You can also host it yourself, in which case you pay a one-time fee for the license with a one-year update.
But I also find it too expensive in the long run, especially when you start a project where no turnover is generated itself.
But it’s a nice forum software. I have 2 licenses
@riekmedia that’s interesting. I didn’t realise you could self host. However, looking at the available plugins, they seem very expensive.
@phenomlab there are plenty of plugins for WBB. Free sovie paid and also massive designs
@riekmedia Yes, but the ones that add any useful functionality aren’t free.
@phenomlab some don’t, but I switched to Nodebb and wanted to stick with it.
@riekmedia Same here 
This is very interesting.
I’ll hold off my comments for now but I’ll be sure to post here soon 
@katos still interested in your views ref this topic
Never chose flarum!
@Hari ouch ! Where did that come from ?
@phenomlab for now this is worrying me https://discuss.flarum.org/d/30402-why-flarum-search-is-bad-and-how-to-improve-with-a-new-extension/9
@Hari hmm. Yes, that’s been an issue for years. The real problem with Flarum is that despite what they’ll tell you, the calls to the database are what slows it down, and the more extensions you have, the worse this gets. Any search facility should be core - it shouldn’t have to be added as a plugin or extension, and the fact that it’s taken Flarum so long to address what I’d consider a show stopper (a bit like their lack of interest around the GDPR subject) in my view.
mongoDB is so much faster as it’s not tied into SQL and is based on collections of data. And who uses MyISAM in mySQL these days ? InnoDB is indeed much faster, but it cannot compete with the speed of mongoDB.
Finally, another huge drawback is Flarum’s usage of PHP. This is notoriously slow in some cases, and when aligned with NodeJS, there is no contest in terms of speed. Search something in this forum and watch how quickly it returns data.
@phenomlab in terms of free forum software NodeBB is the best I’ve tried but I’ve always liked the idea of trying VBulletin and the likes, but they’ve always been way overpriced and quite frankly I bet they are heavy on resources.
@JAC said in Best forum software?:
NodeBB
the only big disadvantage of nodeBB is Themes, i do not see any good themes.
i feel it is more like bbPress backed by nodeBB 
@Hari said in Best forum software?:
@JAC said in Best forum software?:
NodeBB
the only big disadvantage of nodeBB is Themes, i do not see any good themes.
i feel it is more like bbPress backed by nodeBB
Absolutely you’re right they aren’t great!
@JAC yeah, vbulletin never was cheap. Nice platform, but impractical from the cost perspective for those starting out small with no budget.
@Hari said in Best forum software?:
@JAC said in Best forum software?:
NodeBB
the only big disadvantage of nodeBB is Themes, i do not see any good themes.
i feel it is more like bbPress backed by nodeBB
True, but you can make your own. There’s also a theme switcher here that @DownPW and I developed. The next release of Sudonix will also be featuring this along with additional capabilities.
Author of OGProxy, Swatch, Threaded, Card, and most of Sudonix's bugs…
@phenomlab will it be like quora? can you believe i have a flarum like WordPress theme deeply integrated with wizdiscuzz premium plugins lol that was built a year ago as a backup plan. it does works fastly with CF APO and cache with CF disturbed local servers it loads in less than 500ms.
@phenomlab said in Best forum software?:
The next release of Sudonix will also be featuring this along with additional capabilities.
hmmmm oh yeahhh
@Hari no, it won’t be like Quora. It’s still based on NodeBB, but with some additional functionality.
