Hi I would like to ask for an opinion after using XenForo, does it worth to pay the money? or using phpBB is enough? Thanks
I never used phpBB myself. I am familiar with vb4 and XenForo. Vb4 was a mess at the very beginning since they changed elementary associations during the updates and I had to re-do a lot of customizations. We had already a vb5 license.... Since Daz cares now pretty much more than me he suggested to go for XenForo as successor of vb4. He's tested a lot of alternatives.... I myself still like vb's idea of the ACP more than XenForo, though. But XenForo is very reliable and fast. Well, to get an real own idea you have to make a test installation and try yourself since likes of different people are different. With freeware just as phpBB you have the common disadvantages such as -simple outdated look -less customization -slow but also advantages such as open source and choice of DB else than MySQL. And of course it is free. -Add: You also have to consider a forums upgrade..sooner or later. Changing the soft might lead to problems, even though the DB remains MySQL. You probably lose some features / cannot use the plugins anymore / have to think about how to transfer.... Daz is very skilled with SQL and programming stuff and managed the change from vb4 to XenForo.
STAY AWAY FROM WOLTLAB! It's almost impossible to do anything of any use. Plus, it's German only. So, if you don't speak German, you're out of luck. Xenforo, although a little pricey, is probably the best out there. Just my 2 cents worth.
If there is at all anything to talk about, then there are only three what can to use: (in alphabetical order) IPS Community Suite 4.x.x, xenForo 2.x.x, vBulletin 5.x.x. The worst of them is xenForo and the best IPS. The only thing, what is good on xenForo, is that it is ancient (immemorial) and very primitive and can be used with old server software on servers. IPS 4.4.x requires min php7.2 etc.