Best free forum software?

[TPerry]

FluxBB
http://fluxbb.org/forums

^ This is the only forum that I know of, that uses less resources than XenForo.

I'm looking for something "different" and why I'm playing with nodeBB. Resources I'm not worried about (can always throw more memory/storage at it).
Not that much to differentiate it between myBB, phpBB, etc. on the front end.... and if I was going to stay with that format I'll stick with myBB.

 

[TheBigK]

I think XenForo is 100% free after you buy it, till the time of next renewal. Nothing comes close.

 

[TPerry]

I think XenForo is 100% free after you buy it, till the time of next renewal. Nothing comes close.

Agreed.. but I can't really justify $400 (roughly) for 3 licenses for forums that have almost no use.

 

[Sheratan]

Agreed.. but I can't really justify $400 (roughly) for 3 licenses for forums that have almost no use.

I'm accepting any license donation right now

 

[Goodfella]

If its free i would say MyBB. For a free product its defiantly good!

 

[DRE]

Surprised no one mentioned Vanilla Forums.

 

[rdn]

Surprised no one mentioned Vanilla Forums.

because most people don't like vanilla

 

[rdn]

Looks like NodeBB is very beautiful
I'll replace my wordpress blog now

 

[OSS 117]

Vanilla is fine if you need a very simple forum to serve as ticket response. Once you get into it, you want to pull out every single strange of hair on your scalp. Or if you're bald, rip hair out of your arm and shove the follicles into your scalp?...

FluxBB
http://fluxbb.org/forums

^ This is the only forum that I know of, that uses less resources than XenForo.

First time I'm seeing FluxBB. It's like a mash between IPB 1.3 Finale, IPB 2.2, XenForo and some sprinkling of vB and MyBB.

 

[TPerry]

Looks like NodeBB is very beautiful
I'll replace my wordpress blog now

It's still not ready for prime time. It has some quirks in it's styling and I really don't like the fact that you can't have categories and sub-categories in it. The test site I had it running on I brought down. I was evaluating it to see if I wanted to replace myBB on one of my gaming sites - but I'll stick with myBB for now.

 

[rdn]

MyBB is almost dead since Ryan Gordon left the Dev.
I'm using MyBB since 2011 to 2013.

 

[TPerry]

MyBB is almost dead since Ryan Gordon left the Dev.
I'm using MyBB since 2011 to 2013.

Yeah, but it's better than a lot of the others. I'm giving the phpBB BETA 4 a look shortly.

 

[RickM]

I'm guessing you mean phpBB 3.1 beta 4, right? As if its phpbb 4, you'll be in for a very long wait phpBB's development is....well...all but dead right now. Last I'd heard what was going to be v4 is now 3.2 and 3.1 - they rolled the features into it.

Most of what was in 3.x was supposed to be in 2.1 but that never happened. It's got a terrible development history unfortunately and from the looks of things wont be getting to v4 for years.

 

[Pereira]

It's been a while since I checked out free forum software. FluxBB is probably the best out of all of them at this current time.

I've always wondered how free forum software sites could support themselves. I would imagine that even running a paid forum platform would be difficult in today's market so I don't see much hope for free forum software. The devs have probably moved on to bigger and better things.

 

[Cambion]

I haven't been in the free software market in ages.

Idk what current development is but I recommend SMF first and foremost then Mybb.

I didn;t care for mybb personally(My goodness after switching to XF and later IPB, the installation of add-ons is so much easier and faster with those 2 software vs when I used mybb) but it was decent.

Does Phpbb still require heavy edits when you install add-ons and what not?

 

[TPerry]

Does Phpbb still require heavy edits when you install add-ons and what not?

Apparently the new (to please @WSWD ) phpBB 3.1 BETA 4 uses a whole new format. I've got it downloaded but haven't created a new VPS to play with it on (currently performing updates on 17 VPS's to grab the new kernels and OpenSSL related stuff).

 

[Cambion]

Apparently the new (to please @WSWD ) phpBB 3.1 BETA 4 uses a whole new format. I've got it downloaded but haven't created a new VPS to play with it on (currently performing updates on 17 VPS's to grab the new kernels and OpenSSL related stuff).

Oh well I am glad to hear that.
Granted I was 16 and had no experience with software in 2012 when I started running forums. Our then competitor utilized phpbb and I did initially sort of decide to go with that software(Newb mistake, copying your competitor lol). Installing mods was just complicated for a guy with no experience and I found it to be hard to learn.

I guess that's a good thing since it sent me to SMF and Mybb and later xF to ipb

I am glad to hear that they are utilizing a new format. I'll need to look into it.

 

[duderuud]

http://fluxbb.org/forums/index.php

FluxBB
http://fluxbb.org/forums

^ This is the only forum that I know of, that uses less resources than XenForo.

And it's FAST!

 

[AdamD]

Fast would be an understatement, wow.

 

[WSWD]

Apparently the new (to please @WSWD ) phpBB 3.1 BETA 4 uses a whole new format. I've got it downloaded but haven't created a new VPS to play with it on (currently performing updates on 17 VPS's to grab the new kernels and OpenSSL related stuff).

LOL!!!! I haven't fooled around with phpBB for a while. I had reasonably good luck with MyBB. It seemed to have more features at the time.