What do you think about Vbulletin vs Xenforo?

[webmastersun]

I'm using Vbulletin for my forum and I feed good with it, I have got good experience with Vb since more last years so it's friendly with me, otherwise I also using a forum base on xenforo but honestly it didn't have more things that I need for a forum. I think Xenforo needs time to get better.

For me, Vbulletin Cms is useful for me and people to start a forum.

how about you? what is your thought on VB and XF ?

[ozzy47]

Ohhh boy, here we go again.

I would suggest keeping this thread clean and professional, or it will most likely be closed like the other threads of this sort had to be.

[puertoblack2003]

^^ you should close it !! using the search will find the drama..

[katie hunter]

Why close such topics =) I am liking Vb 4.x over Xenforo. Xenforo is missing so many of VB default functions, and it is no where near it. It just gets empty hypes. Of course new products people tend to receive some hype for a while until it dies out, and that is what it is now. Xenforo would need at least 2 years min to see what it is all about and if they will take a new direction into developing new features for it to out match other forum software or will it just be yet another forum software.

But lately, i want to ditch both for a new project :d i was actually considering Xenforo for that new project, last year but i found what has great potential over both VB and Xenforo who don't want to give us the new social features and we always see the same old forum features.

That software is an open source forum, so it is free to download and test ---> http://www.discourse.org/ it has great potentials once it is stabilized and reaches gold status. They are still in version .98 i think, their gold version is version 1.0 and until they reach version 3.0 many things will be added to it. It has been 1 year in development.

It is using Ruby on Rails but that shouldn't be a problem, only hosting if you are considering it, but coming out of vb, i think many can run it on a vps, shared hosting would be a challenge due its requirement.

[rhody401]

I am involved with several long term forums that run vbulletin 4.2.2 and we love the features and functionality. It would be very hard to find a product with as many well developed plug-ins/mods.

Because 4.2 development seems to be on hold/finished, and 5.0 isn't even close to being ready for prime time, and some in customer service lately are rather abrupt - it hasn't exactly set a level of confidence in the future of the product. I think the pricing model of only getting paid for new major version numbers, versus a small yearly fee, encourages a rushed development schedule. (and a desire to abandon old versions, so people will re-fill the kitty and float the company)

We did purchase Xenforo licenses last year - as a backup plan. (to be tested and ready if things don't work out here. We have done mock conversions, tested add-ons, etc.) But we have not pulled the plug on our VB installs.

I sincerely hope that things start to look better at VB, because this is a fine product that I would like to see have continued success. VB needs much stronger leadership, customer service, and goals, in my opinion. This is where it could win over new, and existing, customers.

These are my own personal impressions/opinion, and I hope this stays polite/friendly.

Rhody

[TheLastSuperman]

In my honest (and personal mind you) opinion...

vB4 > Xenforo
vB5 < Xenforo
vB3 < OR > OR = vB4 (it's a Tomatoe, TomatO, Potatoe, PotatO type of deal)
vB4 > vB5

That is based on the current versions of each, the most recent. I do expect to see vB5 improve vastly over time, the only thing it can do is improve unless they spend more time and resources into other ventures such as the cloud. I do not like the idea of the cloud for experienced forum owners but for those new to vBulletin it should make things super easy for them .

[rhody401]

I completely agree. VB3 is looking very dated, VB4 not too far behind. But it's still the best choice, IMO.

[webmastersun]

Originally Posted by ozzy47

Ohhh boy, here we go again.

I would suggest keeping this thread clean and professional, or it will most likely be closed like the other threads of this sort had to be.

Why you want to close thread, I think it's good and useful for someone want to know everybody's opinion on advantages/disadvantages of Vb and XF. I'm too.

[ozzy47]

I did not say I wanted it closed, please re-read what you quoted.

[Elixar]

vBulletin does have more features out of the box than XenForo, and you can make both of them to fit your needs if you put the time in. However, from what I've seen in vBulletin 5, I would rather go with XF as 5 isn't what I was expecting.