Alternatives to XenForo?

Discounting the well known vBulletin and Invision suites, have any of you looked for alternatives to XenForo and what have you come up with?

I've looked at IPB and I'm waiting to see what vB5 is like before making any decision.

There are no other real alternatives, are there?

I'm actually heading in the same direction.

Having moved away from IPB I'm loath to go back to it - I just don't find it well put together and there are too many small niggles that just never seem to get resolved, despite them being reported by multiple people over long periods of time. They're a good team and I received a lot of help when I moved to IP.Board but I just didn't get on with it personally - if that makes sense?

vB5 is an interesting proposition and something I'll keep an eye on over the coming six months, but having had my fingers burned I'm not keen to go back. Obviously it won't be a good business decision to let my emotions cloud my judgement - if, on release, vB5 is a good product and a viable alternative to XF, but I'm understandably going to be cautious.

I just wondered if that was it? XF, vB, and IPS?

It's a good question and one that's currently at the forefront of my mind every single hour of the day

I understand exactly what you mean in regard to IP.Board. I still have one forum that runs on that platform but I really can't get any enthusiasm for it. vB5 is not an option for me because I'd need to see that the current development team are capable of delivering a quality product in addition to delivering timely updates after release. That last part is the key, providing the software is good. There are still bugs present in vB4 that I reported two years ago e.g. it fills me with despair every time I visit a vB4.x forum and see the pagination lurching across the page like an old drunk. How can they not see that and fix it?

Short answer is I don't have an answer today but I truly hope to still be using XenForo tomorrow.

From what I heard, VB5 will not be a complete rewrite. IB is "gambling" on some fancy JavaScript interfaces, nothing more. For the price, you are going to inherit the most problems present into VB3.

There must be more choice than vB or IPB? No? Really?

There's nothing better out there imo. Not one of them comes close to the style system of xf, ui the refined features.

edit: the xf smiley manager is shitty though i won't be missing that.

This is my feeling too. I really like the look, feel, and the simple way everything just works as expected. I don't really want to stop using XF.

Well for my new forum,

I am looking at Burning Boards. I hear they are doing some great things and it's a Premium software outside the Big 2 and Xenforo.

That's what makes it so hard to "swallow" *gazes at avatar* a perfectly good software that will eventually be left to rot for no good reason (no good reason in my books) which would probably be a mills & boons book if i was being honest. But yeah, good product, hard to swallow, R.I.P.

It's frustrating to all involved. but hey, life chucks a curve ball at you you can't hide you get back up and hold your head up high. But keep your mouth closed though you never know what might be inserted in there *looks at avatar*.

XF is still the best but I think all forums suck. The lack of structure other than just threads tends to make forum discussion into useless back and forth banter. Surely some communities want to accomplish more than just chit chat ? Surely the Google Bots (and potential members) would love a community that is creating some structured content that gets better over time, not worse !

MyBB is probably the best free forum.
It's quite vB like.
The XBMC vB3 forums moved to MyBB with little trouble.
It feels old vs XF.

I tend to stick with IPB or XF atm. The only two grudges against XF for me is the smiley management and styling the damn navbar, still can't do it which puts me off on making XF styles.

As much as it pains me to say it, I may go back to vB after 5 is released. The uncertainty surrounding XF may finally drive me to go back to it. It will be a cold day in hell before I ever use IPB again.

I'm looking at two right now, IPB and Vanilla. I'm really liking how Vanilla integrates with Wordpress. If you have a Wordpress site with a XF/vB forum, you might want to look into Vanilla. That said, if you have a very active forum and your members are used to the features that come with vBulletin, then they might not take to Vanilla. It's great if you want to have a forum light on features though. IPB is shaping up to be the most serious competitor to vBulletin/XF though, to be honest.

I hate the way Vanilla forums look...it's just so..ugh
Are there any big boards using vanilla?

Yea, there are. Penny Arcade for one. Their forum is huge, and I hadn't paid much attention to Vanilla until they converted. Their forum looks pretty good on Vanilla though, and their members seem to love it.