Best WordPress BuddyPress Themes Of 2020
Building a community website on WordPress usually means reaching for BuddyPress, and pairing it with a compatible theme is what makes that community actually feel finished rather than bolted-on. The themes below cover discussion boards, member directories, chat-style messaging, and general community features, suited to a college, company, organization, or any group looking to build a social space of its own.
1. Reign- WordPress BuddyPress Themes
Reign lets you build a social network for a sports team, company, school, or niche community, backed by the flexibility of WordPress. Features:
1) Multiple layout options for group and member directories.
2) A wide range of built-in options for controlling every aspect of the community experience.
3) Add-on widgets extend the community further as needed.
4) Looks good on any screen, laptop, desktop, tablet, or mobile.
5) Members can share their location when posting activity updates.
2. BuddySocial WordPress Theme
BuddySocial is a mobile-optimized theme with support for useful plugins like Youzer, WooCommerce, and Elementor. Its inner page layouts make for engaging, interactive community pages, and it’s Gutenberg-optimized, fitting any community or membership site well.
Key features:
- One-click demo installer support
- Retina-ready display
- Dark & light mode options
- Advanced Theme Panel
- Multiple post type varieties
- Unique Member & Group Directory Layout
- Provides More Social Features
- Useful settings for Activity, Profile and Account page.
- Unique Profile Widgets: About Me, Portfolio, Slideshow, Services, Skills, Quote, Link, Video, Post, Project, Flickr, Instagram.
- Amazing Profile Feature: Private Profiles, Profile Widgets, Media Tab Setting, Private Message.
- Multiple header & support for mega menu
3. Salutation-WordPress BuddyPress Themes
Salutation pairs with BuddyPress, the social network plugin that turns a WordPress site into a full community portal with private messaging, forums, status updates, groups, and friend connections. The theme keeps a clean design focused on content organization, easy to navigate and satisfying to use. Features:
1) Custom fields can be added to contact forms through the admin panel.
2) Unlimited sidebars, addable to any custom layout.
3) Built on CSS3 and HTML5 for a modern look.
4) Fully mobile-ready and responsive.
5) Unlimited color choices for the site.
4. Buddy-WordPress BuddyPress Themes
Buddy is a fully responsive, lightweight theme suited to a portfolio, corporate site, magazine, business, or community, and works fine without bbPress or BuddyPress too if that’s not needed. Features:
1) Integrates with both bbPress and BuddyPress.
2) Simple, one-click install.
3) Smart shortcodes cover most needs without touching code.
4) Unlimited sidebar options.
5) Compatible with major browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Edge.
5. Engage-WordPress BuddyPress Themes
Engage is built on bbPress, WordPress, and BuddyPress, letting visitors sign up, build profiles, share interests, join groups, and message each other. Customizing colors, backgrounds, and headings is straightforward through the theme options panel. Features:
1) Compatible with the latest WordPress version.
2) Integrates with bbPress and BuddyPress.
3) Shortcodes handle most needs, no coding required.
4) Works across major browsers: Chrome, Safari, Opera, Firefox, and Edge.
5) Fully responsive, and includes PHP, CSS, PSD, layered PSD, JS, and HTML source files.
6. Besocial-WordPress BuddyPress Themes
Besocial is designed to work smoothly with core BuddyPress features: friend connections, activity streams, extended profiles, notifications, private messaging, and user groups. It also supports WooCommerce, user blog posts, a likes/dislikes rating system, profile search, and social login. Features:
1) Content scales well to phones and tablets alongside desktop.
2) Live editors, a drag-and-drop page builder, and custom widgets add flexibility.
3) A built-in featured members system lets admins highlight users as carousels or lists.
4) Custom member search forms work with every BuddyPress extended profile field.
5) Members get real-time notifications for group invites, private messages, and friend requests.
7. Aardvark-WordPress BuddyPress Themes
Aardvark is a full community-focused WordPress theme with every inch of BuddyPress well designed in, plus more than 200 theme options for building a polished site with no code needed. Features:
1) Profile search, group creation, media upload, status updates, and private messaging all run through BuddyPress.
2) WooCommerce support lets you sell whatever you need to sell.
3) Extensive customization options for categories, layouts, and posts.
4) Build complex, multi-category homepages and posts quickly.
5) Bundled with an unlimited-use WPBakery review extension for rating pages and posts.
8. Kleo-WordPress BuddyPress Themes
Kleo is one of the best-selling BuddyPress themes around, capable of running a professional blog, portfolio, or eCommerce store in addition to a full community site. Features:
1) An intuitive interface with unlimited colors, sidebars, icons, and layout options.
2) Live AJAX BuddyPress notifications built right into the menu, with an admin-configurable auto-refresh interval.
3) Stylish, customizable search modules included.
4) Build portfolio pages with simple shortcodes, no coding needed.
5) Fully responsive and ready to use out of the box.
9. Klein-WordPress BuddyPress Themes
Klein supports WooCommerce, BuddyPress, and bbPress, well suited to a site where members build profiles and discuss ideas together. Features:
1) One of the more capable page builders on the market, bundled in.
2) A solid set of color combinations that stay consistent with the theme’s overall look.
3) WPML makes a multilingual site straightforward, strong enough for anything from a corporate site to a social platform.
4) A simple way to accept payments, with flexible content control by membership level, discounts, and reporting.
5) Free updates included.
10. Socialize-WordPress BuddyPress Themes
Socialize is a flexible multi-purpose theme built around bbPress and BuddyPress, a solid pick for a social network or community site. Features:
1) Multiple layouts for posts, categories, homepage, and pages.
2) One-click install.
3) WooCommerce-compatible for running a store.
4) Translation-ready into any language.
5) Compatible with Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera, and Edge.
6) Smart shortcodes cover most needs without coding.
11. SweetDate-WordPress BuddyPress Themes
SweetDate is a clean, modern premium theme, originally built for dating sites but flexible enough to fit most community use cases. Features:
1) Facebook login and registration built in.
2) Demo profile content gives a good sense of what a live site will look like.
3) Displays real-time online status for registered users.
4) Quick search for pages, members, and products as you type.
5) Front-end updates, albums, sharing, photo/video privacy, and encoding support.
12. Thrive-WordPress BuddyPress Themes
Thrive is a leading choice for community and intranet sites, customizable so members can share files, messages, and tickets, manage events and forms, and collaborate on documents and projects. Features:
1) Swap the default WordPress login form for a custom one members will actually like.
2) Unlimited groups with no restrictions.
3) Dropbox-like file sharing built into the network.
4) Built-in WooCommerce support for selling anything online.
5) Compatible with Chrome, Safari, Edge, Firefox, and Opera.
13. OneCommunity-WordPress BuddyPress Themes
OneCommunity pairs with the free BuddyPress plugin to let visitors register, build profiles, connect, and post messages in a genuinely pleasant-looking environment. Features:
1) Dynamically loaded sidebar content lets members browse popular users and active friends easily.
2) Works across Chrome, Opera, Safari, Edge, and Firefox.
3) Fully WooCommerce-compatible for an online store.
4) Retina-ready and accessible on any device.
5) Translation-ready into any language.
14. Flocks-WordPress BuddyPress Themes
Flocks is a social networking theme built to handle any niche, fully responsive across desktop, mobile, and tablet. Features:
1) Compatible with the GeoDirectory plugin for handling location-based listings efficiently.
2) Build layouts with Visual Composer and add sliders through Slider Revolution.
3) Four distinct header styles.
4) Works across Chrome, Safari, Edge, Firefox, and Opera.
5) WooCommerce-compatible for an online store.
15. Lynk-WordPress BuddyPress Themes
Lynk is a retina-ready, responsive theme built around BuddyPress as a full package, with demos ready to use out of the box. WooCommerce-compatible for a store. Features:
1) A built-in AJAX mega menu with support for multiple menus.
2) A user menu customers can navigate easily, editable and extendable as needed.
3) Live notifications show friend requests, messages, and activity in real time.
4) Members can manage and upload media, albums, and photos from the front end.
5) A range of fonts and custom icons available.
16. Cinematix-WordPress BuddyPress Themes
Cinematix is built with a modern design system, letting you rearrange front-page blocks freely with more than a thousand shortcodes at your disposal. Fully responsive and retina-ready. Features:
1) A range of color schemes, or build your own.
2) A well-known page builder integrated for building the front page easily.
3) A built-in private messaging system.
4) Compatible with Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Opera.
5) Smart shortcodes mean no real coding knowledge is required.
17. WildCommunity-WordPress BuddyPress Themes
WildCommunity pairs with the BuddyPress plugin, letting users register, post messages, join groups, build profiles, and connect with each other, a social network in a box for a school, sports team, or company. Features:
1) Integrates with event management plugins.
2) One-click install.
3) A well-thought-out front page design.
4) Translation-ready into any preferred language.
5) Comes with numerous inner pages: group member page, member profile page, group forum page, group details edit page, group listing page, blog pages, and more.
18. Xphoria-WordPress BuddyPress Themes
Xphoria is a solid choice for a social network or online community, with both a dark scheme and a white color scheme available if dark doesn’t fit your brand. Features:
1) Compatible with Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera, and Edge.
2) Fast, immediate content install.
3) Integrates with the AJAX Search Pro plugin.
4) Translation-ready into any preferred language.
5) Includes JS, PHP, and CSS source files.
6) Smart shortcodes mean no coding skills are required.
19. Razor-WordPress BuddyPress Themes
Razor has an uncluttered, clean design, a solid fit for an organization or professional business building a BuddyPress community, its understated look stands in clear contrast to community themes leaning harder into entertainment and hobbyist niches. Features:
1) Unlimited control over homepage layouts, color schemes, and page templates.
2) Compatible with bbPress and BuddyPress.
3) Includes PHP, JS, CSS, and layered PSD files.
4) Fully responsive, ready to use, and one-click installable.
5) Fits mobile, desktop, tablet, and laptop screens equally well.
20. Kudos-WordPress BuddyPress Themes
Kudos is one of the leading multi-purpose themes, used across thousands of sites for online shops, business and portfolio sites, trade sites, and blogs. Features:
1) A powerful builder for arranging layout sections freely, drag and drop into any page.
2) Theme options for quick, click-based customization to make the site feel distinct.
3) Fully responsive and retina-ready.
4) Built-in relationship-building and issue-resolution options for visitors.
5) Compatible with Chrome, Safari, Opera, Firefox, and Edge.
21. CommunityJunction-WordPress BuddyPress Themes
Community Junction is built around brand confidence and recognizability, bringing polish, consistent color choices, usability, and clean typography to every BuddyPress-powered page. Features:
1) WooCommerce-compatible for an online store.
2) Works across Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Edge.
3) Suited to building an intranet site, with distinct widgets for members and guests.
4) Smart shortcodes mean no coding skills are needed.
5) A popup notifies users of new friend requests and messages.
A Standalone Alternative Worth Knowing About
Every theme above assumes BuddyPress is running underneath it, which means committing to BuddyPress’s architecture, its own quirks, plugin compatibility questions, and the general upkeep of running a community on top of a plugin that wasn’t originally built for today’s WordPress. If you’re starting a community site from scratch rather than retrofitting one, it’s worth knowing that BuddyNext, Wbcom’s free community platform, is not built on BuddyPress at all. It’s a standalone engine with its own activity feed, member profiles, spaces, and moderation tools built in natively, so there’s no separate community plugin and theme-compatibility puzzle to solve. It won’t run the BuddyPress-dependent themes listed here, since the underlying architecture is different, but for a new community project, it’s a genuine alternative worth comparing against the BuddyPress-plus-theme route before committing.
Picking a Theme
This list covers a wide range of BuddyPress-compatible themes for hosting an online community. Every one here is responsive and retina-ready, built to work across laptop, desktop, tablet, and mobile screens. Check the list against your specific niche, whether that’s dating, intranet, general social networking, or a niche hobby community, and one of these should fit.
