Complete Feature Directory

Free & Pro

Everything BuddyNext can do, and the page that documents it. This is the exhaustive index - use it to check what is possible, confirm a feature exists, or jump straight to any topic. For a friendlier starting path, see Start Here; for goal-based walkthroughs, see the Recipes.

(Free) ships in the free plugin. (Pro) needs BuddyNext Pro. Some features are extended by an optional companion plugin, noted where relevant.

Set up and run your site#

Start Here - the map of the whole product (Free)
Introduction - what BuddyNext is and who it is for (Free)
Installation - install and activate (Free)
Admin Setup Wizard - the guided first-run flow (Free)
Admin Overview - a tour of the admin screens (Free)
Shortcodes and Placement - put community pages where you want them (Free)
Community Insights - the built-in activity numbers (Free)
Appearance and Branding - colours, logo, look and feel (Free)
Tools and Maintenance - health checks and utilities (Free)
Plugin Isolation - choose which plugins load on community pages (Free)
Object Cache at Scale - keep large communities fast (Free)
Page Cache and Optimisation Plugins - working with WP Rocket, LiteSpeed and similar (Free)
Settings Reference - where to change each setting (Free)

Recipes (goal-based walkthroughs)#

Launch a Paid Community (Pro)
Run a Private or Invite-Only Space (Free / Pro)
Moderate at Scale (Free / Pro)
Migrate from BuddyPress or BuddyBoss (Free)
Grow with Email (Pro)
Reward and Retain Members (Free / Pro)
Make It Fully Your Own (Free / Pro)

Accounts and access#

Registration (Free)
Login (Free)
Social Login (Free)
Email Verification (Free)
Two-Factor Authentication (Free)
Member Onboarding (Free)
Account Settings (Free)
Privacy and Data (Free)
The Guest Experience - what a logged-out visitor sees (Free)
Inviting People - single and bulk invitations (Free)

Community and the feed#

Activity Feed (Free)
Post Composer (Free)
Post Privacy and Visibility (Free)
Reactions (Free) - custom reaction sets (Pro)
Comments (Free)
Polls (Free)
Shares and Reposts (Free)
Bookmarks (Free)
Hashtags (Free)
Mentions (Free)
Announcements (Free)
Search (Free) - advanced search (Pro)
Explore (Free)
Sidebar Widgets (Free)

Members and profiles#

The Member Journey, Screen by Screen - the whole first-run path, screen by screen (Free)
Member Profiles (Free)
Profile Fields (Free) - advanced fields (Pro)
Profile Completion (Free)
Member Directory (Free)
Member Types (Free)
Following (Free)
Connections (Free)
Blocking and Muting (Free)
Presence and Online Status (Free)
Profile Media and Albums (Free)
Interests (Free)
Roles and Permissions (Free)
About Tab (Free)
Editing a Member from the Admin (Free)

Spaces (communities)#

Spaces Overview (Free)
Creating a Space (Free)
Space Types and Privacy (Free)
Managing Members (Free)
Roles and Moderators (Free)
Space Bans (Free)
Space Notifications (Free)
Space Categories (Free)
Space Forum (Free) - powered by the Jetonomy companion
Space Media and Albums (Free) - also covers the space Files tab
Invite People With a Link (Free)
Feature Spaces for New Members (Free)
See How Your Space Is Doing (Pro)
Gated spaces and space branding - see the Pro section below (Pro)

Messaging and notifications#

Direct Messaging (Free) - powered by the WPMediaVerse companion
Notifications (Free)
Notification Preferences (Free)
Email System (Free)
Email Digests (Free)

Moderation and trust#

Reporting Content (Free)
Moderation Queue (Free)
User Moderation (Free)
Appeals (Free)
Content Safeguards (Free)
Community Roles and Moderators (Free)
Activity Management (Free)
Auto-moderation, bulk moderation, and AI moderation - see the Pro section (Pro)

Engagement and growth#

Gamification (Free) - powered by the WB Gamification companion
Leaderboard (Free)
Real-time Updates (Free) - full real-time and push (Pro)
PWA (installable app) (Free)

Pro: monetization and memberships#

What BuddyNext Pro Adds - the Pro application layer at a glance (Pro)
Membership Plans (Pro)
Gated Spaces (Pro)
Stripe Payments (Pro)
Payment Gateways (Pro)
Coupons and Tax (Pro)
Content Protection (paywalls) (Pro)
Renewal Reminders (Pro)

Pro: reach and automation#

Pro: moderation, AI, and analytics#

Auto-Moderation (Pro)
AI Feed and Moderation (Pro)
Bulk Moderation (Pro)
Analytics (Pro)

Pro: personalization and white-label#

Custom Reactions (Pro)
Member Labels (Pro)
Advanced Profile Fields (Pro)
Advanced Search (Pro)
Multi-Pin Posts (Pro)
White-label (Pro)
Space Branding (Pro)
Suite Portfolio (Pro)

Integrations#

Integrations Overview (Free)
WPMediaVerse - media and messaging (Free)
Jetonomy - space forums (Free)
Gamification Add-on - points and badges (Free)
Career Board - jobs board (Free)
Outbound Webhooks (Free)
Listora - listings (Free)
Learnomy - courses (Free)
Member Blog (Free)
Eventonomy - events and RSVPs (Free)

Migrating from BuddyPress or BuddyBoss#

For developers#

The full developer reference is the Developer Guide (55 pages). The main groups:

Architecture - Overview, Architecture, Namespaces and Layout, Feature Groups and Tiers
Data model - Data Model Overview and the per-domain schema pages (content, members, spaces, notifications, moderation, auth, and Pro tables), pages 07-13
REST API - REST Contract and per-domain endpoint references, pages 15-24 (a generated OpenAPI spec covers every route)
Hooks and filters - Hooks Overview and per-domain hook references, pages 26-33
Blocks and front end - Blocks Reference, Block Patterns, Frontend Interactivity
Extending - Extending Cookbook, Free/Pro Contract, Nav API, Customizing Cards, Child Theme Overrides, Shortcodes, Extending Interactivity Stores
Companion and integration seams - Companion Install Model, Integration Bridges, Gamification Seam, Membership Grant Bridges

What's new#

Release notes live under What's New, from 1.0.3 through the current release. Start with the newest entry for the latest additions.

Start Here - the friendly map, if this directory is more than you need
Introduction - the narrative overview