BuddyPress vs Nav Menu Roles
Compare WordPress plugins and tools side by side. Pick products with “Compare” in the software directory.
| Feature | BuddyPress v14.5.4 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free · ★ 4.1/5 Visit Details | Nav Menu Roles v2.1.3 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free · ★ 4.9/5 Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 90,000+ | 70,000+ |
| Last updated | October 23, 2026 | October 21, 2026 |
| Editions | BuddyPress | Nav Menu Roles |
| Pros | Free and open source with a large add-on ecosystem; Member profiles, groups, activity and messages in one plugin; Blocks and admin tools for building community pages | Per-item visibility by login state and role; Works in the menus screen and the customizer; Free with no paid tier |
| Cons | Many features to configure before a site feels finished; Heavy database footprint with many custom tables; Needs theme and add-on work for a polished front end | Hides menu items only, not the linked pages; Support is limited to the WordPress forums; Needs a separate access plugin to lock content |
| Mentioned in our posts | 1 | 1 |
| More features | ||
| Other features | Member profiles with extended profile fields, Activity streams, Groups with membership management, Private messages between members, Friendships between members, On-site notifications, Member sign-up and activation, Akismet spam checks on activity posts | Per-item visibility by user role, Logged-in and logged-out visibility modes, Role settings in the Customizer menu editor, Importer for menus from other sites, Filter for the list of roles offered |
| Integrations | ||
| Plugins | bbPress | — |
| Other | Akismet | — |
| Requires WordPress | 6.1 | 6.6.0 |
| Requires PHP | 5.6 | 7.4 |
| Tested up to | 7.0 | 7.1.0 |
| Phones home | No | No |
| Blocks | 15 | — |
| Custom tables | 19 | — |