Community · BuddyNext
Build a WordPress community on the free BuddyNext engine
Profiles, an activity feed, groups, messages, and notifications, plus threaded forums and member photo and video. BuddyNext, Jetonomy, and MediaVerse all install free and Reign styles every surface, so the theme is the entire software bill. BuddyPress and BuddyBoss stay fully supported if you are already running one of them.
The Reign theme is the only thing you have to buy. See every plugin that installs free, or have us install the whole stack for $699.
Stack recipe
What you need to assemble.
Buy the theme. Install our plugins free. The third-party engine and its Reign add-on are here for people already running that stack, not a second bill everyone pays.
Build it in 5 steps
From zero to live community.
Install Reign, the one purchase
Reign is $99 a year or $249 once for a single site. For a community built on our own stack that is the complete software bill, and it does not scale with member count.
Turn on the engine with BuddyNext, free
BuddyNext free gives you member profiles, an activity feed, groups, messages, and notifications. That is the whole engine, not a crippled preview, and Reign styles every screen of it out of the box. Set up your profile fields before you invite anyone, because changing them after 200 members means 200 incomplete profiles.
Add forums with Jetonomy, free
A feed moves too fast for anything worth reading twice. Jetonomy free adds spaces, threaded discussions, and Q&A with accepted answers and voting, so the useful answers survive. Start with three spaces at most: more empty spaces read as a dead community. Jetonomy Pro adds a moderation queue, reputation, private spaces, and analytics from $69 a year.
Let members post photos and video with MediaVerse, free
MediaVerse free adds member photo and video uploads with albums, which is what makes profiles worth visiting more than once. Pro adds larger media types, privacy controls, and moderation tools from $69 a year, and privacy controls are usually the reason people upgrade rather than file size.
Already on BuddyPress or BuddyBoss? Keep it
Reign has styled those stacks for years and still does, and there is no reason to migrate a working community. Keep your engine and add the BuddyPress Community Bundle, which collects our Pro community plugins, polls, hashtags, moderation, reactions and more, into one license from $249 a year or $699 lifetime. BuddyNext is the free way in for a new site, not a demand that you move.
Add these free
More pieces you can add at no cost.
Same team builds the theme and the plugins, so these inherit the Reign design instead of needing custom CSS. The ones marked free install at no cost, and upgrades are sold per plugin, so nothing here needs a bundle.
BuddyNext
Our own community engine: profiles, activity, groups, messages, notifications.
Reign Demo Installer
One-click import of 30+ demo sites. Free with Reign theme.
Wbcom Essential
Free utility plugin bundling small enhancements for BP + Reign.
BuddyPress Check-ins
Daily check-ins build streaks + accountability.
BuddyPress Follow
Follow members + see their activity in a custom feed.
BuddyPress Giphy
GIF integration in posts + comments.
BuddyPress Group Reviews
Members rate + review groups. Helps surface active spaces.
Eventonomy
Events, calendars, and RSVPs for community sites.
See every plugin and what its free version does. Third-party tools such as LearnDash, Dokan, and MemberPress still fit where you already run them, and Reign styles those too.
FAQ
Common questions.
What do I actually have to buy?
The Reign theme, $99 a year or $249 lifetime for one site. BuddyNext, Jetonomy, and MediaVerse install free and Reign styles them without an add-on in between. The BuddyPress Community Bundle at $249 a year is for people staying on BuddyPress or BuddyBoss, not a requirement on this path.
What is in the free version of BuddyNext?
Member profiles, an activity feed, groups, messages, and notifications. Advanced moderation, deeper analytics, and priority support are Pro, from $149 a year. The free version runs a real community; Pro is what you buy when there is enough traffic to police and enough data to read.
Is BuddyNext a drop-in BuddyPress replacement?
It is our own engine and the free path this guide leads with, but we are not claiming feature parity. BuddyPress has a far longer history and a much larger third-party plugin ecosystem around it, and BuddyBoss ships a paid platform on top. If you already run either one, Reign styles that stack and the BuddyPress Community Bundle adds our Pro community plugins from $249 a year or $699 lifetime.
How do I moderate this?
Plan for it before you need it. BuddyNext Pro adds advanced moderation from $149 a year and Jetonomy Pro adds a moderation queue from $69 a year. On the BuddyPress or BuddyBoss path, BuddyPress Moderation Pro ships inside the BuddyPress Community Bundle. Whichever route you take, publish a three-line code of conduct and an escalation path before the first conflict, not after it.
When do I outgrow the free versions?
Roughly when moderation stops being something one person can do by reading everything, which for most communities is a few hundred active members. Until then the free stack is genuinely sufficient. Each plugin sells its own Pro plan, so you upgrade the one that hurts rather than buying a bundle to fix one problem.
Ship it
Reign is the only thing you have to buy.
BuddyNext and the rest of our plugins install free, and the theme styles them out of the box. Building on BuddyPress or BuddyBoss instead? The BuddyPress Community Bundle kit ships the theme with the matching Reign add-on.