Best bbPress Voting Plugins (2026)

Adding votes to a bbPress forum can mean upvotes on topics and replies, a multiple-choice poll inside a topic, or emoji reactions. Those are different workflows. This comparison covers representative options in each category so you can choose the one that fits your community.

Since I build bbPress Voting and bbPress Voting Pro, I am biased. You should treat this list the way you would treat a competitive breakdown from any vendor: a starting point for your own comparison, not the final word. This comparison focuses on what each tool is built to do. Prices and plugin-directory statistics change; check each linked vendor before buying.

The Short List

These are representative bbPress voting, poll and reaction options—not an exhaustive or maintenance-certified list. Check each plugin’s current compatibility and support record before installing.

Plugin	Best fit	bbPress approach
bbPress Voting (free + Pro)	Topic/reply upvotes, downvotes and forum-specific sorting; Pro adds accepted answers	Purpose-built bbPress voting
topicPolls for bbPress (Lite + Pro)	Choice-based polls attached to forum topics	Purpose-built bbPress polls
GD Rating System	One ratings tool across multiple content types	General ratings with bbPress support
WP ULike	Likes and reactions across posts, stores and forums	General reactions with bbPress support
LikeBtn	Hosted like-button service with optional local vote synchronization	General like button with bbPress integration
Forumax	Broader forum-building suite	Forum suite with topic/reply voting and solved topics
DA Reactions	Emoji-style reactions	Reactions for forum content

The first decision is whether you need open-ended upvotes on each topic and reply, a multiple-choice poll within a topic, or reactions across several content types. Compare those workflows before comparing license prices. For current terms, check the linked vendor pages.

If you want the conceptual primer on how bbPress voting works — vote tracking, score calculation, and sorting — How bbPress Voting Works: A Beginners Guide (2026) walks through it in plain language.

Forum-Focused Polls, Voting and Reactions

GD Topic Polls (topicPolls Pro)

GD Topic Polls offers a bbPress-native poll workflow, distinct from upvotes on individual replies. The core plugin on WordPress.org is free and lets bbPress topic authors attach a poll to their topic. Voting is poll-based, not free-form upvote/downvote on every reply.

The paid topicPolls Pro adds poll-management features, but its design center is still choice-based polls, not Reddit-style voting on each reply. If you want “Which is the best X?” with discrete choices, this is the right plugin. If you want every topic and reply to be upvotable like Reddit or Hacker News, it is the wrong shape.

Check current topicPolls Pro pricing before buying; its site limits and poll-focused feature set differ from bbPress Voting Pro, so a bare price comparison is not like-for-like.

TopicPolls is built by Dev4Press, which also makes GD Rating System and a bbPress Plugins Club. Check the current changelog for maintenance history.

Forumax (formerly BBP Core)

Forumax is a broader forum-building plugin at the former BBP Core listing. Its published free features include upvotes and downvotes on topics and replies plus solved topics. The Pro feature list includes voting controls and vote-based sorting. Compare its wider forum-builder scope with a focused voting extension before choosing.

If you already run bbPress, test theme and plugin compatibility in staging before replacing or extending the forum interface. The directory listing describes the features, but it does not prove they fit your existing setup.

DA Reactions

DA Reactions lets forum users react to topics and replies with emoji-style reactions instead of numeric upvotes/downvotes. The design works for some communities (think Slack-style reactions) but it is not a substitute for sortable vote counts. Before using it on a production forum, check its current WordPress.org compatibility and maintenance status.

Generic Voting Plugins That Work on bbPress (with caveats)

GD Rating System (Dev4Press)

GD Rating System Pro offers multiple rating methods and a bbPress add-on for topics, replies and rating-based topic views. That makes it relevant if you need ratings across several content types, not just upvotes in a forum. Check which methods and bbPress views are included in the license you are considering.

If forum-specific accepted answers are important, compare that exact workflow with GD Rating System’s published bbPress features rather than assuming a rating add-on supplies it.

Compare GD Rating System’s current plans with the bbPress-specific workflow you need; its site-license tiers are not directly interchangeable with WPFTW’s.

WP ULike

WP ULike is a broad likes-and-reactions plugin. Its published feature list includes bbPress, BuddyPress and WooCommerce alongside standard posts and comments.

WP ULike lists bbPress support in both its free and Pro feature columns, alongside posts, comments, BuddyPress and WooCommerce. Its Pro tier adds emoji reactions, star ratings and reporting. Verify the exact topic/reply placement, sorting and accepted-answer behavior you need in a test forum; the pricing page alone does not establish those workflows.

On October 14, 2026, WP ULike listed a one-site plan at $39/year or $99 once; WPFTW’s one-site Pro plan is $40/year or $149 once. WP ULike is less expensive at the lifetime entry tier. Choose on forum-specific features and current terms, not an unsupported claim that WPFTW is cheaper.

LikeBtn

LikeBtn is a hosted like-button service with a WordPress plugin that lists bbPress support. Its documentation says votes are held by LikeBtn and can also be synchronized into local WordPress tables and custom fields. An account is required; inspect the current plan limits and pricing for your use case.

Because voting uses LikeBtn’s service, review its data-processing terms and whether your chosen plan permits the local synchronization or statistics you want. Local copies do not mean the service is self-hosted.

LikeBtn documents sorting content by likes, but some examples require synchronization and template work. Test your specific bbPress topic/reply layout before treating it as a built-in forum sorting or accepted-answer solution.

How to Choose

Pick based on what you actually need.

If you want Reddit-style voting on every topic and reply, with the vote count visible and sortable: you need a purpose-built bbPress voting plugin. On this list that is bbPress Voting Pro (free version available — see how to add voting to bbPress topics and replies for the full setup) or GD Topic Polls (if you specifically want polls).
If you want to rate bbPress plus WooCommerce products plus blog posts in one unified system: GD Rating System or WP ULike. Pick based on the specific content types, reaction styles and reporting you need.
If a hosted like button suits your forum: LikeBtn supports bbPress; check plan limits, local synchronization and required template work.
If you want a broader forum-building suite with voting: compare Forumax’s free and Pro features.
If you want emoji reactions instead of numeric votes: DA Reactions — verify current compatibility and maintenance before installing.

The Free vs Pro Question

The free bbPress Voting plugin on WordPress.org is a complete voting system, not a teaser. It handles upvotes and downvotes on topics and replies, vote count display, vote changes, and a basic “most voted” sort. If your forum is small and you just need the basics, the free version will serve you well.

Pro adds the things a busy forum eventually asks for:

Weighted and trending sorting — rank topics or replies by vote quality, with a trending option that also accounts for age.
Accepted answers — let a topic author mark a reply as the answer, with a checkmark and jump link.
Who-voted avatars — show which members voted on a reply.
User-reputation shortcodes — display a member’s received upvotes, average score, or accepted-answer count.
Author voting emails and spam controls — optional notifications and a configurable downvote-ratio spam threshold.
Updates and priority support while the subscription is active.

For the current feature breakdown and annual-first pricing (1 site, 3 sites, 10 sites, or unlimited), see bbPress Voting Pro. The one-site annual license starts at $40/year; lifetime plans are optional.

Need help choosing or setting up voting for an existing bbPress forum? Request a WordPress project estimate. Include your forum URL and the voting or accepted-answer workflow you want in Project Details. We will scope the work before quoting it; a Pro license, if needed, is separate.

What I Would Skip in 2026

Some search results use “voting” to describe star ratings or general polls. Before installing an alternative, verify bbPress topic/reply placement, current compatibility and the exact voting workflow it provides.

bbPress Votes (not bbPress Voting) — inspect its current feature list and maintenance before choosing it.
General poll or star-rating plugins — confirm bbPress topic/reply support explicitly; do not assume a post/page integration carries over to a forum.

The Verdict for Forum Owners

If you run a bbPress forum and you want voting to actually feel like part of the forum experience — topic and reply votes, useful sorting, and an accepted-answer workflow — start by comparing bbPress Voting (free or Pro) for free-form upvote/downvote with topicPolls if you need choice-based polls. General-purpose reactions and full forum suites can be better fits when those broader capabilities are the actual requirement.

If you are comparing WP ULike, review its current feature and pricing list alongside the bbPress Voting Pro product page. Otherwise, start with the free plugin, see if the basics work for your community, and decide later if Pro’s accepted answers, advanced sorting, and reputation shortcodes are worth $40 a year for one site.

If you are leaning toward Pro, bbPress Voting Pro vs Free: When to Upgrade walks through the real-world situations where the upgrade pays for itself. Either way, I hope this gave you a useful starting point. If you have a forum in mind and want to compare specific features before you buy, drop a comment below and I will dig into the answer.