# Message Board Software **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 30, 2006, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/message-board-software/354855 "2006-04-30T18:14:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2006, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/message-board-software/354855/1 "2006-04-30T18:14:25Z")
What does it take (time and $) to operate a message board like this one? I’ve seen other boards using the exact same software so it must be commercially available. Would it be cost effective for a group of about 125? Is there other software available that might be a better fit? TIA ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2006, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/message-board-software/354855/2 "2006-04-30T18:17:38Z")
> [@What the .... ?!?!](#): > > What does it take (time and $) to operate a message board like this one? I’ve seen other boards using the exact same software so it must be commercially available. > > Would it be cost effective for a group of about 125? Is there other software available that might be a better fit? > > TIA The software the SDMB uses is [vBulletin](http://www.vbulletin.com/), which costs $85/year, or $180 + $30/year (for updates) if you purchase it outright. I know nothing about time or server costs. ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2006, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/message-board-software/354855/3 "2006-04-30T20:55:22Z")
Or you could always get [phpBB](http://www.phpbb.com/), which is free, and has (as far as I’ve seen) much the same features. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2006, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/message-board-software/354855/4 "2006-04-30T21:41:50Z")
Note that you can’t always just shove vBulletin or whatever software on your home computer and let everyone in the world access it. Many ISPs have strict limits on what they let you do on a home account, and typically they block access for things that you would find on a typical server. ISPs typically will charge a lot more for a “server” connection. You may have to host your board somewhere, so you’ll likely have charges associated with that as well. For the small number of users that you have, you might want to just set up a yahoo or msn group that everyone can access. Those are free. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2006, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/message-board-software/354855/5 "2006-04-30T21:47:40Z")
> [@What the .... ?!?!](#): > > What does it take (time and $) to operate a message board like this one? I’ve seen other boards using the exact same software so it must be commercially available. With the traffic that the SDMB gets, you’re looking at a lot of money for hosting; you need a dedicated server. vBulletin and a good US$20/month Linux-based shared hosting plan, and you’re in business for anything with under 150 users/guests per 15 minute block. My advice: start with a good free forum program (I’d recommend Simple Machines), and if the site becoems successful, upgrade to vBulletin. You can transfer messages from SMF (and most popular message boards) to vBulletin. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/message-board-software/354855/6 "2006-04-30T21:48:58Z")
> [@Dervorin](#): > > Or you could always get [phpBB](http://www.phpbb.com/), which is free, and has (as far as I’ve seen) much the same features. I have my own personal web site and phdbb came with it. I even played around with it and have my own bulletin board out there somewhere but I can’t even remember the URL. It seemed full featured and is actually very similar to the software this board uses. That would make the total cost of a web site with hosting and a bulletin board less than $80 a year. You can probably find cheaper as well. I would think that anyone could afford it and it seemed like it could be set up in a matter of hours. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2006, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/message-board-software/354855/7 "2006-04-30T21:52:59Z")
Here is my very un-setup Phpbb bulletin board that I just looked up. It will give you a rough idea of what it looks like. It is opensource so a lot of hosting companies just throw it in for free. [http://maverickpace.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/index.php](http://maverickpace.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/index.php) ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/message-board-software/354855/8 "2006-05-01T14:32:55Z")
I found phpBB a bit of a pain to update and patch. [SMF](http://www.simplemachines.org/) is much simpler and has a few extra features like attachments that you have to mod phpBB to get. Also free and easy to set up if your hosting provider has a control panel like Fantastico or similar…