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Buddypress vs. Buddypress with proprietary extensions

  • Avatar of J.H. Snider
    J.H. Snider
    Member

    @jhsnider

    2 years, 9 months ago

    When the cost of sophisticated Buddypress themes is factored in, the cost of commercial community building websites seems much more competitive or even a bargain. This doesn’t mean there aren’t other reasons to use the WordPress/Buddypress platform. But cost–as in “free” or even “low cost”–may not currently be sound grounds for a choice. Of course, this could change if free Buddypress themes and plugins become more sophisticated and bug-free. But those currently looking for a powerful, good-looking multiuser WordPress (often supplemented by Buddypress) solution may be increasingly moving to proprietary solutions, which can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars per year just to subscribe to a theme.

    Examples (may not yet support Buddpress):
    Kapost: http://kapost.com/plans-pricing/. Its themes range from $29/month for up to 60 contributors, $79/month for up to 200 60 contributors, to $289/month for up to 500 60 contributors.
    Buddydress: http://buddydress.com/pricing/. Its price for themes is $49 for the first month and then $9 for each month thereafter.
    Woothemes: http://www.woothemes.com/pricing/. $15/month for standard package, more for developers.

    Pros:
    Good looks with lots of useful features in (presumably, I haven’t tried them) a bug-free package

    Cons:
    May be more expensive than proprietary platforms such as Ning

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
  • Avatar of Mark
    Mark
    Participant

    @wpsec

    2 years, 9 months ago

    Seems to me that you’re subtly promoting paid services. I have no problem at all with paid services. just leary of the way you’re doing this right here in the BP forums. It might be better for you to write about all this “in your own living room” – e.g. your blog – since this really isn’t a place to compare platforms and pricing.

    That said, what everyone gets with BuddyPress is TOTAL CONTROL. You can’t put a price on that because it is priceless.

    For those that want a pro social networking, you’re gonna have to either spend money or spend time (assuming you have the skillsets)

    There’s no such thing as as free lunch. If you think there is – then you’re lunch.

    Avatar of J.H. Snider
    J.H. Snider
    Member

    @jhsnider

    2 years, 9 months ago

    I think the open source movement is largely based on the assumption that there is a free lunch. Most developers to core open source code don’t expect to be paid for their work and most users of open source code don’t expect to pay for use of the code itself. To the extent that useful WordPress/Buddypress themes and plugins become proprietary, I think there should be some concern, partly because it undercuts the argument for open source software. Lastly, I believe that open, public discussion of a platform’s strengths and weaknesses is the best way to move an open source platform forward.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

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