Well, for one thing, currently vBulletin is much nicer! It has more features, and is easier to manage than phpBB.

But, I'm sure Dani will tell you more ;-).

Well, as I'm sure you know already, phpBB is free and vBulletin has a pricetag of $160. vB has much cleaner code. It also has virtually no bugs, and when one does arise, it is fixed within the day. It comes with many more options configurable via the admin panel. In addition, their templating system is amazing - especially template conditionals. All I could really suggest is going to vBulletin.com and testing out the demo admin interface to see just how configurable it is.

If you are developing a serious community, I highly recommend VB. If you are developing a community and can't afford the price tag, phpbb is ok.

Boy did I walk into a forum full of vb heads? Just kidding.

The poor college kid is going to tell you phpBB is great. I wonder why?

Don't be so sure gooseneck. DaniWeb emerged as a result of a phpBB project I was working on called techtalkforums.com :)

I meant no disrespect. You guys are some of the more non-biased people I have met when it comes to forum software.

well i am goin to throw invision into this mess as from what i have seen invision has pretty much alot of the features of vb but i do think vb probably has more features, but invision is about 2 weeks or so away from releasing 2.0 so you could always check them out. they are free unless you want support from them but there is no need as there is tons of web sites out there about invision board that can help you out. i would say you should check into invision and see what you think.
http://www.invisionboard.com/

ps i have never really messed with vb so i dont know all the features it has but i have looked at the admin panel via there webpage :)

everything is good, just see what contents are in ur site.

I know a lot of VB forums being dull w/o members and forums with free boards running smoothly with lot of members ??

the reason is simple, what u expect to give from u r site makes members to attract people.

Some of dull boards ( VB)

<< urls edited out to comply with forum policy >>

vBulletin's are simply more powerful - I was pretty shocked when I saw how little is actually present in the admin panel of phpbb.

There's nothing inherently wrong with phpbb - but you simply get a higher quality product with vBulletin. More secure, too.

phpBB is suppose to be caught up with vb and invision by the time 2.2 comes out. but im not sure :) we will just have to wait and see

phpbbhacks.com for all of your phpbb mods. I love the AWI message. It works great!

Usually, vbulletin makes for more of a 'community' forum experience. I've found phpbb to be a nice 'backend' forum. :)

I completely diagree with you, there are hundreds if not thousands of serious communities powered by phpBB

phpBB is also open source so you can fine tune, add or remove things to suit your particular needs
Temi

If you are developing a serious community, I highly recommend VB. If you are developing a community and can't afford the price tag, phpbb is ok.

...and then there is me using Web Wiz Forums
http://www.webwizforums.com/

I feel that a lot of the hype between phpBB - VB - Invision comes down to a few important factors.

What sort of coding knowledge you have, and some hardcore server knowledge.

If applied correctly they are all as secure as each other.

For someone that has minimal coding or hacking knowledge VB & Invision are great platforms, however, phpBB is much more responsive if you really want to get in there and do some major structural changes to the database (VB & Invision dont allow that)

I have just converted (with help from my buddy) a VB3.03 to phpBB2.0.X which was not meant to be possible, I feel with a customised admin panel on phpBB is walks all over VB...

just my personal opinion anyway.

Oh really I am Proteus? What sort of features / hacks did you add to phpBB? I used to do some phpBB moding before I switched to vBulletin - and I feel that w/ vB, I don't really need many hacks for all of the power ;) But that's just me :-D

phpBB All the Way.

In the First Post, They said Smaller Sites at phpBB and Bigger are VB, Thats a Lie. Look at http://www.gaiaonline.com/ that is a Huge phpBB Site. Both can hold many Members and such!

And for the second poster. I think phpBB Has more Add-On Features, Its easier to edit, I think (I've tried both). But if you are a new User go with phpBB (Its Free).

Thanks,
Kevin

I used IPB before, like every other forum, most use IPB or phpBB, I wanted to stand out from the crowd, I went VB, its faster, its different from the rest, if you have to pay, it shows you are serious and committed to make the site grow/work, its better software, well at least I think. Yes its expensive for a small site like me, but its worth it in the end, and I have already got new memebers that I didnt have when using IPB, and I think its down to being different from the majority of other motorsport forums.

I do support PHPBB and fully satisfied with its existing features. Well since my forums are smaller(may be thats the reason), never noticed any problems. And installation is like a breeze...
I love phpbb