One of the reasons I love vBulletin so much is the massive library of mods (plugins and products) available for free download. By adding mods to your forum, you can transform a boring default forum into an interactive and evolved communication machine. Every forum must install mods.

In today’s post I will go over my top 10 vBulletin mods. The mods listed are not ranked in any specific order and are completely free. There are awesome mods such as vBSEO and Flashchat, but those cost money. Today I’m sticking with the free ones.

1. VbAdvanced - VBA is a portal / content management system used to organize the homepage of your website. I am a big fan of portals, because if non internet savvy people browse to your site and just see a forum, they might not know what it is. A portal divides the website up into sections for easy navigation. My homepage on Gator Envy uses VBA. You can see I have blocks for navigation, photos, recent threads, schedules, polls and more. The number of mods and hacks for vba are endless. You can also use it to create pages within your forum, such as Florida Gator Wallpapers.

2. ibProArcade - Every forum should have an arcade. In my opinion ibProArcade is the best one out there for Vbulletin. It integrates fully with a simply upload. It comes with about 7 games, but you can download more via their official website. Users also have the ability to create tournaments and crown champions. If you like showing your skills off, there is a nice leaderboard and you can even show “Tetris Champion” under your avatar.

3. vB Ad Management - One of the biggest concerns for forum owners is monetization. Nothing makes monetizing a forum easier than using vB Ad Management. It basically allows you to put ads in any section of your forum, and gives you the option to display the ads to any user group. You can display ads in post threads as well. Just put your code into the admin section, and it does the rest.

It makes adding, changing and removing advertisements on your website very simple. You won’t ever need to look through endless code for edits.

4. vbBux / vbPlaza - Vbplaza is a points system/shop that integrates into your forum. Users earn points for creating threads and making posts. The number of points earned is fully customizable within the admin panel. Users can then use these points to purchase ribbons, gifts, icons or just about anything your heart desires. Members can also buy name changes, username modifications and more. You can pretty much sell anything you want on there. It comes with a bank (and yes you can give out interest and charge taxes on withdrawls).

This mod is perfect if you plan on giving out T-shirts or prizes for users who reach a certain number of points.

5. Members who have visited in the last 24 hours - Nothing makes a vBulletin forum appear active than displaying the total number of members who have visited in the last 24 hours. You see them on just about every forum. It’s a long list of members at the very bottom of the page. This is a great mod in my opinion.

6. Cyb - Advanced Forum Statistics - This mod allows for advanced forum statistics to be shown on the forum home page. You can place it anywhere, but I prefer the bottom, somewhere near the Users Online section. You can display top posts, newest members, hot threads, latest posts and more. It gives members a quick location to find important forum statistics.

7. Photoplog: The Lite Gallery - One of the best photo gallery mods you can find. You can see an example of it on the Gator Envy Gallery. Create categories and albums for members to upload pictures into. Members can also add captions and leave replies to on other photos. If you have an active forum where members like to show off (such as a tattoo or car forum), this is a must have mod.

8. Embed Youtube and Google Videos - This mod allows members to post Youtube or Google Videos into a post. It’s more of a fun mod people like to use in the Lounge, but it can be very useful if your forum revolves around movies or music videos.

9. Email Inactive Users - Reach out to those members who have drifted from your forum with this simple mod. It allows you to automatically send an email to users who have either not signed on in 2 weeks, or haven’t posted in two weeks. It’s up to you. The email message is also fully customizable.

Note that members can get annoyed with this mod if you’re sending them an email every other day reminding them about their inactivity. Don’t get aggressive with this mod.

10. iTrader - Most forum administrators know what iTrader is by now. Forums like Digitalpoint use it. iTrader is the mod that allows members to give feedback, like on eBay, to other members. They can leave positiv, negative or neutral feedback plus leave comments. This is a great mod for a forum that does any buying, selling or trading.

So there you have it, my Top 10 vBulletin Mods (plugins and products). Make your forum a better community for the members by installing some special add-ons. And like I said above, they are all free for download to vBulletin license holders.