General Information

338 Survey Participants from 52 Countries

  • Algeria
  • Argentina
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Botswana
  • Brazil
  • Canada
  • Chile
  • China
  • Colombia
  • Denmark
  • France
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Guyana
  • Hungary
  • Iceland
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Iran
  • Ireland
  • Israel
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • Malaysia
  • Mexico
  • Netherlands
  • New Zealand
  • Nigeria
  • Norway
  • Pakistan
  • Peru
  • Philippines
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Romania
  • Russia
  • Singapore
  • South Africa
  • Spain
  • Sri Lanka
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Taiwan
  • Thailand
  • Turkey
  • Ukraine
  • United Arab Emirates
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
  • Vietnam

Gender

  • Male: 89%
  • Female: 11%

Top Countries

  1. United States: 35%
  2. United Kingdom: 9%
  3. Germany: 7%
  4. France & India: 4%
  5. Netherlands, Spain, & Canada: 3%
  6. Italy & Australia: 2%

Top U.S. States

  1. California: 20%
  2. New York: 8%
  3. New Jersey: 6%
  4. Texas, Virginia, Washington, & Maryland: 4%
  5. Massachusetts, Illinois, Georgia, Colorado, & Florida: 3%

Your BuddyPress Sites

BP Versions Used

BuddyPress 1.9+
85.13%
BuddyPress 1.8+
23.64%
BuddyPress 1.6+
4.72%
BuddyPress 1.7+
4.72%
Other Option
1.01%

WP Versions Used

WordPress 3.8+
88.25%
WordPress 3.7+
18.67%
WordPress 3.5+
6.02%
WordPress 3.6+
5.42%
Other Option
1.8%

BP Sites Built

2 to 5 sites
44%
1 site
38%
16 sites or more
8%
6 to 10 sites
8%
11 to 15 sites
1%

BP Sites Hosted

Shared Hosting
59.58%
Virtual Private Server
33.53%
Dedicated Server
22.45%
Other (Managed Hosting: 4.66%)
6.36%
Not sure
5%

Estimated Time to Build BP Site on single WP Install

Seven days
31%
Three days
20.36%
One month
18.23%
Other Option
15.80%
Two months
10.03%
Six months
4.55%

Estimated Time to Build BP Site on WP Multisite Install

Other Option
26.26%
One month
24.24%
Seven days
20.20%
Two months
12.45%
Three days
9.42%
Six months
7.40%

BP Users

I use BuddyPress in my own site.
37.65%
I build BuddyPress sites for others.
27.40%
I build BuddyPress sites and create BP themes and plugins.
11.74%
I am a site admin of a BuddyPress installation.
11.74%
I am an advanced BuddyPress Developer - I can do anything BP.
8.13%
I create BuddyPress Themes.
2.40%
I create BuddyPress Plugins.
0.60%
I am a member of a BuddyPress powered community.
0.30%

IE Versions

IE 8
36.30%
IE 9
28.71%
IE 10
12.97%
Other option*
11.55%
IE 7
10.56%

*Other option responses range from "Site is not up yet" to "What is Internet Explorer?" to "I don't let members to use IE.", among others in the same vein.

Themes and Plugins

Themes Used for BP Sites

Free WP theme
28.39%
Commercial WP theme
27.79%
Commercial WP theme with BP support
26.28%
I create my own custom BP themes using BP theme compat
23.86%
I fork an existing theme (free or commercial)
23.26%
I create my own custom BP themes using BP theme compat overloading templates in main theme, BP theme compat disabled.
18.73%
Free WP theme with BP support
17.82%
Child theme of the BP Default theme
14.8%
BP Default theme
10.87%

Preferred BP Theme Features

Compatible with the latest BP version
79.02%
Responsive
62.31%
Light and Fresh Design
55.92%
Responsive, mobile-first
41.33%
Translation-ready
32.82%
Mobile App
15.80%
RTL support
9.11%
Other Option (bbPress support, many options, secure, well-maintained, accessible, boilerplate theme, perfect integration, great typography)
7.90%
Dark and Edgy Design
7.59%

Number of Activated Plugins

6 to 10 plugins
24.09%
More than 20 plugins
21.98%
11 to 15 plugins
21.98%
1 to 5 plugins
19.57%
16 to 20 plugins
12.34%

Devices Used to Navigate Site

Desktop
56.23%
Laptop
56.23%
Smartphone
55.31%
Tablet
21.58%
Other Option
1.51%

BP Plugins Activated

Top BP-Specific Plugins Used

  1. BuddyPress Activity Plus
  2. BuddyPress Group Email Subscription
  3. Invite Anyone
  4. Buddypress Docs
  5. BuddyPress Activity Privacy
  6. Buddypress Xprofile Custom Fields Type
  7. BP Labs
  8. BuddyPress Custom Profile Menu
  9. BuddyPress Pending Activations
  10. BP Profile Search
  11. BuddyDrive
  12. Buddypress Group Calendar
  13. CubePoints Buddypress Integration
  14. Welcome Pack
  15. BuddyMenu BuddyLinks
  16. BuddyPress Activity Comment Notifier
  17. BuddyPress Follow
  18. BuddyPress Username Changer
  19. Private BuddyPress
  20. RS Buddypress Activity Refresh

Top WP Plugins with BP Support Used

  1. bbPress
  2. rtMedia
  3. s2member
  4. Gravity Forms
  5. Achievements
  6. Events Manager
  7. User Switching
  8. W3 Total Cache
  9. WangGuard
  10. SI CAPTCHA Anti-Spam
  11. Bebop
  12. Recently Registered
Visualization of requested BuddyPress features
Visualization of the BuddyPress plugins used. Click on the image above or go to the BuddyPress plugins activated page for a larger version.

Forums Added

  • Yes: 58%
  • Sometimes: 23%
  • No: 19%

Forums Set Up

  • Sitewide and Group forums: 48%
  • Sitewide forums only: 29%
  • Group forums only: 23%

Forum Software Used

bbPress plugin (2.x)
90.17%
Other Option
3.50%
bbPress legacy (1.x)
2.45%
SimplePress plugin
1.75%
Mingle forums plugin
1.05%
Vanilla forums
0.70%
vBulletin
0
phpBB
0

Components and Participation

Components Always/Almost Always Activated

Extended Profiles
73.06%
Activity Streams
69.69%
Member Account Settings
52.52%
User Groups
49.83%
Notifications
44.44%
Internal Messaging
40.06%
Friend Connections
39.73%
Site Tracking
10.10%

Components Never/Almost Never Activated

Site Tracking
53.84%
User Groups
25.27%
Friend Connections
23.62%
Internal Messaging
20.32%
Activity Streams
17.03%
Notifications
8.79%
Extended Profiles
8.24%
Member Settings
3.29%

BP Components Rated

Components Very Satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Very Dissatisfied
Extended Profiles 16.02% 43.55% 29.61% 8.36% 2.43%
Activity Streams 12.80% 41.86% 30.10% 11.70% 3.46%
Member Settings 14.33% 42.65% 32.16% 8.74% 2.09%
Friend Connections 17.77% 39.72% 34.84% 5.92% 1.74%
Internal Messaging 18.40% 36.11% 31.59% 9.37% 4.51%
User Groups 14.64% 39.02% 33.44% 10.10% 2.78%
Notifications 12.93% 38.46% 34.61% 8.39% 5.59%
Site Tracking 8.99% 21.94% 57.91% 7.91% 3.23%

Contributed to BP Development

No
67%
Yes
33%

Ways Contributed to BP Development

Helped out in BP forums
81%
BP Trac: Reported Bugs
47%
BP Trac: Submitted patches
30%
Submitted a BP plugin to the WP plugin repo
26%
BP Trac: Tested patches
23%
Joined in BP IRC dev chat
20%
Submitted BP translation/s
20%
Wrote article/s in BP Codex
20%
Submitted a BP-compatible theme in the WP theme repository
10%

Signed Up to Learn How to Contribute to BP Development

65 respondents from 31 countries signed up to learn how they can contribute to the development of BuddyPress. We will be contacting you soon.
Thank you!

  • United States (25)
  • India (4)
  • United Kingdom (4)
  • France (3)
  • Netherlands (3)
  • Spain (3)
  • Brazil (2)
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Botswana
  • Canada
  • Chile
  • China
  • Germany
  • Guyana
  • Hungary
  • Iran
  • Italy
  • Malaysia
  • New Zealand
  • Nigeria
  • Peru
  • Philippines
  • Romania
  • Russia
  • Singapore
  • Switzerland
  • Turkey

Opinions and Requests

Evaluated other Social Networking Software

  • Yes: 67%
  • No: 33%

Other Social Networking Software Evaluated

BP Strengths/Opportunities

Free and open-sourced
90.10%
BP is an official WordPress plugin.
84.28%
BP is extensible
70.00%
BP has community support
66.35%
Compatible with other WP plugins
63.60%
BP lets you own your own data
58.92%
BP is easy to set up
56.42%
BP Components included in the plugin
55.12%
BP Theme compatibility
55.12%
Positive feedback from your community.
23.92%
Documentation has improved
22.26%
Translation in your language
21.20%
BP has Groups and Forums
4%

BP Weaknesses/Threats

Need more features added to BuddyPress
59.55%
Performance
45.88%
Documentation is not complete
42.64%
Not sure about the future of the plugin
40.00%
Spam
37.64%
Confusing for users to navigate
31.37%
BP is not compatible with some WP plugins
27.57%
BP is not compatible with some themes
27.20%
Need phpdocs for developers
19.11%
It is free, development may not be market-driven
17.25%
Confusing to set up
15.44%
Translation in your language is not available
3.30%
Not what I expected
2.20%

Requested Improvements & New Features

209 respondents posted 509 requests which were categorized as follows:
  • Core-General: 16.92%*
  • Groups: 7.28%
  • Core - Media: 7.28%
  • Activity: 6.88%
  • BP Theme: 5.70%
  • Members: 5.51%
  • xProfiles: 5.31%
  • Documentation: 5.11%
  • Item Navigations: 4.33%
  • Core - Performance: 4.13%
  • Core - Privacy: 3.54%
  • Spam Prevention: 3.34%
  • Core - Chat: 2.95%
  • Integration with other Plugins: 2.75%
  • Notifications: 2.75%
  • Registration: 2.55%
  • Theme Compatibility: 2.55%
  • Core - Ajax all: 2.36%
  • Forums: 1.96%
  • Messaging: 1.57%
  • Core - Events: 1.37%
  • Core - UI/UX: 1.37%
  • a la Facebook: 1.18%
  • Core - Search: 1.18%
Visualization of requested BuddyPress features
Visualization of the requested features. Click on the image above or go to the feature requests page for larger version.

*Core-General category includes some requests which are already being addressed in BP Trac as well as others with less than 1%.

Comments about BuddyPress or Survey

Keep improving this product guys!!
Overall though, much easier to use than drupal and great people working on it. P.S. For instance, the fact that you are carrying out a survey shows you care!
Over the last 8 years I have researched the best way to build community sites for various projects, over all others buddy press has stood the test of time and helped me help so many other people. Thank you for continuing to improve bp : ) Aloha!
I think this is awesome! Hell of a job! =)
Thank you for bulding BP. Please make it as stable as possible
We are trying to use BuddyPress as a "CRM" for a college - administration to communicate to students, students to set up ad hoc groups (e.g. study groups, student organizations, etc.). It doesn't quite work as we need, but is the best system we've found so far.
Buddypress is great, and I hope to build more sites based on it.
BP is without a doubt is the best open-source community builder software out there that can only get better if it can be handle WordPress's shortcodes properly.
It's been awhile since I've actively participated in BP -- it's community, development, and plugin dev. I am pleased with how it has evolved and look forward to seeing what is in store for the future.
Thx for all the coding!
I think Buddypress is a great community site and I love that it integrates with WP and other plug-ins. I appreciate all the work that has been put into the development of this product.
I love BuddyPress. It is an amazing tool. Thank you to all the developers who make it possible. I came to it as an open-source, lower cost alternative to Ning. Buddypress is, however, a major LABOR of love for non-technical site admins like myself.
Survey is too long!
BuddyPress is awesome! There are some problems with BuddyPress on MultiSite, but other than that, it was awesome! Thanks for the survey!
I hope this survey helps the future development of buddypress. great idea to involve users! thank you!
After 3 months of developing, the BP part of my website just went live and it's great to see people becoming friends and joining groups immediately. Thanks for making that possible!
Just keep developing it, and I'll keep on using it! :)
It may be bulky, but I like the features it gives my site. I also noticed that the documentation has improved, good job on that!
Happy to have my thoughts considered.
Thank you Automattic, WordPress & BuddyPress devs. Love WordPress. Love BuddyPress and have been using it since the start. There are lots of high school, college and university students who would benefit from the exposure to free, open source, easy-to-use software, thinking and programming opportunities.
I expected my first install would involve complicated steps and configurations ... was I wrong! Woot!
My WP/BuddyPress/bbpress install at times feels like an enormous ball of duct tape. It takes significant amounts of dev time just to keep it running. I'm a Ning refugee and deeply hated their walled garden, but my 2+ years on BuddyPress have NOT been easy.
I admire you guys. BP 1.9.1 is great. Good that you take feedback from the community. I've started developing BP themes from dec'13. Lets see how it goes, so far smooth and theme's almost complete.
I appreciate your efforts on making such a wonderful software.
I think buddy press is a good system for non profits. We are using it in a site of 1K people on a shared solution and people are mostly happy. We have been theme hacking to make it more responsive in our local environment but overall it's been a good fit.
Please improve its performance and features.
BP is an incredible piece of software and you should all be very proud of what you have created. Thank you for all of your hard work and know that we appreciate your efforts and put them to go use to make the world a slightly better place.
keep rocking! free and open source!
I love BuddyPress but it's hella tiring building out all the required theme files. That said, I wouldn't want it any other way. The flexibility is too good to miss.
I use BuddyPress with bbPress to power a large intranet. It has proven quite popular and easy for end users.
Keep up the great work! We love BP and would like to do more to support it's ongoing development. I'm really enjoying the new release schedule. The new theme compatibility is fantastic, and love the direction that this is taking BP. Looking forward to BP 2.0!