Free Forum Software

Hi,

It's been a while since i've made a forum of sorts, as i've been out of the game for a while.

I'm looking to make a trading website, which is nothing to do with Sythe, but for primarily real life items.

Does anyone know what software would be the best in regards to a trading / market system, and forum security?

I've had past experience with IPB, vB, phpBB and SMF, though i'd rather not buy a license. It's merely a test stage to see if it's truly needed and will gain popularity. The need is there as it's current trading format is primarily based on Facebook groups and word of mouth.

Thanks!

 

Honestly IPB is probably the best one to go with if you're willing to pay. I'd stay away from vB, they've continued to go downhill since Jelsoft sold it to IB - basically since 3.7/8.

As for free, I'd highly recommend MyBB. As long as you give it a lot of customization, you can do a lot with it and make it look different. If you only use the themes released on their website though then yes it'll look pretty bad. I've seen lots of forums that I thought were completely custom and I was blown away by, only to look at the source and find out they're MyBB. I'd say it's one of the easiest to customize.