BuddyNext

The community operating system for WordPress.

BuddyNext turns any WordPress site into a modern social network - activity feeds, spaces, member profiles, direct messaging, and moderation - in a single plugin. It is REST-first and ships a Progressive Web App, so the same community runs on the web and in an app from day one.

Learn more at buddynext.com. Built and maintained by Wbcom Designs. Free and open source under GPLv2+.

• Everything in one plugin. Feed, spaces, profiles, messaging, notifications, onboarding, and moderation - no stitching together a dozen add-ons to get a working community.
• Built for people. Every screen is designed around what a real member expects, with a clean responsive UI, dark mode that follows your theme, and full keyboard and screen-reader support.
• Yours to own. Self-hosted on your WordPress site. No per-seat fees, no data leaving your server, no lock-in.
• Ready for the world. Fully translation-ready out of the box, with a complete language template.
• Extensible by design. A documented hook layer and a native REST API let you - or the Wbcom family of add-ons - extend any surface without forking.

• Activity feed with For You, Following, Spaces, and Network views.
• Posts - text, link, and poll posts with per-post privacy (public / followers / space).
• Reactions - six switchable emoji, one reaction per member per item.
• Threaded comments - nested replies, inline edit, soft delete, and moderator pinning.
• Bookmarks to save any post for later.
• Hashtags - auto-extracted, with trending topics, follow, related tags, and per-tag pages.
• Scheduled posts - write now, publish later; the composer holds the post until its moment.
• Announcements - site-wide banners admins pin to every feed; each member can dismiss their own.

• Public, private, and hidden spaces with membership, roles, and join requests.
• Per-space feeds, space moderation, settings, and categories.
• Search inside a space - a space's Feed tab has its own search box, scoped to that space and respecting its privacy.
• Sub-spaces for communities that need a second level.
• Featured spaces - owners can feature spaces so new members see them first, across the directory, setup checklist, onboarding wizard and a phone-only strip.
• Shareable invite links - one link lets people join a space directly, with a per-person single-use cap and an expiry.

• Rich profiles with customizable field groups (basic info, social links, work, education, skills, and custom groups).
• Avatar + cover, vanity profile slug, and a profile-completion strength meter.
• Field-level visibility - public, followers-only, private, or per-entry.
• Social graph - follows, mutual connections, block, and mute.
• Member directory with search and by-role browsing.
• Member types to classify members (student, mentor, staff) and filter the directory by them.
• Invitations - invite people by email, with pending and expiring invites tracked.

• One-to-one and group messaging with media attachments, a conversation info panel, shared-media gallery, safety actions, and a full-bleed media lightbox. (Powered by the free WPMediaVerse companion.)

• Reporting from any post, a review queue, strikes, suspensions, and an appeals flow.
• Shadow-ban and an auto-hide threshold.
• Content warnings - a moderator can add, change or clear an NSFW/spoiler/violence/language warning on reported content from any moderation surface; readers see a blur with a "Show anyway" toggle.
• Every action is written to an immutable audit log.
• Community Admin - a front-end hub so moderators can work the community without a wp-admin account.
• Banned words, hashtags, link domains and IPs, with whole-word matching and a * wildcard for variants.

• Login & signup with built-in spam protection - honeypot, human-check, rate limiting, and time-trap.
• Email verification, opt-in two-factor authentication (TOTP), password reset, change email/password, and sign-out-everywhere.
• Social login with verified-email account linking.
• GDPR self-service data export and account deletion.

• Onboarding wizard - Profile → Spaces → People → Notifications.
• Gamification - streaks, badges, and standings on member profiles.
• Notifications - in-app and email, with per-channel preferences.
• Search across members, spaces, hashtags, and posts.
• Sidebar widgets - trending topics, suggested people, and your spaces.

• Native REST API - every surface is REST-first, so the web and the app render from the same endpoints.
• Progressive Web App - installable to the home screen with branded icons.
• Dark mode that follows your theme; tuned for BuddyX and Reign, works with any theme.
• Translation-ready - every template, label, and script is internationalized, with a complete language template.
• White-label the admin menu, plus a built-in outbound webhook for external integrations.
• Plugin isolation - keep unrelated plugins off community pages so they stay fast, with an allow-list for the ones that must run.
• Built for scale - designed and tested against 100,000-member communities, with guidance on persistent object caching.

Nineteen blocks put community surfaces on any page or in any block theme, so a homepage or landing page can be built without shortcodes or code:

• Feeds - Activity Feed, Community Activity
• Members - Member Directory, Members Showcase, Member Card, Profile Header, Profile Fields, Profile Completion Bar
• Spaces - Space Directory, Spaces Showcase, Space Card, My Spaces
• Actions - Post Composer, Follow Button, Connection Button
• Chrome - Search Bar, Notification Bell, Header User Menu, Trending Hashtags

Each block previews live in the editor with your theme's tokens, and the action buttons on block-placed cards are fully wired.

BuddyNext Pro adds the application and monetization layer on top of Free: membership plans with on-site checkout across Stripe, PayPal and points, unlisted plans, coupons and tax, partial refunds, renewal reminders, CSV export and per-member billing history; content protection and gated spaces; email automation (campaigns + drip); advanced moderation; member labels; advanced profile field types; a Portfolio profile panel; analytics; and more. Free runs first; Pro extends it through a published contract without modifying any Free code.

BuddyNext is the social layer. Each companion plugin owns its own domain and surfaces inside BuddyNext through a native bridge - install only what your community needs.

More from Wbcom Designs (standalone, no bridge required):

• MediaShield - media protection and moderation
• WP Sell Services - sell services and accept bookings
• WB Ad Manager - manage and serve ads across your site

Explore the full catalog at wbcomdesigns.com.

• WordPress 6.9 or newer
• PHP 8.1 to 8.4

1. Download BuddyNext from wbcomdesigns.com/downloads/buddynext (or the latest buddynext-<version>.zip from Releases).
2. In wp-admin, go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin and upload the zip.
3. Activate. No build step, no Composer, no npm - install and go.

For monetization and the application layer, add BuddyNext Pro.

• Product site and documentation: buddynext.com
• Download and account: wbcomdesigns.com/downloads/buddynext

GPLv2 or later. See LICENSE.