Best forum software and why ?

I'm looking to setup a forum and I'm considering the following forum software:

vBulletin - Quite expensive, but actively updated, great support, lots of features, very scalable and proven (ie. most popular forum software by far).

Invision Power Board - Quite expensive, but actively updated, great support, lots of features, very scalable and proven.

Simple Machines Forum - Free (although you can pay $50 per year for advanced releases and support), Quite a lot of features, not updated all that often, not proven.

phpBB - Free. New version 3 beta looks very promising with lots of features, and not particularly proven.

I'm swaying towards either vB or IPB at the moment due to being them being actively/regularly updated along with top notch support.

I'd like the get constructive comments (ie. not just "vB is best") from other people on the pros and cons of each forum software.

 

From my personal experienci i use OPN for a whole Managemnet System, meaning portal with integrated forum, as also SMF for a second external forum.
With both i have very good experiences and i have a lot of traffic. Nether had database problems, both run stable, have enough features, and never under attack from certain turkish hackers.

!! An important point is which php version you will run on your server. Not all boards are compatible with php5 others won't run anymore on php 4.2x.!!

Also there could be problems if you use confixx or plex for the administration of your php system, as again some boards are not compatible with plex.

 

I admin and moderate on several vbulletin and invision power board forums and they both seem stable and easy to set up. I don't think you could go wrong with either.

 

Thanks for the info.

If you could only have one though, which would you choose and why ?

 

I would choose Invision for one reason, the forum I admin on and have full access to the entire sofware would be a factor as I know it pretty well. where as here as a mod I don't have the same access and don't know the full workings of vbullitin. If I knew VB as well as invision I don't know for sure. But for the reasons I stated for now it would be Invision Power Board.

 

OK, thanks. For anyone that's interested I'll post back here with my decision and reasons why.

 

I run SMF for a long time.
I think their support was quite well. I never hade issues or unsolved problems with them. Also features of SMF is same as vbulletin's
Then I moved to vbulletin Because my members want it.. Vbulletin is vbulletin you know.
The one important thing about SMF is, it is solid rock. Since I am Turkish, I was fooling around those Turkish lamers boards for pre-caution. There is nothing they can do to SMF boards. Admin account is the biggest risk in SMF and you can easly protect it with a good password.
If my members wouldnt insist on vbulletin I would never leave SMF

 

I have administrated on phpBB and on SMF, and Moderated on vB and IPB. My initial reasons for choosing phpBB and SMF was because they were free, but now (after running them for a while) I would settle for either.

IMO there are 3 major factors you have to consider

1. Familiarity - Choose the one your most familier and comfortable with - i.e Wilders members may prefer vBulletin

2. Members - Always consider your members, the most important factor

3. Cost - requires no explanation

When making a decision between IPB and vB, I would currently sway towards IPB, due to some differentiating features which is really down to personal preference.

 

I upgraded one Invision board to vBulletin and member like it more.

Invision have more usefull features and is more easy to setup and administrate/moderate than vBulletin.

vBulletin have better skins, better are more addons, better community and is more secure.

Invision board versions lower than 2.1.6 were hacked a lot in last few months. Invision will soon have version 2.2 with more features.

THey have better pricing than vBulletin, you pay $40 per year or if you do not want to upgrade you can use it as long as you want.

Version 3 of INVISION will have new interface.

I am running 4 Invision board and never had any problem, you just have to update it as soon as update is released.
You can get best skins for IPB here http://www.skinbydragonfly.com

 

I setup an invision forum 5 years ago that is still running.
Scales well - we are on load balanced servers due to traffic.
I've been a supermod on vbulliten and SMF and had no problems with them - we have a SMF forum on our server - server owner refuses to install phpbb due to system killing bugs in the past (my site got hit just because phpbb on another site (on the same server)) got hacked.
I have not adminned a phpbb forum for over a year, so I cannot comment on how it currently fares, but phpbb has had some serious security flaws in the past.