Xenforo too Expensive?

[Naiwen]

I personally wouldn’t pay the hefty price they are asking currently.

 

[Arantor]

Considering what you get, it's not that unreasonably priced. Compared to, say, Khoros whose price tag is 5-figures and upward anyway...

My argument is that, yes, things like SMF exist - but the experience on a XF site is that bit nicer than SMF. Is it $160 nicer? I'd tend to argue it probably is - and I say this as someone who literally wrote parts of SMF in my spare time years ago.

 

[Kale]

It's not as bad as IPB is. I actually enjoy it way more than the free forum software out there at the moment.

 

[Cory]

So, it's $160 a year, but that doesn't include add-ons and themes?

 

[Arantor]

For avoidance of doubt, cost of ownership for 3 years for self-hosted licenses assuming you stay constantly licensed:
XF is $160 + $55 + $55 = $270
IPS (Forum only) is $250 + $40 + $40 + $40 + $40 = $410

But there is no requirement to stay up to date on licences for either.

These also do not include add-ons or themes, for which pricing is all over the show.

 

[Cory]

Oh, so only the first year is $160, and every year after that is $55 to keep the license?

 

[Arantor]

Not even that. That was specifically if you wanted to keep *fully* licensed. Once you've bought the licence, you've bought the licence. And you can use it - but you only get updates for the first year. After that you need to renew to get updates.

A fair number of people are currently letting their licenses lapse while waiting for 2.3 to come out - and then they'll renew to get the new shiny features.

IPS has a similar deal with its self hosting, you can let the licence lapse but you don't get updates - though in IPS's case that's less desirable because feature updates even for self hosting are regular.

Then of course we have Woltlab, who until the end of 2022 would let you use the software with a valid licence but again not require you to renew it. As of 2023, though, new licenses or renewals of *lapsed* licences come with new terms where you have to *stay* licensed to keep using the software and failure to do can see you locked out of the software. Woltlab wasn't keen on this policy but they outline that for them it is an economic necessity because their software was solid enough that people would buy and not renew because they didn't need the updates...

 

[Cory]

It doesn't seem like too bad of a deal for me considering how outrageous some web hosting is.

 

[Cedric]

It doesn't seem like too bad of a deal for me considering how outrageous some web hosting is.

Add ons are also reasonably priced. But if you have a ton of add ons like here, it gets pricey. 😅

 

[Naiwen]

It doesn't seem like too bad of a deal for me considering how outrageous some web hosting is.

Like IPB is more expensive than Xenforo. But I personally still find it too expense for me at least anyways.

 

[Shortie]

I much prefer Xenforo myself over any other software as you get so much more for your money with Xenforo. At the moment, the forum I am getting ready to open is using Xenforo due to my other half allowing me to use one of his licenses he is not using which I am very thankful for.

 

[Kale]

Oh, so only the first year is $160, and every year after that is $55 to keep the license?

Yeah, from what I understand. I'd probably pay that every year just so when a new XF version releases you can update if need be.

 

[Naiwen]

Yeah, from what I understand. I'd probably pay that every year just so when a new XF version releases you can update if need be.

It's still expensive for me personally at least anyways.

 

[Dilip]

Xenforo has a monopoly in this field. I know that there are competitors. But most of them are far behind Xenforo. The only challenge is from Discourse. But it is not shared hosting friendly.

Running a VPS is expensive, needs uber skills and has many security issues.

 

[Arantor]

VPSes are available that are good enough to run Discourse for $5 USD a month, and come with guides on how to configure them appropriately.

 

[Tracy]

So, it's $160 a year, but that doesn't include add-ons and themes?I

Incorrect.. it's NOT $160 year... that is the "walk-in" price... the renewal for the base script is something like $55 a year.

 

[Tracy]

Running a VPS is expensive, needs uber skills and has many security issues.

Sorry... have to beg to disagree.. if you have basic Linux skills... CentMin Mod makes running a site fairly easy..... and it doesn't take "gobs" of Linux knowledge to so so.
And I would not say that $16 USD a month is "expensive" for a 4 vCUP/8GB RAM/160GB SSD storage VPS. It beats the shit out of most shared hosting providers at that don't offer near the performance at 1/3 the cost... and stomps many of the "major" VPS providers... RamNode (my old reliable charges around $42 USD for the same hardware criteria)

 

[Dilip]

How about $1000 per month? That is the equivalent in many currencies.

 

[Arantor]

For $1000 (US) per month, you're easily into multiple dedicated servers territory, or sizeable infrastructure on AWS. Or, you're on the business package for IPS and still have $400 in change.

 

[Dilip]

Trying to say that It is easy when they charge you just 16 in your currency.