PeepSo isn’t really expensive if you consider the level of support we provide, continuous and frequent updates etc. WPML compatibility is on our list, we still have a lot of other things to do before we can get to that.
As we provide plugins for most functionality ourselves, updates won’t break anything. We test PeepSo with latest php, WordPress etc. to ensure it’s ready for whatever comes next. We’re already PHP 7.3 compatible. We have automated testing suite, dedicated server and an engineer to make sure everything always works.
On the other hand there’s BuddyPress… to get all the functionality PeepSo provides with the bundle, you need to pay actually more… not only that but the need to go to multiple vendors, which don’t have the same development rate. You can update one thing and then the others don’t get updated and you’re stuck with outdated code. Or you upgrade something and break your site because it won’t play well with others. If you want to spend time one maintenance and making sure everything plays well together, sure. Go with BP.
But just to touch base on customizations, when they are done properly with plugins, css, template or assets overrides they will not ‘break’ your custom code. Hacking plugins directly is NEVER a good idea. If you need advice on adding functionality or how to go about it, we can give pointers.
The problem is that BuddyPress has so many 3rd party extensions that building a GDPR compliant community is virtually impossible. Consider this.
You use BuddyPress, plus some plugin for photos, other for location, another for videos etc. Even if BuddyPress will be GDPR compliant without those other plugins also hooking into it you CAN NOT assure that users can download all their data (it is one of the requirements). Right now, only PeepSo is fully GDPR compliant with the new release.
