phpBB2 vs. vBulletin

[cap97]

Why is vBulletin better?

[HenryG2]

Where should we start?

[steven s]

That is really a loaded question.
I have used phpBB for years.
Without trying to offend anyone, I find the phpBB community to be very, very good. Even moreso than the vB community. That is not to say people have not helped me here or vBadvanced. I have posted questions that simply go unanswered since no one probably knows the answer. I have had better luck posting questing with phpBB. I like that support is pretty much all on one board as opposed to vB.org, vB.com, vB.nl, vBtemplates, vBthis, vBthat. vB staff have provided me excellent support though. They have gone into my forum and changed settings for me. You can't buy that kind of support, not even for $160 for the first year and $30 thereafter. I know I can count on a support ticket being answered quickly. Even on holidays or the middle of the night.

With both packages I find myself looking for hacks, mods and addons.
vB I feel is a little bloated at times whereas phpBB is plain and simple. Lots of good hacks for phpBB. It is taking me a little longer to find them for vB.

What now scares me about phpBB is little or now mention of php exploits.
I have gone from v3.0.3 to v3.0.6 since New Years. phpBB are not as quick to react. I appreciate that with vB.

Now that I have 2 licenses I'm looking for a 3rd.
I probably will never go back to phpBB but I have nothing bad to say about it. For free I think it is the best out there.

So I don't know. I'm hooked on vBulletin but have no regrets using phpBB for the past few years.

How is that for being indecisive.

[Zachery]

That is really a loaded question.
I have used phpBB for years.
Without trying to offend anyone, I find the phpBB community to be very, very good. Even moreso than the vB community. That is not to say people have not helped me here or vBadvanced. I have posted questions that simply go unanswered since no one probably knows the answer. I have had better luck posting questing with phpBB. I like that support is pretty much all on one board as opposed to vB.org, vB.com, vB.nl, vBtemplates, vBthis, vBthat. vB staff have provided me excellent support though. They have gone into my forum and changed settings for me. You can't buy that kind of support, not even for $160 for the first year and $30 thereafter. I know I can count on a support ticket being answered quickly. Even on holidays or the middle of the night.

With both packages I find myself looking for hacks, mods and addons.
vB I feel is a little bloated at times whereas phpBB is plain and simple. Lots of good hacks for phpBB. It is taking me a little longer to find them for vB.

What now scares me about phpBB is little or now mention of php exploits.
I have gone from v3.0.3 to v3.0.6 since New Years. phpBB are not as quick to react. I appreciate that with vB.

Now that I have 2 licenses I'm looking for a 3rd.
I probably will never go back to phpBB but I have nothing bad to say about it. For free I think it is the best out there.

So I don't know. I'm hooked on vBulletin but have no regrets using phpBB for the past few years.

How is that for being indecisive.

Bloated means you cant turn every function that makes the script vB3 off

[nakile]

everything you would ever need comes with it.

[steven s]

everything you would ever need comes with it.

Well, if vBadvanced and Articles came with it, yes.

Bloated means you cant turn every function that makes the script vB3 off

Well yes, you can turn many things off and not use certain features until you find a need for them. I am slowly appreciating those features that I didn't think I needed.
But vB does take more hard drive space than phpBB.

I guess what I was trying to say you really can't compare the two.
I think both have strengths and weaknesses.
phpBB is a fine package. Like any software you need to figure what your needs are.

Overall I am very happy with the switch and my users who originally did not care are probably better off. My membership has steadily increased since switching from phpBB. I just have an appreciation for phpBB as well as I have for vB.

I am much more comfortable running a site using vB than phpBB from what I know now.

[chewbacca]

I would also have liked some sort of image gallery and file management system to come with it.
For now I have made a little file database mock-up that uses threads and attachments for entries and file uploads. It's a primitive substitute but time was/is very stressed. It works, for now.

cap97: vBulletin is much better than phpBB if you have the money to pay for it. I still have to pay off my debt to my mother (yes, I'm a "minor"), but vB has saved me a lot of time in coding and templating (although I wish there was some sort of option to use [and cache] external files as templates, like phpBB). I just went to the phpBB site and saw that 2.2 will now be 3.0.0 ("Olympus") and be delayed a couple of months, though I predict that it will be re-delayed multiple times, just like 2.2.
Also, my story at phpBB is different from 1996 328ti's. Although it was only one moderator, my experience was ruined by her(?) constant flaming for no apparent reason. The rest of the people were OK.

If you want your forums/site done soon, I'd say go with vBulletin. phpBB will generally take too long to get started when compared with vB.

[cap97]

Okay so...phpBB has a better support system, but doesn't come with "eveything I need", whatever that might be. vBulletin doesn't have an image gallery or file manager, costs money and takes up more space, but is really quick to get started (unlike phpBB, which took me a full minute to get up and running...?).

So uh...yeah I'm sold!?

[Zachery]

Better support system? No, not even close, they have a larger community, yes.

No one in the industry is faster than us.

[Cole2026]

Better support system? No, not even close, they have a larger community, yes.

No one in the industry is faster than us.

^^What he said. You will find the IPB staff & PhpBB staff hard to deal(speed and kindness wise) with, especially compared to vBulletin Staff.

[steven s]

Better support system? No, not even close, they have a larger community, yes.

No one in the industry is faster than us.

I agree. Anytime I have had a problem and created a support ticket, someone has contacted me with 30 minutes and often going into my forum and changing settings that I overlooked. You can't beat vB for support.

[chewbacca]

Okay so...phpBB has a better support system, but doesn't come with "eveything I need", whatever that might be. vBulletin doesn't have an image gallery or file manager, costs money and takes up more space, but is really quick to get started (unlike phpBB, which took me a full minute to get up and running...?).

So uh...yeah I'm sold!?

phpBB's support is in no way better than vBulletin's. The community is larger because of the numerous people using it because it's free, but that doesn't mean more knowledgeable or quicker answers. vB's ticket system works better (so I don't know why they say that the forums would get you the fastest answer - I never get a fast answer in the forums). No message board software comes with "everything you need," so I think you'd be happy with what you get.
vB doesn't have the stuff I wanted, but neither do the other scripts (without separate purchases, I mean).
The extra hard disk space that vB takes should really be no issue (only a few megabytes).
What I meant by getting started faster is if you're building a big community or whole site around the forums. The current phpBB requires a lot more hacking to be equally as efficient/functional as the current vB, although I expect this to change with phpBB3.

[Sal Collaziano]

This has been gone over so many times. phpBB is a real kickass "free" message board. There's no better Free forum software out there. Everyone else is imitating vBulletin and there's just nothing as "solid" as phpBB in the "free" arena.. vBulletin is in a whole 'nother league. vB is a serious message board script with many, many features included and many, many more tools for the administrator.. I'm sure that once you've tried vBulletin, you'd never waste time with phpBB anymore. Like I said, phpBB isn't bad software. It's great, actually. But they're still in 2001 with it...

[adguru]

Better support system? No, not even close, they have a larger community, yes.

No one in the industry is faster than us.

/me fully agrees!

I had real bad experiences at both phpBB and IPB but can't count one single bad experience here

[KimmiKat]

Don't get me started on IPB. But I've seen many people mention vB for pay, phpBB if you just starting or testing the waters with a forum and transfer to vB later.

As for the vB versus phpBB issue, everyone could talk about it til the cows come home. One of the selling points here is when you pop in into this presale's sub-forum and ask a question about some feature you might need and you'll find out it's built right into the software and you'll be using a proggy that's an industry standard.

^^What he said. You will find the IPB staff & PhpBB staff hard to deal(speed and kindness wise) with, especially compared to vBulletin Staff.