Anyone Recommend a Good Forum Software?

[Alcsl]

Morning guys,

We're looking at integrating a forum into one of our existing websites and see there's lots of choice out there. Could anyone from their own experience recommend a good quality, initially low-cost forum provider/software that isn't too difficult to integrate?

Many thanks,

Al

[matth]

vBulletin - paid for

Phpbb - Free

[cmcp]

if you're familiar with PHP / smarty the easiest and best to integrate will be http://www.phorum.org. it's really very flexible

vBulletin is the most feature based for a large user base. (paid though)

SMF or phpbb are okish free versions of vB.

[OldWelshGuy]

I have a rugby forum, 830,000 posts flies along nicely on phpbb. I found that there were so many mods available that there was very little to be gained by moving to apaid script.

That said, the moderating system is clunky compared to VB.

[Page]

When I use forums I find that VB is much nicer to use as an end user - from memory it is pretty cheap to buy

I set up a PhbBB and it was pretty easy

[Alcsl]

Thanks guys,

Do we need much in the way of coding knowledge to integrate any of these? Ideally we'd be looking for one that is an 'out the box' solution. I was looking a lefora but i'm not 100% on them yet.

We need the functionality to brand it, ideally keeping a top bar with links in place so people can moveto and from the forum and our existing website seamlessly, and also be able to integrate advertising into it easily enough. Might have to take a look at phpbb if that offers such things...

[OldWelshGuy]

If your visitors are likely to be web savvy and forum savvy, then I wouldn't recommend straying into any unknown scripts. chances are that they will know and expect certain behaviour, So any of the main ones mentioned will allow you to reskin brand and alter navigation etc.

[greenbox]

another vote for phpbb

[pickaweb]

vbulletin but it is paid for.

[SteveSant]

Free - SMF - I'd chose this all day long, very mature - good userbase and I just prefer it over phpBB

Paid - vBulletin

Again, make sure you keep it updated to avoid security problems later, and preferably put it behind an application firewall - espcially if it turns out to be very popular as it will just attract even more hack attempts. Forums attract a great deal of script kiddies, so please take security seriously :)

[DavidGiant]

IPB is an excellent solution for a professional forum.

http://www.invisionpower.com/

The other big one is vB which has been mentioned a lot.

Opensource wise.

phpBB is the daddy, I attended a conference they did a year or so ago and was empressed.

There is also vanilla. This is a bit more of an aquired taste but provides a simple solution for a small forum.

http://vanillaforums.org/choose

[webhostuk]

Hello,

My vote goes to vbulletin and phpbb.

[tradedemon]

Gotta vote for Vbulletin (paid) SMF (free).

IPB (also paid) a close third.

Good luck

[funlover3]

PhbBB, tried and tested

[streetslocal]

Also worth looking at mybb.com an excellent open source piece of software :)

[castus]

Vanilla any day for me. I think it's a great platform where the focus is on the content and not huge signatures and avatars. Phpbb seems a little over the top, but it's still good. Heard it has had security problems in the past. Not sure about nowadays.

[PETTE]

I use Vbulletin as well: www.sheersoftware.com

But it's quite difficult to use as a beginner. In fact the original owner of the license had to sell it to me because it was very difficult for her to use. She found invisionpower much easier to use.

One of the problems with most free forum CMS is spam. You'll have a lot of work to do with spam!

[bizfox]

vBulletin - paid for

Phpbb - Free

I would give the same answers. vBulletin is the best forum i've had experience with.

[zigojacko]

vBulletin is light years ahead of anything else on the market put comes at an annual license fee.

[iboxsecurity]

phpBB is great for free forum software, we host many of them and they fly along quite nicely. Great for any sized forum really. Take a look at the backend systems of each one on their website and decide which you like best really.

[BusinessIdeas]

SMF get my vote, its free and there are lots of free mods that you can browse and are very very easy to install :) You can see it in action at my business ideas forum (http://www.businessideasandopportunities.co.uk)

[Eagle]

vBulletin gets our vote. You can see it in action at UK Business Labs (http://www.ukbusinesslabs.co.uk/forums/). :)

[BusinessIdeas]

Monkey see monkey do :p

[PI Guy]

vbulletin is the best

See it here http://www.e-legal-gathering.co.uk/forum/content.php