Live demo
Play with a real community, not a screenshot.
BuddyNext is live. You can post to the feed, open a space, follow people and go into the owner admin, in a real community that belongs to you for the afternoon. Two ways in, and they suit different people.
Fastest look
Launch a sandbox
Your own seeded community on its own URL, with owner access, in about a minute. Nothing to install.
- Costs you an email address
- Lasts four hours, then it is deleted
- You get full admin, not a tour
Keeps what you build
Install it on your own site
The same software, on your hosting, with your members in your database. This is the one to pick if you are going to build something real.
- Costs you nothing, and no email
- Lasts as long as you keep it
- You get the complete free core
Not ready to launch or install anything? Every screen is below, and the plugin source is public.
Once you are in
Five things worth doing in the first ten minutes.
A sandbox you click around aimlessly tells you nothing. These are the five that answer whether the software is any good, in the order that gets you there quickest.
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Post something
Write to the feed, add a poll, react to a post and reply in a thread. This is the surface members live in, so it is the one worth judging first.
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Open a space
Spaces are the rooms of a community. Post inside one and watch how the main feed changes. If you have used groups elsewhere, this is where the difference shows.
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Follow a few people
Following and For you are two different feeds, both built in. Follow two or three members and compare them.
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Go into the admin
You get owner access, so look at moderation, members and settings. Most demos only show you the member view, which is the half that never causes you trouble.
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Try to break it
Delete a space, ban yourself, flood the feed. The site is yours alone and it is gone in four hours, so there is nothing to be careful about.
Or skip the signup
Every screen, without launching anything.
If you would rather not hand over an email to look at software, these are the real screens rather than mockups. Click any one to open it full size.
Straight answers
What people ask before they click.
- Do I have to give an email address?
- To launch the sandbox, yes. InstaWP hosts these throwaway sites for us and asks for an address before it spins one up. There is a separate, unticked box for our setup guide and launch discount, so the email is used to create the site whether or not you opt into anything else. If you would rather not, the screenshots on this page show every screen, and the plugin source is public on GitHub.
- How long does the sandbox last?
- Four hours from launch, then it is deleted. It does not reset while you are using it and there is no way to extend it, so if you want to keep what you build, install the free plugin on your own site instead. Launching a second sandbox later is fine.
- Is the sandbox private, or shared with other people?
- It is your own site on its own URL, not a shared playground. Nobody else is posting in it and nothing you write there is visible to other visitors.
- Do I get admin, or only the member view?
- Admin. That is the point of a sandbox rather than a guided tour: you can open moderation, change settings and look at the parts you would actually have to run.
- Can I use it to show a client?
- For a live walkthrough, yes, as long as you both finish inside the four hours. For anything you need to send someone and have working tomorrow, install the free plugin on a staging site - that costs nothing either and it does not expire.
- Is the demo the free version or Pro?
- The sandbox is seeded with members, spaces and posts so it does not open empty, which is not what a fresh install looks like on day one. For exactly which capabilities are free and which are Pro, the Free vs Pro comparison is the honest line-by-line.
- What if I just want to read the code?
- The plugin source is public. You can read it before you install anything, or before you put a client on it.
Where you are now
The demo answers one question. Here is the next one.
What you should do after the sandbox depends on what you are running today, so here are four routes rather than one button.
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I have not started yet
Then the fastest way to judge this is to use it. The sandbox spins up a real community you can post in, and you can throw it away afterwards.
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I pay for Circle, Mighty Networks or Skool
The bill grows with your membership and the members sit on their servers. Moving is the part people assume is impossible, so it is worth reading what it actually involves before you renew.
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I already run BuddyPress or BuddyBoss
Your members keep their WordPress logins, so nobody re-registers. The free BuddyNext Importer brings the rest across: members, profile fields, groups, activity, forums, media and private messages.
Migrating from BuddyPress Migrating from BuddyBoss What the importer moves
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I am building this for someone else
A full REST API ships in the free core, so a custom front end or an integration is a first-class path rather than a retrofit. The plugin source is public, so you can read it before you commit a client to it.