phpbb vs vbulletin

[Doozy]

Quick Poll.

Which do you prefer phpbb or vbulletin?

I would like your input. I am starting a forum for a client and it will probably not have very heavy traffic, but he wants it to be SEO. I know vbulletin is more SEO than phpbb. I could mod phpbb to be more search engine friendly but modding phpbb makes upgrading harder.

Is it worth it to just start with vBulletin?

 

[Josh]

I'd go with VBulletin.

I've used every forum software this is just about, and have never had such a well-working and easy to mod site as with VB.

If you could spend time modding PHPBB to be more SEO, imagine how much better VB would be with that sime time spent optimizing it's SEO capabilities. It's ahead to begin with, the same amount (or less) of time will push it way out of PHPBB's reach.

Much less prone to malicious scripts, as well.

 

[yellow]

I really prefer vBulletin. To me it has a much more "polished" look to it as a final release.

 

[Doozy]

If you could spend time modding PHPBB to be more SEO, imagine how much better VB would be with that sime time spent optimizing it's SEO capabilities. It's ahead to begin with, the same amount (or less) of time will push it way out of PHPBB's reach.

You know I agree with you. The hardest part is convincing the client to pay for the license, but if I tell the client it will cost more optimizing phpbb for SEO than the cost of the license he may go for it.

His competition uses phpbb.

Would you rather post on a site that uses vBulletin or phpbb. I know I would prefer vBulletin but would the average user know a difference?

 

[yellow]

Would you rather post on a site that uses vBulletin or phpbb. I know I would prefer vBulletin but would the average user know a difference?

Depends on your definition of average user. I consider myself an "average user" as I post on several different forums and have for years. That gives me a good feel for what I like and what I don't care for. Across the board I prefer vB to phpbb. Strictly as an end user who is pretty well aquatinted with the external workings of a forum (do not apply any of this to it as supporting one or the other).

Your first timers and newbie forum users probably wouldn't really notice the difference.

 

[mnkeybsness]

STAY AWAY FROM PHPBB!

Sorry to yell, but I built macthemesforums.net with phpbb and we all have been regretting it since about 3 months after the site launched. Security holes were the first major issue that we encountered... and now we have incredibly slow loading times and it is very hard to upgrade the software since we have made so many hacks to the default installation.

If you want lightweight and super fast, try PunBB.

If you want a powerful board with good support, use vBulleting or Invision Powerboard.

 

[jeremy.king]

No love for SMF?

 

[amacgenius]

Considering you're running the WORST version security wise of phpBB I'd suggest you update, it's not hard no matter how many MODs you have, and if you're that worried about it I could even do it for you...

STAY AWAY FROM PHPBB!

Sorry to yell, but I built macthemesforums.net with phpbb and we all have been regretting it since about 3 months after the site launched. Security holes were the first major issue that we encountered... and now we have incredibly slow loading times and it is very hard to upgrade the software since we have made so many hacks to the default installation.

If you want lightweight and super fast, try PunBB.

If you want a powerful board with good support, use vBulleting or Invision Powerboard.

 

[mnkeybsness]

Considering you're running the WORST version security wise of phpBB I'd suggest you update, it's not hard no matter how many MODs you have, and if you're that worried about it I could even do it for you...

We actually fixed the security hole in the version that is listed for that site. But now we are looking to converting to punbb.