Forums / Bulletin Boards

There a quite a few forum / bulletin board software packages out there but phpBB and vBulletin are the two most widely used. Functionality and support on both packages are excellent. They both have a large user base and they each have many add-ons that can be integrated into your forum website. The biggest difference between them is that phpBB is completely free, while vBulletin has a licensing fee (see below for current pricing).

To learn more about vBulletin please visit their website: http://www.vbulletin.com/

To learn more about phpBB please visit their website: http://www.phpbb.com/

Bottom Line:
Go with phpBB. It's completely free and offers lots of functionality and skins / themes.

What else you will need to know before you launch your online forum?
The basic install that Wallanet does for free of phpBB will give you everything you need to start your online forum. Once the installation is complete, you simply have to log into the admin panel, create your opening threads and you’re forum will be ready to take off. PhpBB is truly a turnkey application.