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I agree. It's up to personal preference amd what one is looking for.
Best Forum Software in your opinion
- Thread starter meetdilip
- Start date
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- Tags
- choice forum software
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- Jul 10, 2021
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Xenforo or Flarum for me
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I voted XenForo. Great software and has everything I need to build a community.
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Just had a re-read of this thread, it’s been around a while.
Of particular interest to me were the posts from 2017 thrashing out some of the issues if the forum industry - and how it doesn’t really seem to have changed in the years since.
Of particular interest to me were the posts from 2017 thrashing out some of the issues if the forum industry - and how it doesn’t really seem to have changed in the years since.
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If forum is only thing you have in your website then the best solutions are XenForo or Flarum
However, in most case forums are a part of websites, blogs, support section. In this case, the best forums are CMS plugins.
However, in most case forums are a part of websites, blogs, support section. In this case, the best forums are CMS plugins.
- WordPress with wpForo forum plugin: https://wpforo.com/community/
- Joomla with Kunena Extension: https://www.kunena.org/forum/index
- Drupal with Forum Modeule: https://www.drupal.org/docs/8/core/modules/forum/overview
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PixelExit is probably one of the best theme developers out.
And XF has a GREAT 3rd party add-on developer in Bob and his Showcase, Classifieds, and Article Management add-ons (he has a few others also but I haven't used them).
I've used several expensive IPS add-ons, and Bob's surpasses every one of those that I have used in power, configurability and performance.
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My theme needs a bit of a fixing up and a refresh and I've noticed how many customers PixelExit seem to have, plus a good reputation, so I might well use them.
Could you please point me to Bob's article management add-on as I'd really like a decent CMS for my site. If not that, then just his home page will do.
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XenAddons - XenForo Add-ons & Custom Development
XenForo Add-ons Development, Support and Custom Development
xenaddons.com
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- #172
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- May 28, 2007
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That makes sense. IPS has Commerce and Clubs while XF does not have such functionality. BuddyBoss does.
When it comes to Blogs, Articles, Classifieds, Reviews, Links, Showcases, Bob's solutions for XenForo are on another level. It doesn't even compare to IPS.
BuddyBoss (WordPress) has multilingual functionality, live refreshing content, Learning Management System, Podcasting Management System, Survey Management System, App and many things the WordPress ecosystem offers like WooCommerce, Rank Math SEO, etc. IPS and XF do not have this.
BuddyBoss its permission system and its ability to cater to large communities is not (yet) as good and robust as XenForo and IPS. Unlike IPS and XF, BuddyBoss does have a roadmap.
This thread was started in 2014. Back then vbulletin still had the main marketshare. When Facebook groups Discord forums didnt exist, live refreshing content was not a thing and users had very different demands. The poll is outdated in that regard.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2006
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The question no one seems to be asking.
VBulletin was considered superior to IPB for multiple reasons up to VB 3. Then a newcomer, Xenforo, comes along and takes the crown from VB keeping long established IPB in a distant 2nd place. Yet IPB costs more and generally has some extra features.
I don't think I've seen a time where IPB has been considered the #1 forum software overall in 20 years. It's usually a good distance down in popularity. So why has it never broken that barrier? What has held it back? After 20 years why is it not considered the forum software of choice by more people even after some significant improvements over the years?
Is IPB missing an 'it' factor? Do people think it's too costly? Do they not like the layout or feel of it? What exactly is the reason?
Perception is everything.
VBulletin was considered superior to IPB for multiple reasons up to VB 3. Then a newcomer, Xenforo, comes along and takes the crown from VB keeping long established IPB in a distant 2nd place. Yet IPB costs more and generally has some extra features.
I don't think I've seen a time where IPB has been considered the #1 forum software overall in 20 years. It's usually a good distance down in popularity. So why has it never broken that barrier? What has held it back? After 20 years why is it not considered the forum software of choice by more people even after some significant improvements over the years?
Is IPB missing an 'it' factor? Do people think it's too costly? Do they not like the layout or feel of it? What exactly is the reason?
Perception is everything.
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- May 25, 2013
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Because in a nutshell, all they care about are commercial customers.... us "itty bitty lint in the pocket amongst the few coins" hobbyist initially gave them their start, and when they got a taste of those "commercial customers", they began to salivate like a starving dog looking at a nice thick, raw steak.
The hobbyist began to get pushed to the wayside because they, in a nutshell no matter how IPS wants to try to deny it and to claim otherwise, were not profitable enough.
The ironic thing is.... I'm pretty sure a noticeable part of their company income comes from many of those self-same hobbyist. If those hobbyist that IPS looks down on ever decide to pack up and leave, I think you'll find a work-force reduction in progress at IPS and some REAL belt tightening going on.
And then let's talk about their "head honcho's" attitudes. Charles comes across as a pandering puss dripping prick too often when you say something he doesn't like and you aren't one of those commercial interests that he panders to. Apparently his skin is about as thick as the very outside layer of an onion....
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I noticed that several new features in IPS are only available to cloud users. That would worry me if I was using IPS. Are they going to shift more and more towards the lucrative hosted version?
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- Feb 17, 2008
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Another vote AGAINST IPB: they don't let you download legacy versions of their software. Unless you are ready to pay license renewals and keep up with updates you may be up to a rude awakening that there's no easy way to upgrade from your old IPB installation to current one.
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- Sep 14, 2019
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Looks like I made the right decision to go with Xenforo.
When I looked at IPB it looked a bit too "corporate" for me
When I looked at IPB it looked a bit too "corporate" for me
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2020
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- 23
I own kinda most of popular forum softwares.
I own vBulletin, IPS, xenForo and honestly.
When IPB in 3.x was kinda like chad in forums software, like not had concurrent in their time, nowadays, they thrive for different customer base and being expensive. I having almost complete feature set to build small portal have to pay 75$ every 6 months for access to updates or spam defense system.
xenForo with XFRM and 8WAYRUN Portal made by Jaxel does kinda all job for me and for 80$ per year.
Also like Rafał said here, they literally not allow you to obtain any old version, even contact them in emergency situation result that they not provide you a any legacy IPB version. They literally lie to customer that they not have access to old version of their software.
But when it comes they somehow managed to run their site https://invisionalpha.com on legacy 3.1.4 without a any problem, but when I asked them to provide me that version of course get lied that they not have access to that.
For almost 400$/500$ price for software it's kinda scandal to me to not provide older version for customer which want restore old backups or stuff.
in Old times honestly vBulletin 4 had my bet, it's still my favorite, but since it got really obsolete I try get used to xenForo.
I own vBulletin, IPS, xenForo and honestly.
When IPB in 3.x was kinda like chad in forums software, like not had concurrent in their time, nowadays, they thrive for different customer base and being expensive. I having almost complete feature set to build small portal have to pay 75$ every 6 months for access to updates or spam defense system.
xenForo with XFRM and 8WAYRUN Portal made by Jaxel does kinda all job for me and for 80$ per year.
Also like Rafał said here, they literally not allow you to obtain any old version, even contact them in emergency situation result that they not provide you a any legacy IPB version. They literally lie to customer that they not have access to old version of their software.
But when it comes they somehow managed to run their site https://invisionalpha.com on legacy 3.1.4 without a any problem, but when I asked them to provide me that version of course get lied that they not have access to that.
For almost 400$/500$ price for software it's kinda scandal to me to not provide older version for customer which want restore old backups or stuff.
in Old times honestly vBulletin 4 had my bet, it's still my favorite, but since it got really obsolete I try get used to xenForo.