I’m in the market for the best forum software to use with a new domain I just picked up. Naturally I’ve been spending hours browsing through forum reviews and pros and cons of each forum software. Turns out that finding the best forum software isn’t to hard if you’ve got a little bit of cash to throw around.

I’d say hands down the best forum software by popularity at the moment is Vbulletin. They are said to have a clean layout, spiderable right out of the box and have a lot of forum templates to choose from. Not to mention Vbulletin forums are secure and look good.

The software is written in PHP code and is database driven using MySQL. The forum setup is said to be easy and many people are comfortable with its layout and functionality.

The downside to using a Vbulletin Forum is the price. At $160 for one license or $85 per yearly leased license they’re probably out of reach of many. With that said I believe if you aspire to have a medium to large forum you should purchase a Vbulletin license.

Check it out at: http://www.vbulletin.com/

A runner up in forum software popularity is IPB. A license for an IPB forum costs from $149.99 for a standard on up to $299.99 for a business. IPB is said to be harder to modify than Vbulletin but IPB gives you a ready to work professional forum.

Check out IPB at: http://community.ipslink.com/board/

Now, if you’re not in the postion of spending a lot of money on forum software you’ll probably be interested in these free forum choices.

The first one which I’ve personally used is called phpBB. I’d say it’s the most popular and completely free. PhpBB requires a few hacks and modifications to make it search engine friendly. You’ll want to definitely modify the session ID’s to please the spiders. It’s also been known to be a playground for hackers. If you decide to use phpBB make sure you’re using the latest updates to secure it.

Get phpBB at:http://phpbb.com/

Another popular online community software package is Simple Machines Forum. It’s often called SMF and is a free forum software. It has a really clean look and is written in PHP code. It’s customizable and uses a unique Server Side Includes Function that allows your website and forum to function and interact together.

Try this forum software out at: http://www.simplemachines.org/

I’ve already made up my mind that I’m going with Vbulletin for my next forum. If I’ve left out one of your favorite forum scripts, let me know and I’ll add here to the list…