SpaceBay is a WordPress community plugin that turns your site into a private social network your members actually come back to. Spaces, an activity feed, private messages, group chat, events, a member directory, points, badges and a leaderboard all sit in one fast, app-like portal. It runs on your o
PricingFree downloadThe WordPress.org download is free. Pro versions, add-ons or external services may cost extra.
CompatibilityRequires WordPress 6.2 and PHP 7.4.
SourceWordPress plugins · Oct 19, 2026
01 / Source details
About this tool.
SpaceBay is a WordPress community plugin that turns your site into a private social network your members actually come back to.
Spaces, an activity feed, private messages, group chat, events, a member directory, points, badges and a leaderboard all sit in one fast, app-like portal. It runs on your own WordPress site, so your members, your content and your data stay with you.
No page builder is needed. SpaceBay brings its own community portal and fits any theme.
Plugin page | Documentation | Support
Who is SpaceBay for?
SpaceBay is built for makers, clubs, schools, creators and small teams who want an online community they own:
A membership site that needs a members-only community area
A club or association that wants a member directory and events with RSVP
A school or course creator who wants a discussion space for students
A brand that wants a customer community instead of a social media group
A small team that wants a private space for posts, chat and events
Spaces: a group for every interest
Create a space for every topic, team or interest. Each space has its own feed and its own members. Members join the spaces they care about and see those posts in one place.
Give members a reason to come back. Members earn points for posts, comments, likes and events.
Nine badges
Custom levels
A community leaderboard
Notifications, in-app and by email
A notification bell with unread counts
A notifications page
Email notifications sent through your site’s own mail
Every member chooses which emails they get
Search, dark mode and mobile
Search posts, spaces and members
Light and dark mode, following the visitor or your choice
A phone layout that feels like a native app
Built for community managers
Everything lives under one WordPress menu.
Setup wizard – get your community running in minutes
Community dashboard – totals, items to review, members waiting and your community address, right in wp-admin
One Settings page – access, look, login, messages, points, events, moderation and emails in one place
Branding – your logo and brand color, light or dark mode, and a full-page app or a page inside your theme
Moderation that stops spam before members see it
Reported posts wait in a review queue
First posts from new members wait in the review queue
Approve or delete in one click
Blocked words
Member suspension
Works with the WordPress you already have
Any theme – full-page app or inside your theme
Multisite – works on network sites
RTL – right-to-left languages are supported
Google and Facebook login – with your own free apps
Privacy tools – export and erase personal data with the WordPress privacy tools
REST API and hooks – actions, filters and template overrides for developers
WP-CLI – fill a test site with sample content
SpaceBay Pro
SpaceBay Pro is a separate add-on for bigger communities. The free plugin works fully on its own. If you deactivate Pro, your data stays.
Member shops – members open a shop on their profile and list what they make. Each product links to their own store. You approve shops and products.
Voice and video calls – start a call from any chat, browser to browser, for up to six people
Two-factor login – authenticator app or email codes, backup codes, and a policy for everyone or only for staff
Signup form builder – choose the fields, mark the required ones and set their order, with a live preview
Extra profile fields – add your own fields to member profiles
Badge editor – create badges with your own rules
Manual badges and points – give badges and points by hand
Event place limits – show “3 places left”
Event reminders – remind members before an event starts
Learn more about SpaceBay Pro
Source code
The community portal and the admin screens are Vue 3 apps. Their full, readable source code is included in this plugin, in the src/ folder. The files in assets/build/ are built from it with Vite and are not minified.
To build them yourself, use Node.js 20 or later and run these commands in the plugin folder:
npm ci npm run build package.json, `package-lock.json` and `vite.config.js` list the build tools and settings.
Credits
The portal and admin screens are built with Vue , Vue Router and Pinia , all under the MIT license. Their license notices are kept in the built files. Interface icons are from Phosphor Icons (MIT), https://phosphoricons.com. Illustrations and the SpaceBay mark are made for SpaceBay and are GPL-licensed with the plugin.
External services
SpaceBay works without any external service. The features below are optional and only contact a third party when you turn them on.
Google login
If you turn on Google login and add your own Google app credentials, members who choose “Log in with Google” are sent to Google to sign in. Google then returns the member’s basic profile data (such as name, email address and profile photo) to your site. No data is sent to Google until a member chooses this login.
Service: Google Sign-In, provided by Google LLC
Terms of Service
Privacy Policy
Facebook login
If you turn on Facebook login and add your own Facebook app credentials, members who choose “Log in with Facebook” are sent to Facebook to sign in. Facebook then returns the member’s basic profile data (such as name, email address and profile photo) to your site. No data is sent to Facebook until a member chooses this login.
Service: Facebook Login, provided by Meta Platforms, Inc.
Terms of Service
Privacy Policy
Link previews
When a member adds a link to a post, your site requests that web page to read its title, description and image for the preview. The website being linked to receives a request from your server. Previews need the PHP cURL extension and a direct connection: when your site sends its requests through a proxy, no previews are fetched.
See it in action
Screenshots & previews.
Community home with the activity feed: posts, photos, topics, likes and comments.Spaces: a group for every interest, public or private.Private messages and group chat.Events calendar with RSVP.A member's level, points and badges.Member directory with search.Weekly, monthly and all-time leaderboard.Community dashboard in wp-admin.Moderation review queue.Settings page.
02 / Source details
Getting started.
Install from your WordPress dashboard
01Go to Plugins > Add New Plugin .
02Search for SpaceBay .
03Click Install Now , then Activate .
04Open SpaceBay in the WordPress admin menu.
05Follow the setup wizard to name your community, set your branding and create your first spaces.
06Invite your first members.
Install manually
07Download the plugin zip file.
08Go to Plugins > Add New Plugin > Upload Plugin .
09Choose the zip file and click Install Now .
10Click Activate , then follow the setup wizard.
03 / Source details
Frequently asked questions.
Is SpaceBay free?
Yes. SpaceBay is free and includes spaces, the activity feed, private messages, group chat, events, profiles, the member directory, points, levels, badges, the leaderboard, notifications and moderation. SpaceBay Pro is an optional add-on for extra tools.
Do I need a page builder or a special theme?
No. SpaceBay brings its own community portal. You can show it as a full-page app or as a page inside your current theme.
Does my community data stay on my site?
Yes. Your community runs on your own WordPress site. Members, posts, messages and events are stored in your own database.
Can I create private groups?
SpaceBay organizes your community into spaces. Each space has its own feed and its own members, and you control community access from the Settings page.
Does SpaceBay have private messaging?
Yes. Members can send one-to-one private messages and create group chats, with images, unread counts and read receipts. People added to a group chat later see the messages written after they joined.
Are images in private messages and private spaces really private?
Yes. Images in private messages and in private or secret spaces, and images in all posts when the community is for members only, are stored in a separate folder inside your uploads folder and are only shown, through your site, to people who may read the message or space. Others get “not found”. On Apache and IIS the folder is closed by the files SpaceBay puts in it. nginx ignores those files, so the folder has a long random name; to close it completely, add this rule to your nginx server block and reload nginx:
Change the path if your uploads folder is somewhere else. Uploaded photos have their hidden details, such as the GPS location, removed.
How do I stop spam in my community?
Reported posts and first posts from new members wait in your review queue, so members only see them after you approve them. You can also set blocked words and suspend members.
Can members log in with Google or Facebook?
Yes. You can turn on Google and Facebook login with your own free apps. Both are optional and off until you set them up. For safety, a social login only joins an existing account whose email address the member has confirmed, by signing up with that service or by resetting their password once; otherwise the member is asked to log in with their password.
Does it work on mobile?
Yes. The community portal has a phone layout that feels like a native app, and it supports light and dark mode.
Does SpaceBay work with WordPress Multisite and RTL languages?
Yes. SpaceBay works on network sites and supports right-to-left languages.
Does SpaceBay support GDPR requests?
SpaceBay connects to the WordPress privacy tools, so you can export and erase a member’s personal data.
Can developers extend SpaceBay?
Yes. SpaceBay has a REST API, action and filter hooks, and template overrides. A WP-CLI command fills a test site with sample content.
What happens to my data if I deactivate SpaceBay Pro?
Your data stays. The free plugin keeps working without Pro.
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