IPS V5 vs XF 3

Watt579

New member
Hello everyone,

Im not openng this topic as a hater, i would like to hear your opinions and to debate about this controverial subject : XF vs IPS
I also need to take a decision to upgrade the IPS to v5 or to migrate to XF maybe v3 because i dont have a deadline and i can wait.
Im curently using IPS v4.7.23, my community have more than 7M posts, im using Commerce App with custom built gateway based on bitcoin (BTC Server), along with Gallery application, Blogs, Pages, Files, along with other private app such as Member of the Month , Attachment Watermark, FAQ, Hide Content, Enhanced Advertisments and other custom apps when a user gets automatically PM after purchase a subscription.

1. I think first thing i noticed when i have checked Xenforo software is have less features than IPS,this thing may be good or bad it depends of what sort of community we are talking about. My community tends to use all features from IPS, users gives negative rep points each other, complaints to moderators, communicating each other on blogs, writing comments everywhere, debating etc. What do you think about features from XF versus features IPS 4 v ?

2. Whats your opinion about IPS v5 compare to XF version 3 (i know is not finished yet) ?

3. Can all my list with applications ,i wrote at the begining my comment, be transfered to XF including all data ?

4. You think is better to wait for XF version 3 before migrating ?

5. I need to keep the URLs structure SAME as they are in IPS to avoid SEO problems, is it possible ?

6. I know it depende of lots of things, but if proper optimized which IPS or XF can be faster when loading ?

The reason of migration from IPS is quite bizzare. Recently, we have change server, and i encounter some troubles. The IPS support only focus on their cloud clients and give very little attention to self-hosted clients. And the support give this small amount of attention, only gets respondes such as deactivate all plugins/application, it doesnt work and other ******** answer. I received (paid) support from users from official IPS forum, neither from source. Also the official forum is have a lack of activity, it seems dead sometimes i can see 2-3 comments on daily basis compare to XF community where is intensive activity after refresing the page. Also they have removed marketplace, which is another problem.
When trying to hire a developer from official IPS, dont get any answers, lots of them retired/abandoned accounts and when i tried to use Freelancer/fiverr/upwork/toptal the devs never heard of IPS, they did heard about vbulletin and XF and i have to explan them about IPS, give them the official URL etc. I dont get the feelling of trust anymore about IPS.
 
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3. Can all my list with applications ,i wrote at the begining my comment, be transfered to XF including all data ?
I think your best answer is likely to come from developers who have had experience in that area. Both @MySiteGuy or @ForumDevs should be able to give you an idea of what's possible and the costs involved should you wish to go down the route of hiring someone to assist you with the migration.

No one really knows what Xenforo version 3 will amount to other than it will have a new theme but that I wouldn't expect to see a release in the near future so you should probably base your decision on what the current version has to offer.

I'm not sure why people focus so much on the software costs involved. I'm sure the cost of running a pretty large active forum with added functionality is likely to be much the same for either platform. Perhaps more importantly given your recent experience is the level of support provided and that in my experience is where Xenforo wins hands down.
 
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When I read people talking about support, I always wonder what they mean by support...
What support does a forum need once it's installed and configured?
If you want someone to do migrations, you have to pay extra.
Problems can arise if you have a forum with code changes or third-party apps, but no one offers support for those.
Since Chatgpt is available, it's quicker to ask them than to open a topic in the forum.
 
The reason of migration from IPS is quite bizzare. Recently, we have change server, and i encounter some troubles. The IPS support only focus on their cloud clients and give very little attention to self-hosted clients. And the support give this small amount of attention, only gets respondes such as deactivate all plugins/application, it doesnt work and other ******** answer. I received (paid) support from users from official IPS forum, neither from source. Also the official forum is have a lack of activity, it seems dead sometimes i can see 2-3 comments on daily basis compare to XF community where is intensive activity after refresing the page. Also they have removed marketplace, which is another problem.
When trying to hire a developer from official IPS, dont get any answers, lots of them retired/abandoned accounts and when i tried to use Freelancer/fiverr/upwork/toptal the devs never heard of IPS, they did heard about vbulletin and XF and i have to explan them about IPS, give them the official URL etc. I dont get the feelling of trust anymore about IPS.
That lack of activity and other things you describe sounds like Invision is going downhill fast all the while charging a small fortune for their product, especially for cloud hosted. It was a lot more active when I was last there a few years ago. I wouldn't want to be on that boat.

Sounds like their overpriced cloud subscriptions are keeping them going in zombie mode.
 
ChatGPT can only provide those answers because it has already plundered the information posted in response to support requests.
Premium support (tickets with an active license for both XF and Invision, as well as for all other paid forums) is basically the same as the official forum, with the difference that anyone can reply on the forum, while only SFAFF can reply via tickets.
Support is limited to configuration and any technical issues that are easily resolved in frontend.
For personal issues, installation, or migration, you have to pay extra because they're not included in the support, so saying one forum has better support than another doesn't really make sense...
The important thing for a forum is that it's constantly updated with bug fixes and improvements.

As for Chatgpt, it certainly relies on what's written online, but it gives you an answer (almost always correct) in 2 seconds, without having to open a forum post or ticket and wait hours for a response... and without even having to Google dozens of threads hoping to find the right answer...
 
@Watt579 to avoid problems, you should only use the forums with official mods and no customizations. Using third-party plugins, which often receive few updates and/or are abandoned, can cause the forum to crash.
The forum provider provides support for their own program and cannot resolve problems or conflicts caused by other plugins.

To determine whether XF or Invision is better for you, you should base your decision on the official plugins they offer and the ones you need. You should avoid all other third-party plugins because they'll only cause problems, and there's no way they'll solve them... or rather, you might find someone who can initially solve the problem, but after a while, it'll come back because the web is constantly being updated...

For my needs, Xenforo has everything I need (and I think it's also easier to use), so my two forums are on Xenforo, and I'm very happy with it. In fact, I switched from Invisuon to XF for one of my forums.



Official Add-ons / Applications Comparison​

Invision Community (official applications):

  • Forums
  • Blogs
  • Commerce
  • Events
  • Pages
  • Gallery
  • Downloads
XenForo (official add-ons):

  • Enhanced Search
  • Resource Manager
  • Media Gallery
 
With the new super expensive license, Invision currently costs 499 euros for the first time and then 199 euros every 12 months and the annual renewal must be done by force if you want to continue having the forum and not at the discretion of the admin.
This is partially true.
There is a large up front cost.
You do not need to renew once the year is up. If you do not, you lose updates, access to customer forums, support, and their spam service. The software will still fusnction.
You have two years to renew, once past that, you need to pay the full price again.
 
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