Makestation

Currently, the three main contenders for paid software are vBulliten, IP.Board, and Xenforo. Burning Board seems to have its own user base, but it doesn't really seem to compete well with the other options out there, at least at first glance. vBulletin has gone downhill a bit too ever since the release of VB5, but recent updates seem to be recovering the product a bit.

Personally, if I were to choose to go for paid software, I would probably use either Xenforo or IP.Board. Xenforo seems to be more "progressive" as a forum software solution, but IP board has a reputation for a very complete product designed for professional communities. Of course I'm quite happy with MyBB at the moment as well. MyBB's customization is difficult to match, hands down.

Anyway, as far as paid software is concerned, which is your personal favorite? Be sure to vote in the poll!

I personally prefer IPB because of the plugins, specifically blog and downloads. I think each user having a blog, for some communities, would be a really neat idea. A simcity website uses it to allow users to showoff their cities. It could also be used for general blogs, if a webmaster decided. And downloads are simply that - for communities that need it IP.Downloads is pretty nice.

The price, however, is another store. But not taking that into consideration, I am a fan of IPB.

the woltlab's one.. is that any different than IPB or xenforo?