Has anyone here used any other forum software and how does it compare to Xenforo?

[chris4845]

Why Xenforo? Why is Xenforo better than the other forum software? Has anyone used other forum software, how does Xenforo compare?

 

[Andrej]

You'll better ask that on a more neutral place...

 

[mrGTB]

Ask it on vBulletin...

 

[Russ]

Why Xenforo? Why is Xenforo better than the other forum software? Has anyone used other forum software, how does Xenforo compare?

Plenty of threads out there regarding this but , short version, I've tried phpBB and vBulletin, phpBB is really just outdated, annoying to install plugins, pretty easy to skin, but again, extremely dated when it comes to technology. vBulletin just seems so clunky to me, back in early 4.0 the stying was some what of a pain the the rear, however I've heard it's improved quite a bit.

As for Xenforo, easy to use, community here is a blessing(aside from myself and a few other bad apples), my forum users love it, less is more is really the motto it seems. Some say the plugins are few and far for XenForo but honestly, I've ditched so many useless plugins from previous boards and never thought twice about them.

 

[DRE]

I compare vBulletin to Xenforo here: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/so-whats-all-the-hype-about.25226/page-3#post-307733

I've also played around with myBB since it's free and because it has more styles than both vBulletin 4 and Xenforo combined.

 

[BrandonT]

Previous owner of both vB & IPB.

VB - obviously is just going down hill and got fed up with them not much more to say tbh.
IPB - to many updates with major code changes that caused constant updates to my add-ons which makes it difficult unless you run stock IPB with their add-ons available. Also wasn't big on their SEO and my site suffered.

xF - Lightweight / fresh / great SEO / amazing mod community / fast etc...

My positive list for xF compared to the other two are quiet the drastic difference.

 

[mrGTB]

I think that worked against IPB you know, they seem to have this very rapid development road-plan. Always making frequent releases, but most people don't want to keep having to update their forum or add-ons every two minutes all the time playing catch-up. Nothing wrong with updates and new releases, but when it too often ongoing - it's a real put off using the software.

 

[Blue]

I had some weird things happen when I used IPB. Logged on one day and all the moderators had lost all their mod privileges. Still a good package. If i wasn't using XF, IPB would be my forum of choice. XF is still growing and I am very happy with it and the developers.

 

[chris4845]

I had some weird things happen when I used IPB. Logged on one day and all the moderators had lost all their mod privileges. Still a good package. If i wasn't using XF, IPB would be my forum of choice. XF is still growing and I am very happy with it and the developers.

Are you saying that because your already using Xenforo, you are just going to stay with it. But if you were starting from scratch and weren't using either one yet, that you would pick IPB instead?

 

[Blue]

No I would use XF. If there were no XF I would use IPB.

 

[Divvens]

Are you saying that because your already using Xenforo, you are just going to stay with it. But if you were starting from scratch and weren't using either one yet, that you would pick IPB instead?

I started a new community with XenForo, link in my signature. Previously I have used, Vbulletin and MyBB.

Personally I think XenForo beats all the competition out there, yes it's missing things that people want(Blog [add-on available], CMS [Add-on also kinda available]) but the developers are concentrating on whats important and they listen to their customers. XenForo has great SEO, a forum with good content can get a lot of search result incoming users, my forums main traffic is via search results.

XF makes your users want to interact with your community. The alerts system, fast and quick posting/reply system and the general awesome speed of XenForo is a big plus point. Styling and customizing is painless, even a noob like me who never went into styling my own forum before gave it a hand in XF and got used to it easily.

The community here is great, support is great as well. In all XF is pretty awesome. My users have many times mentioned that they "love" the place (our site), I think the love is 50% due to forum software we use which makes the user like the community more

 

[Mr. McKee]

I have phpBB and vBulletin installed on a few websites. I am looking to change at least one over to xenForo. I love the look and feel of xenForo but there is a downside to it. Since it is newer software the plugins are harder to find and finding a programmer that will port your plugins from vB, so fart seems a little tricky. Honestly the only thing that is holding me up is the porting of themes / skins and plugins / products. If I can find a reasonable programmer that is willing to do the work I would be more than willing to move at least one of my sites over to xenForo. However like I said it is newer software which could mean to get work done in it will cost you a premium with the right coder.

 

[Adam Howard]

Why Xenforo? Why is Xenforo better than the other forum software? Has anyone used other forum software, how does Xenforo compare?

phpBB
phpBB with WordPress Bridge
WordPress
SMF
Vanilla
myBB
vBulletin
vBulletin with WordPress Bridge
IPB
YaBB
WBB (Woltlab Burning Board)
XF (XenForo)

XenForo uses the least resources, is faster, most affordable long term, users friendly, noob internet friendly, good support, good community.