Favorite forum software

[1stop]

For me, I like phpBB and XenForo. phpBB is free and simple, but XenForo just feels smoother for a paid forum software I used both before, and to be honest, it depends on your budget. XenForo has that modern feel but the license fee is a little higher.

 

[Shawn]

XenForo does feel smoother than the rest.

It's simple but fully featured.

 

[Asa]

My favorite is Discourse. It's very modern, fast, and has lots of features. Otherwise, I also like XenForo when it comes to “classic forums.”

 

[Shawn]

My favorite is Discourse. It's very modern, fast, and has lots of features. Otherwise, I also like XenForo when it comes to “classic forums.”

Discourse is cool. It really is. But it's hard for me to get used to it. I'm just so used to forum formats.

That's definitely a Shawn problem, though. LOL.

 

[Asa]

Discourse is cool. It really is. But it's hard for me to get used to it. I'm just so used to forum formats.

That's definitely a Shawn problem, though. LOL.

Maybe the theme takes some getting used to; I'm still working on finding something nicer. But I find it very easy to use, especially on mobile devices, which is handy when I travel a lot.

 

[Jason]

I love all types of popular forum software. There is no favorite, but at the moment I am into phpBB because I want to try out these Planet Styles themes and various phpBB mods.

 

[TDJS]

Invision Power Board

I just bought vBulletin, not a fan tbh. Going to try and give it some time tho.

 

[LarryMyster]

Invision Power Board

I just bought vBulletin, not a fan tbh. Going to try and give it some time tho.

Ay oh! Another IPB fan, nice!

I love IPB but the only problem with it nowadays is how ungodly expensive it is to have now. Also their push to sell their Cloud Suite instead independent licenses is a tad off putting.

 

[Shawn]

Invision Power Board

I just bought vBulletin, not a fan tbh. Going to try and give it some time tho.

Invision is so expensive for the self-hosted version though!

VB6 is okay but it needs a lot more work.

 

[TDJS]

Invision is so expensive for the self-hosted version though!

VB6 is okay but it needs a lot more work.

Yeah, I always self host tho!

 

[Shawn]

Yeah, I always self host tho!

Me too.

Cloud hosting to me is like rented space - do you actually own it?

 

[Demon_skeith]

old version IPB is still my favorite, but Xenofor is a great modern forum software to use.

 

[TDJS]

3.0.x was the best

 

[Shawn]

old version IPB is still my favorite, but Xenofor is a great modern forum software to use.

Older IPB was pretty good.

I remember running a weather forum on it back in the day, and it was really good.

 

[Demon_skeith]

Older IPB was pretty good.

I remember running a weather forum on it back in the day, and it was really good.

Jcink service still uses a heavily modified IPB 1.3, otherwise yeah the old software were great.

 

[Shawn]

Jcink service still uses a heavily modified IPB 1.3, otherwise yeah the old software were great.

Is that version of IPB still available anymore? Where new hosting services can offer it?

 

[Demon_skeith]

Is that version of IPB still available anymore? Where new hosting services can offer it?

Yep, still active but it is hosted by the service.

 

[Jason]

Some software I specifically dislike lately like MyBB and it's not about the default theme being not mobile ready. It's about how the alerts system doesn't work, but maybe it's some php level error, not sure.

 

[Shawn]

Some software I specifically dislike lately like MyBB and it's not about the default theme being not mobile ready. It's about how the alerts system doesn't work, but maybe it's some php level error, not sure.

MyBB (before mobile got big) was being setup to be the best free software out there.

But when I suggested they add a paid membership upgrade feature and the developer told me "they would never add a feature like that" I knew they would go downhill from there. If they don't listen to their customers (even if the product is free), they will fail. It's really that simple.

And they failed.

 

[TDJS]

I might give XenForo a try!