WordPress · BuddyPress · BuddyBoss · WooCommerce
WordPress does not let a member change their own login name, so the request lands with you: a message, a manual edit in wp-admin, a reply. Advanced Username Manager gives that change back to the member and keeps your rules in force around it. You decide which roles may change, how long they wait before changing again, and how short or long the name is allowed to be.
v1.1.2Advanced Username Manager changelogUpdated Jun 2026
WordPress 5.0+ · PHP 7.4+ · BuddyPress, BuddyBoss and WooCommerce all optional
The save path
There is no approval queue in this plugin, and that is the design. A change from a member you permitted is applied in the same request. What stands between a member and a new username is not your inbox, it is this sequence of checks.
The submission carries the form nonce and is rejected without it. A member can only change their own name; changing anyone else needs the edit_users capability.
The role check runs again here, not just when the form was drawn, so a member whose role changed in between does not slip through. Administrators are always allowed.
The change log is queried for this member using their logged-in id. If they are still inside the window you set, the answer is the exact date they can try again.
WordPress validates the characters. Your minimum and maximum are then checked on the server, so the browser rules are a courtesy rather than the enforcement.
The name is looked up again at save time, so a username claimed in the seconds since they typed it is still caught. The same name they already have is rejected too.
The login name and the profile slug are updated together, and the nickname field is set to match so BuddyBoss @mentions suggest the new name instead of the old one.
A row goes into the change log with the old name, the new name and a timestamp. The member gets an email telling them the name changed and to contact you if they did not ask for it.
BuddyPress and BuddyBoss member caches are flushed so the new name shows everywhere at once, and the auth cookie is re-issued so the member is not thrown back to the login screen.
Any check that fails answers the member in the form, in place, with the reason. A blocked change writes nothing.
The settings screen
This is a small plugin and the settings screen is honest about it. One page, four things to decide, and an overview tab that reads your choices back to you so you can check them without opening the form.
And three things it does not do
You cannot hand the plugin a list of names to refuse. A name is rejected for three reasons only: WordPress rules out the characters, it breaks your length rules, or somebody already has it.
A permitted member changes their name immediately. Nothing waits for you to look at it, and there is no pending state to review.
There is no setting for casing, for banned characters, or for a required prefix. Character validation is WordPress core, which is deliberately permissive.
Placement
Anywhere
Drop the shortcode on any page or post. It draws the same form the other two surfaces draw, and it is the only one that needs no companion plugin. A visitor who is not logged in, or whose role you did not permit, gets a plain explanation instead of a form.
BuddyPress · BuddyBoss
Switch it on and a Username Change item appears under the member Settings menu, alongside the account tabs they already know. Members only see it on their own profile.
WooCommerce
Switch it on and Change username is inserted straight after Account details in the My Account menu, as its own endpoint rather than a field bolted onto the account form.
Profile links
That is true of BuddyPress with or without this plugin, and it is worth being blunt about: nothing here rescues a link somebody already shared under the old name. What the plugin offers is a way to stop minting those links in the first place. Switch the profile link format to the unique identifier and every member gets a random 12-character slug that their profile URL uses instead of their name. Change the name as often as your cool-down allows and the URL never moves.
Turning it on backfills the members you already have, in batches, so an established community does not need a migration script. New members get an identifier the moment they register. The setting is BuddyPress only, and it does not appear on BuddyBoss installs.
Pricing
Personal, Professional and Agency ship the identical plugin: the front-end form, the live availability check with suggestions, role and cool-down and length rules, the BuddyPress and WooCommerce tabs, and the unique-identifier profile links. The licence decides how many sites you may activate it on and nothing else. Every tier is available annually or as a one-time lifetime licence. Read the refund policy.
1 site
$39/year
or $129 once · lifetime
5 sites
$69/year
or $199 once · lifetime
Unlimited sites
$99/year
or $299 once · lifetime
Runs on WordPress 5.0 or later with PHP 7.4 or later. BuddyPress, BuddyBoss Platform and WooCommerce are each optional: without any of them the shortcode still works on its own.
Before you buy
Question not listed? Ask the team behind this plugin.
Yes, and that is the whole point of the plugin. A member whose role you permitted saves a new name and it takes effect in the same request. Nothing is queued for you to approve.
Yes. Tick the roles that may change, from the full list of roles registered on your site, custom ones included. Administrators sit outside that list because they are always allowed. The role is checked when the form is drawn and again when the change is submitted.
You choose a cool-down of 7, 15 or 30 days. Inside that window the member is told the exact date they can change again, worked out from their own last change rather than a site-wide clock, and the check runs on the server against their logged-in account.
No. There is no pending state and no moderation screen. If you need a change to pass through a person, this is not the plugin for that: the controls here are the role list, the cool-down and the length rules, applied automatically.
No. There is no reserved-word or blocklist setting. A name is refused for three reasons: WordPress rules out the characters, it falls outside your minimum or maximum length, or somebody already has it.
Yes. A moment after they stop typing, the name is checked and the form says whether it is available. If it is taken, the plugin offers alternatives built from what they typed, such as the name with a number, the current year or a my, the or best prefix, and clicking one fills the field.
Three places, and you can use any combination. The [username_manager] shortcode works on any page or post with no other plugin involved. With BuddyPress or BuddyBoss active, a Username Change tab can appear in profile settings. With WooCommerce active, a Change username tab can appear in My Account, right after Account details.
It stops resolving, the same as it would without this plugin. Nothing here redirects an old name to a new one. What you can do is stop building links from names at all: switch the BuddyPress profile link format to the unique identifier and every member gets a random 12-character slug that their profile URL uses instead, so the URL survives every rename. Existing members are backfilled in batches when you switch it on. That option is BuddyPress only and does not appear on BuddyBoss.
No. Their session cookie is re-issued as part of the change, and a Remember Me session stays a Remember Me session. They also get an email confirming the new name and telling them to contact you if they did not request it.
Yes. The nickname field that BuddyBoss builds @mentions from is updated along with the login name, and the member caches are cleared, so tagging suggests the new name rather than the old one.
Every change writes a row to a database table with the old name, the new name and a timestamp, and that table is what the cool-down is measured against. Be aware there is no admin screen that lists it, so reading the history today means querying the table directly.
Yes. On multisite the plugin drops and restores super admin status around the rename so the change cannot strip a network administrator of their privileges.
Site count and nothing else. Personal covers one site, Professional covers five, and Agency is unlimited. All three ship the identical plugin with the identical features.
Install it on staging, tick the roles you trust, pick a cool-down, and put the shortcode where your members already manage their profile. The next person who wants a different name will not need to write to you about it.
30-day money-back guarantee · Annual or lifetime · Personal, Professional, Agency
These guys are absolutely amazing. Such a quick turn around. Their support is second to none.