Best Forum Software in your opinion

[meetdilip]

This thread is not a debate thread but an attempt to stop numerous which is the best free forum software. There will be a poll for you to vote. But if you cannot resist postings post Pros and Cons only as in format below

Software :

Version :

Free / Paid :

Pros :

Cons :

 

[Rasty]

Something it's wrong with the poll. Xenforo comes out with a big question mark.

 

[TrixieTang]

Something it's wrong with the poll. Xenforo comes out with a big question mark.

The XenForo option was accidentally put in the title field rather than a poll option field.

 

[Tracy Perry]

Problem is... there is no "best". For one site you may need features that only certain scripts can provide and on another you don't.

 

[Mopar1973Man]

True there is no best answer here. The thing is the forum owner has to weigh the options and abilities of each forum software and base a judgement call on it. Like XF here is isn't bad and seem to work just fine but for my forum I couldn't use it because it wasn't feature rich. Missing too much. vB "was" a good software till 4.2.0 then went down hill. But I know there is people buying XF because it fits there needs and people buying vB because it fits their needs. But still in all the software better be user friendly and up to date with current Internet standards.

 

[The Moon Glare]

Im going to go with IPB ive never had a problem with them

 

[meetdilip]

Guys, please stick to the template. If you think there is more than one good software, you can duplicate the template and compare different software features. Otherwise this too will end up in a vB/XF/IPB bashing thread.

 

[LeadCrow]

Voted for BurningBoard in confidence.

 

[Tracy Perry]

Well, either I didn't submit the reply I thought I did or it got deleted... but, on a related topic, the title probably should be more along the lines of
"Which forum script best fits YOUR needs".

 

[meetdilip]

Now ?

 

[The Moon Glare]

I could say with confidence that XenForo is upcoming though its getting better and better.

 

[Nogitsune]

If we're strictly comparing off current versions

Overall
1. IP Board
2.Burning Board
3. Xenforo(Distant 3rd)

Depends on Niche
A new site that is meant to be more social/general(Burning Board) and a site I want to make into a Community with various features(IPB).

Generally speaking, I can do whatever with IP board however, if I want to give something new a try it would probably be BB since BB is a direct competitor more so than Xf is.

Pros & Cons.....
Software : IP Board
Version : 3.4.x
Free / Paid : Paid
Pros : It's a part of a suite of features/add-ons to power a site and extended a site, Amazing Moderator tools, More features in its core

Cons : It is not quite as Modern looking/feeling out the box like its competitors but you can of course fix that easily, For some it could be a slight learning curve due to its featureset, SEO is good but may take a bit of tweaking to perfect.


Software : Burning Board
Version : 4.X
Free / Paid : Paid
Pros : Very attractive Modern design Feel, I love that the rep from BB is active on admin sites, decent looking 3rd party development, Like IP board it has a strong first party suite thus giving your site more features without having to utilize various developers and hoping it all plays well together with everything else.

Cons : It's a bit of a mystery simply because it is an international software and I do worry about support, I am not a fan of their styling thus if I ever moved to BB it seems it would be hard for me to find a design I like, SEO is a concern for me.

Software : Xenforo
Version : 1.3.X
Free / Paid : Paid
Pros : Very nice Modern Feel(though ironically I prefer BB more on this front), The alerts feature is literally my favorite feature of Xenforo, Great Social feel, SEO is great out the box, great spam management

Cons : Moderator tools can be a bit better imo, It does have the biggest reliance on 3rd party development than any of the other paid software competitors, The styling of Xenforo is easy however I can't stand the design in most cases(Very few styles are actually attractive to me) thus making it near impossible to find one I like, Limited 1st party development thus once again if you wish to extend your site you have to hope everything plays well together, It does miss a few features or is currently implementing features that other paid and FREE software have had for years, Some of the features they have(ex. multi-quote) seem to be a bit convoluted and different for the sake of being different, I feel as if some features are a bit unnecessary(trophies) to have whereas certain features should've been added long before now, the 3rd party community for add-ons is a bit higher than the competitors as well as styles are severely overpriced imo for what is essentially a tweaked XF style

 

[R44]

Software : Asperger's Network

Version : Beta 1.0.5 production, Beta 2.0ca Development

Free / Paid : Proprietary

Pros : clean, minimalist code, which loads with an eighth of the queries of XenForo.

Cons : Quite buggy. Looks half done. Needs better moderation features.

 

[Dan18]

Software : XenForo!

Version :1.3.3 (1.4.x is coming )

Free / Paid : Paid

Pros : A lot to mention

Cons : Not a bloatware Script like IPB and VB

 

[Phillip]

For me it has to be MyBB.

But lately it has to be PunBB and FluxBB.

Lightweight and very easy to work with.

 

[radu81]

I'm one of two that voted for smf. It's not perfect but after years of using it, for me is the fastest to setup, use, setup permissions, moderate, modify template... Etc

Could look strange but probably I'll switch back my xf forum to smf or elkarte

 

[meetdilip]

I too like SMF. Just that they were either too slow to adapt to changes in market or deaf to suggestions. ElkArte is what SMF used to be for me. I hope their ecosystem develop well.

 

[lordi]

Software : IPB

Version :3.4.6

Free / Paid : Paid

Pros : basically just love my first impression in their stock template and their Admin panel, easier for me

Cons : none

 

[radu81]

I too like SMF. Just that they were either too slow to adapt to changes in market or deaf to suggestions. ElkArte is what SMF used to be for me. I hope their ecosystem develop well.

I have to agree with you, SMF development compared to Elkarte is very slow. However I think Elk will be one the best free sw

 

[Cobalt]

Personally I prefer XenForo as my go-to software. I have used XenForo in the past and I will continue to use it as I just love the feel of it. It has such a creative look, and I am not saying other softwares don't have a creative look, but in my personal opinion I like the XenForo look over other softwares. The only difficult part I found in the beginning was designing and getting used to the Admin Panel as I had previously used Forumotion or PhpBB but after a bit of getting used to, I found XenForo to be my personal favorite.