As a web host who needs to worry about system/server resources, bandwidth and so on ..... what 'FREE' message board software do you most prefer your customers to use ?

I would say that of the free boards, PHPbb is the most server efficient. The new Ikonboard 3.x isn't bad either as far as server resource usage.

What about Yabb?

alright well time for the "newbie" to make another comment :D

I have been keeping up with ikonboard for the past 3 months. The new IB 3.0 is looking extremely nice, and the gold release is expected in a few weeks. I have placed it on my server, and the admin cp is by far the best I have seen. I am also pleased to see IB is going to use a mysql database, which will surely speed the bb up a whole bunch :-)

I am very impressed with the 3.0, and I can tell you that the gold release coming in a few weeks is the best free bb I have seen yet.

Originally posted by Shurik'n
What about Yabb?

YaBB is quite well known to take up way to many system resources.

Duh!
now I'm stuck with it!
how great!

I voted others but I didnt see xmb in time, otherwise I'd have voted that one.

Yeah, I had yabb and liked it, but my host virtually banned it (not me specifically, but across their servers)

<<MOD NOTE: Shifted your vote from others to xmb>>

YABB and UBB are both resource hogs. Many hosts ban both Bulletin boards. The one who asked about Yabb would find that Ikonboard may prove a nice choice. It's faster than YABB and has more standard features. Webhosts also generally do not frown upon IB 3.X as it is quite easy on server resources.

ok.. well I'll wait till IB gold release and transfer my yabb into IB board..

UBB 6.1 is supposed dramatically use less bandwidth. I heard that the UBB that Infopop runs on their site would use 5 to 6gb less per month on 6.1.

Burning board ( http://www.woltlab.de/en/projects.php?id=1 ) ROCKS! It's a total vBulletin hack -- and it's FREE.

Dan

Thanx for sorting out my vote.

I think people are missing the point of this thread/poll. As I read it, it asking about the Forums from a server/resource point of view. Not which one is nice for the clients to use.

Frank

What about Teemz (http://www.teemz.com/)?

Teemz and phpBB are my favorites. Teemz is good because it's simple and easy. It requires very little time or effort to keep running.

Originally posted by CagedTornado
Burning board ( http://www.woltlab.de/en/projects.php?id=1 ) ROCKS! It's a total vBulletin hack -- and it's FREE.

Dan
The design is, but the code isn't.

Originally posted by Haze


YaBB is quite well known to take up way to many system resources.
Just to make sure..
You mean that Yabb will slow down the server or that it also use too much transfer?

anyone used phorum? http://www.phorum.org

I don't like the layout
It looks incomplete

i know it aint so fancy like VB but it does the job. i was more thinking of ressources...is it ok?

Based on its appearance, I'd say Phorum is a pretty slim PHP forum program. There is really not much frills such as those present in phpBB or IkonBoard.

Perhaps some actual web host admins could share some additional info if they have customers using it.

The poll appears to be quite a close race ..... phpBB has a very small lead ahead of IkonBoard and Burning Board is also not far behind. Continue to exercise your vote, people. ;)