Are you looking to build a thriving online community around your WordPress site?
If you’re a regular WP101 user, you may have noticed that we have a Help Forum where you can ask questions. Our expert team will reply to you as soon as possible to answer your questions and give you the help you need.
But we know that every website has unique needs. What works for us might not be the perfect solution for you. So, we don’t just rely on our own experiences. We actively seek out and listen to feedback from real users of these platforms.
In this guide, I’ll share with you our expertise and guide you through the best online community plugins and platforms available for WordPress.
How We Test and Review Online Community Platforms
At WP101, we have a team of WordPress developers, designers, writers, and SEO experts all working together to bring helpful content and courses to you.
Collectively, we’ve used tons of WordPress tools and plugins over the years and can confidently give you an honest review of them. We’ve seen what works and what doesn’t. We’ve also had great experiences with tools that deliver on their promises, and ones that don’t.
We want to give you the best options for your WordPress community. Here’s what we looked for:
1. Easy to Use: We prioritized platforms with simple navigation that anyone can understand. These tools are also customizable, so you can easily adapt them to fit your WordPress community’s unique needs.
2. Packed with Features: The platforms we chose offer a rich array of features. You’ll find discussion boards, forums, gamification elements, polls, and surveys. They also make it easy to create, organize, and share content within your community.
3. Reliable Performance: We’ve put each platform through its paces on real websites. We looked for fast loading times, stable uptime, and the ability to scale as you grow your community. You can trust these tools to perform when you need them most.
4. Plays Well with Others: Your community platform shouldn’t exist in isolation. That’s why we selected tools that integrate smoothly with email marketing services, CRMs, social media platforms, and analytics tools.
5. Solid Support: Even the best tools sometimes need a helping hand. We made sure each platform offers responsive customer service and a wealth of self-help resources. You’ll find helpful tutorials, comprehensive guides, active user forums, and detailed knowledge bases to support you along the way.
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Now, we’ve done the research so you don’t have to – now let’s find the perfect WordPress community platform for you!
What’s In This Guide?
1. The Best Online Community Platform for Comprehensive Features: BuddyBoss
BuddyBoss is the best online community platform for any WordPress website.
You can create forums, social groups, and introduce engaging activities for your users – all within your existing WordPress setup.
What we love about BuddyBoss is its comprehensive feature set. It’s not just about creating a space; it’s about creating an interactive, dynamic community. Users can follow each other, slide into DMs with private messaging, and keep up with each other’s activities through personalized feeds. And if you’re looking to create more focused spaces, you can set up private or hidden groups for those deep-dive discussions.
But wait, there’s more! BuddyBoss doesn’t stop at just community features. It allows you to create different membership levels, integrate with learning management systems to sell courses, and even set up an online store to sell merchandise.
One feature that really caught our eye is the ability to create a custom-branded mobile app for both Android and iOS. In today’s mobile-first world, this can be a game-changer for growing and engaging your community.
Pros:
- Real-time notifications keep members in the loop
- Media sharing for photos, videos, and more
- Fun gamification elements like points, badges, and leaderboards
- Customizable user profiles
- Flexible membership models (free, paid, tiered)
- Plays well with others – integrates with WooCommerce, Zoom, and page builders like Elementor
Cons:
- While there’s a free plan, you’ll need to upgrade to pro for some of the advanced features
Why Choose BuddyBoss?
BuddyBoss is user-friendly, scalable, and packed with social features. Plus, it works right within your WordPress dashboard, making setup a breeze. If you’re looking to create a thriving, interactive online community, BuddyBoss is our top pick.
Why I Recommend BuddyBoss: This platform is perfect for anyone who wants to create a feature-rich, interactive community on WordPress.
BuddyBoss comes with a comprehensive set of social and community features, smooth WordPress integration, and the ability to create custom-branded mobile apps. This makes BuddyBoss the best pick for building a dynamic and engaging online community.
In particular, I find that offering a dedicated mobile app helps improve member retention rates and keeps members engaged even when they’re away from their computer.
2. The Best Membership Plugin for Building Communities: MemberPress
MemberPress is the leading WordPress membership plugin. It offers robust features for building an engaging online community around your membership site.
With MemberPress, you can create multiple membership tiers, each with distinct benefits and access levels. The plugin lets you build exclusive forums for members to share ideas and foster connections. Users can even create their own groups within the community, significantly enhancing engagement.
We used MemberPress on our video membership site for several years, and it has proven invaluable in managing our subscription model and creating a sense of exclusivity for our members.
One of MemberPress’s standout features is its straightforward setup process for different membership tiers, each with varying access to our video library. This functionality allows for a highly customizable user experience based on membership level.
Pros:
- Integrates seamlessly with BuddyBoss for enhanced functionality
- Option to restrict community features to paid members
- Effective drip content feature for gradual content release
- Robust moderation features to maintain community standards
Cons:
- Free plan is limited – premium features require an upgrade
- As it’s not a conventional community platform, it may lack some features compared to others on this list
Why Choose MemberPress?
MemberPress is an excellent choice if you have an existing membership site and aim to increase conversions. It enables you to create membership levels and an exclusive community for your paid members, potentially encouraging free users to upgrade to full membership.
For more information, here’s a great MemberPress review.
Why I Recommend MemberPress: This plugin is ideal if you want to create a membership-based community.
MemberPress lets you create unlimited membership tiers and then offer different content based on the person’s membership level. In my experience, offering different levels of access is a great way to reward your most loyal members and increase your revenue – and MemberPress makes that easy.
Get started with MemberPress »
3. The Best Course-Based Community Platform: Thinkific
Thinkific is a fully hosted platform primarily designed for building and selling online courses. However, it also offers robust features for building, web hosting, and monetizing WordPress communities.
Thinkific has a drag-and-drop builder to create custom-branded communities and discussion groups for your students. You can set up specific groups where users can interact, ask questions, and share insights, enhancing the learning experience.
One standout feature is the live chat prompt for seamless communication between instructors and students. This makes Thinkific particularly suitable for online learning websites.
Pros:
- Built-in functionalities including user profiles, activity feeds, and private messaging
- Automatic creation of discussion forums for each course to boost student engagement
- Tiered community access based on course enrollment or membership level
- Detailed analytics for tracking community engagement and performance
Cons:
- Community features, while useful, may not be as comprehensive as dedicated community platforms
- Not ideal for large communities
Why Choose Thinkific?
Thinkific is a great platform for people who create online courses. It’s particularly good because it focuses on education. Here’s why it stands out: Thinkific allows instructors to do more than just teach. It lets them build a community around their courses.
So if you want to create an online learning space that includes community features, Thinkific offers a strong solution. It combines course delivery with community-building tools, making it an attractive option for educators who want to provide a more interactive and supportive learning environment.
Why I Recommend Thinkific: This platform is excellent for educators looking to combine community features with course management.
Thinkific’s drag-and-drop builder and engagement tools provide the perfect platform for building a community-focused online learning environment. I especially like how easy it is for students to connect with each other. In my experience, this motivates learners to complete their course, and improves the overall learning experience.
4. The Best Community Platform for Event Management: Circle
Circle is a powerful tool for quickly building and managing online communities. It has a unique structure that lets you create large communities and organize them effectively. You can use ‘Spaces’ for broad topics and ‘Groups’ for more specific discussions within those spaces.
Circle boosts user engagement in several ways. Members can personalize their profiles with bios, avatars, and links to their social media. This helps people feel more connected to each other. The platform also has built-in tools that make it easy for users to create and share different types of content, including text, images, and videos.
Circle offers even more ways for members to interact. Users can send direct messages to each other. The platform also allows hosts to run live video sessions. These can be used for making announcements, hosting Q&A sessions, or conducting interactive workshops.
Pros:
- Unique event management feature for both in-person and virtual gatherings
- Interactive polls and surveys to boost engagement
- Centralized activity feed for each user showcasing recent posts, discussions, and events
- Multiple membership levels for revenue generation, including event-specific fees
- Comprehensive member management and content moderation tools
Cons:
- Less flexibility for customizing the community’s appearance compared to platforms like BuddyBoss
- Chat functionality could be more robust
Why Choose Circle?
Circle is a great option for those who want specific features for their small to medium-sized communities. It’s especially good if you’re looking for Live streaming, ways to monetize your community, and mobile access for members.
It has a unique event management feature and its interface is very user-friendly.
These qualities make Circle a great option for many community builders who want these specific features and ease of use.
Why I Recommend Circle: This platform is excellent for organizing large communities, thanks to its unique structure and event management features. Circle’s dedicated spaces and folders promise to keep discussions tidy, even as your community grows to thousands of members.
During testing, I found that Circle offers robust tools for hosting live events, supporting both one-time and recurring gatherings. This makes Circle an excellent choice for community managers who want to drive engagement through events and interactive sessions.
5. The Best Membership Plugin for Exclusive Content: MemberMouse
MemberMouse is a popular membership plugin for WordPress sites that also offers functionality to build a private community for your members.
This WordPress community plugin provides core community features such as a member directory, private messaging, and the ability to create basic groups where members can interact. One of its standout features is a content restriction based on membership levels, which effectively creates a sense of exclusivity within your community.
Pros:
- Drip content feature allows for gradual release of content over time
- Efficient handling of recurring subscription payments
- Push notifications for various user actions, including new member additions, membership cancellations, and received payments
Cons:
- No free plan available
- Limited moderation tools compared to dedicated community platforms
Why Choose MemberMouse?
While MemberMouse is primarily designed for membership management, it offers a solid foundation for building a community around your paid content. If you’re looking to create a private, exclusive community tied to your membership levels, MemberMouse provides the essential tools to get started.
Why I Recommend MemberMouse: This plugin is fantastic if your goal is creating a membership site that focuses on exclusive content delivery.
MemberMouse is built with efficient content restriction and membership management features, so it’s perfect for building a private community where members feel valued and engaged. You’ll find that it’s easy to set up different access levels, so you can offer free, trial, and premium membership tiers all at the same time.
Get started with MemberMouse »
6. The Best Free Online Community Plugin: BuddyPress
BuddyPress is a free WordPress plugin that transforms your WordPress site into a fully functional social network or community platform.
This plugin enables users to create personal profiles and connect with each other through friend connections. Users can share updates, photos, and links, creating a newsfeed-like experience similar to popular social media platforms.
BuddyPress offers essential community features such as group creation, private messaging, and forum discussions. It also includes real-time notifications for activities, mentions, and messages, keeping users engaged and informed.
Pros:
- Extensible functionality through various BuddyPress-specific plugins and WordPress themes
- Responsive design for optimal mobile user experience
- Completely free to use, allowing you to build a community without additional costs
- Versatile application for various community types, including internal company networks, fan communities, or online forums
Cons:
- Potential compatibility issues with other plugins, which can be challenging for beginners to troubleshoot
- May impact website performance, particularly for large communities with high activity levels
Why Choose BuddyPress?
BuddyPress is right for you if you’re looking for a free WordPress community plugin to build large-scale communities on your WordPress site or even an exclusive WordPress community website. Its extensive features and customization options make it a powerful tool for creating diverse types of online communities without incurring additional costs.
Why I Recommend BuddyPress: If you’re on a budget, this plugin has everything you need to build a large-scale community for free.
It’s a flexible, feature-rich plugin so you won’t be limited as your community grows. This makes BuddyPress an excellent option for creating diverse online networks without extra costs. Plus, since it’s a free, open source plugin there’s a ton of free and low-cost extensions you can add to extend its built-in features.
7. The Most Customizable Community Platform: Bettermode
Bettermode is a versatile platform that enables you to create engaging and interactive online communities. It offers a comprehensive suite of features designed to foster connection, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing among your members.
With Bettermode, you can create spaces, build detailed member profiles, send direct messages, add groups, and facilitate open conversations through threaded discussions. The platform also provides a live chat option for members and can integrate with other platforms to enhance functionality.
Pros:
- Ability to organize and promote virtual or in-person events
- Gamification features including badges, points, and leaderboards to boost community engagement
- AI-powered content suggestion feature for members
- Fully branded community experience without visible Bettermode branding
Cons:
- Higher pricing compared to some alternatives, with limited features in the free plan
- May face challenges when scaling for extremely large communities
Why Choose Bettermode?
Bettermode is for those looking for a community platform that offers high flexibility and numerous customization options. Its comprehensive feature set, including event management and gamification tools, makes it a strong contender for those seeking to create a highly engaging and interactive community experience.
Why I Recommend Bettermode: This platform offers incredible customization options, so it’s ideal for creating a unique and fully branded community experience.
During testing, I had no problems creating a vibrant, interactive online space using Bettermode. It also came with some really powerful features for encouraging engagement, including live chat and gamification.
8. The Best Community Platform for Creators: Patreon
Patreon is a community platform designed to help creators build an income by offering exclusive content and experiences to their supporters, known as patrons.
This platform allows you to create multiple membership tiers with varying benefits and pricing to cater to different patron support levels. You can schedule posts in advance to consistently provide new content to your community members. Patreon also offers key features like direct messaging, live streaming, discussion groups, and Discord integration.
Pros:
- Creator Dashboard feature for easy management of membership levels, posts, patron communications, and earnings
- Ability to sell physical and digital merchandise to community members
- Provides insights into patron behavior, demographics, and revenue
Cons:
- The platform’s emphasis on financial support could create pressure for community members to contribute financially to access content and participate in discussions
- Building a following from scratch on the platform can be challenging, making it more suitable for established creators
- Limited customization options compared to some other community platforms
Why Choose Patreon?
If you already have an established following and want to build a community while earning extra income by sharing exclusive content with patrons, then consider Patreon. It’s particularly well-suited for content creators, artists, and influencers who are looking to monetize their work and engage more deeply with their most dedicated supporters.
However, it’s important to consider the platform’s focus on financial contributions when deciding if it aligns with your community-building goals.
Why I Recommend Patreon: Do you want to monetize your work while building a community of supporters? Then Patreon may be perfect for you. It lets you build a tiered membership model with features like direct messaging and Discord integration. You can then engage with your patrons and deliver exclusive content to keep them interested over the long-term.
I’ve seen plenty of content creators use Patreon to offer different levels of rewards and access, which is a great way to drive supporters towards higher-value subscriptions. In this way, Patreon is a fantastic choice for growing your revenue over time.
9. The Best Plugin for Engaging Comment Sections: Thrive Comments
Thrive Comments is a WordPress plugin that aims to make the standard comment section more engaging and interactive. It’s the perfect solution if you want to build a community directly in your blog comments rather than setting up a separate, complex platform. It keeps the discussion focused right where your content is.
In particular, this comments plugin includes features like upvoting, downvoting, and social sharing of comments, which can help create a more dynamic and interactive environment on your community site.
Pros:
- Gamification elements like badges and upvotes to encourage user engagement
- Automatic internal link suggestions to keep users on your site longer
- Lazy loading feature for improved page load times
- Integration with popular email marketing services for lead generation
- Customizable comment layouts to match your site’s design
Cons:
- Not a standalone community platform; limited to enhancing comment sections
- Requires a WordPress site to function
- May not be suitable for larger communities requiring more advanced features
Why Choose Thrive Comments?
Thrive Comments is for those who want to enhance user engagement on your existing WordPress site without implementing a full community platform. It’s particularly well-suited for bloggers, content creators, and small businesses who want to foster more interaction with their audience through their content. While it may not offer the extensive features of dedicated community platforms, it provides a cost-effective and straightforward way to build a sense of community around your content.
Why I Recommend Thrive Comments: This plugin promises to transform the standard WordPress comment section into an thriving, engaging community hub through features like gamification and upvoting. In my experience, motivating users with things like badges and awards is a great way to turn one-time readers into repeat visitors.
During testing, I found that Thrive Comments does a great job at encouraging reader interaction. This makes it my top pick for bloggers who want to boost engagement on their website.
Get started with Thrive Comments »
10. The Best Enterprise-Level Community Platform: Hivebrite
Hivebrite is a robust platform designed for building and managing online communities, particularly suited for enterprises, associations, and alumni networks.
This platform offers all the standard features expected from a community platform, including discussions, forums, member profiles, groups, and event organization capabilities. Additionally, Hivebrite allows you to host live streaming sessions within your community for real-time member engagement.
Hivebrite stands out with its ability to integrate with existing enterprise systems, strict data policy compliance, and custom branding options, making it an excellent choice for large and growing online communities.
However, it’s important to note that Hivebrite is not a WordPress plugin that you can just install for a few dollars. Instead, it’s a standalone SaaS (Software as a Service) platform designed for massive organizations.
In my experience, while Hivebrite is incredibly powerful, it comes with an enterprise-level price tag to match. If you’re a small business owner or a hobbyist, this may be overkill for your needs.
Pros:
- Personalized activity feeds to keep all community members informed
- Gamification elements, advanced reporting, and integration with third-party tools
- Direct creation and management of various content types, including articles, documents, and multimedia
Cons:
- Steep learning curve, which may be challenging for beginners
- Primary focus on enterprise clients, with less developed features for smaller communities
- This is an enterprise solution with a high price tag, making it a major investment compared to standard WordPress plugins.
Why Choose Hivebrite?
Hivebrite is better suited for organizations looking to build engaging online communities, especially those with specific needs such as enterprise-level security, scalability, and customization.
It’s particularly well-suited for large institutions, associations, or companies that require a comprehensive, feature-rich platform to manage their community effectively.
Why I Recommend Hivebrite: It’s a great fit for enterprises and large organizations that need a robust community platform with enterprise-level security and customization features. In particular, the advanced security and compliance features are essential when dealing with sensitive member data.
Hivebrite is also built specifically to integrate with existing systems while navigating large networks, so businesses will have no problems adding it to their existing stack.
Verdict: Which Is the Best Online Community Platform?
Every website or business has unique needs, so the best online community platform for you will vary. Despite that, I typically recommend BuddyBoss for most users.
It’s designed to transform your WordPress site into a full-fledged social platform with forums, activity feeds, and interactive features that can engage and grow your community. In my opinion, that combination of features makes it an incredibly powerful, all-in-one solution.
That said, there’s a few other options I recommend for specific use cases:
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If you want to create a community with exclusive content, MemberPress is my top pick. As the leading membership plugin, it has everything you need to establish an exclusive online community with diverse membership levels, making MemberPress ideal for content-driven sites.
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If you’re an educator building a community of students, Thinkific is a great choice. It combines robust course management tools with community features, which makes it absolutely perfect for educational environments.
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If you’re on a tight budget, BuddyPress is an excellent choice. This free WordPress plugin provides access to a wide range of community-building features without the added expense.
When choosing a community plugin, it’s important to consider your target audience, desired features, budget, and technical expertise. Whether you’re kickstarting a new community or enhancing an existing one, the right plugin will help you achieve your goals by encouraging growth and engagement.
What I Look For in an Online Community Platform: My Checklist
Choosing the right online community platform can seem overwhelming, but having a clear set of criteria makes it much easier. That said, here’s what I focused on when selecting platforms to include in this review:
- Comprehensive Community Features: A robust platform should offer essential community tools like forums, messaging, activity feeds, and social groups. These features encourage interaction and collaboration, which is crucial for building a vibrant community. In my experience, giving members multiple ways to connect keeps the conversation flowing.
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Customization and Flexibility: Being able to customize the look and feel of your platform is essential for making members feel like they’re in a professional space. This includes adjusting the layout, branding elements, and user interface.
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Ease of Integration: If you already have a website, then the perfect community platform should integrate seamlessly with your existing WordPress website. This means you won’t have to juggle multiple confusing dashboards just to manage your users and content, which means more time to focus on community engagement.
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Scalability: As your community grows, your platform should be able to handle more users and activity without compromising performance. You don’t want your site to crash each time you hit a big growth milestone.
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Mobile Responsiveness: In today’s mobile-driven world, ensuring that your community platform works well on mobile devices is absolutely essential. You can’t afford to miss out on potential members simply because the platform doesn’t look right on a smartphone.
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Cost-Effectiveness: Your platform should offer good value for money while meeting all your community needs. You’ll also want to ensure the features you’re paying for truly align with the growth goals of your specific community.
FAQs on WordPress Online Community Platforms
Are there free WordPress online community platforms?
Yes, BuddyPress is one of the most well-known and widely used free community plugins for WordPress. It offers a range of features for building online communities.
What are WordPress forum plugins?
WordPress forum plugins make it easy to create and manage discussion forums or community boards on your WordPress-based websites. Some of the free ones include BuddyPress, Simple:Press, bbPress, wpForo Forum and Asgaros Forum.
What features should I look for in WordPress social community plugins?
Key features to consider include:
- User profiles and user registration
- Discussion boards or forums
- Private messaging
- Groups or clubs
- Activity streams
- Social login options
- Mobile app support
- Membership levels (free and paid member options)
Can I integrate my WordPress community with Facebook groups?
Yes, there are plugins available that allow you to integrate your WordPress community with Facebook groups. This can help in cross-posting content and improving community engagement across platforms.
How does BuddyPress compare to BuddyBoss for building online communities?
BuddyBoss is often considered more feature-rich and polished, but comes at a cost, while BuddyPress is free and highly flexible.
What’s the main difference between membership and community plugins?
Membership plugins primarily control access to content and features based on user subscription status, while community plugins focus on facilitating user interaction and engagement.
Are there other online community plugins not mentioned in this list?
Yes, there are. We recommend the ones we know well, have first-hand experience with, or have tested. Other platforms for building an online community with WordPress include Discord, Discourse, Higher Logic Vanilla, and Kajabi.
Which is the best membership plugin?
MemberPress. You can also try out plugins like WishList Member, Paid Member Subscriptions, Paid Memberships Pro, and Ultimate Member. See the full list: 7 Best WordPress Membership Plugins.
Next, if you want to monetize your online community and accept payments without a full-fledged eCommerce setup, then check out WP Simple Pay.
WP Simple Pay is a top WordPress plugin that allows you to accept payments online through Stripe, offering features you won’t find in typical payment or donation plugins. You can set up one-time payments, paid membership subscriptions, and recurring billing.
We’ve designed a video tutorial course to help you learn how to effectively use the WP Simple Pay plugin on your site to accept payments.