XenForo vs IPB vs vBulletin

Anyone here is a fan of Xenforo or IPB or vBulletin, please share your thoughts or any comparisons on these forum softwares.

From your advice, I can start a forum soon

Out of those three, vBulletin is my favorite. I love everything about it except the price. XenForo I despise and would never use. XenForo's design is just terrible, imo. There's a huge lack of a moderator control panel, and the ACP (last time I used one) was a mess.

I too would choose either vBulletin or IPB. XenForo lacks mods/add-ons and a well driven community. The best part about IPB is that you can find some really awesome skins. I think that vBulletin may be the better choice because of the great mod/add-on choices and the skins you can get. Along with the fact that some of the best internet forums run on vBulletin.

VB is the worst option these days as VB 4 and 5 were total busts. The hardcore VB fans hate it. The modders and addon devs have pretty much left the building too. Their customer support is also really bad. I was a ten year customer and couldn't get good service even if I paid for it. Was happy to sell my licenses.

I don't let my clients use VB since they're on the decline and it's just a hassle dealing with it now.

I've used Xenforo. It's fast, lots of addons available with new devs coming in, and the customer service is really good - that's a huge plus.

I can't speak for IPB as I haven't used it yet.

Because you are mentioning to this forum (Forum Web Hosting) thus I have any shares, hope it helps someone here. :think:

drastic said:

Uh....are you just saying that because this site is on VB?

Xenforo has a HUGE list of mods/add-ons. There's literally an addon for just about anything you want to do. On top of that, the community is big and there's multiple smaller communities that focus on Xenforo as well.

Click to expand...

You are right, Xen and vB have more add-ons
but some add-ons that I need it didn't have on Xen, I asked Xen support and they said that that add-on will use more resource of server hence they didn't write it, but on vB I can use this add-on.
Sorry, I don't want to show name of that add on.

drastic said:

Xenforo's admin is also very well organized and easy to navigate.

Click to expand...

Right, but for new users, Xen needs a little time to learn how to manage, while vB ACP is easier to learn and start managing.

drastic said:

I think the people here are just posting negative about Xenforo because this forum is on VB. Yeah, this forum looks nice. It's one of the few VB sites that actually came out pretty good.

Click to expand...

I think it's not exact, the people can give their personal opinion, depend on their views.
Seem I designed more forum templates on different forum CMSs like vB, Xen, phpbb, IPB...etc...I tried most these forum softwares
I tried to design Xen themes and have made some unique themes with Xenforo since 2 years ago, they were also good themes as Forum Web Hosting using.

drastic said:

But I don't think people who don't own a xenforo license should go around stating things that are not true. It's a great product with an active community and TONS of addons.

Click to expand...

I suppose that each new user should have a check on each forum CMS before deciding which go with, it depends on their requirements, for using purposes, not for a trend.

Each CMS has its advantages and it is difficult to decide which is the best!

If you're a new user of any script, then you'll need a day to know where everything is. Once you know it, you're good to go. I've always found that Xenforo had the more organized admin and it even looks good.

I don't mind using VB as a forum member, but I certainly don't miss using it as an admin or moderator. I used it for ten years and I'm glad to be done with it!

OP - are you sure you want to start a forum? LOL

wms said:

I asked Xen support and they said that that add-on will use more resource of server hence they didn't write it, but on vB I can use this add-on.

Click to expand...

That's one huge issue with XF. No mod you want, there's a good chance it can't be made.

Right, but for new users, Xen needs a little time to learn how to manage, while vB ACP is easier to learn and start managing.

Click to expand...

While it is true I've never owned an XF or VB forum, I have administrated on them before, and I agree. VB MCP and ACP are very easy.

No prob.

And just so you know, the guy who said you can't get things made is incorrect. There's addons available for just about everything. Not to mention custom development can be done to any forum software that you use.

Personally I would go with BurningBoard. The original development team from vBulletin that left before v4 are actively developing XenForo; which explains the huge attempted legal battle on behalf of vBulletin. In the end however, I do not think it's a battle between xenforo & vbulletin, instead a battle between XenForo & BurningBoard.

It is true that just about any add-on can be developed for just about any platform.

However it is also true that some platforms consume more resources then others.

There is always a trade off. Fancy UI, tons of features, and blazing fast speed comes at a price!

The fact that something can run on a $3 shared account is moot as there are also a ton of variations there.

Some $3 accounts are on old machines that are horribly oversold. Some hosts have $3 account on underused SSD servers. No difference to the average users, but makes a Huge difference when running a resource intensive site!

I recommend XF. It's fast & responsive, has lots of mods (and good ones at that), and great support + an active community.

I have a XF forum and I love it. The customisation available and the documentation to help you customise it is just amazing. It gives you guides to do so much to add to the experience of using your board.

A big thing when making a forum is making it unique. People will come to your forum if it offers something they can't find anywhere else. They make it very easy to do this, so I would highly recommend it for this reason.

There is talk amongst the web community that VB is the worst of the 3. I don't know from experience, but just thought I would give yiu a heads up and you can look into that

Hope i helped

Definitely IPB 3 is the best.

IPB4 has recently been released as well but it is too early to give a verdict.

I actually like the design and feature set of Vbulletin 4 but it is a bit dated and I am unsure of Vbulletin5 to be honest...especially at that extremely high price they are charging. If they had a more active developer group, i'd consider Vbulletin.

Burning Board is pretty great but I hate the premium themes.

Xenforo is alright. I just dislike the design for the most part. There is little to no individuality in Xenforo sites and they just seem to lack inspiration in most of the premium theme. I find it overpriced not only in the software featureset but the price of mods within the community as well.

drastic said:

Uh....are you just saying that because this site is on VB?

Xenforo has a HUGE list of mods/add-ons. There's literally an addon for just about anything you want to do. On top of that, the community is big and there's multiple smaller communities that focus on Xenforo as well.

Click to expand...

I am having 2 Xenforo licenses but for their Mods, almost Adds are paid Mods it didn't like as vBulletin are offering more free Mods. So my advice for Xenforo addons is you need to have a good budget to use good forum CMS.

Vbulletin and IPB are still good for someone wants to develop a standard forum, easy to customize or using free Addons. In my point of view, vBulletin 4 is the best in all their versions but it has an limitation, it's none responsive while IPB can handle well this.

Hsin said:

Definitely IPB 3 is the best.

IPB4 has recently been released as well but it is too early to give a verdict.

I actually like the design and feature set of Vbulletin 4 but it is a bit dated and I am unsure of Vbulletin5 to be honest...especially at that extremely high price they are charging. If they had a more active developer group, i'd consider Vbulletin.

Burning Board is pretty great but I hate the premium themes.

Xenforo is alright. I just dislike the design for the most part. There is little to no individuality in Xenforo sites and they just seem to lack inspiration in most of the premium theme. I find it overpriced not only in the software featureset but the price of mods within the community as well.

Click to expand...

It has no more differences between Burning Board and IPB but I saw more people using IPB more while Burning Board is a new forum CMS.

More big websites are using vB so that why don't we give it a try?

Xenforo team originally was from vBulletin team hence they inherited more good features from vBulletin and having new features like with a notification system like Facebook.