Should we build on BuddyPress, BuddyNext, PeepSo or something else?

It depends on what the community is for and what you already run. BuddyPress has the largest ecosystem, BuddyNext is our own engine and is the better starting point for a build where community is the product, and PeepSo makes sense when you are already on it. We will tell you on the call, including when the honest answer is none of the above.

How many members can this handle?

Far more than most builds are designed for. The limit is almost never the member count itself, it is the activity query, the notification fan-out and the member directory, which are the three things we design around from the start rather than fix later.

Can you migrate our existing community?

Yes. Ning, Facebook Groups, Circle, Discourse, Mighty Networks, or an older BuddyPress or BuddyBoss install. The content is the easy half; carrying profiles, group membership and permissions across is the part that decides whether members stay.

Do we have to use your products?

No. They are usually the faster route because we know exactly where they bend, but we build on whatever stack makes sense for you and we have no interest in selling you a licence you do not need.

What about moderation and abuse?

Designed in from the start: reporting, moderation queues, role-based permissions, rate limits and audit trails. Every community that grows eventually needs all of it, and adding it under pressure is considerably more expensive than building it in.

Community builds are estimated against scope rather than sold at a list price, because a members area on an existing site and a standalone community product are very different projects. The section above sets out what moves the number, and you get a real one within a week of the call.

Platforms Community

We build community platforms, and we ship the engines they run on.

BuddyNext, BuddyX, Reign and Jetonomy are ours. So are 75 community products running on hundreds of thousands of sites. Your build starts from working software rather than a blank plugin folder.

Start a project See our work

75 community products in production. Shipping BuddyPress since 2013.

Moderation queue 4 open · median 6m

Spam Link drop in "Introductions" auto-flagged 2m Review
Report Off-topic reply, reported twice 2 members 11m Review
Approval First post from a new member new account 18m Priya has it
Report Duplicate thread in Support 1 member 1h Review

Two people can open the same report. The second one should be told, not handed a stale screen.

Why this matters

Most community builds are a blog with a members area bolted on.

That works until the community starts being used. Then the activity stream gets slow, notifications pile up, the member directory times out, and moderation turns out to be three people watching a feed by hand. We have shipped and supported community software for over a decade, which means we have been on the wrong side of every one of those decisions at least once. That is the experience you are buying.

What we already run

The engines are ours, so the build does not start at zero.

Most agencies assemble a community from other people's plugins and hope the seams hold. We maintain the software underneath, which means we can change it when your build needs something it does not do yet.

The community engine

BuddyNext

Our self-hosted community platform. Profiles, activity, groups and messaging, built as the primary engine rather than a plugin bolted onto a blog.
See the product
The front end

BuddyX and BuddyX Pro

The theme layer most community builds start from. Members see a product, not a blog with a members area attached.
See the product
The premium front end

Reign

When the community is the product and it has to look like one. Deep integrations across LMS, marketplace and forum stacks.
See the product
Discussion at scale

Jetonomy

Forum and Q&A with its own database layer, because standard WordPress forums slow down once a community passes a few thousand topics.
See the product

Where to start

What kind of community is it?

The answer changes the stack. Find the closest fit, or bring the rough idea to the call and we will work it out there.

We run communities, not just build them

We maintain 75 community products in production across hundreds of thousands of installs. When we say a pattern does not scale, it is because we carried the support load for it.

Advice grounded in consequences we paid for.

The activity stream is the hard part

Everything works at 200 members. Activity queries, notification fan-out and member directories are what break at 20,000, and they break in that order.

Built for the size you are aiming at.

Moderation designed in, not added later

Reporting, queues, roles and rate limits from the start. Retrofitting moderation onto a live community is how communities die.

A team that can actually run the place.

Migration without losing the members

From Ning, Facebook Groups, Circle, Discourse or an older BuddyPress install. Profiles, groups and membership carried across, which is the part most migrations quietly drop.

Your community arrives intact.

Mobile is where communities are actually used

Posting, replying and notifications designed at 390px first. A community people only use at a desk is a community people stop using.

Engagement that survives the phone.

You can run it without us

Documented, handed over, and built on engines you can keep using whether or not we are involved. We would rather be optional.

No dependency by design.

community products we ship and maintain in production

Across BuddyPress, BuddyBoss and PeepSo, on hundreds of thousands of installs. BuddyNext, BuddyX, Reign and Jetonomy are ours.

What it costs

Community builds are quoted against scope, not sold at a list price.

A members area on an existing site and a standalone community product are the same sentence and very different projects. Here is what moves the number.

What moves the number

Members and activity The size you are designing for changes the architecture, not just the hosting. Designing for 20,000 from the start is cheaper than retrofitting it at 5,000.
Custom versus configured How much of the community behaves differently from what the engines already do out of the box.
Moderation and roles Reporting, queues, permissions and audit trails. Every growing community needs these, and adding them under pressure costs more.
Migration Bringing existing members, groups and history across is its own project, and it is usually where the real risk sits.

Small, well-defined work is usually better handled as an hourly block than scoped as a project, and we will say so rather than inflate it into one.

Rough idea to delivery

You send the details What you want built, roughly, plus budget range and timing. The form asks for all of it
Within 4 business hours We read it and reply. Nothing is scheduled before we know what it is about
Then the call Free discovery, booked once there is enough on the table to make it worth your hour
Within 48 hours of the call A written fixed-price quote you approve before anything starts

Get an estimate

Quick enquiry

Thinking about building a community?

Tell us roughly what you have in mind. We reply within four business hours, and we will say if you do not need us.

Prefer the full form? Start a project

Should we build on BuddyPress, BuddyNext, PeepSo or something else?

It depends on what the community is for and what you already run. BuddyPress has the largest ecosystem, BuddyNext is our own engine and is the better starting point for a build where community is the product, and PeepSo makes sense when you are already on it. We will tell you on the call, including when the honest answer is none of the above.
How many members can this handle?

Far more than most builds are designed for. The limit is almost never the member count itself, it is the activity query, the notification fan-out and the member directory, which are the three things we design around from the start rather than fix later.
Can you migrate our existing community?

Yes. Ning, Facebook Groups, Circle, Discourse, Mighty Networks, or an older BuddyPress or BuddyBoss install. The content is the easy half; carrying profiles, group membership and permissions across is the part that decides whether members stay.
Do we have to use your products?

No. They are usually the faster route because we know exactly where they bend, but we build on whatever stack makes sense for you and we have no interest in selling you a licence you do not need.
What about moderation and abuse?

Designed in from the start: reporting, moderation queues, role-based permissions, rate limits and audit trails. Every community that grows eventually needs all of it, and adding it under pressure is considerably more expensive than building it in.
What does it cost?

Community builds are estimated against scope rather than sold at a list price, because a members area on an existing site and a standalone community product are very different projects. The section above sets out what moves the number, and you get a real one within a week of the call.