lol @Phpbb best software they obviosly can't have used anything better else they wouldn't be saying that :D

LOL VBulletins coding is among the best if not the best there is
if u have ever noticed Vbulletin has always been ahead of its time with each release

uhh funny everyone ran around mentioning phpbb and invision board. VB is the best **probably** however it is an opinion. and i think it www.xmbforum.com is where everyone should be headed if they want a free forum script which in my opinion rivals and betters vb in certain aspects. jmo

Well, I was leaning toward phpBB, mostly because it integrates with phpNuke very well. However, now that I know that vbb does this as well, I am going to buy my licence. Much slicker interface and quick beyond belief (compared to a perl-based messageboard). Less of a learning curve. Have you even looked at Ikonboard. My god that is slow. Forums and sub-forums (I have never seen subforums as an option of any messageboard) and UBB? Give me a break. I have been running ubb for about 3 years now and although it is real easy to modify, it is still perl script and a pain in the butt to backup (takes forever). I am chomping at the bit to get into a database driven site.

XMB is notoriously, among other things, insecure. From what I've heard Invision Board is the best for people who can't afford vB.

i tried xmb some of the bbcode weird pretty weirdly
i did like its look
but for me, ease of use in bbcode is a must

yea well as far as being "notoriously" insecure...sorry to let you know..but every board is. its just a matter of whos taken the time to find out. any scripting is exploitable INCLUDING vb. im cool with you supporting vb because you use it but dont knock others on false pretenses. as far as xmb being insecure ive had no problems using the newest one which has no security holes **FOUND YET** but even if before my board was never hacked. see heres the deal if someone wants your boards/site down...all they have to do is take the time and they can do it no matter who your host is/what theyre running or what forum script you used. ive actually seen with my own eyes more vb boards get dropped but thats simply because theyre used by more sites i frequent. so as far as it being secure or not..most people using forums in general arent running sites dealing with sensitive information and so forth. so just dont ++++ the wrong person with the right knowledge off and security will never be any trouble no matter what script youre using.

on another note i have to admit using both i do like vb's control panel better simply because its laid out better in the frames. but for $160 they can keep their look and ill keep my xmb ;D

If you start to get an attitude you can be three clicks away from a banning. I'm reitering what I've heard, including from actual hosts.

vB 2.3.0 has specific measure designed to stop all XSS vulnerabilities, BTW.

someone has sand in their ++++++

Actually XMB is much more insecure than other freeboards, PhpBB is faster than other free boards, but configuration and functionality it looses out. InvisionBoard over all is one of the faster, and has easy configuration utilities, but cobranding for ALL free boards is really poor. Template management for ALL free boards.

There are many things other boards don't have. These are not biased, because I use all of these scripts currently, including XMB, PhpBB, InvisionBoard, vBulletin, and UBB. I use them on a regular basis and I like them all. Even with discussions with the developers of the other boards they are able to highlight there software's strength, but when they highlight the weakness, its Template Management, Co-Branding, Management, Forum Management. Everything of which vBulletin has mastered in its 2.XX Releases, and with vB3.X on its way this innovative script is just going to get better. With this other boards will get better too, overall to me and to other vB is winner.

Also here is a lesson to ALL of you who ask which is better, which is not. You will always indefinetly get a biased answer. Most of the time users who use freeboards say that freeboard is good, because they have not used any other, because I am sure if they had 160$ or 85$ they would of tried vBulletin. I suggest not to rely on these sort of questions on users of only one board, but going to a third-party site, that does not dedicate its topic to a certain software would be the best option. One site in particular is:

? WebHostingTalk

These forums have alot of members who own hosting companies, and based on their experiences, and configurations they can advise you on which one is better, or which one will run oh which configuration etc.

filburt as far as banning me thats childish...sorry i stated my opinion. and about 2.3.0 not being vulnerable to xss thats great...too bad 2 boards of sites i visit got dropped using 2.3.0 :X ... like i said no board is immune from exploitation