attachments in private messages
• Has a place to put your rules or guidelines by default
• Has the best gallery addon available better than VBAgallery or Photopost
• Has microstats without the need for a plugin module
• Images within posts are resized without the need for a plugin
• Allows for use of an alias as a display name. I find it quite annoying that vbulletin doesn't have this
• Can sort threads depending on if they have an attachment or not
• Guest names have prefix and suffix and they are unlinked which allows for less confusion amongst members.

This was a personal list highlighting the positive aspects for both forum softwares

[jigger]

...

Invision Power Board key factors

...

• Has the best Arcade modification available, although through hacking v3arcade comes very close in overall functionality
• Has the best gallery addon available better than VBAgallery or Photopost

...

You mean ibproarcade, right? That is really an excellent arcade add-on. It has been ported to vbulletin long ago, so the ipb and vb versions took different development routes. I don' t know which one is better, but I think both are very good - the vbulletin version is the most installed vb add-on and has excellent ratings. Although its version number is lower (2.66 vs. 3.3.0), it looks like Mr.Zeropage updates the mod more often than the ipb version coders do (last vb update: January 18th 2008, ipb: February 20th 2007).

I really wish vb is going to create a gallery. I am not satisfied with the existing ones. Photopost looks like a forum and lacks some features and free ones are difficult to integrate. I think with introducing the profile galleries there will be a bigger demand for a public gallery and we might see this happen.

Right now it looks like vbulletin is one or two steps behind ipb. The social networking features have been announced September 2006 (release in December). The blog add-on was released in December 2004.

The most important argument for vb is their active (modding) community. There are numerous nice mods and many are well supported. vb.org is a very well designed site with a great team behind it.

I have not taken a closer look at ipb, but at first glance invisionize and ipb resources are the main resources. Although invisonize' s numbers are bigger than on vb.org, it does not look as active. Less mods available, less guests and members online. When you count the posts of all forums, it does not even come close to 1.4 million posts. Or are those stats faked? I registered there and could download the mods, so I don' t think anything is hidden. Where are those other 900,000 posts? It is also odd that ipb has 100,000 users whereas invisionize has more than double the amount (240,000). vb.com has 160,000, vb.org has 230,000. And the difference is that vb.org is an official modding site.

[msimplay]

You mean ibproarcade, right? That is really an excellent arcade add-on. It has been ported to vbulletin long ago, so the ipb and vb versions took different development routes. I don' t know which one is better, but I think both are very good - the vbulletin version is the most installed vb add-on and has excellent ratings. Although its version number is lower (2.66 vs. 3.3.0), it looks like Mr.Zeropage updates the mod more often than the ipb version coders do (last vb update: January 18th 2008, ipb: February 20th 2007).

2.66 vs ibproarcade 3.30 the arcades are actually completely different other than Ibproarcade for vbulletin supporting v3arcade and pnflash games Ibproarcade for vBulletin has a lesser feature set compared to 3.30 on Invision Power Board. Also updates don't usually add anything they usually seem to be just bugfixes. Also the development of both arcades seems to have been split so the 3.30 features may never become apart of Ibproarcade for vbulletin. For example did you know ibproarcade for IPB has a challenge system and has a seperate arcade profile so you don't have increase the load in the postbit and members know what games a player a champion on. There are other things but since I have tested both IBproarcade for IPB is definitely the better one.

Go to http://www.ibparcade.com/ and compare for yourself which version is better. I personally think besides greater game support which is neither here nor there since Ibproarcade games format is very well supported 3.30 completely whips the vBulletin version hands down although thats probably due to that being the main version being developed

[Ingenious]

I thought I would chip in. I am an ex-IBP user and have recently switched to VB.

Like everyone else considering this I took a look at the features, the forums themselves to see how they looked/felt, and read about user experiences. I concluded that both were excellent products and in the end it's probably not specific features that would decide which one.

Initially I wanted to play safe and upgrade my old IBP and stick with Invision. I e-mailed them stating this and did not get a reply. So I e-mailed VB and got a reply in a few hours, "Yes, VB can import your old forum". I e-mailed IBP again after a few days stating I was waiting on a response, simple question, can I import my old IBP as the specific version is not mentioned in the IBP on-line guide. No response after a week. So I asked VB a few more questions, always getting a quick response. That was last year. IBP have never replied to me (and at the time I could not find a way of posting in their official support forums, without being a paying customer, and their pre-sales forum diverts to e-mail which is what I did!!).

So for me, in the end it was service, not specs.

Since then the response from VB support has been nothing short of amazing when I ran into some problems relating to importing some very old data.

I would recommend VB, and would not go back to Invision, sorry. I don't like companies that do not respond to simple requests for help from people stating they are an existing user and are about to spend money with them. That's just a personal opinion.

[l SKN l CHRIS]

The only thing that draws me to IPB is that it overall in my opinion looks nicer, and I'm talking about whatever skin you put on it, not just the default.

I feel besides looks that vBulletin is better.

[3dsoft]

vbulletin & IPB

I do own both, IPB & vbulletin. One year ago, I felt like IPB had the superior social forum product, which was the reason why I bought a IPB community license. Right now, I think that vbulletin is catching up with some very nice features (e.g. tagging, Blogs, social profiles, groups). But there are still some little issues with vbulletin which I already talked about in my vbulletin blog. The main feature which I am missing is an album gallery. Web2.0 is progressing very fast & software providers have to decide which features might be important and which aren't. Vbulletin is on the right track with its new social features.

[Xtrato]

well there is a lot of talk here and there, but like many have said..

vBulletin is Getting "OLD" Looking , for the sake of the script , ( which i think its awesome ) hire / code / create a better template.

When you look at IPB , you go like WOOH PRETTYYY......

now you come to vB and you think you are visiting a 1999 Website...

everything needs to look better ,Reply section , its ...... sad , i mean i dont like it,when you look at IPB , its effective , nice looking , attractive ..

vB and IPB might have Powerful Scripts , or even vB might have better script , but IPB is taking steps forward in not just scripts , but the look of a site... what good is a Ferrari without its body , to many not very attractive , maybe to racers , which they know whats up with the inside ,and know the power... but for my mom , or dad , its ugly ...they probably get a Toyota or something ...

IPB , i like it , effective , you can run a site looking "GOOD" for months , years without having to hire anyone....

vB ,its great, i design for it , but , you cant keep a site with just vB Skin , it will look horrible.

Thats primarily the Make up of the site , too much on the functionality... both are awesome scripts , my personal site will run IPB , my Designers Site will run vBulletin ( I need to show people vB can look good) ( oh..if they pay) .. anyway , thats my opinion.

Everyone has theirs , no script will win , only the opinions are ..

I like tacos you dont. ... so what .

[Xtrato]

my joke is I have used phpBB :/ *hides*

I dont think there is a joke on phpBB lol, if anything phpBB is great.. they are also moving ahead of their "competition' and whats best ...? Its free.

[auonline]

Man, phpBB is so bad they have to now have to have public beta's and Release Candidates for every minor update (3.0.0 > 3.0.1 for example etc.) because its so buggy... that just makes me laugh. phpBB will always have the wooden spoon...

I have used a lot of forum scripts before... my current site (now closing) used mybb... which was damn awful (people found it hard to use and registrations stopped, noone came at all in the month of March), ive used phpBB2 and phpBB3... which look good but really are just crap, SMF... don't go there, AEF... flashy and crappy, IPB... good and flashy and nice, vB... like the look and feel of it (I have never owned a vB or IPB license, I have used demo's and use forums running these regularly)

Anyway back to vB...

Personally, I don't think members really care about what software a forum they visit uses, or sometimes even if it looks good, they come for content and community.

A website I visit a lot uses vB and uses the default theme, another site I freq. visit uses IPB, another Connectix Boards, another phpBB3... I think, if you are worrying about what's best for your website, you would stick to the same thing and work on the content because at the end of the day, each new feature that each forum software adds just makes the software more complex and also confusing to people new to using forums, and most of these flashy features IMHO you will never need or use.

I think you should stick to the one you know best and suits you... don't pick one just because 'it looks good' or it has X feature or some big flashy board uses it... pick what you know best and at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter, content is key (and software really doesn't matter that much so long as people can comfortably use the forum and you and your staff can manage it).

Just my 2 cents,
auonline