What vbulletin has that phpbb and IPB don't?

[Floris]

vBulletin's support is even free!

[Robbiz233]

In think that IB and VB are really about even in that they both have unique features, are really fast are well developed and both have good support. Yes it is true that having a vbulletin for your forum does speak quality for your website but there are plenty of great ibf setups out there and V2 is really brought it up on par with vbulletin 3.

[Floris]

Yes, IPS is indeed trying their best to keep up with todays market of internet bulletin board system demands.

[rnawky]

Ipb

In my opinion i think IPB is better. The upcomeing version 2.0 will be much better than vBullitin. the only thing i like about vB is the skin and dhtml (also this Reply thingy is pretty cool. I also choose IPB cuz im poor and cant buy vB

[Jamer]

There is actually a different between phpbb & VB = VB has licence restrictions where as phpbb have none. In otherwords VB prevent you from certain discussion within their licence, which is fine, but I fail to see the point of paying for a discussion board script, only to be told what you can & cannot dicuss?? I find that a bit odd, anyway, phpbb have no restrictions what so ever!! a great feature in my opinion. I also like VB but the licence puts me off.

[y2ksw]

First, I've heared about PHP, then about MySQL, and when I wondered where to get some good samples of PHP and MySQL programming, I stumbled over vBulletin. After a six months research back and forth from several free PHP bulletin boards using MySQL, I decided to buy VB, just for curiosity. I taught me how and how not to develop PHP software (nobody is perfect, but VB almost ), and was its money worth, much more than any kind of manual and online documentation or development tools.

By now I've moved my site completely from ASP to PHP, and use VB as a helpdesk, notepad, mail base and data storage for work. The only backdraw of VB is its complexity, and for making full use of all its features it needs a lot of studies. Also, I'm missing a calendar reminder mailing option where to setup some criterias, such as when and to whom else (co-workers) send the reminders, and a graphical representation of events (vertical histogram), found at other products, like Project.

[Steve Machol]

There is actually a different between phpbb & VB = VB has licence restrictions where as phpbb have none.

The only restriction we have is that we do not allow our software to be used for piracy and the support Intellectual Property theft. So if that is what someone wishes to do, then by all means they should use phpBB or some other software that doesn't have this restriction.

[Shadow Duelist]

Hey, lately I saw some forums that use vbulletin as their forum.

So I came to this site and saw vbulletin costs money.

So I'm asking, what vbulletin has that costs money which phpbb and IPB don't have?

Thanks.

Everything .

[sparker]

Comparisons between vBulletin and phpBB

Well, I opened this thread hoping I'd find useful comparisons between the systems, but virtually every single message said something to the effect of:

- vBulletin is better because you have to pay for it
- vBulletin is better because you get free support
- vBulletin is better because it's always first (still don't understand that one)

Not one reply did a functional comparison of the three systems, which is something that should be done and published, especially by the company that is charging for their systems when the others are "free".

I would have thought there'd be a comparison on the home page that makes a huge effort to distinguish why end users would pay for this system instead of using a "free system". Unless of course, there are no significant systems, in which case I'd try to hide that the systems are essentially the same, and "let the buyer beware".

Is there a real functional comparison anywhere? I've already set up a phpBB based system, but I'm always looking for something better for my next consulting contract....

Just my $0.02 (adjusted for inflation)

Steve

[Shadow Duelist]

Well, I opened this thread hoping I'd find useful comparisons between the systems, but virtually every single message said something to the effect of:

- vBulletin is better because you have to pay for it
- vBulletin is better because you get free support
- vBulletin is better because it's always first (still don't understand that one)

Not one reply did a functional comparison of the three systems, which is something that should be done and published, especially by the company that is charging for their systems when the others are "free".

I would have thought there'd be a comparison on the home page that makes a huge effort to distinguish why end users would pay for this system instead of using a "free system". Unless of course, there are no significant systems, in which case I'd try to hide that the systems are essentially the same, and "let the buyer beware".

Is there a real functional comparison anywhere? I've already set up a phpBB based system, but I'm always looking for something better for my next consulting contract....

Just my $0.02 (adjusted for inflation)

Steve

Okay, vBulletin 3 is the best BECAUSE...

It can hold thousands or hundreds users online - rarely IPB and phpBB can do this.
Millions of posts -- without crashing even once! - IPB crashes every now and then, phpBB, can't even handle atleast 1,000,000!
vBulletin has more features, ease of use, and it's just the best.
When you do choose vBulletin, you'll be very happy and you won't even THINK about IPB or phpBB2.

[andrew johnson]

phpBB, can't even handle atleast 1,000,000!

not quite in fact the phpbb site forum has more users it busy forum

[JCJiffy]

Okay, vBulletin 3 is the best BECAUSE...

It can hold thousands or hundreds users online - rarely IPB and phpBB can do this.
Millions of posts -- without crashing even once! - IPB crashes every now and then, phpBB, can't even handle atleast 1,000,000!
vBulletin has more features, ease of use, and it's just the best.
When you do choose vBulletin, you'll be very happy and you won't even THINK about IPB or phpBB2.

I just made the switch from phpBB to vBulletin for my forums.

But if you're gonna make comments as above, please make sure you know what you're talking about.

http://www.big-boards.com/index.php?type=phpBB

I guess these phpBB boards can't handle 1,000,000 posts right?

On the end-user side, I find all forum software to be the same. The main thing is ease of use when posting messages. This is what's important. For most of the forum software, I don't see big differences.

The admin side is where I find vBulletin excels. The templating system is much more advanced than that of phpBB. And the number of options available to the administrator is much greater than what the current phpBB 2.0.x line offers.

[catocom]

vBulletin is vastly superior to all other forum software out there. Having the 'powered by vBulletin' tag on your board immediately speaks 'quality'...when I see that on a board, I know it's probably a 'real' board and not some two-bit operation.

If you are serious about running a web forum....vBulletin is the ONLY choice. This was already the case before 3 was released, but is even more so now.

These are my thought also.
I have some members that like me have been board hoppers for several years,
and some won't even join a non-vB forum.

[sparker]

Thanks everybody for all your information.

It appears that there aren't really any functional differences, so I guess it's coming down to personal preferences.

Steve

[poolking]

JCJiffy, if you are referring to Gaia Online, if you read the interview with the owner of that site, the interview can be found on bigboards, he states that the board has been hacked and customised so much and spread over 10 servers that it can really no longer be considered a phpBB board.