Has it already been 7 years? Wow! Buddypress, the premier Social Networking plugin for WordPress, was created way back in 2008, while trying to add social networking capabilities to a website that was powered by WordPress MU. The first stable release was in May of 2009 and since that time, Buddypress has grown and changed a lot, from very basic to a powerful tool that allows you to create entire social network websites with ease. In 2016, there are a whole bunch of free and premium Buddypress themes out there to choose from and also a massive number of useful plugins available for WordPress and Buddy Press that really expand the amazing built in features and let you power up your features and functionality.
Paper
Paper is a full featured magazine and newspaper theme, released in January of 2016, and already one of the most popular new Buddypress compatible magazine theme’s we’ve seen so far. Paper has a blog page builder feature, so you can make your blog pages look and behave exactly as you want them to, there are six awesome widgets and five content modules too. Unlimited home page variations, as well as blog page, archives and regular page design layouts. With Buddypress, bbPress and WooCommerce, there’s nothing you can’t do in terms of building a community and selling products. The design of Paper is deceptively simple, ideal for tech news and communities, design newspapers, online magazines dealing with nearly any subject who want the ability to create a real, full fledged online community around their niche. Great support and outstanding features all make this easy enough to accomplish.
United Community
If you’re trying to build an online community using WP, Buddypress is probably the best option if you don’t want to break the bank. That’s where United Community comes in. This is a unique looking theme, completely different than other BP themes I’ve seen. It offers exactly what you need, with forums, group pages and individual member profiles. It’s got a truly liquid layout up to 1670 pixels and it works with hundreds of Buddypress extensions, like chat, events calendars, user galleries and more. Add a plugin like Paid Memberships Pro, you can even offer paid memberships. Pretty cool.
Gone
Gone is an incredible BuddyPress theme that’s built for travel communities. But you don’t have to have the travel bug to enjoy this theme, it’s adaptable enough to work for a wide variety of online communities. Gone is a multipurpose BuddyPress theme, packaged with the incredible Visual Composer plugin, and Slider Revolution too…both for free! Pretty cool, huh? Gone also supports mega menus and handles WooCommerce as well as bbPress. That’s a full service community builder for sure. gone is straight forward to customize and the documentation offers step by step guides to make it run smoothly.
M
(M) is a social network in a box, so to speak. This Buddypress theme is a modern hub for discussion and enlightenment, filled up with incredible features to make an astonishingly professional and well designed social network. If you need a site where people can really feel free to communicate with one another, a Buddypress enabled theme is a must. I think (M) is a great choice.
Sahifa
Sahifa is certainly one of the best, most wildly popular Buddypress and bbPress themes I’ve seen. Flexible too, Sahifa is meant for blogs and news sites too, with plenty of options for helping folks to interact on your website. Sahifa is clean, responsive and has a built in reviews engine, so your articles can really get the conversation and interaction started. With over 10,000 downloads and counting, Sahifa is well documented and well supported too.
Salutation
Salutation is now responsive and we can recommend it wholeheartedly. Salutation is mobile ready, so if you’re building a bbpress theme website or a Buddypress community, Salutation will allow your members to communicate on any mobile device they have. This is a well documented and well supported theme too.
Creatif
Creatif is a simple, but elegant Buddypress and bbPress theme, built with community in mind. Mojo themes is the only one to offer this amazing theme and they do a great job of making sure only the best designs are available. You can also get this theme installed for a small fee if that’s something you need. No matter what you need, Creatif will help get your community launched quickly and have it looking like you want it in no time.
XPhoria
The best Buddypress themes are sort of like a social network in a box, and Xphoria is just that. Xphoria allows you to build a social network for school, a company, sports team or even a niche community. I’ve seens ome really cool examples using Xphoria. Xphoria is a theme integrated with BuddyPress & bbPress, so your members can register and start creating profiles, sharing information, posting messages, exploring, creating and interacting in groups, making connections, learning and much more.
OneCommunity
OneCommunity is a Buddypress enabled theme, so it lets you quickly create an online community of like minded individuals. If you want to allow your visitors to register to create profiles, message each other, create forums, make connections, create nd connect via groups and more, then OneCommunity is a great theme to select. If you want to build a niche community for a sports team, a shared hobby or interest, a school or a company, a bbPress and Buddypress template like OneCommunity is just the thing you need.
Mingle
Mingle is a stone cond stunner of a WordPress theme and best of all, it’s BuddyPress ready! What’s Buddypress? Well, it’s a social networking plugin that allows you to create an online community. Your members, once they’re registered, will be able to take part in a completely functional, full service community on your web page. BuddyPress lets all of your users and members interact in groups, forums, friend connections, status updates, private messaging and a lot more. Just like Facebook and other sites, you’ll really be helping to create connections and interaction. Mingle’s admin features make this a breeze too.
bSocial
bSocial is a great social magazine and Buddypress theme that highlights all of your content with a slick and organized home page that features modern styling and an image carousel. We already mentioned it, but this theme is Buddypress ready, so you can establish a social community online quickly and easily. And fun. Connecting with people can be a lot of fun.
Cinematix
Explicit
Explicit is a dynamic, well crafted magazine and Buddypress theme with built in reviews. Add in groups and forum and you’ve got a platform where people can interact and communicate their thoughts and ideas. Explicit has a swipe driven master slider, infinite loading, and four preset reviews styles. Oh, and with infinite ratings criteria, there’s absolutely nothing you can’t use this theme for. It’s certainly one of the best and most popular reviews engines we’ve seen and perfect for creating an online community with WordPress.