GatherPress vs SureDash – Community, Courses & Member Dashboard

Running a meetup, a user group, a conference, or a class? GatherPress gives you what you need to publish events, collect RSVPs, and keep everyone in the loop, all from your own WordPress site. Your events live on your site. You own the data, you control how it looks, and you keep the relationship with the people who show up. GatherPress is built by the WordPress community for the people who organize it: meetup organizers, WordCamp teams, user groups, and anyone else who gets people together in a room. It is free, open source, and shaped by the people using it every day. What you can do Publish events with the date, time, venue, and everything people need to know Collect RSVPs, with anonymous listing for attendees who would rather not be named Let people RSVP without an account, so nobody bounces off a signup wall Let attendees bring guests Email everyone who is coming, or everyone who is not, without leaving WordPress Run events in person, online, or both, with maps for physical venues Build and arrange it all in the block editor Multisite ready and fully translatable Try it before you install Hit the Live Preview button on this page to open a working demo in your browser. No signup, no setup, and real data to click around in. Prefer to watch first? There is a short intro demo. Join our community GatherPress is built in the open, and contributions are always welcome, whether that is code, translations, documentation, or just telling us what broke. Get involved Contributor guide Open issues on GitHub External Services This plugin connects to external services to provide address autocomplete, geocoding, and map tiles for venues. Each service has its own filter so you can point at a self-hosted alternative or disable the feature. Photon geocoding (photon.komoot.io) Used to resolve venue addresses into latitude/longitude coordinates and to power the address autocomplete dropdown while editing a venue. The plugin proxies these requests server-side: your WordPress site sends the search query string and a User-Agent identifying the site (plugin version, WordPress version, site home URL) to the Photon API. Responses are cached on your site for 15 minutes. Photon homepage / terms: https://photon.komoot.io/ Komoot privacy policy: https://www.komoot.com/privacy Override the endpoint (for a self-hosted Photon instance) with the gatherpress_photon_api_url filter. CARTO Basemaps (basemaps.cartocdn.com) Default map tile provider when the OpenStreetMap map platform is selected. When a venue map is displayed on the front end or in the editor, the visitor’s browser requests raster tiles directly from basemaps.cartocdn.com. No data beyond the standard tile coordinates (zoom, x, y) and the visitor’s IP / browser headers is sent. CARTO terms: https://carto.com/legal/ CARTO privacy policy: https://carto.com/privacy/ Override the tile URL or attribution with the gatherpress_interactive_map_tile_url and gatherpress_interactive_map_tile_attribution filters. Google Maps (maps.googleapis.com, www.google.com, maps.google.com) Alternative map provider, only used when a site opts in by choosing “Google Maps” in GatherPress settings. What the visitor’s browser requests depends on whether a Google Maps API key is configured: With an API key, the browser loads the Maps JavaScript API from maps.googleapis.com and renders the map in the page. Without a key, or if that script fails to load, the browser embeds a Google Maps iframe from www.google.com or maps.google.com instead. Either way the request carries the venue coordinates, the visitor’s IP, and standard browser headers. A configured API key travels with the request and is visible in the page source, so restrict it by HTTP referrer in Google Cloud. Google Maps terms: https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/terms/ Google privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy Map and address data used by Photon and CARTO are sourced from OpenStreetMap contributors (https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright).

SureDash turns your WordPress site into a full community platform. No need to send your members to another app. No monthly per-member fees. Everything lives on your site, under your brand, with your data. Set it up in minutes. Create spaces for discussions, courses, resources, and events. Your members get a clean dashboard, their own profiles, and real-time notifications — all without leaving your website. Try the live demo — no signup required. Why SureDash? Most community tools make you choose: pay monthly fees to a third-party platform, or spend weeks building something custom. SureDash gives you a third option — a ready-to-go community platform built right into WordPress. You keep full ownership of your content, your members, and your brand. What You Can Build Discussion Spaces — Give your members a place to talk, ask questions, and share ideas. Threaded replies, rich text, reactions, bookmarks, and GIF support included. Online Courses — Build structured courses with sections, lessons, and progress tracking. Members pick up where they left off. Member Dashboard — A clean, branded home base for your members. They see their spaces, activity, and notifications in one place. Resource Libraries — Share files, guides, links, and downloads in organized collections. Events — Schedule and display upcoming events, webinars, and meetups. User Profiles — Each member gets a profile with a bio, social links, activity history, and badges. Free Features Beautiful member dashboard with light and dark mode Multiple portal layouts — Classic, Modern, and Application to match your community style Custom login and registration pages (with Google and Facebook sign-in) Discussion forums with threaded comments and reactions Modern commenting system with rich text, mentions, and reactions Multiple spaces to organize your community User profiles with social links and activity feeds Badges to reward active members Real-time notifications Giphy integration List and grid view layouts Sorting and filtering options Visual customizer — match your brand colors and style Built-in analytics — track registered users over time, recent activities, and top-performing content Mobile-friendly responsive design Works with any WordPress theme One-click AI portal creation (coming soon) — spin up your community portal instantly with AI SureDash Pro Take your community further: Course Builder — Create full courses with sections, lessons, and progress tracking Member-Created Posts — Let your members start discussions, not just comment Private Spaces — Restrict spaces to specific members or groups Resource Library — Organize and share files, documents, and links Events — Schedule events and display them beautifully Member Directory — Let members browse, search, and connect with each other from one place Collection Space — Group and display multiple spaces together for easier navigation Email Notifications — Keep members engaged with automatic email updates Leaderboard — Gamify your community with points, levels, and member rankings Priority Support — Get help directly from our team Course Quiz (coming soon) — Add quizzes to your courses to test and reinforce learning Learn more about SureDash Pro Works Great With SureDash is part of a powerful WordPress ecosystem: SureMembers — Protect content, create membership tiers, and control who sees what. Assign new registrations to access groups automatically. SureCart — Sell memberships, courses, and digital products. SureDash integrates directly with your SureCart store. Astra Theme — The most popular WordPress theme, fully compatible with SureDash layouts. Each works independently, but together they give you a complete membership and community business — all on WordPress. Perfect For Coaches and educators building a learning community Creators who want to own their audience (not rent it) Membership sites that need a member-facing dashboard Businesses building a customer community or support hub Anyone moving away from expensive monthly community platforms Links SureDash Website Documentation Support Try Live Demo