Invision Community ClassicReviews of invisioncommunity.com

To be honest, I’m disappointed with V5. V5 feels like a "V4 Lite" but with a higher price tag. Frequently requested customer feedback has either not been addressed or is still being ignored. What is V5 to me? To me, V5 is like a V4 Lite with a more modern UI but fewer features. A major point of criticism is the lack of an official marketplace. The current resources directory is poorly maintained, confusing, and frankly just a bad (very bad) joke. As a user, it’s just frustrating to find new or unread content on a site based on Invision Community. The new text editor is a disaster — texts and images are poorly handled by the software, and there’s little emphasis on consistency. It’s just a mess. If a user creates a post with 10 photo attachments and doesn’t embed them in the text at an appropriate size, you end up scrolling forever, and it looks terrible. The software heavily relies on external services and offers many embeds — unfortunately without proper opt-in solutions, making it hard to use legally in Europe. Back when we asked support, they said, “Our software can be used without concern, and the embeds are fine, but we’ll make some improvements.” What happened instead? They added a cookie consent tool no one wanted and hardly anyone uses. We even got hit with an expensive legal warning because of the embeds. So in terms of European data protection, it’s a no-go. The Invision team also made false promises in this regard. Pricing: The cheapest cloud package costs $1,068 per year. The self-hosted package is $199. You’re forced to renew the license annually; otherwise, the software’s spam protection stops working. Within two weeks of expiry, you’ll be flooded with over 100 spam accounts — all of which you must delete manually, as there’s no proper bulk deletion process. But hey, maybe there’s a plugin for that… wait, where do I even search for it? Right, there isn’t a proper plugin directory. If you don’t renew after a year, you’ll have to pay the full new price of over $500. How does the competition do it? The competition (e.g., XenForo) runs databases like StopForumSpam locally on their own servers, and the protection works even without an active license. It’s great that Invision is on Trustpilot — though criticism of their own software tends to disappear mysteriously. BUT The Invision Suite was an amazing piece of technology — about four years ago. The software had a unique dynamic and community flow that no other platform could match. It was genuinely fun to work with. But even V5 now feels outdated and uninspired. Creating content is tedious and no longer enjoyable. I don’t believe anything will improve with Invision, so we’re switching to XenForo.

Working with IPS for more than 15 years. Great community software, very active in new features and improvements.

Gone from bad to worse. I am in the process of moving my forum to Xenforo because my personal experience of Invision (both software and support) have just become so unpleasant that its not feasible to continue to support my business with their services. Firstly, despite constant protests from their customers, they've insisted on removing well loved and used features. Why? Because its costing them money to maintain. Ok, I guess that's fair? Lower the price then to reflect the reduction in services offered? Nah, they've increased it multiple times. Secondly, the support. I paid for lifetime support, which was scrapped without warning or refund. All support is handled via the forum now, and if you say anything they don't like they will just mute or ban you (like I am now). Matt, will undoubtedly reply here and tell me everything I am saying is wrong, but that's just his modus operandi. He is an absolute embarassment to the company he represents but nobody cares because Invision's only motivation is to make the most amount of money whilst keeping costs as low as possible; customers needs are not important to them. The software itself is outdated and honestly just bad. V5 is just embarassing. They staff are actually begging loyal fans to post positive reviews here. Could say far more but I think you get the message....just avoid IPS.

Excellent service!

I have used Invision for the last six years and have three motorcycle forums on their cloud plan. Their software is easy to use, and is possibly the most attractive looking forum software available. So many things are possible with Invision Community. Their support staff is fast and eager to help with support questions. They update their software alot , often trying to adjust it to fit requests of their users. And thats the best thing, they listen to us forum admins and do their best to give us a product that helps us succeed. Very happy with my experience with Invision Community.

My experience with Invision Community goes way back to circa 2004-2005 (I was still in high school) where I first dug my hands into forums and forum software in the good old Invisionfree days. Through the years I have created many communities, some successful and many others were anything but. Little did I know these experiences would only get me more and more hooked into this virtual world! Forums are communities of like-minded people sharing their knowledge, experiences, hobbies and most of all, coming together in a common place to just be themselves. I have experienced nearly every forum software out there, though I always made my way back to the Invision Community suite of products as I not only found it to be a very powerful and dynamic bit of kit, but it always provided the solutions I wanted and needed for my communities. If you have read some of the negative reviews regarding the team, take it with a grain of salt (I sure do!). The team strive for perfection and are not only extremely knowledgeable, but the way they connect and communicate with their community and clients are second to none. Every word of feedback and suggestions are read and taken seriously, they don't belittle anyone including those with negative approaches and you can read for yourself how they communicate with existing clients versus new members. They are respectful and know how to work together to produce something that is simply leading the market and this industry. Thank you, Invision Community. Not only for having the best community software, but for giving your clients and potential clients the very best in customer service. Each of you (and I really mean it) make up a great team and deserve all the praise. Forums, forum software, communities, however you word it, just wouldn't be the way they are without you.

I manage a large French forum, and when we had to transition from our previous platform, we chose Invision Community after evaluating several options. Initially, we had concerns about the migration process, but it went smoothly compared to one of our competitor I have in mind who lost all their images when switching to other platforms and had messages attributed to the wrong users. For the migration we had a lot of testing and back and forth exchange to make it work, but the team was there and adressed everything. We also had worries about the time zone differences, but the team is responsive and quickly addresses major bugs. While it may take longer to implement custom developments that align with our specific needs, over the years, we've built trust and seen our requirements being considered in future updates. The tool is evolving positively, and although it lacks some advanced statistical features, it's possible to configure Excel and Analytics to meet our needs (I'd like more nevertheless :D ) Our forum is very large, and we needed a partner capable of supporting our high traffic, which narrowed down our choices. Invision Community has proven to be reliable. From a functional standpoint, users may have been unhappy (and some still are) because not everything is possible or is done differently from their old habits, but the core functionalities are there, and new browsing habits are being taken into account over time (mobile transition, gamification needs, etc.).

Greedy and untrustworthy company. I've been using invisionpower for several years and what a disappointment it has been. The software itself is full of bugs. They barely patch 10% of the bugs when new ones pop up like mushrooms on a sunny day. When you ask for support you get the standard reply. It's not our fault go and talk to your host when clearly the issues are caused by the many bugs. And when you pint this out you are placed promptly in post moderation. I would never recommend invision to my worst enemy. Avoid them, they want your money and nothing else!