Migrate
Migrating is not a button, and anyone who tells you otherwise has not moved a real community. There are two different problems here. If you are on BuddyPress or BuddyBoss, your members are the part that does not move at all, because BuddyNext runs on the WordPress accounts you already have, and a free importer brings the history across. If you are on Mighty Networks, our team moves it for you through its API. If you are on another hosted platform, you export, rebuild and invite, or you ask our team to do it for you.
Path one: a WordPress source
Both are WordPress plugins, so your members already have WordPress accounts and the old community's data sits in your own database. BuddyNext Importer is a free companion plugin that reads those tables and writes into BuddyNext, then reports exactly what arrived against what the source held. The docs cover it in full, and each guide below is written for someone who has already decided.
Rehearse on a staging copy first: an import cannot be undone from inside the plugin, only by restoring a backup. Running BuddyPress or BuddyBoss alongside BuddyNext on a live site is not supported, so deactivate the old plugin when BuddyNext goes live. The full walkthrough is in the migration docs.
On the WordPress path
The specifics differ by platform. Each guide lists exactly what its importer moves and what it does not, and those pages are the source of truth over this one. None of this applies to hosted platforms, which have no WordPress accounts behind them.
Before you commit
None of these are blockers. They are the things that turn a short migration into a long one when nobody looked first.
BuddyNext replaces the community layer, not a whole suite. Forums, media, courses, jobs and listings are separate apps in the same family, so check your add-on list against that page rather than assuming a like-for-like swap.
Path two: a hosted platform
Their data lives on someone else's servers rather than in a WordPress database, and there are no WordPress accounts to carry over. Mighty Networks is moved by our team through its API. For Circle, Skool and Discourse, you export what the platform allows, build the new structure on a staging copy, and bring members across with a bulk CSV invite, or ask our team to help.
Longer write-ups for a few of these sit in the guides: Skool, Circle, Mighty Networks and Facebook groups.
Rather not do it yourself
For a hosted platform, the team behind BuddyNext can do the migration for you: the exports, the rebuild on a staging copy, the invitations and the cut-over date. Tell us where your community lives today, roughly how many members and spaces it has, and whether members pay. We reply within one to two business days and tell you what is realistic for your community before anything starts.
Not decided yet
These pages are for the decision rather than the move. Come back here once you have made it.
Questions
No. BuddyNext runs on standard WordPress user accounts, so every member keeps the same username, email, password and role. That is true of both moves, and it is the single biggest worry people arrive with.
Test on a staging copy rather than running two community layers on one production site. Two plugins competing for the same screens and the same member data is a poor test of either, and a staging copy costs you an afternoon instead of a rollback.
Regular WordPress themes are fine. A theme designed tightly around one community plugin is the case to check first, because it may be styling screens that no longer exist. BuddyX and Reign are built for BuddyNext if you would rather not solve that yourself.
The import itself is usually short. The planning around it is the real cost: auditing which add-ons you use, checking custom code, and deciding what you are not carrying across. Budget for the audit, not for the button.
It replaces the community layer: feed, spaces, members, messaging and moderation. Forums, media, courses, jobs and listings are separate apps in the same family rather than parts of one plugin, so check the integrations page against your list before you assume a like-for-like swap.
Not a self-serve one. The free BuddyNext Importer reads BuddyPress and BuddyBoss, which are WordPress plugins, and nothing else. For Mighty Networks, our team runs the migration for you through its API. For Circle, Skool or Discourse you export what the platform allows, invite members to new accounts and rebuild the content worth keeping, or ask us to help.
Yes. For Mighty Networks it is a done-for-you migration through its API. For other hosted platforms we plan it with you. Send the details through the contact page: where the community lives, roughly how many members and spaces, and whether members pay. We reply within one to two business days.
The free core installs on a staging copy in a few minutes, which is the cheapest way to answer most of the questions above. Coming from a hosted platform and short on time? Ask us to run the move.
What a community platform has to do, and what changes once you host it yourself.
What a social network plugin has to include before it can replace a stack of add-ons.
The build itself: the steps involved and what it actually costs to run.
Building the site around the community, including the parts that are not the plugin.
The two kinds of membership site, and which software each one actually needs.
Charging for access to the community itself, and where that differs from gating content.
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