Which is the cheapest forum software?

[Maria]

Do you use paid forum software? How much do you spend on yearly subscription? Have you compared the price of your software with other forum software? What do you think is the cheapest forum software?

 

[Tracy]

Cheapest are any of the open source forum software. They are usually free, but some do have premium add-ons you can buy.

A lot of people have a bad habit of looking at a script like XenForo and then comparing it to IPS and only looking at the actual dollar amount. You have to remember, with IPS offering ($499), you get:

• Forum
• Calendar
• Groups/Clubs
• Gallery
• Resource Manager (what XF calls it)
• Pages (interface to database and more, create custom "add-ons" like a review system and similar)
• Elastic Search ability
• Blogs

Renewals for IPS run $199 a year.


With Xenforo base offering you get:
Forum ($195.00)
Calendar ($50?)
Groups/Clubs ($50)
Gallery ($70)
Resource Manager ($70)
Pages (does not have equivalent, requires multiple add-ons in my case to do similar to what I could do in pages - my cost $325)
Enhanced Search/ElasticSearch ($60)
Blog ($45/$65)
For me, that comes to $825 in license costs to get a comparative setup.
Renewals run around $300 a year.

With Woltab you get:
Forum ($141.62)
Gallery ($81.70)
Calendar ($81.70)
FileBase ($81.70)
Blog ($81.70)
ElasticSearch Integration ($130.72)
That comes to $517.44, and this does not include any Pages equivalent add-ons (did not spend time to dig through their listing to see what would compare.

if you run a site that you want to offer more than a simple forum with (which honestly in todays era of users you really need to do) you have to count those additional costs (designated by the dollar signs on the XF list) into your calculations.

The cheapest, decent, most modern forum software (thinking traditional forum type) right now is SMF.
You also have

 

[JoshB]

As @Tracy pointed out with that awesome listing. The separate add-ons start to nickel and dime you over time, but it does offer you a way to just get the items you want to focus on first. IC does give you a better bang for the buck in having all of the add-ons bundled under one pricing plan. though.

 

[Tracy]

I should have pointed out that with XenForo the following are 3rd party offerings and they go along with all associated risks of that 3rd party developer leaving the ecosphere - which with using XenForo over a decade I've seen them leave regularly.
Calendar
Pages equivalent add-ons (I am pretty sure the developer of mine will be around for a while, or at least his add-ons)
Groups/Clubs
Blog

There can be an over-dependence upon 3rd party developers to provide what is becoming core requirements for sites now.
I do miss with IPs that you could pick & choose, but honestly, their current offering is only something like $40 more than what my old renewal would have been and it gives me WAY more.

 

[Nomad]

The cheapest, decent, most modern forum software (thinking traditional forum type) right now is SMF

One of the reasons why I do not use premium software is because of the cost associated. If your site is purely a hobby and you can afford it, it is fine but if you want to generate revenue and pay for website running cost, premium software would be very expensive.
What you said about SMF is very true. I used to have SMF forum in the past

 

[Dilip]

My forum uses Woltlab. It has everything I need.

I have been using it for more than an year now and happy about it.

 

[Tracy]

My forum uses Woltlab. It has everything I need.

I have been using it for more than an year now and happy about it.

And that is the secret sauce.
Get what your site needs. Don't settle for a particular script just because it is a certain name and you will just settle for what it offers.

 

[Old Nick]

You have to start somewhere anyway, moreover when you launch your first forum you don't know very well what you really need. You discover it as you go. And either we aimed right and it's perfect or we realise that our choice was not the right one and in this case either we change the script or we settle for what we have.

 

[Tracy]

You have to start somewhere anyway, moreover when you launch your first forum you don't know very well what you really need.

And that's why the common suggestion is start with a free script that is easily imported into the paid scripts (SMF, myBB, phpBB), get your foundation going and then once you have an idea, decide on the paid solution that will fit what you need.
Jumping in feet first to a paid script can quickly become a pursuit of wasted money when you realize that it does not offer what you need and you will either settle for what you currently have and muddle along not being able to offer what you planned or pursue something that will enhance and better your site and spend even MORE money.
Not everyone has deep pockets. How many times have you seen comments about someone wanting to run a site, but they only get paid what equates to a few hundred dollars a month in salary to live on? I know I have several times in the over decade of XF and suggested that they use a free script to start with (and had the XF fan club negatively comment on those replies doing their cheerleading routine). For those with limited funds, making the wrong choice and forking over what amounts to 1/2 a months salary (or in some cases even more) can be rather life-shattering if wrong and they were banking on it to try and make money.

 

[Old Nick]

This is more than true. The first advice to give to a first-time forum creator is to get started with a free script.

In addition, there are large old and still very active forums that always run under phpBB for example. So there's nothing to lose...

 

[Tracy]

In addition, there are large old and still very active forums that always run under phpBB for example. So there's nothing to lose...

yeah, have come across a few... and hate every minute I have to spend there!
Of all of them, I think I hate phpBB the most. Of course, that could also have something to do with memories of having to manually edit templates and code to get an add-on to work.
Another recent one I've been playing with is Vanilla. Still having issues with it getting it up and running self-hosted, but I honestly haven't invested a lot of time into it yet.

 

[Ravenfreak]

Free scripts are the cheapest. SMF is my personal favorite free software and I currently use it on a few forums I own. As for paid software, if you only want a forum Woltlab is the cheapest. It comes with a CMS with the forum as an added bonus.