Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots

Better Messages is the most feature-rich realtime private messaging system for WordPress, with native integrations for BuddyPress, BuddyBoss Platform, Ultimate Member, PeepSo and any other WordPress powered websites.

Transform your WordPress site into a powerful communication platform with private messaging, chat rooms, video and audio calls, group video chats, AI chat bots, and native mobile apps.

Whether you’re building a private or public community, social network, intranet, chat-rooms site, marketplace, membership site, dating platform, or creator economy site – Better Messages provides enterprise-level messaging features with an easy-to-use interface.

Try Better Messages:

• Live Demo — fully functional demo site
• Documentation & Knowledge Base — setup guides, features, FAQ
• All Integrations — every supported plugin and theme
• Pricing — free vs WebSocket version comparison
• Blog & Tutorials — guides, walkthroughs, integration deep-dives

For developers:

• REST API Reference — every endpoint and parameter
• PHP Hooks — actions, filters, helper functions
• JavaScript Hooks — frontend events and customization API
• Changelog — every release and bug fix
• Roadmap — upcoming features and votes

Popular use cases:

Better Messages is widely used to power messaging for:

• Private communities — paid and members-only community platforms, mastermind groups, alumni networks, course cohorts, coaching circles, role-restricted messaging, group chats, AI Chat Bots for onboarding and FAQs, end-to-end encryption for sensitive conversations
• Public communities and social networks — open social platforms, hobby and interest communities, BuddyPress / BuddyBoss / PeepSo / FluentCommunity-powered sites, private messaging, group conversations, chat rooms, mini chat widgets that follow users across the site
• Intranet and corporate websites — internal employee communication, team and department channels, role-restricted access by WordPress role, file sharing, voice and video calls for remote teams, self-hosted plan for sites with data-sovereignty requirements
• Chat rooms websites — sites built around real-time chat rooms as the primary feature, public and private rooms, topic-based discussion, guest access for unregistered visitors, AJAX or WebSocket delivery
• Dating and matchmaking sites — private 1-on-1 chat, photo and video attachments, voice and video calls, profile-to-profile chat buttons on member directories, guest chat for browsing visitors, end-to-end encryption for private conversations
• Creator economy and fan platforms — paid messaging with per-message and per-call billing via GamiPress or MyCRED, private video calls, mass messaging to fans, always-on mini chat widgets
• Premium and monetized DM platforms — charge per direct message or per call with per-role pricing, balance display, role-restricted messaging, AI Content Moderation to filter spam and scam attempts
• Coaching and mentorship platforms — client-to-coach DMs, scheduled video calls, voice messages, file sharing, course chat rooms via LMS integrations
• Online stores (WooCommerce) — pre-sales chat on product pages, post-purchase order support, cart-context-aware messages, embedded inbox in My Account
• Multi-vendor marketplaces and classifieds — buyer-to-seller chat on every listing, per-listing threads, guest chat for unregistered visitors
• Online courses (LMS) — course chat rooms, instructor-to-student DMs, group conversations for cohort-based courses
• Forums and Q&A communities — Private Message link on every reply, follow-up chat for thread participants
• Real estate and listings sites — agent inquiry messaging, property-context chat threads, guest chat for browsing visitors
• Live events and webinars — event lobby chat rooms, guest access for non-registered attendees, group voice and video calls for AMAs, pinned messages with event agendas
• Booking and appointment platforms — guest-to-host messaging on listings and bookings, file sharing for documents, voice and video calls before check-in
• Crypto and Web3 communities — token-gated chat rooms via membership plugin and WordPress roles, AMA group calls, AI knowledge bots for whitepaper questions, mobile apps for on-the-go engagement

“Better Messages” plugin is formerly called “BP Better Messages“.

Translate Better Messages to your language

Core Messaging Features:

• AJAX or WebSocket powered realtime conversations
• Private one-to-one conversations
• Group conversations with unlimited participants
• Chat Rooms with guest access support
• Messages for BuddyPress Groups, PeepSo Groups, Ultimate Member Groups, FluentCommunity Groups
• Subjects for conversations
• Search across all messages
• Mark messages as favorite
• Pin important messages to conversation top
• Pin favorite conversations to list top
• Filter conversations list to show only unread conversations
• Reply to specific messages
• Edit sent messages (with edit indicator)
• Delete messages
• Forward messages to other conversations
• Mute conversation notifications
• Message draft autosave with recovery

AI & Automation:

• AI Chat Bots powered by OpenAI, Anthropic (Claude) and Google Gemini
• AI Chat Bots in group conversations with mention-based responses
• Conversation summarization and scheduled digests with AI
• Token usage tracking with cost estimation
• Voice message transcription powered by Better Messages Cloud AI or OpenAI
• Web Search capability for AI bots
• File Search tool for AI bots
• Image generation with AI
• PDF file support for AI conversations

Media & Content:

• File sharing with resumable uploads and ability to protect files from direct access (images, videos, documents)
• Client-side image and video optimization for cross-browser compatibility and saving storage space (format conversion, quality control, metadata stripping)
• Voice Messages (available as addon)
• Embedded links with thumbnails and descriptions
• oEmbed support for YouTube, Vimeo, Spotify, SoundCloud, Flickr and 20+ services
• Emoji selector
• Built-in sticker packs with role-based access and per-locale support
• GIF integration with GIPHY and Klipy providers
• Inline sticker suggestions while typing
• Markdown text formatting support

Notifications:

• Email notifications for unread messages (customizable templates)
• Unsubscribe link support in emails
• Sound notifications for new messages
• On-site toast notifications anywhere on your website

Moderation & Security:

• AI Content Moderation with two providers:
  • Better Messages Moderation AI — included with WebSocket license at no additional cost, no third-party API keys required. Powered by Better Messages Cloud with extended categories, custom rules, and conversation context awareness
  • OpenAI Moderation API — free to use, requires an OpenAI API key
• Custom moderation rules — define your own rules in plain text
• Conversation context awareness — detect patterns split across multiple messages
• Choose between “Flag Only” (recommended) or “Hold for Review” moderation actions
• Pre-Moderated Messages – review messages before delivery
• Report messages feature
• Bad words filter with customizable blacklist
• Block user feature
• Role-based access control
• User whitelist/blacklist for moderation

Engagement Features:

• Reactions to messages
• Mentions (@username)
• Mass messaging from WP Admin with scheduling, file attachments, and background processing
• Suggested conversations for new users

Mini Widgets:

• Embed conversation entry points anywhere on your site without using shortcodes
• Five widgets: Friends, Groups, Users, AI Bots, Chat Rooms
• Two display styles: Classic Bar or Floating Bubble (with chat heads)
• Three placement surfaces: bottom bar, side panel, mobile tab bar
• Per-widget icon picker, search box, role restrictions, and “Hide Tab When Empty” toggle
• Users widget with three display modes (all / by role / hand-picked) and sorting by last activity or registration date
• Customizable order of tabs in mini widgets, side panel and mobile view

Customization:

• Modern, fully customizable design
• Easy color customization via WP Customizer
• Custom notification sounds
• RTL layout support
• White label solution
• Fully translatable
• Auto-delete old messages option

Privacy & GDPR:

• Dedicated Privacy & GDPR settings page
• All message data stored on your own server
• AI moderation (when enabled) sends message content for analysis — Better Messages Cloud does not store any data, review OpenAI’s data policy if using OpenAI provider
• WordPress personal data export and erasure support (Tools → Export/Erase Personal Data)
• Suggested privacy policy text that adapts based on enabled features
• Self-hosted emoji images option — no external CDN requests
• Privacy-friendly video embeds — YouTube, Vimeo load only after user clicks
• No cookies set, no analytics or tracking scripts
• Privacy & GDPR documentation

This is not a complete list of features – Better Messages has many more small features and options that are not listed here. We are constantly adding new features and improvements based on user feedback.

Compatible plugins & themes — 35+ native integrations:

Better Messages works on any WordPress site out of the box. If your site already runs a community plugin, an LMS, a marketplace, or a directory, Better Messages plugs into it directly — inheriting members, profiles, groups, courses, listings, and posts so chat surfaces appear in the right places without setup.

Community & Membership Platforms — replaces the built-in messenger and inherits members, profiles, friends, and groups:

• BuddyPress
• BuddyBoss Platform — including BuddyBoss Theme and ReadyLaunch
• PeepSo
• Ultimate Member
• FluentCommunity — including Spaces and Courses
• SureDash
• ProfileGrid
• UsersWP
• WP User Manager

Learning Management Systems (LMS) — course chat rooms, instructor messaging, and student-to-student conversations:

• LearnDash — including Instructor Role add-on
• LearnPress
• Tutor LMS
• MasterStudy LMS
• FluentCommunity Courses

E-commerce — WooCommerce — pre-sales and order support chat for online stores:

• WooCommerce — Contact buttons on product, cart, checkout, and order pages. Cart contents are auto-posted into the conversation as a rich message so your support agent immediately sees what the customer is looking at, order pages post a structured order context card. Plain product URLs pasted into any chat are expanded into rich product cards. Embedded inbox lives inside WooCommerce My Account. HPOS-compatible, block-theme-compatible, works with guest checkout. Available on both the free and WebSocket versions — the WebSocket version opens chats as a popup mini-widget overlay instead of navigating away.

Marketplaces & Multi-Vendor — buyer-to-vendor chat on top of WooCommerce, with per-vendor opt-in and contact buttons on vendor stores, product pages, and order details:

• Dokan Marketplace
• MultiVendorX
• WCFM
• WC Vendors

Listings, Directories & Classifieds — contact buttons on every listing, with per-listing threads:

• HivePress
• Directorist
• GeoDirectory
• Classified Listing
• Motors – Car Dealer, Classifieds & Listing
• WP Job Manager

Real Estate Themes — agent and inquiry messaging on property listings:

• Houzez
• RealHomes

Forums — Private Message link on every reply:

• wpForo
• bbPress

Gamification, Points & Paid Access — charge per message or call with per-role pricing and balance display:

• GamiPress
• MyCRED

Automation & Page Builders:

• Uncanny Automator — triggers and actions for chat events
• AutomatorWP — triggers and actions for chat events
• Crocoblock JetEngine Profile Builder — profile and chat shortcodes for JetEngine listings

Push & PWA:

• OneSignal — web push notifications
• Progressify PWA — install-to-home-screen prompts on the messenger

Universal Shortcode Builder — add chat to anything else:

Don’t see your plugin or theme in the list? Better Messages ships a visual Shortcode Builder at WP Admin → Better Messages → Shortcodes that lets you drop a Live Chat Button onto any custom post type, directory, marketplace listing, agent profile, or page builder block — without writing PHP. Point it at a sample post, choose how the target user is resolved (post author, postmeta-stored user ID, or a fixed inbox), set a thread strategy and label, and copy the generated shortcode. The same shortcode then works for every post of the same shape, with automatic per-post threading and an optional in-chat banner. Paste it into Gutenberg, Elementor, Bricks, Divi, or directly into a theme template.

Full list of integrations

Feel free to report any incompatibility or request more integrations — that is very important and helps improve Better Messages!

WebSocket version:

WebSocket version is a paid option, you can get license key on our website.

We use our dedicated servers to implement WebSocket communications between your site and users. Our servers are completely private and do not store or track any private data — all messages remain in your database.

Performance & Reliability:

• Significantly reduces the load on your server (up to 200x fewer requests)
• Instant message delivery in realtime
• Works with any hosting including shared hosting
• No limits on concurrent connections or monthly active users

Video & Audio Calls:

• HD Video Calls (1-to-1)
• HD Audio Calls (1-to-1)
• Group Video Chats (up to 32 participants)
• Group Audio Chats (up to 50 participants)
• Screen Sharing in calls and group chats

Mobile Apps (Alpha):

• iOS Mobile App (build your own branded app) – Alpha
• Android Mobile App (build your own branded app) – Alpha
• Push notifications for calls and messages
• VoIP notifications for incoming calls

Note: Mobile apps are currently in alpha stage. Core functionality works, but some features may be limited or under development.

Realtime Features:

• Messages Delivery Status (sent, delivered, seen)
• Typing, voice recording and file uploading activity indicators
• Online/Offline presence indicator
• User statuses (Online, Away, Do Not Disturb)
• Mini Chats – chat windows anywhere on your site
• Mini Conversations widget – list and continue recent threads from any page
• Online-only filter and online-first ordering for the Users mini widget

Better Messages Cloud AI:

• Automatic message translation in 1-to-1 conversations — 53 languages, auto-detection
• AI Content Moderation — 23 categories, custom rules, conversation context awareness
• Voice message transcription — 99+ languages with auto-detection
• No third-party API keys required — included with WebSocket license at no additional cost

Security & Encryption:

• Optional End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) — can be enabled at the website level and per conversation, messages and files encrypted in users’ browsers with AES-256-GCM, server never sees plaintext
• Local browser encryption (AES256) for offline message storage
• Web Push Notifications (works even when the browser is closed)
• All data encrypted in transit, so we can’t read it on our servers

Support:

• Priority email support
• Regular updates and new features

Why WebSockets are a game-changer?

Get WebSocket version license key | Terms of Use

Languages

RTL layout is built into the plugin.

You can translate plugin to your language with LocoTranslate or participate in plugin translation.