Alternatives to PHPBB?

[RedOut]

Is anyone out there running either VBulletin or Invision power Board on their VPS? If so how does it run, and what's your VPS plan? How many users, and what's your traffic like?

I'm looking for an alternative because phpBB has bitten me more than once with its all too common exploits, and their 3.0 development has been stalled for what seems an eternity. I know of Simple Machines Forums and XMB but I don't particularly like either of those two.

[tag]

I've run PunBB http://punbb.org/ elsewhere and been pretty happy with it. It's much simpler than the bigger popular boards, but as a result is pretty speedy and less exploit-prone.

Here's another site that tracks big installs of PunBB:

http://punbbig.shacknet.nu/index.php?page=all

You might find that you *can* live without all the smiley faces and features <g>

[DRGather]

If you feel like hosting a Java solution and like phpBB from a usability standpoint, check out Jforum (http://www.jforum.net). From what I've tested on it, it seems pretty responsive. Still light on features and early in development, but it's an alternative. And it's free.

[Jackson]

Here's a big vote for vBulletin. I've used phpBB, Invision, and vBulletin. From both admin and user sides, vB is well worth the cost. With the new plugin architecture and use of AJAX, it is getting better and better. I'd be incredibly frustrated going back the other options.

For simple sites, pubBB might do the trick. It depends what your needs are. But if you want a full featured forum, IMO the choice is clear.

I've had no problems running multiple forums on a VPS, although mine haven't been huge.

Hope that helps!

[RedOut]

I went with Invision a while ago... I just liked the way it felt a lot better than VB.

[metinex]

Which one easier in terms of changing the design and layout?

Even though phpBB uses templating, it does not seem to be changed easily.

What do you think about the others?

[artagesw]

I've found PunBB to be an excellent choice and it runs great on my Rimu VPS. Its visual appearance is easy to customize due to its nice use of CSS. The code is also very readable and easy to work with. I added multi-group and forum subscription capabilities with a couple days effort. It's definitely not as feature-rich as the alternatives, but to me that's its key strength.