Best Forum software?

[priyanka]

Hi guys,
Out of the following,which forum software is most popular and what features makes it popular?
1.vBulletin
2.SMF
3.Invision Power Board
4.phpBB


Apart from above, are there any other good forum softwares?

[Terminator1138]

vBulletin
You don't have to hack a bunch of it for most features, ease of use, feature rich in admin area. Less likely to get hacked using vbulletin. Good support site.

[PsychoticDude85]

well i havent used vBulletin so out of the ones i have tried (the bottom two) it would be IPB first as it has better features.

If you want this to be included in your site and you are not used to skinning though you may want to look at things like the Chipmunk boards as they are very simplistic and therefore easy to theme to match your site.

[Mike C]

I love smf I've run most of the big names in the past
phpbb ikonboard Invision Vbulliten.

SMF has more out of the box as far as control and features it's easily adaptable to portals such as tinybloc I've yet to have a security issue with it and I'm secure enough to run swf's in signatures and avatars without fear.

[rhgwynn]

X-Forum is great, I have used it myself. It's easy to install and easier to manage. Check it out. http://x-forum.sourceforge.net/

[ious]

I would think all forum softwares are easy to install ;). My choice of forums would be the following (first=best last=not bad):

Invision Power Board
vBulletin
SMF
phpBB
MyBB

All the others I haven't actually used before. I would think SMF is the best free forum software. The best forum software which you have to buy a license for is Invision Power Board, then vBulletin, I haven't actually purchased vBulletin before, but I've tried vBulletin demo and it's really good. I have purchased IPB due to the great features. It's great, especially the easy to integrate skins. IPB has loads of great features!

[chompz]

I personally like vBulletin as well. Easy to use and lots of features.

[trader]

I prefer Vbulletin over all other forum softwares. Like chompz said, I totally agree with you. It has all the features on this world, hehe!
I just converted my smf forum to Vbulletin and I am extra satisfied. The template editing has become so easy, there is inbuild meta tags system and everything inside has so much options and power.
It is also helpful in SEO if you buy VBSEO, the perfect match for Vbulletin!

[ious]

I prefer Vbulletin over all other forum softwares. Like chompz said, I totally agree with you. It has all the features on this world, hehe!
I just converted my smf forum to Vbulletin and I am extra satisfied. The template editing has become so easy, there is inbuild meta tags system and everything inside has so much options and power.
It is also helpful in SEO if you buy VBSEO, the perfect match for Vbulletin!

Yes, I love the nifty built in META tag generator. Can you integrate skins via admincp with vBulletin? You can with IPB, and with smiley and image packs (buttons, menu buttons etc). I'm going to make a new Website soon, and trying to decide what I should buy, either vBulletin or IPB. I might see the vBulletin demo one more time to decide :).

[hostingatoz]

I have found vBulletin the best ;)

[Orphmaster]

vbulletin for sure.

[Suzy]

I just installed SMF, I was using phpbb for the longest time, I never changed it because I was lazy I guess, but I had to start a new site for someone and they requested SMF, well to my surprise I love it. When I am finished this job, I will be installing it for my personal site.

[webseo]

From now i think SMF is better forum software than others. I like it because

-Its free forum software.
-Easy to install and run your forum.
-Good supports.
-Have good features than others.

I also like Vbulletion because its better if you want to spend money.

[Plouplou]

I prefer PhpBB. It is a nice software and free. Also it's open source so integrate it into your site and do really cool things. It has an active forum where the development staff remain quite active to help you with bugs you may encounter.
Demo : free forums (http://www.forumotion.com)

[noclone]

I also prefer php BB too.It works very well .Hope you can enjoy it.

[mickeyy]

I still prefer phpbb3, but like you said, it's easy to get a bunch of random spam due to it's popularity. Any forum software is prone to bots though. So there's a few scripts that aren't too hard to install that help prevent this. I can't recall any, but an easy Google search should find a few. It's usually just modifying a header file and inserting a couple lines of php code.

Also, it helps to have email activation to prevent even more spam rather than allowing users to register without activating.

[software2010]

i think vBulletin is the best.

[SamanthaF]

I highly recommend the forumotion.com host for your message board. 100% free with great service, I've used them for 2 years with no trouble ever.