BuddyBoss is an all-in-one online community platform for WordPress. You can use it to create a private community with social networking groups, forum discussions, online courses, and more.

The best part is that you can even create your own custom branded native mobile app to offer a perfect social learning experience to your users on Android and iOS devices.

Introduction to BuddyBoss – Quick Overview

BuddyBoss is a popular platform that lets you create your own private social network and community using WordPress. In simple words, you can build your own clone of Facebook where you have full control.

Thousands of creators, business owners, social clubs, universities, and organizations use BuddyBoss to create private communities for their audience.

BuddyBoss platform has two components: BuddyBoss Web and BuddyBoss App.

BuddyBoss Web

BuddyBoss Web platform is a WordPress plugin + theme that gives you everything you need to successfully build and manage online communities using WordPress. It comes with all the important features you would expect including User Profiles, Activity Feeds, Groups, Forum Discussions, Member Connections, Direct Messages, Events, and more.

There is also seamless integration with membership and e-learning tools like MemberPress and LearnDash, so you can deliver a superior learning experience for your community or students.

This is why popular universities like Stanford, MIT, Yale, as well as top creators like Chalene Johnson, Jay Shetty, Nathan Chan, and many more use BuddyBoss as their preferred social learning platform.

BuddyBoss also has integrations with WooCommerce for eCommerce capabilities, Zoom for broadcasting and meetings, page builders like Elementor for customization, and literally thousands of other integrations to help streamline your workflow as you run your online community.

BuddyBoss App

BuddyBoss App platform enables you to create your own custom native Android and iOS apps for your community websites. It’s fully white-labeled meaning the app matches your brand. 

It has all the features like real-time activity feeds, user profiles, groups, and push notifications, all designed to keep members engaged and connected on the go. You can even accept payments and add in-app purchases to grow your sales.

The best part about BuddyBoss App platform is that it makes creating your own mobile app both easy and affordable. You can do it without any coding knowledge right from inside your WordPress dashboard.

You can customize your app layout, choose your branding, upload your content, and even keep it in sync with your BuddyBoss web platform / courses.

You can translate your app in multiple languages, add gamification features to boost engagement, introduce micro-learning experiences, and more to tap into the $80 billion mobile learning market.

Simply put, BuddyBoss is the perfect community platform for content creators, universities, businesses, organizations & clubs, churches, and basically anyone looking to create an online community platform.

Note: our BuddyBoss team also offers a full done-for-you service as well where we’ll handle everything for you from creating your online community platform, launching your mobile app, and professional support as part of the BuddyBoss All-in-One Bundle.

Background Story – Why BuddyBoss? 

I have been following BuddyBoss for the last several years because it has been the go-to community platform for WordPress users.

Thousands of creators, business owners, universities, churches, and organizations all over the world use BuddyBoss to create their online communities and mobile apps.

Last year, I attended WordCamp Asia 2023 in Thailand where I met BuddyBoss co-founder, Tom Cheddadi. We had a great conversation about everything they were doing at BuddyBoss and how much synergies exist between our two companies since we have many mutual customers in MemberPress, Thrive Themes, WPForms, and more.

As I left that conversation, I remember saying to myself how amazing it would be to have BuddyBoss be part of WPBeginner family of products.

Our teams stayed in touch and fast forward a year, my dream became a reality. Tom and Michael, co-founders of BuddyBoss, were looking to move on to the next chapter of their lives, and they wanted someone reputable to carry on their legacy.

Due to our industry experience, reputation and product synergies, we were the perfect fit. I’m truly honored that Michael & Tom chose us. Read more about our investment philosophy here.

The BuddyBoss product acquisition is both a huge responsibility and a wonderful opportunity.

Online communities have always been a critical part of the web, but I believe their role is going to be more important than ever in the future.

The web is going through a massive transformation.

Large social media platforms are increasingly deprioritizing external link shares and throttling the reach of groups and pages which hurts the very creators & businesses that helped power the growth of these platforms.

On the other hand, rapid developments in A.I. models trained on stolen copyrighted content from your websites, and the recent changes in Google search algorithms continue to negatively impact content discovery for creators and business owners.

These changes are creating a new frontier where those who adopt will reap the benefits, while those who don’t will pay the ultimate price.

As a business owner, I have always believed that having control over your content and distribution is key to long-term success.

This is why I have always advocated for building an email list. 

This is why I also recommend adding push notifications to your website because it’s a reliable traffic channel that lets you connect with your users after they leave your website.

And now in light of current industry changes, I strongly believe that adding a private community with premium content and a branded mobile app is going to help make your business more resilient in the long-term.

I know several creators and business owners who are ahead of the curve and are earning six figures and even 7-figures with their private communities.

My goal with BuddyBoss is to make it EASY for anyone to create their own online community + mobile app while ensuring that you always have full control over your data, your distribution, and your business.

What’s Coming Next? 

Our work is just starting.

I met with Graham, the General Manager of BuddyBoss, at WordCamp Europe last month, and we have an exciting roadmap ahead of us – thanks to all the ideas that we have from existing BuddyBoss users.

I have also asked Blair Williams, founder of MemberPress, to join the advisory board and help guide the vision of the product.

I’m really looking forward to working closely with the team and helping usher in a new era of online communities.

Whether you’re a business owner or creator, I highly recommend checking out BuddyBoss.

If you have suggestions on features you’d like to see, then please let us know by sending us a message via WPBeginner contact form.

As always, I want to thank you for your continued support of WPBeginner.

Every time I share an announcement like this, I realize that I’m only able to do what I love every day because of you, our amazing readers, and I’m extremely grateful for your support throughout the years.

WPBeginner and Awesome Motive would not be here without YOU, and I just want to say how much I appreciate all of you.

And I look forward to continuing serving you, and the larger WordPress / web ecosystem for years to come.

Yours Truly,

Syed Balkhi
Founder of WPBeginner

P.S. If you’re a SaaS or WordPress product owner looking to raise an investment or sell your business, reach out to us through Awesome Motive M&A page.

P.P.S. Know of an excellent product founder who’s looking to exit? Simply introduce us to them, and we’ll pay you a referral fee. Join AM Scout program.

The post Welcome BuddyBoss to the WPBeginner Family of Products first appeared on WPBeginner.

Time flies when you’re having fun especially with such an amazing community of website owners, small businesses, and web professionals. YOU ARE the best part of WPBeginner!

Like every year, I will take a few minutes to share all the major things that are happening in the business as well as my personal life.

But more importantly, to celebrate this big milestone, we’re doing a HUGE birthday giveaway with over $50,000+ in prizes. There will be 215 lucky winners!

Since this is a long article, you can easily skip to the section you’re most interested in:

My Personal Updates

As many of you know, I have been using WordPress since I was 16 years old, and I started WPBeginner in 2009 when I was in college at age 19.

Ever since then, I’ve been fully committed to the WordPress community, and WordPress plays a huge role both in my life as well as my family’s life.

My son Solomon is now 7 years old, and we attended WordCamp Europe together last month in Turin, Italy. The event was a lot of fun, and it was really cool to see Solomon attend the presentations, chat with sponsors, and really embrace the community.

We as a family are continuing our travels around the world, exploring new cultures, and meeting local WPBeginner readers.

Here are some photos from our travels:

One of the best parts about running a fully remote online company is the flexibility it offers us. We have team members in over 50 countries now, and my goal is to visit at least few more countries this year. Side note: yes we’re hiring.

Also if you didn’t get a chance to read my 2023 recap, I highly recommend checking it because I shared lessons learned from last year.

WPBeginner Updates

We have had quite an amazing year at WPBeginner, and I’m really proud of all the things we’ve been able to accomplish.

Of course, none of this would be possible without your continued support, so THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart.

Here are some of the big updates that happened on WPBeginner in the last 12 months:

1. We Launched WPBeginner Pro Services

One of the top requests we got from our reader survey was to offer affordable WordPress development and website management services.

Well, I heard you loud and clear, and this year we launched WPBeginner Pro Services.

Our Pro Services offer affordable WordPress development and website management for businesses of all sizes.

Here are all the professional WordPress services we have added for you:

• Custom WordPress Design & Development: Looking for a custom website design? Stop wasting time on Upwork and other marketplaces. Let our expert team build your dream website for you.
• WordPress site maintenance: Struggling to manage your WordPress website? Let our WordPress experts handle the technical side for you, so you can focus on what really matters – growing your online business.
• WordPress speed optimization: A one-second delay in your page loading times can reduce your conversions by 7%. We’ll audit your site for speed and make it faster.
• Hacked site repair: If your website ever get hacked, you can hire us to remove any malicious code, clean up the hack, and restore your WordPress site in no time.

Ready to bring your dream WordPress project to life? Find out more about our professional WordPress services.

2. We Launched WPBeginner Solution Center

A lot of our readers rely on us for expert recommendation on the best WordPress plugins, web tools, and themes for specific use-cases.

This year, we launched the WPBeginner Solution Center where we’re writing detailed reviews of the best business tools for your website, and along with our expert review, you can also read reviews from actual users too.

Here are a few premium WordPress product reviews on WPBeginner:

• WPForms Review: a detailed review of the most beginner friendly form plugin that’s used by over 6 million users.
• Hostinger Review: a thorough review of one of the fastest growing WordPress Hosting companies.
• Divi Review: detailed analysis of one of the most popular multipurpose theme and page builder.
• MemberPress Review: expert analysis on the most popular WordPress membership and course plugin that’s helping creators earn over $1 billion dollars each year.

If you own a WordPress theme or plugin and want to get it listed on WPBeginner’s Solution Center? Simply submit an application form and our team will be happy to consider your product or service.

Also if you find a plugin in the list that you’re using on your website, add your review to help other readers.

3. Contributing to WordPress and Open Source

At WPBeginner, we have always been big supporters of open source.

As part of our Five for the Future commitment, we now sponsor 9 WordPress core contributors. These people spend 194 hours every single week helping to make WordPress the best content management system on the planet.

We also released a free Search & Replace Everything plugin on WordPress.org that makes it easy to do bulk updates on your WordPress site.

This is very helpful especially if you want to update a link on every page, change an image that’s used in multiple areas, or make bulk changes when you’re moving your site.

4. Global Sponsor for All WordPress Community Events

WPBeginner joined the WordPress global community sponsorship program in 2024. That means we’re sponsoring every WordCamp on the planet!

With our global sponsorship, WordCamps across the globe can spend substantially less time worrying about fundraising and focus more on bringing the best WordPress content for local WordPress communities.

5. New Acquisitions, Investments, and Product Launches

In 2018, I created the WPBeginner Growth Fund as a way to invest in awesome WordPress-focused companies that are solving the problems that you, our readers, want us to help with.

In the last 12 months, we’ve made several big acquisitions and investments in the ecosystem:

• We invested in GrooveHQ, a top-rated customer support help desk software. Over 2,000 businesses use GrooveHQ to deliver exceptional customer service. GrooveHQ comes with all the tools you need to deliver exceptional customer support including: a shared inbox, live chat, smart workflows, reporting, integrations, and cutting-edge AI features. Here’s the full background story.
• In October, Seahawk Media joined the WPBeginner Growth Fund. This premier WordPress agency provides development, design, maintenance, migration, support, and other world-class services to 1,000+ brands including DreamHost and GoDaddy. Here’s the full background story.
• Remember Envira Gallery and Soliloquy? Long-term readers will know that I built these product, but had to sell them at the end of 2017. I’m excited to welcome them back home. Along with that, we also acquired NextGEN Gallery and the Photocrati theme.
• We completely revamped WP Charitable, so it’s easier than ever to launch and run successful donation & fundraising campaigns. The plugin comes with a visual campaign builder, and all the powerful features like recurring donations, peer to peer fundraising (aka crowdfunding), actionable reports, and more. Here’s the full background story.
• We launched SEOBoost, a powerful content optimization tool that helps you use A.I. and NLP to grow your organic traffic and SEO rankings.
• We acquired LowFruits, an SEO tool that helps you find keyword ideas that are easy to rank for. This way you can start writing the right content that will bring traffic faster.
• We acquired Beacon.by, a professional lead magnet creator to help you generate more leads from your website. This tool helps you turn your blog posts into eBooks or design beautiful eBooks from scratch.
• We launched a free Chrome extension called All in One SEO Analyzer by AIOSEO. This allows you to perform an in-depth SEO audit of any page with a single click. Here’s the full background story.
• We also took an investment stake in Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Jetpack, Akismet, and more.

I’m really proud of how far we’ve come with the Growth Fund, and it’s really amazing to see the impact our companies are making both in the WordPress ecosystem as well as the larger open web.

Want me to invest in your business? Learn more about the WPBeginner growth fund.

Company / Product Updates

A lot of new readers ask me how do we make money at WPBeginner, when we give away all our WordPress tutorials for free?

Yes, we have a huge library of WordPress video courses that are completely free for everyone.

WPBeginner is funded 100% through the support of our readers like you.

My various companies develop premium WordPress plugins to help you grow your website. These plugins are built with the same beginner-friendly approach you know and love from WPBeginner, and they have powerful features to take your website to the next level.

When you buy a license for any of my premium plugins, you’re not only helping make your website better, but you’re also helping support WPBeginner and our mission.

My company, Awesome Motive, now has over 330+ team members across the world, and all of us are committed to help you build a better website!

Here’s a list of our plugins that you should check out. Collectively, they’re being used on over 25 million websites. Your support means a lot to us whether you use the free version or purchase a premium license — we are here to serve.

WPBeginner 15th Birthday Giveaway

To celebrate the 15^th birthday of WPBeginner, we’re running our biggest ever giveaway!

We are giving away premium plugin licenses worth over $50,000, to 215 lucky winners.

So, what kind of goodies are we giving away? Here’s the complete list:

WPForms, MonsterInsights, OptinMonster, AIOSEO, SeedProd, WP Mail SMTP, Smash Balloon, WPCode, Duplicator, UserFeedback, WP Charitable, Funnelkit, Smart Slider, WP SMS Pro, WP Statistics, PublishPress, Simple Author Box, WP Login Lockdown, Hostinger, SiteGround, FooPlugins, Themify Builder, Elementor, ManageWP, EWWW Image Optimizer, HeroThemes, ThemeIsle Hyve, Bluehost, GreenGeeks, WP Rocket, Really Simple SSL, LearnDash, Wishlist Member, MemberPress, WC Vendors, Wholesale Suite, Advanced Coupons, Visser Labs, AdTribes, Weglot, WP Engine, Omnisend, WPML, Solid Backups, and Solid Security.

Thank You, Everyone

I want to say thank you to everyone who has supported us in this journey. I really do appreciate all of your retweets, personal emails, content suggestions, and the interactions at the events.

I also want to say special thank you to everyone who’s using our plugins because that enables us to keep bringing more free tutorials on WPBeginner.

You all are AMAZING and without you, there is no WPBeginner.

I look forward to another solid year ahead of us.

Syed Balkhi
Founder of WPBeginner

The post WPBeginner Turns 15 Years Old – Reflections, Updates, and a Giveaway ($50,000 in Prizes) first appeared on WPBeginner.

From AIOSEO plugin acquiring the LowFruits keyword tool to the WordPress core team releasing the beta version of WordPress 6.6, the list goes on.

And that’s just a couple of the stories we have uncovered this month.

Read on for the latest WordPress news from this month’s edition of WPBeginner Spotlight.

All in One SEO for WordPress Acquires LowFruits Keyword Tool

The popular WordPress SEO plugin All in One SEO for WordPress has acquired LowFruits, a popular keyword research tool.

Ben Rojas, President of All in One SEO, described the acquisition in his announcement post in the following words:

Recognizing the challenges of finding keywords that you can rank for and drive qualified traffic, we spent over a year exploring various ways to improve keyword research for our users.

After careful consideration, it became evident that acquiring LowFruits was the best solution to offer a comprehensive, user-friendly tool that addresses this need.

Ben Rojas – President of AIOSEO

LowFruits is a keyword research tool that helps users find low-competition keywords to rank for easily and drive more traffic to their websites.

LowFruits will continue to operate independently, maintaining its unique features and functionality. This means that users won’t necessarily need to use All in One SEO for WordPress to benefit from LowFruits.

However, the All in One SEO team believes that combining both tools will give their customers a competitive advantage in search rankings.

LowFruits offers two pricing plans: a ‘Pay as you go’ plan and a subscription plan for $249/year.

WPCode Launches a Free Search & Replace Plugin for WordPress

Popular code snippets plugin, WPCode, launched a free Search & Replace Everything plugin for WordPress.

Our founder, Syed Balkhi, shared more details in a blog post here at WPBeginner.

Search & Replace Everything is a comprehensive tool that allows you to search and replace things easily in WordPress.

Instead of writing complex SQL queries, people can work with a simple user interface to enter what they want to find and what to replace it with.

The plugin then shows users a preview of items it found matching their search term and how they would look after they have been replaced.

Users can limit their search to specific database tables. It is quite fast and is designed to efficiently handle database operations on larger websites. Plus, users can also use the Search & Replace Everything Plugin to replace an image in their WordPress media library with a different image.

There is a free version of plugin available on WordPress.org, but it also has a paid plan (Starting at $29/year). This gives you access to additional features, such as historical data and the ability to undo an action.

WordPress.com Launches Studio for Windows

Earlier this year, WordPress.com launched Studio for MacOS, a local WordPress development environment.

Recently, they also launched Studio for Windows.

As a local development environment, Studio makes it easy to create and develop WordPress sites on your computer (localhost). It is open-source software available on GitHub and can be forked easily.

While using Studio, users can optionally sign into their WordPress.com account and easily share their sites with clients and team members. These demo sites are temporary and deleted after seven days.

Users can also export their local site and then import it into any WordPress hosting plan using tools like Duplicator.

WordCamp Asia and WordCamp Europe Dates and Venue Announced for 2025

The WordCamp Asia team has announced that the event will take place from February 20 to 22, 2025, at the Philippine International Convention Center in Manila, Philippines.

Similarly, following the conclusion of WordCamp Europe 2024, the dates for 2025 have been revealed. WordCamp Europe 2025 will be held in Basel, Switzerland, from June 5 to 7, 2025.

The dates for WordCamp Europe conflict with the popular Muslim holiday, Eid-ul-Adha, which is likely going to have an impact on attendance.

WordCamps are community-driven WordPress events organized globally, with dozens of events held in over 65 countries. WordCamp Asia, WordCamp Europe, and WordCamp U.S. are among the largest, attracting WordPress enthusiasts from around the world.

WordPress.org Plugin Directory Now Shows Up to 10 Million Active Installs

The WordPress.org plugin directory previously capped the active install count for plugins at 5 million. However, several plugins had install counts exceeding this cap.

The limit has now been raised to 10 million active installs. Plugins with the highest install counts can be viewed in the Popular tab on the WordPress.org Plugins website.

Currently, only four plugins have over 10 million installs (Elementor, Contact Form 7, Yoast SEO, and Classic Editor), followed by WooCommerce (7M installs), Akismet (7M+ installs), and WPForms (6M+ installs).

All in One SEO Launched SEOBoost

Another big news from the team behind All in One SEO for WordPress was the launch of SEOBoost, an on-page SEO optimization tool.

It simplifies the content creation workflow, covering everything from keyword research and brief creation to content optimization and SEO audits.

Users can start with the topic reports, create content briefs, and optimize their content for higher rankings, all from the same dashboard.

The content optimization tool uses AI-powered analysis to help you create high-ranking content. It analyzes the top 30 ranking topics related to your keyword and identifies the most used and prominent keywords to add to your content.

SEOBoost is currently offering a 14-day free trial. Paid plans start at $22.50/month.

WordPress 6.5.4 and 6.5.5. Were Released

WordPress 6.5.4 was released as a maintenance and bug fix update. This update was rolled out because of a bug that prevented plugins from redirecting users upon activation.

WordPress plugins use this functionality to run onboarding wizards and help their users set up the plugins properly.

The fix was a collaborative effort involving teams from Automattic, Awesome Motive, Elementor, StellarWP, and other core team members.

WordPress 6.5.5 was a security release that included three security fixes, so it’s highly recommended to upgrade your site.

Hostinger Surpassed 100M Euros in Revenue

Hostinger (a popular WordPress hosting company) announced its financial results for 2023, with remarkable performance. The company’s total revenue increased by 57% year over year, reaching €110.2 million by the end of the year.

Hostinger’s CEO, Daugirdas Jankus, commented on the performance:

Each year, we are growing rapidly towards our ambitious goal of becoming the world’s No. 1 web hosting business. 2023 was no exception when we steadily grew our results. While we may look like a big business in our region, we still have a long way to go in the global market.

The company credits its success to new innovations that have expanded its customer base. For example, Hostinger is actively developing AI-enhanced products to simplify the online experience for its users.

WordPress 6.6 Beta Was Released

The beta version of WordPress 6.6 was released for testing. This release will feature new data views, overrides in synced patterns, a consistent publishing experience, and more.

For more details on this, you can see an overview of what’s coming in WordPress 6.6.

In Other News:

• WPForms Introduced Repeater Fields – Repeater fields allow users to insert form fields as needed. For instance, they can be helpful if you are creating a booking form and want users to add multiple names to their booking. A repeater field allows users to just click on the (+) and add another name.
• Joost de Valk has launched a new tool called Progress Planner to help website owners stay motivated and continue making progress.
• The team at Sugar Calendar announced a full revamp of their Event Calendar plugin that allows you to display events on your site, sell tickets, and so much more.
• MonsterInsights Released Site Notes Automation Addon – MonsterInsights’ new addon allows users to automate site notes using Uncanny Automator or a direct API. This enables users to automate site notes and save important information automatically.
• Bluehost has launched an agency partner program providing access to discounts, free cloud hosting, priority support, and education.
• Gravatar has announced the launch of Profiles as a Service, so now you can create a comprehensive online profile page with Gravatar.

That’s all for this edition of WPBeginner Spotlight.

We look forward to your feedback on enhancing and expanding this column. We also encourage you to send us any newsworthy items you want to see in next month’s column.

Please send us your suggestions or leave a comment below about what you would like to see here.

We will be back with more WordPress news next month.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post WPBeginner Spotlight 01 – Plugin Acquisitions, New Features + More WordPress News first appeared on WPBeginner.