Is IPB less used than before?

**David** · 03-14-2008, 09:09 PM

A couple of years ago there were tons of sites with IPB. Now a days the majority of the sites are either VBulletin, phpBB, SMF or even some other forum script, but I think those three are the top three. I visit a lot of forums and I haven't seen an IPB forum in a while in my daily travels online.

Could it be that 1.3 and the other free versions are very old now and people that were using it have switched to free/paid scripts with more features? Also could the whole licensing strategy they use actually alienate clients (not allowing transfers having to turn over your whole account if you want to sell your license)?

Every once in a blue moon I do bump into an IPB forum when doing searches on google but it seems like they've lost a lot of market share compared to a couple of years ago.

Am I wrong and blind here or has anyone else noticed this trend?

**BamaStangGuy** · 03-14-2008, 09:14 PM

The people that are using the free version or were using the free version probably got tired of it and switched to another supported free version with more options. Coupled with stiff competition in the paid area by vBulletin they don't keep up with the ones ditching the free version and those paying for it, which gives the impression that they have a sudden drop off of users.

**David** · 03-14-2008, 09:18 PM

Maybe they should come out with a free limited lite version or something. They've really lost visibility in the last few years. I think I'm even seeing more WowBB forums than IPB and I never use to see those anywhere.

**CultZero** · 03-14-2008, 10:11 PM

I have quite a few ipb forums. I'm not sure why ipb is not catching up on vb more quickly considering the quality of the software.

There are bound to be a lot less ipb boards around since they went payed and there are several good free alternatives around.

**Ashley** · 03-14-2008, 11:11 PM

You've brought up a very good point here... where is IPB? I honestly can't remember the last time I came across an IPB forum. I'm glad I went for VB.

**Will** · 03-15-2008, 12:26 AM

The only IPB board i know of is Invisions own forum

**bcmtouring** · 03-15-2008, 02:47 AM

I guess the main problem is that vBulletin has gotten popular and people are used to its interface, a testament to this fact is the number of free forum softwares, which try to look like vb.

**Moelman** · 03-15-2008, 04:09 AM

Now that you bring it up it does seem like I have been seeing less and less IPB boards as of late. I do agree that their licensing strategy doesn't make sense to me and I think a lot of people are used to vBulletin forums so when they go to start their own forum that is what they think of first.

**DeathByPixels** · 03-15-2008, 07:18 PM

According to the comparison tool on this website, vBulletin has very similar features to IPB and is cheaper. Therefore, I agree with Moelman about IPB's licensing strategy.

**CultZero** · 03-15-2008, 08:08 PM

I think ipbs standard license($150) is equivelant to vbs owned license($160) which makes ipb cheaper. ipb doesn't have a leased license equivelant but if you use your vb for more than 1 year it is more expensive. Would anyone here want a forum for less than 1 year?