This is not an attack on Discourse or Xenforo. It’s not even really a comparison of Vanilla vs Discourse vs Xenforo. Rather I’d like to talk more about Vanilla Forums and the mistakes I see in the comparisons others make when they compare it to other forum solutions.
State of the Market
The reality of the community software market is that most of the makers of forum software offer ugly products. The traditional or legacy software is bloated, ugly and not a pleasure to use. As an administrator or owner of these forums there are tons of features and plugins you need to setup, because it doesn’t just work. You can lose days trying to figure things out and stay on-top of bug reports and patches so you don’t get hacked. Of all the old, legacy products, the only one I see that has any sense of looking half way decent is Xenforo and lots of other users are seeing that too. I think the ditch vBulletin band-wagon is really growing and they are getting a fair share of disillusioned self- hosting forum owners.
In terms of the next-generation of forum or community software, I think the field is really a battle between two. Discourse is a newer product, but like Vanilla Forums it pushes forums into a more modern framework. More and more I am seeing people asking, should they go with Discourse or Vanilla Forums. Unfortunately, it seems the discussion about Vanilla Forums is usually based on an old pre-conceived notion of how Vanilla was. Today I hope to set the record straight for those looking to compare and invite you to ask you questions if you have any.
Setting The Record Straight
If you are looking at Xenforo or Discourse, and see Vanilla Forums come into the mix, you may find some facts shared about Vanilla that are inaccurate. Below I hope to address some of the more common issues I hear. Before I jump in though, I want to start with the absolute biggest mistake people make. Vanilla Forums cloud version (or hosted) found at VanillaForums.com is not just the Open-Source Version, free to download found at VanillaForums.org on a server. The distinction between the two products is important, because 99% of the time no one makes it. That’s why you will see uninformed comments about how expensive it is. The truth is the hosted or cloud version, is quite economical when you consider what you get vs hosting it yourself on a dedicated server. If the forum is not business critical and you want to muck with code, by all means use the Open Source version. In terms of product difference the cloud version takes advantage of CDN’s, it has numerous premium plugins and features that would (or should) interest a business or enterprise serious about creating a branded community.
Let’s talk about the open source version. A complaint I hear a lot is development has stalled. It’s true the latest stable version of Vanilla was released April 2013. This does not mean development has stopped. It is being actively developed as can be seen on Github. It’s free for anyone to download the latest version, which one should only use if the are code comfortable, but its in the final testing phases and the open source community is actively helping us refine it for a stable release by the end of the year. You can follow this discussion to learn more.
Another complaint I notice sometimes is about SEO friendliness. It’s true, there is no SEO module for Vanilla Forums. I am not sure how it is determined that Vanilla is not SEO friendly. But the truth is Vanilla Forums perform quite well for SEO and right out of the box. No plugin is needed.
Another sore point seems to be plugins. One complaint I see is how we made our free WordPress plugin only work on the paid version of Vanilla Forums. It’s 100% false. The WordPress Plugin can work on your blog and you can use a self-hosted Vanilla Forum. Maybe the confusion is that we offer a link to the hosted version in our plugin. Who knows why? Once again, the WordPress Plugin, the comment integration, the widgets, SSO and the forum embed can work with the open source version. We obviously recommend you use the hosted Vanilla Solution if your blog gets tons of traffic. Why worry about hosting both WordPress and a Vanilla Forum? Also if you look at the cost of buying a dedicated or VPS for a year, plus the time you will need to manage your forum, the hosted Vanilla is actually cheaper.
The final complaint I normally see is about plugins. Most of the open source plugins created by the Vanilla Team can be found on Github. It’s the best place to get the updated ones. The add-ons by the community for the most part are also quality . The Vanilla Team does not have the time to review all the plugins, but they shouldn’t have to. If a plugin does not work, the plugin will quickly get comments to that effect. As well because it’s open source, anyone can audit the code. Building plugins is also not massively difficult and there are many talented people adding new plugins all the time. Sometimes people may get sore that some plugins are held back for the premium version, but let’s remember that Vanilla is also a business. I think Todd, the co-founder says it best in this post, so I leave you to read his words.
The Future
I think the future for a company like Vanilla Forums is very bright. I think Vanilla has innovated in many ways and like Discourse, it is starting to get people to look at Forum Software in a different light. I guess in the end, all I ask is when you do your comparison, do it fairly. Download the latest version from Github, check your facts, and if you want more info reach out to me. I am not hard to find and will be happy to hear from anyone who has questions about Vanilla Forums.
If you are a business, are serious about creating a community, supporting your customers or want to increase engagement, I highly recommend you try Vanilla Forums on a 30-day risk free trial. If you have a question, leave a comment.
Discourse vs Vanilla Forums vs Xenforo: Who Makes The Best Forum Software is a post from: Mark8t: SEO, SEM, E-Marketing And More