2 questions

[jeffeema]

Well, I'm really confused as of now, and I have 3 questions that I think might clear things up:

1.) Do I have to own my own domain for vBulletin to work? If so, do they just give me the files to upload?

2.) Do I need this vBulletin 5 thing? What is the purpose of it?

3.) If I purchase a domain from GoDaddy, do I have to get storage or a place to upload the forum files to it, or do I just purchase the forum deal here and my link and I'm good to go?

[TLMD]

1.) You can use the vB5 Cloud option, if you do not want to host your community on your own. If you plan to run a self-hosted community, then you need some way to "point to your community", so yes, this will include a domain like www.yourcommunity.com. A vB5 license lets you download the software files.

2.) Yes, you need to purchase a vB5 license, if you want to run a self-hosted community. This is the only license that is available, but it also gives you access to vB4 and vB3, if you prefer to use either of these previous versions. If you use vB5 Cloud, then you simply subscribe to some monthly plan and "they" (IB, vBulletin) host the forum for you.

3.) If you run a self-hosted community, you need some place to upload the files of the software to. This can be a webhost, VPS or anything else. If you just want to use your own domain, you can point it to anything you want.

[jeffeema]

1.) You can use the vB5 Cloud option, if you do not want to host your community on your own. If you plan to run a self-hosted community, then you need some way to "point to your community", so yes, this will include a domain like www.yourcommunity.com. A vB5 license lets you download the software files.

2.) Yes, you need to purchase a vB5 license, if you want to run a self-hosted community. This is the only license that is available, but it also gives you access to vB4 and vB3, if you prefer to use either of these previous versions. If you use vB5 Cloud, then you simply subscribe to some monthly plan and "they" (IB, vBulletin) host the forum for you.

3.) If you run a self-hosted community, you need some place to upload the files of the software to. This can be a webhost, VPS or anything else. If you just want to use your own domain, you can point it to anything you want.

Wait, so I gotta get vB5 software, I can't just get the 15/month thing? I HAVE to get vB5? I already have a domain and server hosting with digitalocean, and can just upload the files with something like FileZilla.

[TLMD]

If you run vB5 on your own ("self-hosted"), then you need to get a vB5 license, which gives you access to the software/files you need to upload.

If you do not want to host vB5 on your own, you can get vB5 Cloud. Then a vB5 installation is hosted by IB/vBulletin for you.

[BirdOPrey5]

There is a choice you need to make- you can either purchase VBCloud or the download version of VB5.

A quick comparison of the two: http://www.vbulletin.com/en/vbcloud-features

But basically vBCloud starts at $19.95 a month (less if you prepay a year in full) and is all you need to start a forum. We can give you a free something.vbulletin.net domain name. You can optionally purchase your own domain from a place like go daddy.

If you want the most control though you can buy teh VB5 download version. With the download version you can install any VB version you want (3, 4, or 5.) The vB cost of the software is $249 and you never pay us again to use any future or past version of 5.x, 4.x, or 3.x. However you also need to purchase suitable web hosting and you will want to have a domain name as well.

[alexchar]

Don't use vBulletin Cloud option! Buy owned license because by using vB Cloud...

->You can't install your own templates
->You can't install any mods, hacks
->You don't have access to your files or MySQL database
->vBulletin automatically upgrades your forum version to the latest, vB 5.1.5 right now, so you can not use vBulletin 4 or 3, something you can do with owned license.

Basically your don't have control and you can't make modifications with vB Cloud. So it's not recommended on public forums which want to attract new people. Only if you are a small team who JUST needs to discuss and have a small private forum.

[jeffeema]

There is a choice you need to make- you can either purchase VBCloud or the download version of VB5.

A quick comparison of the two: http://www.vbulletin.com/en/vbcloud-features

But basically vBCloud starts at $19.95 a month (less if you prepay a year in full) and is all you need to start a forum. We can give you a free something.vbulletin.net domain name. You can optionally purchase your own domain from a place like go daddy.

If you want the most control though you can buy teh VB5 download version. With the download version you can install any VB version you want (3, 4, or 5.) The vB cost of the software is $249 and you never pay us again to use any future or past version of 5.x, 4.x, or 3.x. However you also need to purchase suitable web hosting and you will want to have a domain name as well.

But if I get the $15/month, it's the same thing, just that if I choose to ever cancel that payment, I lose vBulletin. Am I understanding it correctly?

[BirdOPrey5]

The $15 a month means you have to pay one year in advance. A single payment of $14.99 x 12 = $179.88 up front. You have the forum for one year. If you cancel before the year you can either keep the forum up until the year expires or you can close the forum but you don't get any money back.

If you want to pay one month at a time the price is $19.95/mo.