forum software

[v1r4L fr3nzy]

Why are some forum software free and others not when they all offer the same thing (correct meif I'm wrong)? For example, vBulletin is pretty expensive while phpbb is free. What does vBulletin offer that phpbb doesnt? If there is no difference then why do people use vBulletin?

[DrZaius]

Same reason people use Windows instead of Linux. There are some differences, and I havn't seen how phpBB handles boards with a lot of members (PC Mech or more). VBB is older and seems fairly polished, as opposed to phpBB which I last used a while ago and it still had bugs and such. If it's for a small forums, phpBB or any other free software will work fine. If it's for a big site, you should pay for the software and support/service.

[Nuclear Krusader]

phpBB forums are horrible! They lack many of the comfortable features vBulletin forums have. Take the Quick Reply feature as example.

[Force Flow]

Anyone ever hear of FudForums? Is it any good?