I'm making a Star Wars forum.
 

I would like to create a Star Wars message board, but I'm not sure what forum software I should use. I like vBulletin, but I don't like the idea of having to pay $285 for vBulletin premium (or even $175 for vBulletin standard). I like InvisionFree and ZetaBoards, but ZetaBoards doesn't look very professional, and InvisionFree doesn't have a couple of the features I like. I also like MyBB, but but the only free hosting company I like (x10hosting) has a lot of downtime and is really a hassle when setting up a domain (which I still haven't figured out how to do with x10hosting). I plan on this Star Wars forum being really popular and look very nice and professional. Is it really worth spending a lot of money getting really good forum software, a good hosting company, and a domain? Me and one of my friends made our own forum once, and it's a nice little friendly active community, but it's run on ZetaBoards, whereas I want this Star Wars forum to be huge with thousands of active members. What do you recommend? Thanks in advance.

... you have what you pay for... if you do not pay, do not think you will have professional software...

professional... ask any professional if he is working for free, and you will have the answer why you pay for vBulletin.

I think it's great you want to start a forum but if you are serious about growing it to thousands of members a few hundred dollars in start up costs should not put you off. I barely have a thousand members, far less of them active, and I can pay my board hosting and license fees from advertising and other revenue generation.

That said, have you googled "Star Wars Forums" - there's no shortage of them, there are 10 forums under the "Star Wars" category on big-boards alone. I'm curious what your plan is to make yours so much better than the many scores of established Star Wars forums? That is- if it's not a secret.