💬 Platform Discussion Invision Community v5

[Cedric]

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So, we can expect an announcement about Invision Community v5 soon, what are your expectations? The expectations for Invision Community v5 are undoubtedly high, but if history is any indicator, the team behind this remarkable platform won't disappoint. Have any expectations or feature wishes for Invision Community v5? Share your thoughts, speculations, and excitement in the comments below!

 

[Tracy]

What do I expect? The last stand-alone script offering from them.
Honestly.... unless I was running IPS stand-alone currently, I would NOT invest in the time/effort to spin up a new site on their stand-alone license offering. I'd simply buckle down and realize that my pocketbook was about to be a lot lighter and go with the SaaS offering.
Now, as for features.. they are constantly moving forward with regular updates/improvements, unlike the current "gorilla" in the paid script fora world.
They still really need to give some more love to Pages, gallery and their downloads offerings... as there are features that, for me, they are still lacking.... I have learned to depend on Prefixes and suggested they implement similar back in the 4.3 era. Was told "we have tags". They couldn't seem to grasp the difference. Same thing with custom fields for their downloads and forum offerings. Could never get them to understand how that would actually be beneficial so I gave up.

Hopefully they have gotten better though about (this was from the 4.3 era) of spinning out new stuff just go get new stuff out while ignoring glaring issues.

IPS offers a great product... the issue they used to suffer from (again 4.3 era) is they were developer concentric and if your suggestion didn't fit in with their pre-conceived thoughts of how it should be, it would basically get blown off (as the two examples I showed). I gave them a classic case of the benefits of prefixes, and was told "well, just create another area to post in". I think we all know what "problem" that creates... a LOT of nodes on a site with very few posts in them compared to a few nodes on the site with a lot of posts that are filterable based upon simply clicking on a prefix. Which is a better "look"?

 

[kensonplays]

Ive never used IPS. How does the current stable version compare to XF's current version in terms of features 'n stuff?

Page builder is one big thing for me, in addition to blogging and ofc, SEO.

 

[Clarice]

To me, this is very good news. My own board is using Invision.

 

[kensonplays]

To me, this is very good news. My own board is using Invision.

IPS is too expensive for our community. I saw it was something like $100/6 months for the full suite. This is just a hobby site, so I can't justify $200/yr on the software.

XenForo is like 85/yr to renew with all its official addons, which is a much more affordable deal. Yes, I know SMF exists, but I like XenForo's layout more.

 

[Clarice]

I got mine through Cedric. I just bought the domain.

 

[Tracy]

XenForo is like 85/yr to renew with all its official addons

Actually... it's a little more if using ALL their 1st party add-ons. Mine is $95... but I do have ES now.
Now, let's not forget... with IPS, you get
a VERY decent calendar (comparable XF add-on $40 base cost and questionable support but apparently no renewals)
Pages (which can somewhat emulate many of the third party add-ons I use, the renewal of which is roughly $140 a year for me but worth it)
Social Groups ($50 initial cost, $29 a year renewal)
ES support included in the base script and no 1st party add-on required

So, that's putting me in the $250 a year range compared to $199 (under their new Community Classic offering of $499 initial for all packages then $199 yearly).

In reality... you can't simply look at the base script cost to compare.. the admin needs to look at what they require (including 3rd party extensions) to meet the needs of their site and THEN compare the costs inclusive of those 3rd party add-ons.

Now, I DO have an issue with their "comparison" they have in their self-hosted script offering when comparing to their SaaS offering.



This sure as HELL looks like they are saying that you don't get email and community support if you are self-hosted, only for cloud clients... I got a feeling what they mean is email/ticket is not included but community is... but that's clearly not what they are saying.

 

[joelr]

You receive public support via the forums, which can be escalated into a private ticket if their developers need more information.

I've intimately watched IPS. I personally find them to be generationally ahead in their outlook and business practices of the forum and online community market. They're not for everyone though, IPS is definitely an acquired taste.

 

[Tracy]

You receive public support via the forums, which can be escalated into a private ticket if their developers need more information.

Yeah, but that's not what they are saying in that screen shot... I'm pretty sure if that's brought to their attention, it would get corrected.
As I said, I was pretty sure what they "meant".... but the written word speaks loudest, and their written position is somewhat vague. All they need to do is remove the reference to community support. I have an issue with wording/promises with them... you know.... like Lifetime meaning different things.
I thought ticket support though was still (both on SaaS and self-hosted) an Added Expense now?

 

[joelr]

I think the actual wording was Perpetual, which apparently only goes 10 years

 

[Tracy]

I think the actual wording was Perpetual, which apparently only goes 10 years

Yeah.... hate to get buried in a "perpetual care" cemetery and after 10 years have my body dug up and discarded to put a "newer body" in place or a building built over it.
That's why I have issues with some of their stuff... they "redefine" words....all they have to do is say "hey, see, we told you up front you don't get community support with self-hosted" if they decide to stop.... and you WERE clearly told that.

 

[joelr]

They already started posting developer blogs

They should have an alpha release before end of year.

 

[kensonplays]

Actually... it's a little more if using ALL their 1st party add-ons. Mine is $95... but I do have ES now.

True, but I don't have a need for ES currently, my site is very low activity at the moment since it's so newly converted from a read-only Wordpress site.

Now, let's not forget... with IPS, you get
a VERY decent calendar

Calendars can be nice, but I just use Discord for events for the community, and it meets my needs, right now.

Pages (which can somewhat emulate many of the third party add-ons I use, the renewal of which is roughly $140 a year for me but worth it)

Yea, I'd love a visual builder, since I'm no coder. But on the XF support site, they said I could build something in a thread, then view page source and copy everything in between 2 tags and just paste it into an HTML page node and bam. Page with layout built. Not as easy to edit, of course, but saves money (especially since I have no income rn).

Social Groups ($50 initial cost, $29 a year renewal)

I don't really have a need for that function, so I turned it off. I think in total I unchecked social groups and Ecommerce and it was around 100/6 months for that.

 

[Tracy]

True, but I don't have a need for ES currently, my site is very low activity at the moment since it's so newly converted from a read-only Wordpress site.

Not what I purchased it for really... it was more to allow reliable 2 and 3 letter search terms like M1 and M81

Calendars can be nice, but I just use Discord for events for the community, and it meets my needs, right now.

again... we are comparing offerings -> offerings of the 1st party and what it would take to get them on par with each other. You don't even GET a calendar with XF. BTW, my yearly cost does not include a calendar in it... that cost was used as a comparator for like->like

But on the XF support site, they said I could build something in a thread, then view page source and copy everything in between 2 tags and just paste it into an HTML page node and bam

Pages from IPS does WELL more than that. It allows you to capture data from user input, then format that into a display that you configure. It can also do (if I remember correctly) relational pulls from different DB's that you configure to display it in one central page.

I don't really have a need for that function, so I turned it off. I think in total I unchecked social groups

Groups is core to the script.. .it's not a separate add-on. Commerce is... and if you want to do "paid upgrades" you have to have it, unlike XF (which has it built in).

As I indicated.. you can't compare the two side by side... because they are not the same. IPS is more of a suite... XenForo is a forum with some 1st party add-ons tacked on.
You simply emphasize what I stated about you have to look at what your site needs and then do the cost comparison... you can't simply say "that one costs more".

.

 

[kensonplays]

Not what I purchased it for really... it was more to allow reliable 2 and 3 letter search terms like M1 and M81


again... we are comparing offerings -> offerings of the 1st party and what it would take to get them on par with each other. You don't even GET a calendar with XF. BTW, my yearly cost does not include a calendar in it... that cost was used as a comparator for like->like

Pages from IPS does WELL more than that. It allows you to capture data from user input, then format that into a display that you configure. It can also do (if I remember correctly) relational pulls from different DB's that you configure to display it in one central page.


Groups is core to the script.. .it's not a separate add-on. Commerce is... and if you want to do "paid upgrades" you have to have it, unlike XF (which has it built in).

As I indicated.. you can't compare the two side by side... because they are not the same. IPS is more of a suite... XenForo is a forum with some 1st party add-ons tacked on.
You simply emphasize what I stated about you have to look at what your site needs and then do the cost comparison... you can't simply say "that one costs more".

.

I'm actually looking into IPS now. Got a free trial I'm fooling around with, and a friend may have an old license that he may be able to renew cheaper rather than paying for a new license and give it to me.

 

[Tracy]

a friend may have an old license that he may be able to renew cheaper rather than paying for a new license and give it to me.

This won't work

All Invision Community licenses are non-transferrable. Client area accounts may not be shared, under any circumstances, with a third party. Licenses purchased through a business name may have the contact information updated; please contact

 

[kensonplays]

This won't work

Which is what we may end up doing, under our business name but assigned to my domain (since we're custom coding our actual business site, but not mine)

 

[Tracy]

under our business name but assigned to my domain (since we're custom coding our actual business site, but not mine)

Yeah, new license, more money for them. It's shades of "pay us $15 to transfer your site to a new domain".

 

[kensonplays]

Yeah, new license, more money for them. It's shades of "pay us $15 to transfer your site to a new domain".

It seems they don't offer the monthly license option for like 20/mo? Every time I hit "buy monthly" it wants to charge the full price off-the-bat with no way to do the monthly license option.

 

[Tracy]

It seems they don't offer the monthly license option for like 20/mo? Every time I hit "buy monthly" it wants to charge the full price off-the-bat with no way to do the monthly license option.

Don't hang out there since I don't have an active license (and really don't have a desire to get one for only a year or so then be forced to SaaS).
@joelr may be able to give you more feedback.