Which Is Better - Ipb Or Vbulletin?

[The Simpleton 2]

As of now I'm using SMF to power my fledgling forum. With the hope that it will grow soon, I'm planning to purchase a paid forum package as it gives more control and optimizations. I don't know how many paid forum packages are there but I know that the two biggies are vBulletin(vB) and Invision Power Board(IPB). There seems to be equal praise for both of them and so I'm a bit confused as to which one to take. I've got a year to decide but there's nothing wrong in planning from now ;)I've seen IPB on Xisto and on another forum which I frequent and it seems impresssive, though after all these years I've gotten bored of the look and all! The price of a license is $150, which I may be able to afford next year. Then there's vB which I haven't seen a lot but it seems equally good but costs $180. This is where I'm stuck and need some advice from the experienced users. I don't need all those fancy stuff like galleries and blogs - just a plain forum which is in my control! The free forum packages are good - agreed. But each one of them has a set of cons which is unsatisfactory. Out of the lot I picked SMF for now but given the money I would switch to a paid package at once Anyway I'll bide the time till I get the money so till then I hope to get some good advice here.

[Spurious 0]

Thats a good question!

 

As of now I'm using SMF to power my fledgling forum. With the hope that it will grow soon, I'm planning to purchase a paid forum package as it gives more control and optimizations. I don't know how many paid forum packages are there but I know that the two biggies are vBulletin(vB) and Invision Power Board(IPB). There seems to be equal praise for both of them and so I'm a bit confused as to which one to take. I've got a year to decide but there's nothing wrong in planning from now

Well most of the company's I have owned on the forums I have used Invision Power Board. Now in most ways that is better.

 

I've seen IPB on Xisto and on another forum which I frequent and it seems impresssive, though after all these years I've gotten bored of the look and all! The price of a license is $150, which I may be able to afford next year. Then there's vB which I haven't seen a lot but it seems equally good but costs $180. This is where I'm stuck and need some advice from the experienced users. I don't need all those fancy stuff like galleries and blogs - just a plain forum which is in my control!

If I was for you I would go for Invision Power Board for the following reasons:

 

1. Security

2. Look & Feel

3. Modifications

4. Skins

5. Ease

 

I would also suggets downloading a 8 hour IPB demo of their site.

Below is a a about Invision Power Board.

 

As the very core of our Community Suite package, we've made sure that IP.Board is an outstanding bulletin board system. The result of of over seven years experience in developing bulletin board software, IP.Board brings powerful and practical features while remaining intuitive and flexible - and it's now blazing fast too

 

Brand new default theme

 

IP.Board 3 ships with an all-new default theme for the front end and admin control panel.

 

Report center

 

Reported content is now gathered in one central location for easy handling by moderators.

Reputation system

 

Posts can now be rated, earning the author reputation points which can be highlighted with titles and badges.

Personal Conversations

 

Users can now create private topics, accessible only to themselves and anyone else they choose to invite.

 

Friendly URLs

 

Links throughout IP.Board 3 now use natural language URLs - friendly for humans and search engines.

 

Applications & Hooks

 

Install new applications to IP.Board 3, or make use of the new Hooks system to add new functionality to your board.

 

CSS Driven

 

IP.Board 3 makes full use of CSS and tableless markup, so you can accomplish most style changes simply with some CSS tweaks - everything from a color change, to a whole new look.

 

CSS Integrated Template Editor

 

Markup changes can be made right within IP.Board 3 itself with our innovative template editor. Integrated tabs enable you to work on several templates and CSS files at once!

 

Multiple Skins

 

Allow users to customize their own experience by offering multiple skins for them to choose from. You can even specify which skin should be used based on the device being used to access your community.

 

CSS Emoticons

 

IP.Board 3 ships with our distinctive emoticons, but you aren't restricted to these alone. Download and install other emoticon packs, and really let users express themselves

 

Mobile Skin

 

If users access your community with a smartphone or other mobile device, they'll see a lofi version of your community that's slimmed down and designed especially for small screens.

CSS Language

 

Speak the user's language, by installing additional language packs for them to choose from. Language packs translate every aspect of the IP.Board interface, except user-generated content.

Edited August 25, 2009 by Spurious (see edit history)

[The Simpleton 2]

Thanks for the suggestion Spurious. You make a good point. But could you say something about vB too? It will be good to compare both of them at once. Knowing about just one doesn't help a lot does it? But anyway thanks for taking the time to give the info about IPB. Everyone does seem to be using it everywhere....

[TheDisturbedOne 1]

I would stay with SMF even if I had the money to switch. The lesser of the two evils for me is vBulletin, because it is very powerful, and because it has almost any MOD you can think of. The layout is nice as well.As for why I don't like vB, the admin panel is too confusing, the default theme is toilet-worthy, and some themes take a while to load.

[mahesh2k 0]

I'll go with IPB(*reason is mods/look as of now). Mods and Skins are much better than VB. Some basic themes of VB are plain boring. though some skins of IPB are also simplistic and just change of colors sometimes. while some have just modifications of default one's. But in case of SPAM control, both the paid packages are great. It's tough to pick sometimes. But the forums where i'm active most like (suggestafix, and others) use IPB. i guess even Xisto is also running on IPB(correct me if i'm wrong). Some members here also using IPB board. Now that you're going to spend money on it. I suggest go with feature wise comparison. after that see if both these packages covers your needs and theme creation is easy on your side. else you've to pay for design as well, that will take some more money/time anyway. after this choose based on support of these packages, for that you've to ask members who are running these packages. Hope you'll choose the better one among them. and don't forget to post here about which one you picked and why. we're curious here to know more about those paid packages.

[Saint_Michael 3]

Although I have been out of touch with IPB for awhile now, I would have to say IPB is more dynamic with all the mods you can use or make to run a successful forum. Of course, the overall back end of IPB has grown quite large since IPB 3 but you get a lot more done with a forum SEO wise then I would think Vbulletin.

[The Simpleton 2]

Alright I think I've made up my mind - I'll go in for IPB, no matter how long it takes to get the $$$ for it. Running my forum with SMF somehow doesn't feel right and I might have the same feeling even if I had 10000 members on it So I've decided to wait till I'm able to get IPB and till then I'm closing my forums. Thanks for your suggestions.A closing doubt - is IPB planning any major upgrade any soon? Will the 3.x.x. series run for a while or is series 4 expected any soon?