bbPress vs CM Answers
Compare WordPress plugins and tools side by side. Pick products with “Compare” in the software directory.
| Feature | bbPress v2.6.20 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free · ★ 3.9/5 Visit Details | CM Answers v3.4.3 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 3.8/5 Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 100,000+ | 300+ |
| Last updated | October 15, 2026 | October 13, 2026 |
| Editions | bbPress | CM Answers · CM Answers Pro ($) |
| Pros | Free and open source, from the WordPress contributors; Uses WordPress users and roles, and works with BuddyPress | Question and answer threads with voting on answers; Shortcodes to embed the Q&A index and answers; BuddyPress integration for community sites |
| Cons | Lean feature set compared with dedicated community suites; Forum styling depends on the theme | Categories, difficulty levels and logs need the paid Pro edition; Free version shows upgrade prompts in several admin screens; Registration screen and uninstall survey contact the vendor |
| Mentioned in our posts | 1 | 1 |
| More features | ||
| Other features | Forum, topic, reply and stats widgets, Login widget, Akismet spam checking for posts, BuddyPress activity integration, Theme compatibility layer | Question and answer threads with answers, Voting on answers, Shortcodes to embed the Q&A index and answers, Question categories (Pro, upgrade screen in free) ($), Difficulty levels (Pro, upgrade screen in free) ($), Reassign content between users (Pro, upgrade screen in free) ($), Logs screen (Pro, upgrade screen in free) ($) |
| Integrations | ||
| Plugins | Akismet, BuddyPress | BuddyPress |
| Other | — | CreativeMinds registration API |
| Requires WordPress | 6.0 | 5.4.0 |
| Requires PHP | 7.2 | 5.4 |
| Tested up to | 7.1 | 7.0 |
| Phones home | No | Only if you agree |
| External services | — | www.cminds.com, www.paypal.com, fonts.googleapis.com |
| Shortcodes | — | 5 |