what is the difference between phpbb and vbulletin?

what is the difference between phpbb and vbulletin?
I have made my mind to open my first discussion forum. and I am a tad dumb to computer and doesnt know anything about making a forum.
I have researched and got afew tips of phpbb and vbulletin which are widely bulletin systems. and curious why vbulletin is not free and the other is?
and which is better and what are the differences?

sorry if this post is not suited for general chat.(dont know where is the right place//)

and do I have to pay money for server apart from bulletin system fee?

 

PhpBB is free and vBulletin is paid

There is no doubt that vbulletin is the best as of now in terms of features and also in terms of handling high traffic.

You will have to struggle on your own if you use a free one. Paid one typically gets official support (may be for few extra bucks)

If you decide to use free forum, I suggest to use SMF (Simple Machines Forum - http://www.simplemachines.org/ ) instead of PhpBB.

 

Yes, of course !!

 

Agree, SMF is also more secure then PhpBB

 

Have a look at this thread.
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=247257