How easy is it to upgrade from VBB3
 

I have a website that I was totally unable to get upgraded from 3 to 4 and keep the same look, feel and functionality, is that any easier in 5?

Also do you offer a service to handle the upgrade?

www.bmwz8.us

Yes vBulletin Solutions does offer an upgrade service :D.

1) Please login first at https://members.vbulletin.com and then click on "Purchase" in the top navigation. If you have not purchased yet you can add these "add-ons" while addint other items to cart etc etc.
2) From there click on "Get Add-Ons" at the bottom. Here is the page link - https://www.vbulletin.com/addons.html
3) Select the license your associating the "add-on" with and yes that includes services such as a site install/upgrade.
4) Now select the service which is "Professional Installation/Upgrade"

*Please note the description:
"Professional Install/Upgrade only includes vanilla install with no customization"

So with that being stated ^ I can tell you that if you're running a custom style on your vBulletin 3 or 4 forum you will need to remake it in 5.x format, also custom modifications will need to be reviewed as well. If you do want to purchase 5.x then I suggest doing so and setting up a clone of your current live site and testing the upgrade and preparing the style/other before you plan the actual live site upgrade that way you can sort any and all issues if any arise far far ahead of time ;).

To be honest it would be even harder to keep the look and feel of VB3 in VB5 than VB4. VB5 was a major change to the software, it makes the change from VB3 to VB4 look like nothing.

Wow, that sounds daunting, so would you suggest I just keep going with 3, as we're all really happy with it.

I just realized that you guys are running 3.6 here too, is that because you like it better too?

The version of 3.6 here has been custom edited beyond belief. It would be a giant project to upgrade this site so we haven't. The version number doesn't really matter at this point, so much code has been changed.

That's great to know, and it sounds like there isn't really a compelling case to upgrade if the current VBB is working fine and everyone is happy with it. Maybe I should just find someone who can do all the latest security updates to 3.

You should have no issues applying updates. It's as simple as running the upgrade script for a few minutes and it does all the work for you.

He would have issue if he doesn't want to actually download (buy) 3.8.7 but have all its security updates. He would need an expert (far beyond me)

There's no compelling reason to go to 4 or 5. None whatsoever. If you and your members dig 3, stay with it is my advice. They will have to pry MY version 3 out of my cold, dead hands.

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He's got 3.8.7 already, if that is his site linked in the OP.:)

for security reasons, I recommend upgrading to at least vb4

plus, the latest release (currently in BETA) is optimized to take advantage of the latest PHP and MYSQL updates