Don't use Don't use I decided to use some other forum engine as this software is very outdated, support is nonexistent and better engines exist. Looks like the company has no plans for addressing these problems. The support guys are silent on the case too.

Everything Is Broken Everything is broken and made worse with each new "upgrade". They've purged the most helpful moderating tools and don't seem to be interested in fixing anything. Too bad, because it worked great until about three years ago.

Was the best until 2009, but then the developers left and it's been rubbish since We are still using vBulletin 3.8 having been a vBulletin customer since 2001. It used to be the market leading software with good reason, but in 2009 the original development team left (all but one) and the replacement coding and management team has been very poor. What was needed in 2009 was a complete rewrite. However vBulletin 4 was vBulletin 3 with code 'updates', and vBulletin 5 connect is vBulletin 4 with code 'updates'. It took years before vBulletin 4 was considered a reasonable forum solution, and vBulletin 5 is truly terrible. Way too many queries and css definitions. Full of bugs just like vB4 was on release. We're migrating away from vBulletin as soon as possible, having seen that vBulletin 5 is not a viable product. In summary. vBulletin used to be the best. Now it's terrible. AVOID.

Once upon a time... ...and as some have already mentioned, vBulletin WAS a good company! I've owned very version of their software since v2. I have been considering purchasing vBulletin 5 Connect to host a new interactive website I intend to launch. Today, before acting on that thought, I did a quick Google search to get an idea of what other vBulletin customers have to say about their newest release. I was disturbed, to say the least, to have found this thread. I've feared for some time now; probably since IB purchased the brand, that vB was going downhill. After reading the reviews here and at a couple of other sites, my suspicion seems to be confirmed. I would contribute more to the conversation, however, those things would only reiterate many of the points already made. I also own multiple prior releases of vBulletin software, which I plan to use until they discontinue support. Meanwhile, perhaps something will happen to make them "see the light" so to speak. I gave vBulletin 3 stars, based only on past performance. Perhaps I am an eternal optimist, but I believe they still have a chance to make a comeback. I am curious to know if others have found good alternatives to vBulletin, and, if so, what they are?

Your site, your vb After 9 years running a leading website in my niche (last 5 of them with a vb based forum) I've come to realize that my site would no longer exist if it wasn't because of vBulletin. The decission to include a discussion board in my site, and base it on vb, was the single most important and life-changing choice I made in my entire webmaster career. It's not only that it doesn't lack any feature you'd ever need to admin the busiest site. Not only the unlimited modding and customization power. It's not only the awsome support, the steady rate of new and every time more stable and feature rich releases. It's that vBulletin really gives you the best foundation to build your site arround it as you really really wish.