Invision Community ClassicReviews of invisioncommunity.com

I’ve been using Invision Forums for a while, and honestly, I cannot recommend it to others. The software itself works fine, but the company’s pricing and renewal policies are very disappointing. When I first purchased the product, it was a one-time cost with a small renewal fee for updates and support. That was reasonable. But now, they’ve changed their policy so that every new major version requires a completely new subscription plan. For example, moving from version 4 to version 5 suddenly costs $199/year, even if you already paid for the product. This means that every future version (v6, v7, etc.) could also demand another big payment. That feels unfair and unnecessary, since most companies include upgrades as part of the product lifecycle. My Recommendation: If you’re considering Invision Forums, I would strongly suggest not buying it. The pricing model is designed to lock you into continuous expensive renewals, instead of respecting the fact that you already paid for the software. There are better alternatives out there with fairer upgrade policies.

1) Invision is continuously pushing for their cloud services vs self hosted plan. 2) Licensing model has changed i.e. if you don't pay subscription cost, 500$ license becomes useless. Even Adobe, Microsoft, doesn't do this non-sense. 3) Features get removed and now it's data loss for many users. 4) Team also removed market place. So now for installing add-ons, you have to visit 10 different places. Imagine if Apple remove App store and ask you to visit 50 different places. It's annoying and not user friendly. It's good platform for corporate platform where companies can pay for features. However, new model is not friendly for community admins.

Invision really wants you to move to their cloud service. God forbid you have the infrastructure to run their (basically 2012 web app) on a server. They want you to scale with them and pay their cloud prices. Leaving users who self host with a less than product. Acting as if it is obsolete to encourage and gaslight their community into thinking it’s a thing of the past.

I wouldn't use this company for any self-hosted solutions. EDIT (to make things clear) I wouldn’t use this company for self hosted solutions based on their attitudes towards their clients in that tier. EDIT 2 These guys are asking their community for reviews, lol. invisioncommunitycom/forums/topic/481851-do-you-have-a-few-minutes-to-help-us-with-trustpilot/ If I could go negative I would, truly feel I wasted $$$ After becoming a customer and dealing with community management I wouldn’t recommend any of their services.

I've used Invision Community software for years, and version 5 unfortunately continues the same trend: solid legacy functionality buried under outdated technology choices. Don't get me wrong, the app works. The interface is very nice, and core features like forums and member management still hold up. But the underlying technology stack feels like it's from a different era. There’s no OpenAPI support, no OAuth device flow, and it lacks even basic modern deployment tools like Docker or a Helm chart. Want to scale or integrate in a modern infrastructure? Good luck. Even basic tech choices are questionable in 2025, still no PDO support, which means no PostgreSQL compatibility. That alone is a dealbreaker for many modern environments. In short, it's still the old-fashioned web: PHP, MySQL, manually managed, and monolithic. If you're looking for a modern, API-friendly, cloud-native community platform, you may want to look elsewhere. I will continue to use it tho, because it works and it's quite complete. It have some very nice features. Downloads and Pages are very nice. Answering Mat: Thanks for taking the time to reply, but to be honest, it feels like you didn’t really read or address the core points of my review. Yes, I’m aware that Invision has built-in OAuth integration, that’s not the issue. I was referring specifically to OAuth device flow support, which is important for integrating with modern APIs and headless environments. Likewise, saying there's a "cloud-based platform" using React and Node doesn’t change the fact that the core software — the one self-hosted customers use — still lacks critical modern standards like: OpenAPI support Docker images Helm charts No Composer PostgreSQL support (due to no PDO) And overall, a more modular, API-first design. The UI is fine, and yes, the functionality works. But in 2025, functionality alone isn't enough — developer experience, deployment flexibility, and integration capabilities matter just as much. Please don’t deflect valid technical criticism with vague marketing terms. I’d love to see Invision modernize, but that starts with acknowledging the gap.

After careful consideration we have chosen invision community to take our existing community to a higher level. In addition to the functions and possibilities of the software, the thinking along and the solutions of support on how to transfer our existing forum were decisive. invision has carried out the conversion and has kept us well informed throughout the process. very satisfied with the software, the advice and the support.

I've had long time to decide to write that review, and it boged me for a long time. What i can say, it really last standing good software to build website. I was work with IC for a long time back to 2012 where i started building my first sites, and what i can say, its really good piece of software, for honestly fair price. I really want give big thank to the team for their work and still keeping work on it for a such long time. To me its really best choice in the market to build full-fledged site with gallery, blogs, forums and etc.

I've been using Invision Community's platform for over 5 years now, and I can confidently say it's one of the best decisions I've ever made! Before that, I tried several alternatives, but none of them even come close to what Invision Community offers. The continuous evolution of the product, the constant innovation, and above all, the outstanding quality of support provided by the IPB team truly set it apart. To those who think they can find better elsewhere: true quality comes at a price — and with Invision Community, every cent is a worthwhile investment. It's not just another solution — it's the gold standard.