What is the cost for Android / iOS plugin?

H

Hostingsolutions

New member
I'm currently a vBulletin user, and a few years ago someone from the XenForo community mentioned there was a discounted migration offer available for vBulletin customers. Does anything like that still exist?

As I'm evaluating XenForo, I'm trying to understand the total cost of ownership before making a decision.

The base XenForo license appears straightforward, but I'm seeing a number of optional add-ons, mobile applications, and extensions with separate pricing. For example, I noticed the Android/iOS mobile app listed at $100. Is that a one-time purchase, an annual renewal, or a recurring subscription? Isn't Xenforo a responsive design?

Likewise, are add-ons such as Resource Manager, Media Gallery, Enhanced Search, and others purchased once with optional renewal fees, or do they require ongoing subscriptions?

I'm not opposed to paying for quality software. I'm simply trying to understand the complete licensing and renewal structure, along with any available migration incentives for existing vBulletin customers, before deciding which platform best fits my needs.

Thank you for any clarification you can provide.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
Hostingsolutions said:
The base XenForo license appears straightforward, but I'm seeing a number of optional add-ons, mobile applications, and extensions with separate pricing. For example, I noticed the Android/iOS mobile app listed at $100. Is that a one-time purchase, an annual renewal, or a recurring subscription? Isn't Xenforo a responsive design?
Click to expand...
XenForo is responsive and on top of that there is a PWA (portable web app) included (which, to be honest, is of not much use, at least not on iOS). What you probably mean is a 3rd party add on and the 100$ (or whatever the cost may be) are a monthly fee with this add on (but for good reasons). I'd recommend to read the discussion thread for that add on to understand why.
Hostingsolutions said:
Likewise, are add-ons such as Resource Manager, Media Gallery, Enhanced Search, and others purchased once with optional renewal fees, or do they require ongoing subscriptions?
Click to expand...
This depends from the developer of the add-on. The normal case is that it is a one time fee which includes updates and support for a period of time. Most include one year, some six months and some only 30 days. You can use the add-on you bought forever, however: for updates you have to buy an extension (which typically is a certain fraction of the initial price and again, the devs are free to choose whatever they like).
There are a small number of developers that offer a yearly subscription where you can download any add on from their portfolio (as many as you like) for a flat fee.

There may be subscription based add ons that only work with a running subscription as well but apart from the mobile app one I am currently not aware of one (which does not mean much).
Hostingsolutions said:
I'm not opposed to paying for quality software. I'm simply trying to understand the complete licensing and renewal structure, along with any available migration incentives for existing vBulletin customers, before deciding which platform best fits my needs.
Click to expand...
I don't think there are financial migration incentives for Bulletin customers. Overall, the initial price for XF may sound not cheap, but extensions are. Personally, I'd not buy Media Gallery and Ressource Manager if I had to choose again. I naively bought both, believing they had the same level of quality as the forum software and it was a bad idea. Both are horribly outdated, lack features, have a terrible usability and are, as a consequence, not much used by the forum users. Media Gallery has the impression of a software that has not been uptated since 15-20 years, Ressource Manager has (apart from it's fallbacks) a primery use case that mainly forums that offer software downloads fit in. You can use it for other things as well, but it is totally awkward (and plain horrible when using it on a mobile phone).

With third party add ons there are a lot of very useful and well coded add ons that are free. There are also very good paid add ons (but orphaned or not very high quality add ons as well, both, free and paid). You will discover rather sooner than later the need for 3rd party add ons, as XF is rocksolid, but rather a baseline than a complete solution for every need (and this seems intenional). There are loads, but if you install loads on your forum it will start to become expensive and updating the forum software will become a complex hell. So you have to find your personal sweet spot over time.
 
Upvote -2 Downvote
Hostingsolutions said:
The base XenForo license appears straightforward, but I'm seeing a number of optional add-ons, mobile applications, and extensions with separate pricing. For example, I noticed the Android/iOS mobile app listed at $100. Is that a one-time purchase, an annual renewal, or a recurring subscription? Isn't Xenforo a responsive design?
Click to expand...
For starters, there is no official iOS/Android app, whatever you saw wasn't something offered by Xenforo. And, you don't really need a app as Xenforo is responsive out of the box with a PWA feature included. You'll see there are a few options out there in the Resource Manager, but they are all 3rd party and definitely not required for your site to operate. XenForo only offers the base forum, the resource manager & media gallery. Anything else you see is by a 3rd party.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
This is highly encouraging. As I may have mentioned above I have been a vB user since version 1. Yes, I'm that old. 😀. What struck me is it's inability to render a YouTube video properly. XF did so extremely well.

If what has been said by the two of you that the others were basically third party add-ons that I am comfortable with XF out of the box.

For me it's going to be an extension of our business that's been in operation for 30 years now. We will have other uses for it as well.

One question that I need to ask is whether or not one can use a domain name alias that points to a certain category of say for example Linux Management and then obtain a domain name such as arbitrarily linuxmanagement .io or similar that points directly at the group category name? It's still the same underlying package that I will have paid for. It's just a way of on a limited basis using domain aliases to point to a particular section. It isn't a critical feature. I know that vB hasn't allowed it. They want a separate license for each domain alias.

I'm sure I will be comfortable with XF and I think by and large it is a better solution at this point. I know of it's developers by name recognition since they assisted me on numerous occasions with the other software. I realize I could go to free software but that's not the kind of where we want to operate. We want users to be able to create their own sub crew for node or whatever it's actually called. I'd like to read the XF manual first to a large extent to see what it can and cannot do and answer many of the questions myself. I have run a web hosting business for 30 years and I'm actually one that will RTFM 😂.

Thanks to both of you I have a better understanding of XF at this point. The only thing that remains is whether or not they still extend a first year discount for trading in vB. That was an actual conversation on vB by someone I believed was one of the owners here. I could be mistaken. I was under a great deal of stress at that time with my daughter dying of brain cancer. I honestly don't remember a whole lot from that couple of years after covid. This will be a new beginning.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
smallwheels said:
and the extended search.
Click to expand...
I appreciate your replies. I look forward to switching to XF. But I am seriously confused. I have a message in the moderation queue and I don't know what I wrote wrong. It is allowing this message to go through. Would an admin contact me and let me know why, when I try to order, it tells me my email address is incorrect when you've already sent me several messages there? I certainly would appreciate it.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
Hostingsolutions said:
We want users to be able to create their own sub crew for node or whatever it's actually called.
Click to expand...
That's not possible in default Xenforo, that would require something custom-made. That sounds more like a social group or something along those lines.

Hostingsolutions said:
The only thing that remains is whether or not they still extend a first year discount for trading in vB. That was an actual conversation on vB by someone I believed was one of the owners here. I could be mistaken.
Click to expand...
I think you're mistaken on this one. I've been here since day 1 and I don't recall any sort of deal being offered like that. At least currently, I don't believe that sort of discount exists.

Hostingsolutions said:
One question that I need to ask is whether or not one can use a domain name alias that points to a certain category of say for example Linux Management and then obtain a domain name such as arbitrarily linuxmanagement .io or similar that points directly at the group category name? It's still the same underlying package that I will have paid for. It's just a way of on a limited basis using domain aliases to point to a particular section. It isn't a critical feature. I know that vB hasn't allowed it. They want a separate license for each domain alias.
Click to expand...
License terms say:
License said:
Subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement and the payment by You of the applicable fee for the Software, XenForo Limited grants You a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide license to install, download and use a single instance of the Software ("License") through a single installation. Each License may run one instance of the Software, accessible via one URL; any attempt to circumvent this limitation is prohibited and will result in the License being revoked. Automated checks may be used to verify your License, including but not limited to installations reporting their usage to Us.
Click to expand...
Don't think that's compatible with what you're asking. Just my interpretation.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
My apologies if my questions were misunderstood. But I am curious if License is an actual user because I don't see a reply from that person if it is.

I'm posting in the pre-sales forum because I don't currently own XenForo and have never installed it. As a result, I'm still trying to learn what the software can and cannot do before making a purchasing decision.

My questions regarding domain aliases, user-created groups, licensing, and similar topics were intended as capability questions. I was not looking for ways around the license agreement or attempting to circumvent any restrictions. Since I don't yet own the software, I also don't have access to the documentation and am trying to learn how XenForo is typically used in real-world deployments.

I've been a vBulletin user for decades and am simply comparing platforms to determine which best fits my business needs. Our intense is to build user groups based on our business. We want open and publicly viewable groups that can be joined for discussion.

Thank you to those who have taken the time to respond.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Hostingsolutions said:
~~~ Since I don't yet own the software, I also don't have access to the documentation ~~~
Click to expand...
Actually, you do have access to all XF documentation. The full manual is available from the main XF page. You can also use the demo to explore XF without buying a license... https://xenforo.com/

docs.xenforo.com

XenForo Administrator's Manual | XenForo Documentation

This manual covers the basics of installing and upgrading XenForo as well as walking you through many of XenForo's concepts and features.
docs.xenforo.com docs.xenforo.com
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Hostingsolutions said:
I've been a vBulletin user for decades and am simply comparing platforms to determine which best fits my business needs. Our intense is to build user groups based on our business. We want open and publicly viewable groups that can be joined for discussion.
Click to expand...
You can use @DragonByte Tech Social Groups addon for this.
[DBTech] DragonByte Social Groups DragonByte Tech

[DBTech] DragonByte Social Groups

Create private or public social groups from within your forum.

Domain aliasing requires custom development, but its possible.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Hostingsolutions said:
My apologies if my questions were misunderstood. But I am curious if License is an actual user because I don't see a reply from that person if it is.

I'm posting in the pre-sales forum because I don't currently own XenForo and have never installed it. As a result, I'm still trying to learn what the software can and cannot do before making a purchasing decision.

My questions regarding domain aliases, user-created groups, licensing, and similar topics were intended as capability questions. I was not looking for ways around the license agreement or attempting to circumvent any restrictions. Since I don't yet own the software, I also don't have access to the documentation and am trying to learn how XenForo is typically used in real-world deployments.

I've been a vBulletin user for decades and am simply comparing platforms to determine which best fits my business needs. Our intense is to build user groups based on our business. We want open and publicly viewable groups that can be joined for discussion.

Thank you to those who have taken the time to respond.
Click to expand...
You’re on the right track comparing features before deciding.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Hostingsolutions said:
This is highly encouraging. As I may have mentioned above I have been a vB user since version 1. Yes, I'm that old. 😀. What struck me is it's inability to render a YouTube video properly. XF did so extremely well.
Click to expand...
I started my forum back in 2001. Used VB as well. Fortunately I escaped that platform back in 2015 and never looked back. Best thing I ever did was switch to XF!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Back
Top Bottom