Best free forum

[BlackStorm]

Invision is still free.
Its just called a "trial"

The owner himself even said there will always be a free version, the trial doesn't have a limit and you can use it free for as long as you want, without any limitations.

[GamesCreation]

The main thing is you dont get support with it, which is a bit difficult. The best term would be "shareware" for it - you can use it for free, but with limited features and support

[Anjay]

There are a lot of free forums available on the net now to download and use on your site.

Amen to that. I used to know 42 off hand, lol, now I can't think of more than about ten.
But yeah, there are plenty. Just check out PHPResourceIndex and HotScripts and you'll see there are loads. Too many infact, I mean, how many do you need? There's Phorum, phpBB, IPB Trial, wBB Lite (actually usable unlike vB Lite), SMF (Used to be YaBBSE), iKonBoard (True it's CGI, but still it's free), and plenty plenty more. There should probably be about five, ten maximum. Why do we need hundreds?!?!

I like Ikonboard, very nice and well layed out!

I used to use iB when it was still v2. Those were the days... *memories start flooding in*
iB was a very good forum board, but then Matt (current owner/creator of IPB) didn't like what was happening, moved, and then all of a sudden IPB came along. I hated IPB and everything about it for a few weeks (possibly longer) when it started, because I was iB member and when Matt moved over, plenty of people were spamming each other, etc. saying "Who're you going with?" and "Come on, come on, come to IPB"... I know, or hope, Matt wouldn't have wanted all of those people to spam the iB members to get them to use IPB, but personally it annoyed me - I constantly received IMs on AIM, ICQ and MSN requesting me to use IPB instead of iB. I won't use a forum board because I'm spammed to death, in fact I'm less likely to use that board. Anywho, mine and Matt's agenda goes long way back so even if that didn't happen I still wouldn't use IPB.

I'm sure when IPB 2.0 is released a buch of people over PHPbb and others will swich to it

Unlikely. The reason why the phpBB members don't like IPB (and I'm on the phpBB forums constantly so know this first hand), is due to the fact it's bloated, apparently badly coded, and it's trying to be something it shouldn't. I must say, the phpBB users are very conservative - They like things as they are, without change, or if change nothing radical.

If I ran a forum based site though I would probably make an investment into Invision and get a cutomized skin.

If you're doing something intense you should look into vB. I'd recommend wBB but have no idea how well it does with large active boards.

YaBBSE AKA SimpleMachines now ( www.simplemachines.org ) Isn't too bad and is coming along well.

I remember YaBB SE... now that was a good forum. It was easy to install, easy to use, easy to customise, and had plenty of features.



For me, a free forum board, hmm, I'd have to say either phpBB or wBB Lite. I like wBB Lite because it's very usable, unlike vB Lite. wBB Lite used to be wBB v1 and was developed actively by WoltLab, and was free, but then they made wBB 2, turned it commercial and changed wBB 1 into wBB Lite and stopped work on it. Strange thing is, wBB v1 AFAICR (as far as I can remember ) had a few more features than wBB 2. Obviously it lacks in a lot of places, but I think it used to have quick reply built in, and also attachments built in - Which are now add-ons for both wBB Lite and wBB 2 AFAIK. Mind you, I could be wrong.
But still, wBB Lite looks great (Just like vB), and still has plenty of useful features.
phpBB is great, and will be better when phpBB 2.2 is released.

[RoboCop777]

Best Free Forum: Invision IMO
Best Paid Forum: VBulletin IMO

~Robo

[alpha]

Technically Invision is no longer free.

[BlackStorm]

I think it is still free, but they just call the free version a trial.
I know the team still says it is available to use totally free without restrictions but they try hide that to promote people buying it.

[Anjay]

Technically Invision is no longer free.

Well, the free version is now on trial. However, I highly doubt Matt will keep it free forever. IkonBoard was free, and he didn't like doing that because it was opensource, free and also he technically worked for Jarvis Entertainment.

I personally don't believe Invision Power Board will be free forever. I think in the near future it will become a paid only product, and like vBulletin will have a Lite version which is barely usable.