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Forum Software: Free Vs Paid

Vinaya.Ghimire

Active Member
What makes you choose paid forum software when there are already free forum software? If you are using free forum software, is it because the software is free?
 
It's depends on your business. People start using thew forum as free first and then go for paid version. Even free version are laos good like phbb, mybb etc while they have limitation in design as well functionality.
 
Like other users have said, it really just depends on what site you are looking to run. If you have a site that can make a good revenue, then it is worthwhile to invest in some better software and just offset the costs, because utilizing the free programs out there certainly come with more risk and chance of crashes and things like that. Evaluate your cost structure and see if you can afford the stability that some of the will provide you.
 
I think if you are truly serious about your forum, you'd utilise paid softwares for it. Paid softwares are more comprehensive and offer a lot of features. You get unparalleled customer support simply because you paid for the software. You won't get as many bugs as compared to a free software. Your members will get the best environment and service because you didn't cheapen out on the software. So in reality, to earn money in sites, you have to have some capital, with the hosting and the software you're going to use.
 
I think if you are truly serious about your forum, you'd utilise paid softwares for it. Paid softwares are more comprehensive and offer a lot of features. You get unparalleled customer support simply because you paid for the software. You won't get as many bugs as compared to a free software. Your members will get the best environment and service because you didn't cheapen out on the software. So in reality, to earn money in sites, you have to have some capital, with the hosting and the software you're going to use.
What if the forum din't work?
If he should try with free and them go for paid one. It's my personal suggestion!
 
Does free means it is inferior or not so good? Wordpress is a free CMS and it is one of the best CMS in the market. Thus, I believe open source software are also as good as paid software. MyBB has been used by thousands of individuals, all these people cannot be wrong, can they?
 
What if the forum din't work?
If he should try with free and them go for paid one. It's my personal suggestion!

That's a good idea actually. He can try a free software and see how that works out for him. There are some softwares that truly deliver good service as well so it's not a problem. But if he wants to expand or make the most out of his forum, he can then invest in a good paid software once his forum is driving traffic already.
 
That's a good idea actually. He can try a free software and see how that works out for him. There are some softwares that truly deliver good service as well so it's not a problem. But if he wants to expand or make the most out of his forum, he can then invest in a good paid software once his forum is driving traffic already.
Yeah!
We all know we can't to business blindly, yeah you have to take risk to gain. If you have backup try fpaid one if not work fine but without backup don't invest
 
There is always a reason why some software is free. Usually it is not good enough or it lack something. If you are lucky they have other ways of making money with it and at that time you are able to get a decent software free. It is logic. =)
 
Does free means it is inferior or not so good? MyBB has been used by thousands of individuals, all these people cannot be wrong, can they?
The free forum software is constantly being improved so is the paid software so I'm sure there'll come a time when it'll be as good as paidl forum software. At the present though free forum software isn't that great. I've been on a few MyBB forums and if I have to be honest they don't look really that good. That's another reason why most forum owners don't choose free forum software.
 
This is a very good question. I have used free forum software before, it is not that bad actually, however, you would have to deal with certain limitations that do not allow you to go further. I think in terms of performance, we know that the paid one would win, but whether the free one is good for a start is another question that is dependant on your expectations.

When I first started off in a project, we used free forum software, after a while, we had to switch to a paid one because of the traffic that we had and certain limitations.
 
MI
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