What Would You Do?

I

ItsMe2

Aspirant
Joined
Feb 3, 2020
Messages
26
I have been out of touch with forum software for a while now but have been toying with the idea of creating a couple of forums in different verticles. I currently own 5 vBulletin Licenses.

I have 2 VB 3.x licenses with branding free and 3 VB 4.x suite licenses.

I am trying to decide the best route. Should I just upgrade these licenses to VB 5 or leave them to collect dust in the virtual space and switch to Xenforo?

Do VB licenses have any resale or trade value? I ask because I have read a lot of negative talk about VB no longer being as good as it once was. I have also read some saying that VB is hard to customize or find add-ons anymore. Is VB any good without add-on and customization options?

I am only asking these questions because I'm not able to come to a conclusion due to so much mixed information between VB and XF. It appears the XF forums I have visited all look the same so what is all the hype over XF? Is it price, codebase, customizations, addons?

Is VB worth the investment and time? Would I end up regretting my decision if I decide to just upgrade all of my licenses?

Thanks in advance for any input provided that can help close this gap.
 
LeadCrow

LeadCrow

Apocalypse Admin
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Messages
6,689
vb3 and vb4 did their time. Even if you use them for the addons, almost all have not received updates since years and many could now be shipping with known vulnerability, incompatibilities on modern lamp stacks and other issues.

Upgrading vb3/4 licences feels difficult to justify due to the price vBS asks, where its cheaper to buy a new licence from a rival (and end having one more usable licence) than to update what you already own. It mightve been alright at the beginning of vb5's lifecycle (almost a decade's worth of updates received, since 2013), but vb5 has gotta be nearing its end, or at least its business model of one single payment then all updates free for as long as version 5 is supported (originally meant for short lifecycle releases, and unsustainable for longer periods compared to normal yearly update+support renewals).

For new communities, if you expect the bulk of your audience to be from mobile, consider new scripts like discourse, nodebb, or vanilla. Theyre somewhat new experiences that could help you differentiate and enable a stronger distraction-free focus on the essential features and content. Legacy and outdated scripts compete poorly against this.
 
I

ItsMe2

Aspirant
Joined
Feb 3, 2020
Messages
26
LeadCrow said:
vb3 and vb4 did their time. Even if you use them for the addons, almost all have not received updates since years and many could now be shipping with known vulnerability, incompatibilities on modern lamp stacks and other issues.

Upgrading vb3/4 licences feels difficult to justify due to the price vBS asks, where its cheaper to buy a new licence from a rival (and end having one more usable licence) than to update what you already own. It mightve been alright at the beginning of vb5's lifecycle (almost a decade's worth of updates received, since 2013), but vb5 has gotta be nearing its end, or at least its business model of one single payment then all updates free for as long as version 5 is supported (originally meant for short lifecycle releases, and unsustainable for longer periods compared to normal yearly update+support renewals).

For new communities, if you expect the bulk of your audience to be from mobile, consider new scripts like discourse, nodebb, or vanilla. Theyre somewhat new experiences that could help you differentiate and enable a stronger distraction-free focus on the essential features and content. Legacy and outdated scripts compete poorly against this.
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I would prefer the communities to be more mobile focused and social media like due to the nature of the niches. This is great feedback. Thank you.
 
zappaDPJ

zappaDPJ

Administrator
Joined
Aug 26, 2010
Messages
7,916
If you have any thoughts at all regarding vB5 I would give the cloud version a go before splashing out any serious cash. You might like it but it's fair to say most admins don't like it at all. There's no third party support, no add-ons and very few themes available. It's also contains literally hundreds of bugs and code which goes back to vB3. Furthermore as LeadCrow says above it is starting to look and feel dated.
 
Alpha1

Alpha1

Administrator
Joined
May 28, 2007
Messages
4,115
vb had its time. The code base is old. Quality, development speed & innovation are all low. 95% of the addon developers are gone. Internet Brands itself is wise enough not to use vb5 on their own thousands of sites. That says it all. I would not bother with it.
Just get a demo of modern competitors with a solid code base. Then import your site and play with it. See which one you like best: XenForo, Invision, BuddyBoss, as well as the ones LeadCrow mentions.
 
I

ItsMe2

Aspirant
Joined
Feb 3, 2020
Messages
26
Thank you all for some good insight. I will be leaving my VB licenses to sit on the virtual dusty shelf and looking at other options.
 
zappaDPJ

zappaDPJ

Administrator
Joined
Aug 26, 2010
Messages
7,916
ItsMe2 said:
It appears the XF forums I have visited all look the same so what is all the hype over XF? Is it price, codebase, customizations, addons?
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All of the above and more. It's arguably the natural successor to vBulletin because it was created by members of the same development team.
 
Joeychgo

Joeychgo

TAZ Administrator
Joined
Feb 28, 2004
Messages
6,994
ItsMe2 said:
Thank you all for some good insight. I will be leaving my VB licenses to sit on the virtual dusty shelf and looking at other options.
Click to expand...
For what its worth -- I converted all my forums to XF a number of years ago, and I dont regret it at all
 
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