Cost of moving from vBulletin to Xenforo? Should it be $1000?

[WhaleTail-Forum]

Hi guys

So glad I found this site. I am looking to transfer my site from vBulletin to Xenforo.

I have been quoted $1000 with this message:

The migration to XenForo 2.1 will cost 1000 USD. The project will include test board creation and test migration, data verification, live board migration, server PHP upgrade. After the test migration is done, we may go through available themes and see what kind of custom solution in design needs to be done based on available 3rd party themes or default theme. Theme development will not be included in this quote and will be quoted separately. If any 3rd party add-ons will need to be installed/set up or developed, we'll review those tasks and provide appropriate quotes.

To proceed with migration, 600 USD pre-payment should be released now. 400 USD payment will be done after live board migration. Please send the offer with 2 milestones, and I'll accept it.

We'll need XenForo 1.5.23 and 2.1.0 packages to start the work.

We'll start with PHP upgrade, XenForo test board setup and proceed with test migration.

We may schedule live board migration in 5-7 days from now depending on test migration process, custom theme development timeframes and other needed additions/changes before live board migration.

Does this seem reasonable? I am not very tech savvy so I don't know if he is ripping me off as it seems a little expensive? He does have very good reviews so just interested in your opinions.

Thanks

 

[Bionic Rooster]

Who are you talking about? I may be interested in their service.

 

[Ramses]

From the description of the tasks he is doing it seems reliable and professional. The price tag is high but since I'm doing those things by myself I don't know the price calculation on this.
But to be honest, if the forum is that you wear the username, I would guess you could get a conversion for max. 200$ or I better would ask the staff at xenforo.com how much they charge for a conversion. This would be the best choice you can do.

Installation Service - $50*
A XenForo representative will install the latest version on your server, provided it meets the requirements. This does not include PHP or MySQL installation or configuration.

 

[Chris D]

ask the staff at xenforo.com how much they charge for a conversion.

We don't provide a conversion service.

Does this seem reasonable?

How many quotes have you had? If you get three quotes and they're all around the same price, then I'd suggest that seems reasonable. But, equally, you won't necessarily want to go for the cheapest anyway.

You should aim for the provider who seems to represent good value for money. If that means paying comparatively more to use a professional that has a good reputation vs paying less for someone relatively unknown or will cut corners or has a bad reputation then it may be worth it.

 

[Slavik]

I have been quoted $1000 with this message:

Whats your site url? Trying to advise on a price without taking a look at the likely level of work is difficult, if the site is the same as your username, then $1000 is ridiculously expensive for a board of that size.

 

[Anton Chigurh]

Get a quote from mysiteguy you'll be happy you did.

 

[Kevin]

Does this seem reasonable?

1K USD for just stock data migration with style & add-ons to be looked at after and billed additionally?

To quote George Takei, "Oh, my!".

 

[eva2000]

Price is always relative to experience of the user performing it and usually should take into account size of the forum/data being migrated as that ultimately determines the overall time required to do migrations. That's how I usually quote and make calculations. But don't forget their geographic location and cost of living can factor into it too - huge difference in base operating costs if the person lives in country where they can pay $100/month rent versus $2,500/month rent ! That can dictate whether a person is willing to work for equivalent of $5/hr or $50/hr etc etc

But probably good idea to shop around for quotes

 

[LeadCrow]

It only depends on how much you're willing to pay, and wether you can recoup that expense from the earnings in money and reputation a properly functioning forum can grant.

1k is a reasonable charge for a big board, although 300$ would be more reasonable otherwise if no custom development is necessary, but youd probably want to shop around for quotes from bored hobbyists open to helping a fellow vb refugee for a more modest fee.

 

[we_are_borg]

Always shop around get minimum of 2 quotes and dont forget reputation of the person that is going to do it.

 

[Ingenious]

I agree with the above, get some more quotes, then you'll get a better idea.

Don't be scared of lower quotes - if the service includes a test conversion you'll be able to look over the results anyway before pulling the trigger for real. Maybe you can get some of your forum members to help check out the test conversion (for free) to make sure it all works as expected.

The good news is that after vB, anything will seem better, so what's the worst that can happen?

 

[mysiteguy]

If it's the forum I think it is via Google search, its a smallish forum under 100K posts, and based on the info you provided you oughta shop around regardless of who you end up working with.

 

[Chris D]

As a side note, I’d be somewhat interested in understanding who this service provider is and where they are advertising their services.

If indeed this is the quote for a fairly small forum then I am somewhat concerned.

 

[WhaleTail-Forum]

Thanks for the information guys. I got the quote for upwork which is a freelance company.
My original job was asking the fix my vBulletin forum as the table session always get full and I don't know how to fix it myself.
Then this guy told me of all the benefits for using xenforo and the risk and using an old vBulletin 4.2 something version.
I think $1000 is a bit high for a quite small site like mine (20,000 members)
He does have a good reputation however, but I will re-post the job of moving the site and see if I get any better quotes.
And yes my site is whaletail-forum (it is an adult site, so don't view if offended)
Also mysiteguy do you provide this service?

 

[doubt]

We'll start with PHP upgrade,

Does he know all the details of the server where your forum is?
If not: why should be a PHP upgrade included in that quote?

 

[WhaleTail-Forum]

He sent me this

XenForo 2 system requirements test
Requirements not met
The following XenForo requirements were not met. Please contact your host for help.

1. PHP 5.6.0 or newer is required. 5.4.23 does not meet this requirement. Please ask your host to upgrade PHP.

XenForo also requires MySQL 5.5 or newer. Please manually check that you meet this requirement.

 

[Chris D]

Although there are some reasonable and well known service providers over at various freelance sites like Upwork and Fiverr, your best bet may be to head on over to our forums and take a look through the service providers there:

https://xenforo.com/community/forums/third-party-services-offers.42/

All of these posts are from licensed XenForo customers and generally they are reputable with reviews/testimonials from their fellow customers who they have worked for in the past.

 

[WhaleTail-Forum]

Thanks the mysiteguy has quite an attractive offer and seems to be highly recommended

 

[Anton Chigurh]

Thanks the mysiteguy has quite an attractive offer and seems to be highly recommended

Yes his pricing is no secret either, he has his price list posted on his website so you know he doesn't engage in scalping or any other such.

 

[WhaleTail-Forum]

All sounds good