A lot of the time it's a case of 'you get what you pay for' but there are some pretty good free alternatives out there if you have the know-how and drive to make them great.
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Paid forum software versus free forum software?
- Thread starter JennyorAlice
- Start date
Don't think there was one... the SFS one worked well..
Of all the free/open source scripts, SMF is the one that has moved forward the most... but it still reminds me of the early 2000's.
Yea it seems pretty much all the free forum scripts look very dated. Lol
It is sorta the downfall of the open source community in many ways when it comes to scripts. The "need" to move forward and improve is not as prevalent, as their is no financial incentive to do so. So frequently folks stay in their "comfort zone". At least @Arantor apparently made many attempts to move SMF forward... but the "powers that be" had a different mind-set.
I use both paid and free forum software for my communities. I pick the software that fits my needs and budget. I think paid scripts are definitely worth it though if you have the means to purchase not only the software, but the renewal fees too. You can get SEO right out of the box and it's easier to customize your forum with paid software, but you can do all that on free software too if you're willing to install extra plugins. Free hosted forums are a completely different story though, you're pretty much locked into whatever the host allows you to do which yeah you could have a well established community. For example, the Lost Media Wiki uses Proboards as their forum host and it seems to fit their needs well. Though they are pretty much stuck on Proboards, there's no way for them to move even if they wanted to at this point. At the end of the day, we can all agree that you need to be realistic and pick the platform that fits your needs and is in your budget. You wouldn't want to purchase a new car you couldn't afford correct?
Yea, I used to love SMF, but once I found XF I haven't really looked back, since they seem to be stuck in their old ways.
I do understand its a volunteer effort, but they seem to take years between a single x.X.x version. At this rate, being 2.1 currently, maybe it'll be 8+ years before SMF hits 3.0 lol
I have to say. I was bouncing around today looking into the github repo's for several open source forum scripts today. I happened upon flarum and for a moment got excited as they are using a Middleware approach and then Bam ran into like 3 anti-patterns. Is it soooo much to ask for a forum application to implement best practice and adhere to the PSR without implementing anti-patterns? Well, I guess I could look at it as at least its not 85% procedural code.... One can dream I suppose..
And XF is coming up on over 2 years before it goes from 2.2 to 2.3. Which in a paid script environment is pushing MyBB range.
I’ve mostly only been on free software. Zetaboards. It was able to do most things I wanted or people figured out codes to get something similar enough. The designs were amazing. Me and my co admin eventually did switch over to xenforo. I loved Xenforo and the prices weren’t so outrageous.
If I was to open a forum now a days I would have to heavily consider my commitment and free time before I would do a paid one.
If I was to open a forum now a days I would have to heavily consider my commitment and free time before I would do a paid one.
Really?
Discourse is the place to build civilized communities
Discourse is modern forum software for your community. Use it as a mailing list, discussion forum, long-form chat room, and more!
www.discourse.org
Flarum
Flarum is the next-generation forum software that makes online discussion fun. It's simple, fast, and free.
flarum.org
Home | NodeBB | Your Community Forum Platform
NodeBB is the next generation community forum platform. Built on open source software, we've helped hundreds of companies engage their customers.
nodebb.org
This is the future and they're all free.
Not a fan of Ruby on Rails.
Flarum is.... bleh. It also lacks a lot of "extendability" for what some sites require. If you are a simply chat target, it's OK.
NodeBB... no thanks... been there, done that. Wasn't impressed with NodeJS from an administration standpoint.
Trying to run 2 of those 3 with other standard PHP sites was REALLY a headache that I would rather not repeat.
Those may suffice (as I said in reference to Flarum) for a simple forum... but if you want to extend much beyond that... they are lacking. Pretty much the same issue that the other free scripts suffer from.
And as for as "looks"... I've never been impressed with any of the 3 you mentioned. They have always seemed rather disjointed.
I looked at those, and they're all too simple. They are not the future, IMO. From what I've seen on their own boards. It has like minimal features it seems. I would need to add a lot of addons, more so than XF.Really?
Discourse is the place to build civilized communities
Discourse is modern forum software for your community. Use it as a mailing list, discussion forum, long-form chat room, and more!Flarum
Flarum is the next-generation forum software that makes online discussion fun. It's simple, fast, and free.Home | NodeBB | Your Community Forum Platform
NodeBB is the next generation community forum platform. Built on open source software, we've helped hundreds of companies engage their customers.
This is the future and they're all free.
One does not simply pigeon-hole three silly software packages into "the future"
Long live procedural code!
This statement sheds enough light on your personal preferences in respect to code that I can now understand your other post in a new light and they make more sense I think.
What about free forum scripts make them look dated if you do not mind me asking?
I ask because there are quite a few out there and several have moved away from the more "traditional" forum look. Some have already been mentioned. Vanilla would be another example. (Although I hate it to be honest lol)
What forum scripts do you think look modern? What is modern about them?
I started with MyBB because it was free and just like it. Always been interested in IpB but never pulled the trigger, then xenforo came and I think if I did switch to paid it would be xf
IF you ever do reach that point... sit down with pen & paper and write out what you see your site offering. For some things, IPS will be a better solution, whereas XF will be for others. You can simply select one because "I like it better" but you need to think of your users also.
For my current prime site, it would be difficult for me to easily recreate the functions in the manner I have them at in IPS without expending a chunk of change. With XF, there are already well developed add-ons that I can use. For my pipe site, I could honestly get by with IPS on it and using Pages (it's what it was on originally) but I had a spare XF license and wanted to try it on for size.
Don't get "swayed" by the "XF is cheaper" routine that some do. Once you start extending XenForo to match what the current IPS classic offering is, you are close in price... and when you add add-ons into the mix, you will be exceeding the IPS cost to "play" (this is based upon self-hosted, the cloud offerings will sway these figures somewhat).
For me, it would just for the Pages feature, but I know of no XF visual page builders. The closest is xon's BBC page creator, but its not 100% visual, more like 90% haha.
The biggest selling point for Jcink Premium is the fact that they allow adult content on it ("Sexy" rp scenes, in depth discussions about human sexuality, etc.). Free Jcink doesn't. I think most platforms that require you to pay are the only option for these kinds of discussions.
That's why I said each brings special things to the table... and you have to decide which is more important.
For simple HTML pages, there are plenty of free editors that will do most of the design work for you. Yes, you probably have to upload images and stuff to specific directories.... but even in many cases with Pages you had to do the same thing when I was using it. I don't remember it having a "drop an image here and it will get uploaded automagically when you save the page" feature.
You can always do their demo to see how it works. Honestly, for what XF offers, you can't get "real fancy" in their simplistic use of displaying HTML. There are many functions/features of HTML that won't carry over into the HTML "pages". I think your'e wanting something that's all built in that doesn't require much effort to learn to use.
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