There isn’t a dedicated “BuddyPress Create Group Type” plugin, despite that name showing up in some older posts on this topic (we couldn’t find any such product on WordPress.org or in Wbcom’s own catalog). Group types in BuddyPress are a core, code-level feature, not something you install and configure through a settings screen.
BuddyPress has supported group types since version 2.6 via bp_groups_register_group_type(). Registering a type this way lets you label groups as “Sports,” “Music,” “Business,” or whatever categories make sense for your community, and that label shows up in the group’s cover area once assigned. But building it out, registering the types, adding filter tabs to the group directory, showing per-type counts, and adding a group-type filter to search, means writing the code yourself or hiring a developer to do it. There’s no drag-and-drop UI for any of this in BuddyPress core.
What This Actually Takes
- Register the types. Call
bp_groups_register_group_type()in a custom plugin or your theme’s functions.php for each type you want (Sports, Music, Business, and so on). - Assign groups to a type. Done programmatically, or you build a small admin UI for group creators to pick one during setup.
- Add filter tabs to the group directory. Requires modifying your theme’s group directory template to add a tab per registered type.
- Show per-type counts. Needs a custom query against the group type taxonomy, displayed next to each tab.
- Add a type filter to search. Requires extending BuddyPress’s group search to accept and filter by a type parameter.
If You Actually Want a UI, Not Code
If what you’re really after is categorizing members (not groups) without touching code, BuddyPress Member Type is the real, free, actively maintained plugin for that (v1.3.1, tested to BuddyPress 14.3.3). It won’t categorize groups specifically, but if member segmentation is the underlying goal, it’s a genuine plug-and-play option instead of a custom build.
For group categorization specifically, there’s currently no shortcut: it’s a developer task, not a plugin install.