What makes vBulletin so great?

[catman232]

Ok, I am upgrading from myBB to XenForo, IPB, or vBulletin. vBulletin being the most expensive out of the three. Here is where I stand: I am not noticing what makes vBulletin worth the extra money. IPB and XenForo are more visually appealing and seem to accomplish the same goals. If you can convince me of the advantages I will most likely be one of your future customers !

[steven s]

Each forum has it's strengths.

[catman232]

Each forum has it's strengths.

I understand, but I don't see vBulletin's strengths at all :/

[Alfa1]

If you do not consider vbCMS then vbulletin has very good SEO and it has post edit history. It has a large addon community. But yes, every software solution has different advantages.

[BrightStar]

You wouldn't find exceptional smilies and extra ordinary default themes like vBulletin in any other software. IMO these two are all worth the extra money.

Your best bet is to upgrade to vbulletin suite as it'll give you built-in CMS which you'll never use but it's the feeling and comfort of having it.....which will make you satisfied.

Good luck with the purchase and keep hoping that VB5 doesn't come out this year otherwise you'll have to spend exactly the same amount of money to upgrade your VB4 suite.

[Ramsesx]

I understand, but I don't see vBulletin's strengths at all :/

Just check out the most biggest and successful forums. Or if you are registered in other forums check out what they run. In my case, most forums I visit run vBulletin. The only thing I worry for new buyers is the time left until vB5 will be released because the license is only valid for vB4.

[steven s]

Just check out the most biggest and successful forums. Or if you are registered in other forums check out what they run. In my case, most forums I visit run vBulletin. The only thing I worry for new buyers is the time left until vB5 will be released because the license is only valid for vB4.

Although the biggest forums haven't gone to vB4 for various reasons.
The outlook of vB4 certainly is better than a year ago but I really can't say one is better than another.
XenForo has some really good features, vB has an extensive addon community, although not like it once was.
Haven't used myBB but have read about IPB.

A suggestion might be to look for someone selling a vB4 license cheap.

[charlesr]

I'm guessing most people won't have used more than 1, so all you'll get is people telling what they like or don't like about their own one.

I moved to VB4 from VB3 because I wanted a CMS site with integrated forum that I could backup easily with one command (as opposed to running joomla or something with separate forum software.

Initially VB4 was far from perfect on the CMS side, but there have been many useability improvements and bug fixes. It is still lacking custom fields for the CMS which I believe would propel the CMS aspect into the super-useful category (I run a videogames review site, so it would be amazing to have custom fields for score / region / platform etc.). The template and css system takes a while to get used to, but with a little effort (and a couple of plugin products like the slider and the tabs), you can create a modern professional looking site that looks different from other vbulletin sites (see the link).

I appreciate the easy maintenance / upgrades. I appreciate the swift replies from both staff and forumites here to my questions.

The only thing that caused me any real pain was the default search - I have a lot of threads and posts and it got too much for it to handle, so I had to disable innodb (back to myisam) for the vbulletin tables and install sphinx search deamon and digitalpoint's sphinx plugin, after which it then ran brilliantly.

The 3rd party plugin products are plentiful and free/cheap - if you need something, chances are someone else has already needed it and it exists.

[AusPhotography]

I've put in add-ons and written our own.

It is very easy to build on the vB architecture.

We have used vB since 3.6 and will install 4.1.12 this weekend.

[BrightStar]

I'm guessing most people won't have used more than 1, so all you'll get is people telling what they like or don't like about their own one.

I moved to VB4 from VB3 because I wanted a CMS site with integrated forum that I could backup easily with one command (as opposed to running joomla or something with separate forum software.

Initially VB4 was far from perfect on the CMS side, but there have been many useability improvements and bug fixes. It is still lacking custom fields for the CMS which I believe would propel the CMS aspect into the super-useful category (I run a videogames review site, so it would be amazing to have custom fields for score / region / platform etc.). The template and css system takes a while to get used to, but with a little effort (and a couple of plugin products like the slider and the tabs), you can create a modern professional looking site that looks different from other vbulletin sites (see the link).

I appreciate the easy maintenance / upgrades. I appreciate the swift replies from both staff and forumites here to my questions.

The only thing that caused me any real pain was the default search - I have a lot of threads and posts and it got too much for it to handle, so I had to disable innodb (back to myisam) for the vbulletin tables and install sphinx search deamon and digitalpoint's sphinx plugin, after which it then ran brilliantly.

The 3rd party plugin products are plentiful and free/cheap - if you need something, chances are someone else has already needed it and it exists.

I wouldn't make assumption about other people and their sites if my own site was less than a year old.

[BrightStar]

Ignore - Repeat post

[catman232]

I went with IPB, for these reasons:
1. Cheaper than vB
2. Prettier than vB or Xenforo
3. Easier to Manage than vB or Xenforo
4. All the plugins I need are on the IPS marketplace.
5. My community loves it.

[charlesr]

I wouldn't make assumption about other people and their sites if my own site was less than a year old.

Why are you in this thread? Someone has come asking for help and so far you've offered sarcastic comments (see post #5) and a weird comment about how old your site is (mine was started in 2001 and has been using vbulletin since 2003).

[Zachery]

I went with IPB, for these reasons:
1. Cheaper than vB
2. Prettier than vB or Xenforo
3. Easier to Manage than vB or Xenforo
4. All the plugins I need are on the IPS marketplace.
5. My community loves it.

Good luck with your new site then!

[Ramsesx]

I went with IPB, for these reasons:
1. Cheaper than vB
2. Prettier than vB or Xenforo
3. Easier to Manage than vB or Xenforo
4. All the plugins I need are on the IPS marketplace.
5. My community loves it.

After only a few hours you know your community loves it?
Curious but however, enjoy it.