Community themes
BuddyX, a free theme that is one of the most-installed BuddyPress themes on WordPress.org, plus BuddyX Pro and Reign, the all-in-one community theme.
About
The people behind BuddyNext.
BuddyNext is built by Wbcom Designs, the team behind 50+ BuddyPress add-ons and community products over 13+ years. Here is who we are, why we rebuilt the community stack from the ground up, and everything we have shipped and are building next.
Why we built it
From 50+ add-ons to one engine
We have spent 13+ years building for the WordPress community space. Wbcom Designs started in 2013, with roots going back to 2010, and along the way we shipped more than 50 BuddyPress add-ons and community products: Moderation Pro, Polls, Reactions, Hashtags, the BuddyX and Reign themes, Jetonomy, and many more.
That long stretch taught us what people expect from a community today: one that loads and feels like the modern apps they already live in, at home on any screen.
So we took all of it: 13+ years and 50+ add-ons of learning what communities actually need, and distilled it into a fresh build. BuddyNext is a modern, self-hosted community engine, built fresh for WordPress. It gives you a complete community on day one without needing BuddyPress or BuddyBoss, and it stays compatible with them so existing sites keep working.
It is led by vapvarun, founder of Wbcom Designs, and it stays true to what made the early work worth using: it runs on WordPress, on your own site, and you own it.
The people
Real engineers, not a faceless brand
Wbcom Designs grew out of a one-person WordPress engineering practice that started in 2010, working with agencies and direct clients on the kind of plugin and theme work other teams turned down because it was too custom. Three years in, the projects had grown past what one engineer could ship cleanly. The practice became a team, and Wbcom Designs was formed as a company in 2013.
Today the engineering team works from India, with engineers covering IST, EST, and PST windows. The portfolio has grown from custom WordPress builds into full-stack product engineering across WordPress, Laravel, Astro, AI agents, and marketing automation. The pattern that earned the early customers still earns the new ones: senior engineers on every project, written status every week, real numbers in the trust line.
Varun still personally reviews every new engagement and is on Basecamp for every active project. If something warrants a direct conversation, reach him at varun@wbcomdesigns.com.
The team in action
The engineers who write the code that ships
Off-sites, working sessions, team events, and milestones. Real people at real gatherings, not stock photos.
The story
How it started, where it is now
- 2010
One engineer, custom work
A solo WordPress engineering practice, taking the plugin and theme work other teams turned down because it was too custom.
- 2013
Wbcom Designs formed
The projects outgrew one engineer. The practice became a team and Wbcom Designs was formed as a company.
- 2018
BuddyX shipped
A free community theme that became one of the most-installed BuddyPress themes on WordPress.org.
- 2023
AI in production
Started shipping Claude and OpenAI workflows in client projects, agency operations, and our own tools.
- Today
One roof, many products
100+ products shipped and a stack that spans WordPress, Laravel, Astro, and AI automation.
What we have shipped
Over 100 products since 2013
A selection of what the team ships and maintains today. BuddyNext is one of them.
Community platform
Jetonomy for forums, Q&A, ideas, and monetization, plus 50+ BuddyPress add-ons including Moderation Pro, Polls, Reactions, and Hashtags, and the Wbcom Essential toolkit.
Directories and marketplaces
Listora for directories, WP Sell Services for freelance marketplaces, WP Career Board for job boards, and StoreMate for multi-vendor stores.
Learning
Learnomy, a modern LMS, plus LearnMate themes for LearnDash and LifterLMS, and the LearnDash Dashboard.
Media and growth
WPMediaVerse for the media library, MediaShield, WB Ad Manager, and the WordPress Gamification plugin.
Developer tools and SaaS
SnipShare for code-snippet sharing, and WPVanguard, our WordPress security scanner SaaS.
What we are building next
We ship every week
BuddyNext
Continuous updates
How we work
Four principles that have not changed since 2013
Senior engineers only
No juniors on customer work. Every engagement is led by an engineer with years of production experience behind them.
Written status, every week
Basecamp is the system of record. A written status goes out every week for every active project. No call needed to ask what shipped.
Dogfood before we sell
Every service and stack we offer runs on our own properties first. We do not pitch what we have not put into production.
Real numbers only
Logged hours since 2013, active install counts, Trustpilot reviews with the count and rating. No "trusted by hundreds" without a number behind it.
Real people, real numbers, real support.
Thirteen years in production, 700+ projects delivered, 96 verified Trustpilot reviews at 4.8 stars. There are humans behind every release.