IPB vs. vBulletin

IPB vs vBulletin Comparison Chart

The Forum Board Battle Between IPB vs vBulletin

Anybody in the internet marketing game has heard of vBulletin, but not everybody has heard of IPB or Invision Power Board. Starting a forum can be very expensive without the right choices in bulletin board software and hosting. Some of the best forums are run on both vBulletin and IPB, so which is the winner between IPB vs. vBulletin?

Overall Features of IPB

IPB provides plenty of forum and topic handling with moderation tools unlike any other type of software. You can run unlimited forums and subforums with this software, along with easy drag and drop options in the AdminCP. The rich post formatting makes it easy to post, while the multiquote option makes one-click quoting fast and easy.

Within IPB, you can use polls, videos, social media, emoticons and more. The search features make this an easy software to use for your forum. Import RSS feeds, follow topics and receive easy notification. IPB is full of features and provides everything you could possibly need.

Overall Features of vBulletin

VBulletin provides the ability to run a social, engaging and easy to use forum. With real-time interaction, Facebook integration, optimization for mobile use, plenty of video and photo features and built-in SEO. This is one of the best choices on the market.

Running your forum also requires plenty of security and support. VBulletin provides strong security with some of the best support in the industry. This software provides the foundation for many of the biggest social forums online today. When it comes to features, the battle between IPB vs. vBulletin is a tie. Both provide incredible features for the members and for the owner.


IPB vs vBulletin

Price

VBulletin 5 Connect, which is the newest version, has a one-time fee of $249 for a new license or an upgrade fee of $209. If you want the mobile suite, it’s even more expensive.

IPB starts at $175 for the core and the IP.Board. If you want all the features, you have to pay extra for the following:

  • IP.Nexus
  • IP.Content
  • IP.Blog
  • IP.Gallery
  • IP.Downloads

These features range anywhere from $50 to $75.   All the features and the core of IPB come with a renewal fee ranging from $20 to $35.

The price category is easily won by vBulletin because it’s a one-time fee per license.

Ease of Use

After scouring the forums and reading reviews, the ease of use category is easily won by IPB. When looking at IPB vs. vBulletin, they are both very easy to use, but more of the customers found throughout the forums like the way IPB is laid out. They find it to be more efficient and easier to work with.

Support

Support is always an important part of the discussion when looking at IPB vs. vBulletin or any other battle. Overall, vBulletin has more support options because they’ve been around longer. More how-to guides, videos and posts are found online for vBulletin and they have more users than IPB. The support provided by IPB is very good, but vBulletin wins in this category.

IPB vs vBulletin Search Trends

The Overall Choice Between IPB vs. vBulletin

The right choice between IPB vs. vBulletin is a difficult one. Some will choose IPB and it will be the right choice, while others will choose vBulletin and it will provide exactly what they need. Both are great choices, but vBulletin edges IPB out by a small margin.

Starting your own forum can be expensive and it can get stressful. If you don’t make the right choices for the software and hosting, you could struggle to get all you need out of your forum. It’s really about the user experience, and providing the best experience for your members requires excellent hosting. Without great hosting, your forum may take forever to load and posting could become difficult.

Hosting for IPB or vBulletin

After you choose between IPB and vBulletin, you will need to choose the right hosting. Without great hosting, neither will provide you with the powerful foundation you need. ITX Design supports hosting for both programs with plenty of hosting options. Whether you need shared hosting, VPS or a dedicated server, you can find it from ITX Design with the best support, 24/7, in the hosting industry.

ITX Design is a Web Hosting and Domain Registration provider. We provide dedicated servers, shared web hosting, and domain registration for small businesses including Reseller Hosting, FFmpeg Hosting and Christian Web Hosting.
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