What is vBulletin used for?

vBulletin is commercial forum software that communities can run on their own servers or use as a cloud-hosted service. It is a good fit for running a branded community forum and hosting customer support discussions.

How much does vBulletin cost?

vBulletin is a paid product with no free plan.

Is vBulletin open source?

No. vBulletin is proprietary (closed-source) software. Open-source alternatives to vBulletin include Misago, Discourse and NodeBB.

Can I self-host vBulletin?

Yes. Although vBulletin is closed source, it can be self-hosted on your own servers, and the vendor also offers a hosted version.

What are some alternatives to vBulletin?

vBulletin competes with XenForo, Invision Community and Vanilla. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source vBulletin alternatives.

vBulletin: features, pricing and alternatives

About vBulletin

vBulletin is a long-running commercial forum platform for creating online discussion communities. It is sold as licensed software that site owners install on their own hosting, and the vendor also provides a cloud-hosted option for people who do not want to manage the server side.

As forum software, it covers the usual building blocks: topic boards, threaded posts, member accounts, moderation tools and administrative settings. Communities of many types use this kind of platform to host support forums, hobby discussions and customer conversations on their own domain.

The vendor homepage could not be fetched when this entry was prepared, so the description is based on the product's public tagline and general knowledge. vBulletin is proprietary, with licensing and hosting details available from the vendor.

Key features

Topic boards and threaded discussions
Member accounts and profiles
Moderation and administration tools
Self-hosted or cloud-hosted deployment

Good fit for

→Running a branded community forum
→Hosting customer support discussions

Tags: forum; community; forum-software; self-hosted; commercial; cloud-hosted

vBulletin: questions and answers

What is vBulletin used for?: vBulletin is commercial forum software that communities can run on their own servers or use as a cloud-hosted service. It is a good fit for running a branded community forum and hosting customer support discussions.
How much does vBulletin cost?: vBulletin is a paid product with no free plan.
Is vBulletin open source?: No. vBulletin is proprietary (closed-source) software. Open-source alternatives to vBulletin include Misago, Discourse and NodeBB.
Can I self-host vBulletin?: Yes. Although vBulletin is closed source, it can be self-hosted on your own servers, and the vendor also offers a hosted version.
What are some alternatives to vBulletin?: vBulletin competes with XenForo, Invision Community and Vanilla. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source vBulletin alternatives.