Wolt Lab

[Jason]

What are some pros and cons of it? Well, it is a lot cheaper than the other premium software. Do you feel it's a bargain for that reason alone?

 

[Uncrowned]

I actually really like Wotlabs, they come off as a baby IPS but are still very capable and offer all the apps I am looking for. The prices are really good as well and they are in the EU, so they are up on GDPR needs for admins that need those. So far the only downside I have seen is that there can be some language barriers with apps and support, it seems like a lot of their users are German and that means a lot of the apps are in German on their add-on section and also the support forums.

 

[Tracy]

Biggest issue.. if you want good forum support from other users... you better speak German.
I haven't used the most recent version... but the old 4.x version I have a license for was rather "clunky" in many ways. I never could get comfortable with it, and was one of the reasons I didn't renew it. Was ran on another domain I kinda wished I'd kept now.

 

[Jason]

Biggest issue.. if you want good forum support from other users... you better speak German.
I haven't used the most recent version... but the old 4.x version I have a license for was rather "clunky" in many ways. I never could get comfortable with it, and was one of the reasons I didn't renew it. Was ran on another domain I kinda wished I'd kept now.

What do you mean "clunky"? What specific problems did you have?

 

[Tracy]

What do you mean "clunky"? What specific problems did you have?

Just that... it was not easy to customize and the templating system left a LOT to be desired for customization when compared to XF or IPS (of the same era).
Again, the newer version may be better.. but I'm not going to go waste roughly $300 USD to "test" the latest version. Honestly.. that will almost purchase me a Chroma Ha filter (still about $100 short), which I place a higher priority on than "testing" a script that I honestly will probably not use again.
If the Woltlab developers would like to "donate" a full license of all add-ons.. I have no issues with giving a totally unbiased report, and am even willing to purchase 3rd party add-ons/styles to test for MY needs.. and I think most that have knowledge of me well know that I have NO issues with calling out BS or similar. I'm somewhat vocal on my personal opinions...and I have been known to piss certain developers off (XF, IPS and Woltlab being amongst them). But the simple fact is.. I don't care if it pisses them off. My ultimate concern is the end user.... not the developer.
All I can base it upon is like/like to when I actually owned a license.. and honestly.. it was sorely lacking.

 

[Jason]

Just that... it was not easy to customize and the templating system left a LOT to be desired for customization when compared to XF or IPS (of the same era).
Again, the newer version may be better.. but I'm not going to go waste roughly $300 USD to "test" the latest version. Honestly.. that will almost purchase me a Chroma Ha filter (still about $100 short), which I place a higher priority on than "testing" a script that I honestly will probably not use again. If the Woltlab developers would like to "donate" a full license of all add-ons.. I have no issues with giving a totally unbiased report.. and I think most that have knowledge of me well know that I have NO issues with calling out BS or similar. I'm somewhat vocal on my personal opinions...and I have been known to piss certain developers off (XF, IPS and Woltlab being amongst them). But the simple fact is.. I don't care if it pisses them off. My ultimate concern is the end user.... not the developer.
All I can base it upon is like/like to when I actually owned a license.. and honestly.. it was sorely lacking.

The price is $119 on the site. $300 for what?

 

[Tracy]

The price is $119 on the site. $300 for what?

Err... simply I use WELL more than the base forum for most of my sites... once more, here is a simple example.



On my pipe/tobacco site when running under IPS I made extensive use of their Pages app to provide many additional functions and used a paid add-on for classifieds... not to mention the required dependency of the IPS commerce package for that add-on package).
The simple "base" forum is not sufficient for what I require.

$119 for base license
$69.99 for gallery
$69.99 for calendar
$69.99 for filebase
$69.99 for blogs
And let's not forget a "custom" paid style.

 

[Jason]

Err... simply I use WELL more than the base forum for most of my sites... once more, here is a simple example.

View attachment 1527

On my pipe/tobacco site when running under IPS I made extensive use of their Pages app to provide many additional functions and used a paid add-on for classifieds... not to mention the required dependency of the IPS commerce package for that add-on package).
The simple "base" forum is not sufficient for what I require.

$119 for base license
$69.99 for gallery
$69.99 for calendar
$69.99 for filebase
$69.99 for blogs
And let's not forget a "custom" paid style.

OK, I can't argue here. Well, compared to XenForo, you're getting a free blog for the nearly the same price. That's the only advantage I see, but I'm not fully informed about quality.

 

[Tracy]

OK, I can't argue here. Well, compared to XenForo, you're getting a free blog for the nearly the same price. That's the only advantage I see, but I'm not fully informed about quality.

From what I understand... the "Blog" is a current additional add-on feature.


What you used to get in the "core" version (which was free) was more an "article" format... but once more.. I'm not inclined to waste my money on something I won't use to simply "see" if that's still the same, but only provided in the base "paid" core format still (which used to be a fee core product).
In the core XF you can also do "Articles" in a very similar format to WoltLabs old setup.
Now, let's not even count the $110 add-on for ElasticSearch use.

 

[Jason]

From what I understand... the "Blog" is a current additional add-on feature.
View attachment 1530

What you used to get in the "core" version (which was free) was more an "article" format... but once more.. I'm not inclined to waste my money on something I won't use to simply "see" if that's still the same, but only provided in the base "paid" core format.
In the core XF you can also do "Articles" in a very similar format to WoltLabs old setup.
Now, let's not even count the $110 add-on for ElasticSearch use.

It's a paid add-on but the price comes out to nearly the same as XenForo. It seems free in that way.

 

[Tracy]

It's a paid add-on but the price comes out to nearly the same as XenForo. It seems free in that way.

No, they really don't come out to "nearly the same". in fact, the ES add-on is twice the price with Woltlab than XenForo.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I love Woltlab, dare I say it I like it better than Xenforo now. Not only is it a little cheaper, you get the CMS free whenever you purchase a license for their forum software. The only drawback of course is the language barrier, but there's plenty of English speaking members on the support forum from what I've seen. They may not have as many extensions or plugins as Xenforo, but I think it's worth the money. Woltlab reminds me more of IPS, and it's much cheaper if you wish to purchase a license for every piece of software they have.

 

[Jason]

I love Woltlab, dare I say it I like it better than Xenforo now. Not only is it a little cheaper, you get the CMS free whenever you purchase a license for their forum software. The only drawback of course is the language barrier, but there's plenty of English speaking members on the support forum from what I've seen. They may not have as many extensions or plugins as Xenforo, but I think it's worth the money. Woltlab reminds me more of IPS, and it's much cheaper if you wish to purchase a license for every piece of software they have.

What do you mean by free CMS? Yes, English is widespread so it's not surprising.

 

[Tracy]

Not only is it a little cheaper

Core.. yes for initial purchase, no for renewal... $66USD a year renewal for core WoltLab, XF $55 USD.
1st party add-ons.. nope. In fact, as I pointed out in an earlier post, the ES add-on for WoltLab is about twice what it is for XenForo ($55 USD for XF versus $121 USD for WoltLab and the XF ES renewal is $10 USD, WoltLab is $60 USD). The other add-ons (gallery & filebase are the two comparative first party offerings) are about $15 more each. The 1st party add-ons renewals from WoltLab are also about twice what the XF ones are (gallery/filebase) - $15 USD for XF, $38 USD for WoltLab.

 

[Arantor]

Did they enact the licence change in the end that forces you to stay renewed if you want to keep using the software? They talked about it at TAZ and the reaction was mild horror.

 

[Tracy]

Did they enact the licence change in the end that forces you to stay renewed if you want to keep using the software? They talked about it at TAZ and the reaction was mild horror.

I had forgotten all about that.... last I heard, I think they did re-think that position as the bonfire flames were getting rather high around the stake they had tied themselves to.

 

[Jason]

Did they enact the licence change in the end that forces you to stay renewed if you want to keep using the software? They talked about it at TAZ and the reaction was mild horror.

How would that be enforced? Would they threaten a lawsuit?

 

[Arantor]

No, the software would phone home periodically and verify the licence was still current, and if not, turn itself off until the licence was renewed. But like I said, I don’t know if they implemented it, I know they outlined it and were going to do it but got quite a bit of pushback.

 

[Tracy]

but got quite a bit of pushback.

You are officially issued the understatement of the year award!
Even folks that weren't using it were commenting on how that was a quick way to shoot themselves in the foot.

 

[Arantor]

Thing is, in their original target market (Germany) I could have seen this being just fine because different culture. I don’t even object to it in principle if a) they need to ensure recurring revenue for survival and b) regular updates being paid for. Devil is, of course, in the details.