What is the best forum engine ?

hi guys, there are many forum engines like phpbb, invisionboard, vbulletin, simplemachineforum etc. Which one do you think is the best ? From what viewpoint you consider it to be the best? Is it easy installation/administration, available plugins etc?

if you want to launch a forum for earning money then vbulletin and phpBB would be fine for you as SMF doesn't look very professional and it has very less administrative options..invisionboard is also fine..

if you are starting a forum then i reckon vbulletin is the best as many new webmasters use it as its sorta easy to handle

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Originally Posted by rsviper

if you are starting a forum then i reckon vbulletin is the best as many new webmasters use it as its sorta easy to handle

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yes i too have heard that this is one of the easiest ones...
vbulletin is most widely used one now a days

But we must buy the script for vbulletin and i think the price is too high for me ... $160 for a license / year, although i know vbulletin has many plugins and addons to enhance their function.

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Originally Posted by akulho

But we must buy the script for vbulletin and i think the price is too high for me ... $160 for a license / year, although i know vbulletin has many plugins and addons to enhance their function.

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Akluho is there any option in vbulletin where we can create a free forum and host them....

@therealdeal : I don't think we can use their forum engine for free if we want to host it on our own website.

vbulletin is not offering free hosting at the moment..akulho..you can try phpbb as they offer lesser price and there is an option for free hosting too..alternatively go for SMF as everything they provide is free..but you will be needing to have your own host then..which i guess won't be costing you more than 6-8$ per month even for the best hosting services..

@byyp : yes i know for paid hosting it will require that money. But i rather going to get a vbulletin or invision board since it has rpg/virtual pet addon. Well better to save some money first :? I think for training i will install a smf in free hosting first to get the hang of it.

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Originally Posted by akulho

@byyp : yes i know for paid hosting it will require that money. But i rather going to get a vbulletin or invision board since it has rpg/virtual pet addon. Well better to save some money first :? I think for training i will install a smf in free hosting first to get the hang of it.

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hey what is the use of these things will you please let me know?
what for do we use this vbulletin?

@archy22 : vbulletin is a forum engine (script) we can use to make forum like this forum.

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Originally Posted by akulho

@archy22 : vbulletin is a forum engine (script) we can use to make forum like this forum.

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oh thanks akulho, i too never knew this. But do we need to pay for this service or is it free to use?

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Originally Posted by akulho

@byyp : yes i know for paid hosting it will require that money. But i rather going to get a vbulletin or invision board since it has rpg/virtual pet addon. Well better to save some money first :? I think for training i will install a smf in free hosting first to get the hang of it.

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yeah..if thats the the thing,then SMF would be fine for training and getting an insight into these things..i wasn't aware of rpg in invision board though..

i saw the rpg addon on invisionize.com for invision powered forum.