Free vs Paid Forum Software

[Jayson]

The new phpBB versions have a mobile ready default theme now. Anyway, I think the gap between free and paid is getting more narrow. Do you think there will be a time when paid isn't an advantage? However, though, paid stuff has themes that are unique and that could be people hooked.

Anyway, some people blame free stuff for being easy to hack, but I really think the problem is with inexperienced web developers.

 

[Ash]

Not sure about phpBB but I think the gap between free and paid forum solutions has always been quite slim. There are not that many differences other than the look and feel of the forum. Most of the things that can be achieved with XenForo or even Invision Community can be done easily with MyBB.

 

[Page]

Paid is still always going to give you the best of the best. Have you even used paid IPB before?

End of the day they offer far more the paid that you do not see it's front cover until you go into the deep end of things

 

[Fait]

I use to use Mybb that was okay but I’ve now switched to Xenforo and will never look back!

 

[Grungie]

There’s pros and cons. Some of the free services don’t give you access to your database, so if you wanna move to a paid hosting site, you’re screwed. Other free sites let you do that.

Though one of the biggest downfalls of free hosting is that they don’t let you install whatever plugins you want.

 

[Demon_skeith]

I'll admit free isn't too bad these days but paid is still nicer but getting to be too much to be worth it.

 

[Fait]

I'll admit free isn't too bad these days but paid is still nicer but getting to be too much to be worth it.

Agree like Mybb for example isn’t bad but I’m glad I bought Xenforo as for IPB that’s out of my budget but looks nice.

 

[nomad]

I have never used premium forum software, I have always worked on the free forum software. The reason why I do not use paid forum software is because of the high subscription cost. I have even built a forum on wordpress. My experience with paid forum software is only as a forum poster.