# Looking at free forums



## The Infinity (May 12, 2005)

I was just sitting back and looking at my forums and wondering how I am going to be able to cope with more traffic as our community is growing faster. We are currently listed with In visionfree and I am very pleased with them. The only problem is they only have a 16MB file space limit. Which is fine since in 2 years we have only gotten to 2.5MB, but I began wondering if it would be worth it to stay with them or if there was another free forum out there that could do better. My main thing is the file space. I really just want to know is there any other free forum out there that has more storage. I looked up vBulletin and Simple Machine, and some others but I couldn't find any that listed what there free forum costs.


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

Is hosting the forum on your own website not an Option?


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## The Infinity (May 12, 2005)

Well, I guess it could be but #1 I don't know how to code forums and #2 I'm not sure if I'm able to use my website as the forum host.


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## haswalt (Nov 22, 2004)

if you can host yourself, get phpbb2 it's free and works well with lots of addon modules out there for it.

otherwise visit my friends site he offers free forums and they are phpbb2 based but work well and have no space limit i beleive:

www.grabaforum.com


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## thecoalman (Mar 6, 2006)

I'll second the phpbb suggestion.



> Installation of phpBB2 requires the following:
> 
> A webserver or web hosting account running on any major Operating System
> 
> ...


If your plan doesn't meet that you need a new host as most offer the above in the starter plans. It's relatively easy to install, basically you only need to know the database name, database username and database password. Upload the the files to any directory and point a browser at install.php. It takes only a few minutes to get it up and running barring any glitches.

http://www.phpbb.com/support/documents.php?mode=install


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## covert215 (Apr 22, 2006)

I love phpbb2. It is very thoroughly tested and it has a large community. Plus, phpbb3 will be released in january.


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## ferrija1 (Apr 11, 2006)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Internet_forum_software


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## covert215 (Apr 22, 2006)

wikipedia has everything


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## ferrija1 (Apr 11, 2006)

covert215 said:


> wikipedia has everything


Yeah, I've probably linked there 100+ times.


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## knight_47 (Mar 15, 2006)

Get free hosting at www.xenweb.net , then download phpbb and run it there. You can even have your own site, cpanel, databases, etc... All for free.

I'm hosting this site with xenweb, www.knight47.com, and you can see that I have a forum.


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## Eriksrocks (Aug 7, 2005)

He already has hosting. I recommend phpBB also, it's very easy to install (all forums are relatively easy to install), but you would need to convert your current IPB database to phpBB's, and I'm not sure if that's possible or not.

Otherwise you can stick with Invision Power Board, but you'll need to purchase or rent a license if you want to move it over to your own hosting.


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## thecoalman (Mar 6, 2006)

Eriksrocks said:


> but you would need to convert your current IPB database to phpBB's, and I'm not sure if that's possible or not.
> .


There's a converter package listed on the phpbb page but the date for the last time it was updated is quite old. Google brings up a few pages for tutorials so I'd imagine it's very possible.


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## The Infinity (May 12, 2005)

Hmm. I'm debating now on SMF or phpbb. The hardest things for me is making sure that everything is going to get moved over properly for my current forums. One thing I have encountered is a sister site of our who went from ************ to SMF, lost all their login data and such as all the passwords were reset. I'm not sure if that is going to happen no matter what, but that something I am bothered about.


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## thecoalman (Mar 6, 2006)

It can't hurt to go through the process, if you screw it up delete the files from the server and the tables it creates in the database and try it again....


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## thecoalman (Mar 6, 2006)

The convertyer can be found here: http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewforum.php?f=10

I did a little reading and it appears phpbb and IPB passwords are different. Not sure if you can get around that. Might find a solution if you look.


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## Eriksrocks (Aug 7, 2005)

I would definitely go with phpBB over SMF. Once phpBB 3.0 comes out, you can upgrade to that, and I'm sure you'll be very happy. (I've tried the beta, and it's great. It's a great improvement over 2.)


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## bkzballa (Oct 13, 2005)

Whats the best forums provider? Proboards?


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## covert215 (Apr 22, 2006)

If you want a 3rd party hosted one, go with ************

lol...invision free is a banned word


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## Eriksrocks (Aug 7, 2005)

Weird.


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## MMJ (Oct 15, 2006)

phpbb2 has a cleaner layout than smf but its admin panel is terrible. smf's admin panel is very good.


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## covert215 (Apr 22, 2006)

why do you keep reviving dead threads?


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## MMJ (Oct 15, 2006)

Got a problem?


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## Eriksrocks (Aug 7, 2005)

MMJ said:


> phpbb2 has a cleaner layout than smf but its admin panel is terrible. smf's admin panel is very good.


That's why I can't wait for phpBB3. The admin panel rocks!


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## MMJ (Oct 15, 2006)

I tried phpbb3 but I found its admin panel *very* confusing (compared to other products)


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## namenotfound (Apr 30, 2005)

http://clicdev.com is by far better in every way possible to in visionfree. If you want to switch, I'd suggest clicdev.


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