BuddyNext - community engine for WordPress

BuddyNext vs Skool Migrate

Migration guide

Migrate from Skool to BuddyNext.

Skool's simplicity is also its limit: one group, one feed, one classroom. People who move usually want to split that apart. There is no importer for Skool, so members are invited to new accounts and you rebuild the content, with the structure you could never have on Skool. Our team can do the move with you if you would rather not.

Ask us to move it for you See the move, step by step

Watch it first

See where you are moving to

What the community looks like once it runs on your own site, then the setup wizard you start the move with.

Skool Alternative on WordPress: Own Your Community and Courses2:57Chapters and transcript

Start the move

Do this first

What to take out of Skool.

Nothing carries across automatically, because Skool is a separate system with no WordPress accounts behind it. Export before you change anything else, and check each file once.

  • The members list from the Members tab. Check the columns before you plan around it: if emails are missing, you cannot invite those people, so find out today.
  • The membership question answers, which tell you who each person is and why they joined.
  • Your own source files for every classroom lesson: the original videos, documents and images, not links to them on Skool.
  • Posts you cannot lose, copied into a document by hand: pinned posts, rules, the best answers and any announcement people still link to.

The honest part

What you set up after the move.

There is no importer for Skool, so this is what you rebuild. It is less than it sounds: a hosted community is mostly its people and a handful of pages that matter, and BuddyNext has tools for the people part.

  • Your members. There are no WordPress accounts to carry over, so people are invited to new ones: bulk invites by CSV in the free plugin (an email and optional first name per row, up to 500 rows per upload, with resend and revoke), or space invite links that expire after a day, a week, a month or never.
  • Your spaces and structure. Rebuild the rooms that matter as spaces, each with its own visibility, members and moderators, and set auto-join so a new member lands in your welcome space.
  • The content people still need. Republish the welcome guide, the rules and the best answers as announcements or discussion posts, and leave the long tail of old chatter behind.
  • Payments. A subscription started on another platform cannot be taken over, so paying members subscribe again on a Pro membership plan. A founding discount is a coupon you create yourself.

We can move it for you: the free importer covers WordPress-native sources only. For Skool our team can run the migration with you, so you do not have to do the rebuild yourself. Tell us about your community. The playbook below is the do-it-yourself route.

Same jobs, friendlier names

Your Skool vocabulary, translated.

Where each Skool concept lands in BuddyNext, and which tier it needs.

  • SkoolCommunity feed and categories BuddyNextSpaces A category that has become its own conversation deserves its own space with its own members and notification settings.
  • SkoolClassroom BuddyNextLearnomy courses A separate LMS plugin from the same team; the bridge to BuddyNext is in Pro.
  • SkoolLevels of access BuddyNextMembership plans A Pro plan can open one or several spaces, so a free community, a paid cohort and a top tier can sit in one site.
  • SkoolPoints, levels and leaderboard BuddyNextWB Gamification A separate plugin with its own rules. Rebuild the ladder; it is not copied.

No fairy tales

Your move, step by step.

The order that keeps your members calm: export first, rebuild on a staging copy, invite a small group, then announce a date.

  1. 1Export first. Do the exports above while you are still on the plan you pay for today, and open each file once to check it has the columns you need. If member emails are missing, collect them inside Skool before anything else.
  2. 2Decide what moves. Write down which spaces, categories or rooms move, merge or retire. A few well-run spaces beat a long list of dormant ones.
  3. 3Build on a staging site. Install the free BuddyNext plugin on a staging copy, create the spaces and set each one's visibility.
  4. 4Set up payments if you charge. Pro membership plans with Stripe or PayPal checkout and coupons. Attach each plan to the spaces it opens.
  5. 5Rebuild the content that matters. Pin a welcome post in the first space and republish the guides and answers new members still need.
  6. 6Invite a small group first. Send a CSV invite to a few active members and ask them to sign up on a phone, post, react and open a gated space. Fix what they find.
  7. 7Announce the date, then invite in batches. Tell your members where the new home is and when Skool stops being the place, then invite everyone in batches so the first week stays calm.
  8. 8Retire Skool last. Keep it running until your regulars are posting on the new site. Before you cancel, check what cancelling does to your exports.

Moving off Skool, specifically

What is different about this move.

Skool gives you one feed with categories, one classroom and one members tab. BuddyNext gives you rooms as a first-class thing: spaces, each with its own feed, members, rules and moderators. The trade is honest: more structure means more decisions, and a group happy with one feed and one classroom may be better off staying where it is.

  • Skool's help centre (checked October 2026) is thin on exports. The Members tab has an Export button, and a post in a Skool community says it includes member emails for paid groups, so verify on your own group. Assume posts, comments and lessons do not come out until you prove otherwise.
  • Points and levels do not carry over. BuddyNext does not award points itself; they come from WB Gamification, a separate plugin from the same team where you set the rules again.
  • Classroom lessons become Learnomy courses, with the bridge in BuddyNext Pro. Save your own source files for every lesson.

Still weighing it up? Read the full BuddyNext vs Skool comparison → Or see the honest Skool alternative guide →

Why it is worth it

What you get once you have moved.

  • Skool bundles a community feed, courses, and gamification into one hosted screen; BuddyNext is a whole platform built in-house by one team - forums, events, a job board, and a marketplace alongside community, courses, and gamification - and you own it on your own site rather than on a skool.com URL.
  • Your members, posts, courses, and messages sit in your own WordPress database rather than on a skool.com group URL you do not control. Skool can adjust its tiers or fees; the community you have built on BuddyNext is unaffected because you hold it.
  • You can launch a full community on the free core - feed, spaces, profiles, notifications, and a moderation queue (direct messages run on the free WPMediaVerse plugin) - with no key and no expiry. Skool has no real free plan, only a trial.
  • No platform cut on the entry path. Skool's cheap tier takes a cut of what you charge; with BuddyNext the only fee on a sale is your own payment processor's.

Go deeper

The full migration docs.

This page is the overview. When you are ready to actually do it, these walk through every detail, honestly.

Sandbox demo

Try it on a live demo community

One click builds a private copy of our demo community, with members, spaces and posts already in it. InstaWP asks for an email to create it, it lasts four hours, and nobody else sees what you change.

Launch the demo (opens in a new tab) Get BuddyNext free

Prefer to watch first? See the tutorials.

What to try in the demo

  1. Open a space and look at its privacy setting and sub-spaces, the answer to Skool having one fixed feed.
  2. Open the activity feed and a member profile, the two screens your members will judge first.
  3. Open the admin side and look at the Members area, where the CSV invites and the member export live.

From the same team

Add the pieces your community needs

BuddyNext runs on its own. These are separate plugins from the same team, for when the community needs more than a feed and spaces.

The questions you are asking

Migration questions, answered honestly.

Will my members have to sign up again?

They will have to accept an invitation and set up an account, because Skool is a separate system and there are no WordPress accounts to carry over. The free plugin sends bulk invites from a CSV (an email and an optional first name per row, up to 500 rows per upload, with resend and revoke), and a space invite link can be shared where your members already are. Auto-join puts each new member into your welcome space straight away.

Is there an importer from Skool?

No. The free BuddyNext Importer covers WordPress-native sources (BuddyPress and BuddyBoss) and nothing else, so nothing is copied across automatically. You export what Skool lets you export, invite your members, and rebuild the content worth keeping. If you would rather not, our team can run the migration for you.

Can your team do the migration for me?

Yes, that is the done-for-you route. Send the details through the contact page: where the 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.

Will I lose my Skool data when I switch?

BuddyNext never touches your Skool account, so nothing is deleted by switching. Keep Skool running until the new site is where members answer each other, and before you cancel, check what cancelling does to your exports. Finish every export while the old community is still fully open to you.

Can BuddyNext and Skool run at the same time?

Yes, they are separate systems and do not interfere. Run them side by side for a few weeks at most, answer questions only in the new place, and pin a post in Skool saying where the new home is and when the old one stops being the place.

What happens to my paying members?

BuddyNext has no tool that takes over a subscription created on another platform, so a paying member subscribes again on a Pro membership plan. A founding discount is a coupon you create yourself, and if someone has already paid for a period elsewhere, the Pro Billing screen has an Add order form for recording a payment that arrived outside the site.

How long does the move take?

It depends on how much you rebuild. The slow parts are the exports and any conversation with paying members, so start with those. Build on a staging copy, invite a small group, then cut over on a date you announce.

Ready to move your community?

Move it yourself with the free plugin on a staging copy, or hand the move to our team. Tell us where your community lives today and we will reply within one to two business days.

Ask us to move it for you Get BuddyNext free

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