Alternatives
Looking for an alternative? Start here.
Every guide below is written for someone already thinking about leaving: why people move off that platform, where it is still the better choice, what BuddyNext gives you instead, and what the move actually involves. If you are still weighing two products rather than leaving one, the comparison pages are the better read.
Leaving a hosted platform
SaaS community platforms
Rented platforms where the monthly bill grows with your membership and the data sits on someone else's servers. These guides cover what you gain by self-hosting, and what you genuinely give up.
SaaS community platform Circle alternative A hosted, all-in-one SaaS community platform - community spaces, courses, live events, payments, and a branded mobile app, with nothing to install or maintain. See the alternative →
SaaS community & courses platform Mighty Networks alternative A hosted, all-in-one SaaS platform for creators - community spaces, courses, events, payments, a branded mobile app, and AI-assisted creation tooling, with nothing to install or maintain. See the alternative →
SaaS community platform Skool alternative A hosted, deliberately simple community platform for creators - one feed, built-in courses, and gamification (points, levels, leaderboards) under a single flat monthly price. See the alternative →
Open-source discussion forum Discourse alternative A best-in-class, 100% open-source discussion forum - threaded topics, categories, trust levels, and famously good moderation tooling, which you can self-host for free or run on Discourse's managed hosting. See the alternative →
Real-time chat & voice platform Discord alternative A free, hosted real-time chat and voice platform - text channels, voice and video rooms, and live community spaces, originally built for gamers and now used for communities of every kind. See the alternative →
Team messaging platform Slack alternative A hosted team-messaging platform - channels, threads, search, calls, and a deep integration ecosystem, built for internal team communication and often repurposed for communities. See the alternative →
Social network community feature Facebook Groups alternative A free community feature inside Facebook - a group lives on Meta's platform, reaches people who are already there, and costs nothing to start, in exchange for living on infrastructure and an algorithm you don't control. See the alternative →
All-in-one creator platform Kajabi alternative A premium, all-in-one hosted platform for course creators - courses, coaching, websites, email marketing, sales funnels, and payments under one login, with community as one feature among many. See the alternative →
Moving within WordPress
WordPress community plugins
You are already self-hosted, so the question is not ownership but whether one integrated platform beats an assembled stack. For these, your members keep their logins and the free importer moves your history.
WordPress community platform BuddyBoss alternative A premium, self-hosted WordPress community platform - a polished BuddyPress fork with a matching theme, deep LMS support, gamification, and a white-label mobile-app builder. Read the switch guide →
WordPress community plugin BuddyPress alternative The original free, open-source WordPress community plugin - member profiles, activity streams, groups, and friendships, maintained by the WordPress community and extended with add-ons. Read the switch guide →
WordPress forum plugin wpForo alternative A forum-first WordPress plugin by gVectors - multi-board discussion forums with several layouts (Q&A, threaded, extended), member profiles, reputation, strong moderation, and a growing set of AI features. See the alternative →
WordPress social-network plugin PeepSo alternative A self-hosted WordPress social-network plugin with a free core and a paid bundle/add-on model - activity streams, profiles, groups, and a well-regarded native real-time chat. See the alternative →
WordPress profiles & membership plugin Ultimate Member alternative A self-hosted WordPress plugin for user profiles, registration and login forms, member directories, roles, and content restriction - with social features like private messages, groups, and follow available as separate paid extensions. See the alternative →
WordPress membership and content protection MemberPress alternative A WordPress membership plugin that locks content behind a subscription: posts, pages, custom post types, categories and downloadable files, with billing, coupons and drip scheduling around it. See the alternative →
Be part of what’s next.
BuddyNext is live. Start free, own your community, and upgrade only when you grow.