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Private groups
For bbPress - Creates private forum groups
The facts
- Rating
- 4.9★ from 49
- Active installs
- 1k+
- Price
- Free
- Last updated
- 20 Aug 2026
- Added
- May 2014
- Tested up to
- WP 7.1
- Downloads
- 154,348
Our analysis
AI-assistedPrivate Groups is a WordPress plugin that acts as an add-on to the bbPress forum plugin, enabling the creation of unlimited private forum groups. Users can be assigned to one or more groups, and forums can be allocated to these groups, allowing for tailored access permissions. This setup is ideal for sites that require different levels of access for users based on their group memberships.
With this plugin, you can manage public and private forums, and control visibility of forum titles and descriptions for non-group users. It also provides options for topic permissions, allowing users to have varying abilities to contribute to different forums. This plugin is suitable for community-driven sites that need structured access control for their forums.
Best for: This plugin suits community sites that require structured access to forums based on user groups.
What it does well
- ✓Creates unlimited private forum groups
- ✓Allows tailored access permissions for users
- ✓Supports both public and private forums
- ✓Enables visibility control for forum titles and descriptions
- ✓Compatible with bbPress 2.5.3 or higher
Where it falls short
- •Widgets from bbPress should not be used as they may expose information
Verdict
Private Groups offers a robust solution for managing private forums within bbPress, making it a useful tool for community sites with specific access needs.
From the developer
Robin W's own description of Private groups, lightly tidied.
An add-on to the bbPress forum plugin – creates private forum groups
This Plugin creates unlimited private forum groups.
Forums are then allocated to one or more groups, and users allocated to one or more groups.
What this achieves
unlimited private groups
Each user is set to a group or groups, and each forum can have any or all the groups associated with it
Any number of public forums combined with any number of group forums. The group forums can be individually set to public or private.
Forum title and description (but not topics or replies) can be set to be visible to non-group users, allowing people to see that a forum exists but not access it
Separate pages can be set to allow redirection of non group users for sign-up or information
Topic Permissions
Topic Permissions is designed for sites where users need to have different permissions to different forums.
For instance the ability for users to contribute to one forum whilst only being able to view another, or only start topics in one forum, or only reply to topics in another.
Example
So if
User a belongs to group 1
User b belongs to group 2
User c belongs to group 3
and
Forum x is set to allow group 2
Forum y is set to allow group 2 and group 3
Forum z is set to allow group 1 and group 3
Then
User a can access only forum z
User b can access forum x and forum y
User c can access forum y and forum z
Restrictions/warnings
The widgets (bbpress) forums list, (bbpress) recent replies, and (bbpress) recent topics SHOULD NOT BE USED, as they will show topics headings and author names for all forums. Replacement widgets called (private groups) forums list, (private groups) recent replies, and (private groups) recent topics are available instead
Works with bbpress 2.5.3 or higher
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