Private groups

76 Quality Score

Active Installs

14/30

Popularity is capped at 45 because only about 1,000 active installs limits the breadth of community validation compared to alternatives like One User Avatar at 100,000 installs.

Update Freshness

25/25

Maintenance earns a perfect 25, reflecting a recent update on 2026-05-22 and no outstanding compatibility concerns from the latest activity.

User Rating

15/15

Ratings are exceptional at 98 out of 100 across 49 reviews, indicating strong satisfaction among the small but engaged user base.

Support Health

8/15

Support health sits at a middle 50 because there is only one thread total, which makes the 100 percent resolution rate less meaningful as a broad signal.

WP Compatibility

15/15

Compatibility scores top marks at 100, indicating current testing alignment with WordPress 7.0 and no reported conflicts with required versions.

Scores higher than 43% of indexed plugins

About

For bbPress - Creates private forum groups

Active Installs 1k+

Rating ★★★★½ 4.9/5

Last Updated 2026-08-20 5:41pm GMT

Tested Up To 7.1

✓ No known vulnerabilities

What It Does

Private groups adds bbPress-specific group functionality to WordPress, letting administrators create restricted forum areas that only invited members can see and post in. It extends the standard bbPress forum structure with private sub-communities, making it suitable for sites that already rely on bbPress and need gated discussion spaces. The plugin focuses on access control rather than building forums from scratch.

Who It's For

This plugin is best for site owners who already use bbPress and need to segment members into private discussion groups for purposes like coaching cohorts, internal teams, or paid member tiers. It fits small-to-medium private communities rather than large public forum networks. If your forum needs gated sections without rebuilding your forum software, this is a candidate.

Who Should Skip It

If you are not already running bbPress, this plugin offers nothing for you, and you would be better served by a standalone community platform like wpForo or Groups by ITthinx. Sites needing deeply granular role hierarchies, single sign-on, or large-scale membership management will also find this plugin too narrow in scope.

The Bottom Line

Private groups is a tightly focused bbPress extension with an outstanding user rating and clean maintenance record, but its 1,000-install footprint means it is a niche pick rather than a community favourite. With an overall quality score of 75.63/100, it is a solid choice for existing bbPress sites that need simple private groups. New forum builders should look at wpForo or Groups first.

Pick this instead if your priority is letting users upload custom avatars and richer profile data rather than gating forum access.

Force Login 82/100

Pick this instead if you only need to lock down an entire site behind a login wall without granular group-based forum permissions.

wpForo Forum 81/100

Pick this instead if you have not committed to bbPress yet and want a modern forum engine with built-in user groups and ranking features.

Content Aware Sidebars – Fastest Widget Area Plugin 80/100

Pick this instead if you want to show different widget areas based on which forum group or membership level is viewing the page.

Groups 80/100

Pick this instead if you need standalone group and membership management that works across the whole site, not only within bbPress forums.