The Showdown
vBulletinvsdiscourse
Why pay monthly fees for vBulletin when you can self-host discourse for free? Let's look at the facts.
VS
vBulletin
The Expensive Option
- Closed Source (Black box)
- Expensive monthly fees per user
- Data stored on their servers
WINNER
discourse
The Freedom Choice
- 100% Open Source Code
- Free forever (Self-hosted)
- You own your data completely
Interactive Calculator
Calculate Your "SaaS Tax"
SaaS pricing is designed to scale with your success.
See how much wealth transfers from your bank account to vBulletin's shareholders.
10 people
150100200+
$
*Estimated standard pricing for vBulletin. Adjust if needed.
Estimated Annual Waste
$1,440
Monthly Burn Rate$120
5-Year Projection$7,200
Cost with Self-Hosted$0
Calculations based on 10 users at $12/mo.
Detailed Breakdown
0
Paginated/Legacy UI
Infinite scroll/Mobile-first
1
Manual admin roles
Trust-level system
2
Proprietary Add-ons
Ruby/Ember.js Plugins