Communities & Memberships
The 14 Best Community Engagement Platforms
We introduce and compare 14 of the best community engagement platforms on the market.
Author
Mighty Team
Last Updated
February 6, 2025

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In this article
Creating online communities or online homes for real-life communities is incredible. It boosts growth and can maximize revenue–if paid communities are part of your business. And with so much great community engagement software out there, there’s no need to get hung up on the tech side of community building.
In this article, we’ll introduce and compare 14 of the best community engagement platforms on the market.
Try the platform with the most $1 million communities.
14 Best community engagement platforms
Use For | Best Features | Price | |
---|---|---|---|
Revenue-Generating Communities & Courses & Events | AI-Boosted Engagement, Native Livestreaming, Gamification & Rewards | From $41/mo | |
Branded Communities for Established Brands and Businesses | White-Label Apps, Strategy Support, Premium Analytics | LEARN MORE | |
Corporate Customer Support Forums | Clean Interface, Business Integrations, Multi-Language | From $599/mo | |
Mobile-First Brand Communities | White-Label Apps, Multi-Tier Groups, Livestreaming | From $729/mo | |
Local & IRL Community Discussions | Video/Audio Rooms, Event Calendar, Free Apps | Free | |
Creator Communities & Course Integration | Clean UI, Teachable Integration, Workflows & Spaces | From $89/mo | |
Gaming & Casual Communities | Voice/Video Chat, Screen Sharing, Great Apps | Free | |
Alumni & Nonprofit Networks | Event Management, Fundraising Tools, CRM Integration | From $8k/year | |
Nonprofit Member Management | Database Tools, Event Ticketing, Automated Renewals | $60-900/mo | |
Course-First Communities | Course Builder, Assessments, Basic Community Tools | From $24/mo | |
Workplace Team Communication | Channel Org, Integrations, Huddles for Calls | From $8.75/user/mo | |
Course Marketing & Sales | Pre-Built Funnels, AI Course Creation, Separate Community | From $149/mo | |
Simple Free Communities | Wide Reach, Easy Adoption, Basic Event Tools | Free | |
WordPress Community Add-On | Theme Customization, Content Gating, Optional App | From $299/year |
What is community engagement software?
Community engagement software enables creators, brands, and organizations to build and manage online communities. Sometimes these communities exist in parallel to a “real life” community, and sometimes they exist entirely online.
Good community engagement software needs three things:
Engagement tools: these help members and Hosts connect and talk to each other. Features like discussion forums, live events, chat, and member profiles all help with this.
Community management tools: Back-end features for managing member lists and data, actionable analytics, member contacts, plan info, and payments.
Community business tools: Features for collecting revenue (if applicable) and running and growing a community business; for example, branding, customization, white-label apps, multi-currency support, payment gateways, etc.
Best Community Engagement Software
1. Mighty Networks

Cost: From $41/mo
Best for: The best community engagement software with an engine that drives engagement, revenue and member growth.
Overview: Mighty Networks is ranked #1 community management software by G2 and it’s the ultimate community engagement platform. It’s also home to more $1 million communities than any other platform.
Here’s what it offers:
Unrivalled engagement
Mighty is designed for engagement in a way that no other platform is. Here’s what this means:
Build community discussion forums with any kind of content you want + Gen3 native livestreaming for up to 50k attendees, high-velocity chats, and backstage area.
Software designed to create people magic, helping new members build profiles, find interesting people (with AI-driven “show similarities” tool), and start conversations with 1-click.
Instantly re-engaged lapsed members with 1-click.
Gamified new member journeys and checklists, leaderboards, habit trackers, and automations for unlocking rewards.
Create instant conversation with the Infinite Question Generator which generates and automates posting of approved discussion questions.
Create content with the “make it better” AI text editor. Or instantly generate a course outline or a video transcript.

Community revenue engine
Turn your engaged community into a recurring revenue machine with any combination of communities, spaces, courses, or events–sold individually or bundled. Mighty also has smart analytics to help you measure community engagement and maximize revenue.
The average community membership on Mighty is $48/mo. At these numbers, it only takes a few hundred members to turn your community into a life-changing business.

Customization power
Build any kind of Space for any kind of content you want. Turn on or off Space features like LMS, discussions, content, and events.
Create or instantly generate a brand identity, community Spaces, custom landing pages, and adapt it to fit your brand + add custom urls and light/dark mode.
Integrate your community with built-in Zoom or Kit (formerly ConvertKit) integrations, or choose from over 2,000 software embeds like Dropbox, Calendly, Drive, GitHub, Figma, and Monday.
Try the platform with the most $1 million communities.

Pros
Software built for connection, built from 93% success prediction data.
Flexible Spaces that can combine any feature you want: Events, Livestreams, Courses, Discussion Forums, Chat, Messaging, 1-time or Recurring Events, etc.
Monetization in 135 different currencies
Advanced engagement tools for auto-re-engaging members, creating discussions questions, building profiles, & finding and making friends.
Total brand control for landing pages, customization, and even start with or upgrade to white-label apps (See Mighty Pro).
Integrations for ConvertKit and Zoom + 2,000+ embeds.

Cons:
It’s a paid software. Some communities might prefer a basic, free alternative like Facebook or Discord.
Initial setup takes more time than social media platforms, although AI can instantly do a lot of it.
Try our Community Name Generator!
2. Mighty Pro
Cost: Learn More Here
Best for: Branded community apps for established brands and creators

Overview: Mighty Pro is G2’s top-rated community platform on your own white-label app. And it’s used by brands and figures like Tony Robbins, Gary Vaynerchuck, Marie Forleo, Jim Kwik, Matthew Hussey, and Mel Robbins.

Mighty Pro has the features of a Mighty Network: Things like:
Customizable community Spaces to mix Discussion Forums, Courses, Livestreaming, Pre-Recorded Courses, 1-Time or Recurring Events, Chats, Pages, and more.
People magic features like instant landing pages, course outlines, profiles, “show similarities” tool, 1-click conversations & re-engagement, and the Infinite Question Generator.
Monetization in 135 different currencies, sell products and bundles, and connect to your tech stack.
But it also means:
Your apps in the App Store & Google Play Store plus proactive updates, and submissions
Working with a team that’s launched over 400 apps, not only for software, but for strategy support
Actionable analytics to map contributions, member engagement, and business growth.
Design help for splash screens, notification branding, latest mobile brand strategy & best practices.
Membership in the Mighty Pro community

Pros
G2’s top-rated community management software on your own apps.
Proven builders with 400+ launches including some of the top-names in the world.
Support from the Mighty Pro team of Account Executives and Community Strategists who have launched 7- and 8- figure communities.
Cons
It’s a premium solution. If you’re just getting started, start on Mighty Networks first. You can always upgrade to Mighty Pro when you’re ready! (Without switching anything 🙂)
3. Bettermode
Cost: From $599/mo for basic features, with custom enterprise pricing available.
Best for: Companies wanting to add a white-label forum to their website.

Overview: Bettermode (formerly Tribe) does corporate forums. If you have an existing website and you want to add, say, a customer support forum, Bettermode can deploy one under your brand. It’s a customizable community solution that offers:
Searchable forums that can organize content into different spaces and topics.
Multi-language support with moderation and analytics tools.
Can be integrated with an existing tech stack under your brand
Pros:
Clean, simple, and professional forums Custom websites & communities for a brand. Good integration with business software and built-in analytics
Cons:
No monetization features for charging–best for free customer communities
Can’t handle virtual events or courses
Relatively slim feature set compared to competitors
No mobile apps
4. Disciple
Cost: $729/month for mobile app (up to 500 members), $1,167/month (up to 5,000 members) + white-label app
Best for: Mobile-first white-label community apps with attached online communities

Overview: Disciple is an enterprise community platform with a strong focus on white-label apps. Here are some of the features Disciple offers for community engagement:
Discussion forums with activity feeds for text, images, and video-based content.
Member management tools. Build multiple tiers, groups & subgroups, and add badges.
Livestreaming with 500-1,500 gigs of storage (depending on plan) plus push notifications
Community analytics

Pros:
Mobile-app-first forum software with lots of content options & livestreaming
Get an app under your own brand
Subscriptions and gated content for monetization, and courses (on the more expensive plan)
Webhooks and APIs on more expensive plans
Cons:
Different UX between online platform and app
Limited features in the base plans
It’s a premium price, but not a premium product–the community platform is still quite basic, missing advanced member engagement tools.
5. Geneva Chat
Cost: Free
Best for: Local organizations, clubs, and small communities that want to host free, video-first discussions
Overview: Geneva Chat is a neat concept and offers a lot for community engagement, especially for local IRL communities. Billing itself as “the online place to meet your offline people,” Geneva was recently acquired by Bumble. It’s not totally clear what the future holds, but it looks like this will continue the goal of connecting IRL communities online.
Geneva is free and has a really strong feature base, making it great for free community engagement uses. It’s not monetizeable in any way, so if you’re collecting any type of revenue it’s not the right choice. It also isn’t strong on features to introduce members to each other; it’s best for pre-existing communities.
Here are the features you need to know about:
Rooms for hosting text, video, or audio chats, or content rooms for those wanting to create written posts
Discovery for finding new groups of people in your city and getting plugged in
Event calendar with RSVPs for virtual events
Application forms with good admin tools for moderating
Pros:
A free platform with great community engagement tools
Lots of content options from video chat to text to virtual events
Clean design with intuitive interface for users
Admin roles
Great apps for every device
Cons:
No native monetization of any kind
Not suitable for large communities or communities that don’t know each other. Geneva has doubled down on IRL networks.
Member management tools are quite limited
Can’t be customized under your own brand
Uncertain future after Bumble acquisition
6. Circle
Cost: From $89/month for community features; $199/month with workflows/customization; $360/month for enterprise
Best for: Digital creators needing a clean community engagement software–especially for Teachable integrations.

Overview: Circle was built by former Teachable employees to add forums–so it blends well with this. As a community platform, it offers a clean, simple platform that’s intuitive to use. Circle recently added its own course features as well as an Android app, making it a decent choice.
It offers:
Four types of Spaces for dividing up your community activity: chat, discussions, courses, & events. It also includes livestreaming
Community AI to help write content and transcribe videos
Workflows and some gamification, plus native integrations for software like Memberful, Wistia, and Vimeo
Payment gating for any of the above spaces or bundle with different Spaces
Apps for all devices + branded apps

Pros:
Integrations with Teachable and some other software
Clean, simple design with an intuitive community platform
Software to run a course + community + events business
Cons:
You can’t have multiple features within a space–members have to move to different sections of a community for all the features
Plan limits end up hiding extra payments (penalized for extra moderators, extra spaces, livestream attendees, spaces, etc.)
Member list is hidden by default, and the directory is basic. This makes it hard to meet people
Many of the features (e.g. AI) are only available on more expensive plans
7. Discord
Cost: Free
Best for: Simple, free discussion forums. It’s especially strong for gamers needing voice/video/screen share technology.

Overview: Discord is a well-known free community platform that has 150 million users. As far as free platforms go, it’s got some good fundamentals–especially for a community of gamers. This makes it a good option for some community engagement applications–as long as you don’t need to collect money.
Discord offers:
Channel-based discussion forums for video, text, and voice chats + stickers & emojis
Event scheduling, with livestreaming options with screensharing
Optional Nitro subscriptions with a few simple monetization features (U.S. creators only)

Pros:
Free for most users and widely available
Add public or private channels
Powerful apps for every device with end-to-end encryption for videos and voice calls
XBox integration and screen-sharing functions
Cons:
Almost no customization options for building your own brand or branding your community
No real way to make money–Nitro subscriptions are extremely limited & even if you do qualify, Discord takes a 10% fee
Not designed for professional communities
Discord owns all of your member data and content
8. Hivebrite
Cost: From $8,000 per year + extra costs for full features and scaling fees
Best for: Alumni networks and non-profits, or organizations that need to mix event management with discussion boards and job posting.

Overview: Hivebrite is a community engagement platform that was built for alumni networks and can function for different types of organizational community needs: corporations, nonprofits, or higher ed. It has a discussion-forum style interface for hosting networks, but integrates well with its event tools.
Here’s what you should know:
A community engagement platform built around discussion forums with subgroups and built-in job board functions
Comprehensive event management tools for live events run from a community
CRM tools with built-in fundraising to track members and grow revenue
Integrated member-management database as well as emails

Pros:
Integrated event management works well and has useful features like ticketing, calendars, and invites.
Strong alumni and networking focus with dedicated fundraising tools
Options for geotargeting and adding local chapters and sub-communities under the main platform
The CRM gives you a lot of functionality on the back end.
Branded apps
Cons:
Community platform is dated, basic, and feels really corporate. It has a fraction of the functionality competitors have.
The admin tools are stronger than the member-facing tools and experience
No native video or livestreaming tools. This means that it works for live events, but not virtual.
No courses
9. Wild Apricot
Cost: From $60-$900/mo depending on features and size
Best for: Nonprofits and associations for member management and events
Overview: Wild Apricot and Hivebrite are quite similar in both feel and features. Wild Apricot offers a community engagement platform that’s specifically designed for nonprofit management. They have similar strengths and weaknesses, including a dated look and feel to website designs.
Here’s what Wild Apricot includes:
Build member websites with drag-and-drop tools and add forums for member networking
Database management with membership data plus email integrations and automations. Can add member sign-up forms and automated renewals.
Built-in event managing including scheduling, ticketing, and payment processing
Member emailing and automations
Pros:
Good tools for managing member databases, info, and membership status
Build websites easily and add in regional chapters (including regional sub-websites)
Ecommerce integration for online stores
Organize and sell tickets for live events
Cons:
Outdated designs and UX for both the websites and member-facing components
The community forums are extremely basic compared to robust community management software
Can’t run live events or courses
10. Thinkific
Cost: Basic version from $24/month, but most features require more expensive plans.
Best for: Course creators that want flexible websites with a community added on.
Overview: Thinkific is an e-learning platform with some community features built-in. This includes:
A discussion board feature with profiles and mentions, notifications, reactions, and threads.
Moderation and community management tools.
Community analytics with data on member engagement and ambassadors.
Integration between courses and communities.
Course websites from templates.

Pros:
Good course-building features for asynchronous courses with curriculum organization, quizzes, surveys and feedback
Integrated community that hosts simple, threaded discussions with member profiles
Integrated digital products like downloads and webinars and some pre-set marketing funnels
Cons:
Community engagement platform is still quite basic lined up against comparables
Platform feels like an afterthought tacked on to the main offerings: courses
Mobile apps have poor reviews
11. Slack
Cost: From $8.75/ per user per month, with extra costs for additional enterprise needs
Best for: Slack is built for the workplace. It works best for professional teams that need to share work and communicate.

Overview: Slack is very well known; a lot of people have used it for work. As a result, it’s become a popular option for some simple community engagement uses. It’s not difficult to get people onboarded if they’ve used it already. You can pop up a channel and get started.
However, Slack is limited for sophisticated community management features, and when you outgrow the simple “Free” options, the paid tiers are ridiculously costly. This is because Slack is built for workplaces, and charges by the seat.
Here’s what you get with Slack:
Channel-based conversations and discussion forums with threads, tagging, notifications, and flexible content options
Direct messaging and group chats w/ searchable history
“Huddles” for quick audio and video calls
Desktop + mobile apps and lots of integrations
Pros:
It’s familiar. Most people have used it before, making for a very quick onboarding.
Intuitive platform with everything you need to organize conversations. It works especially well for sharing work.
Reduces emails
Lots of good integrations since its popularity leads to lots of third-party solutions
Works really well for groups that already know each other or groups
Cons:
No native monetization features for collecting revenue, and the paid plans are expensive for communities (pay-per-member)
It works for workplaces because they are required to be there. It’s not designed for voluntary member-driven engagement.
Can’t build under your own brand–it always looks like Slack.
Missing features for courses or robust live events
12. Kajabi
Cost: Normally starts at $149/month (3 products), $199/month (15 products), or $399/month (100 products). However, Kajabi has a simple introductory plan for new users only that starts from $69/mo.
Best for: Course creators needing marketing functionality with pre-built funnels.

Overview: Kajabi’s course platform is a good solution for pre-built courses. As a company, they’ve focused on marketing and selling these online courses with funnels and automated emails–which can be great if you’re building a pre-recorded course business.
However, Kajabi isn’t as strong for communities. They recently acquired a company called “Vibely,” which has given Kajabi some community engagement tools. However, Kajabi 2.0 lives on a separate app and platform from Kajabi’s main course platform, adding a lot of friction for members going between courses and community.
Here’s what you get with Kajabi:
An excellent LMS for building pre-recorded courses with custom landing pages, course templates, and material
A separate platform called Community 2.0 that can be used for hosting community discussions, livestreaming, meetings, and chats
Some AI writing tools (like an embedded Chat GPT) for outlining courses and writing course content and landing pages.
Pre-built marketing funnels for different kinds of courses and sales, with integrated emails and automations.

Pros:
Simple and intuitive AI-boosted course building for pre-recorded courses
Powerful marketing engine with campaigns, funnels, up- and down-sells
Community 2.0 adds livestreaming and community engagement to Kajabi’s course platform.
Cons:
Community 2.0 is on a separate platform with separate apps and logins–even Kajabi runs its Kajabi Heroes group on Facebook.
Kajabi is fairly expensive, especially for its community engagement tools alone–comparable platforms are cheaper.
Adding courses to communities feels like 2 separate products.
13. Facebook Groups
Cost: Free
Best for: Simple community engagement for free groups (especially if local)

Overview: It’s hard to write an overview for Facebook. You’ve obviously used it. But if you’re thinking of using it as a community engagement solution, there are a few things you should think about–both for and against Facebook. For community engagement practitioners, Facebook Groups almost always works well for small, local groups and struggles as groups get bigger with more content.
But to start, here are some of the main things you get with Facebook Groups:
A running conversation thread with posts and responses embedded
Some simple member management tools for admin, requests & approvals, and blocking and moderation
Fantastic online platforms and apps that are really reliable
Some content and event tools like posting text and videos, polls, and running livestreams
Analytics and insights from Meta
Pros:
A widely-known, free social media platform that almost everyone knows or has used before
Many people already have accounts and a daily habit of use
Notifications work well
You can schedule and run simple virtual events from a Facebook Group.
Cons:
You’re constantly fighting with Facebook for visibility, competing with other groups and content
It’s almost impossible to monetize a Facebook Group natively–there’s one exception for huge pages, which you can learn about here.
You don’t control member data or your database–these are Facebook’s customers.
No ability to add your own brand
Content gets chaotic. If you want to find old posts or info, it’s really hard to browse and search content.
People boycott Facebook sometimes for security and privacy concerns, and/or you can get banned and lose it all.
14. BuddyBoss
Cost: Web theme from $299/year, w/ apps from $179/mo.
Best for: WordPress site owners looking for a community plugin

Overview: If you’re still on WordPress, we’ll include a few options for community plugins here. The first we’ll look at is BuddyBoss. It’s a premium wordpress plugin that gives you the functionality to add community engagement to a WordPres site.
Here’s what it includes:
Community dashboards with profiles
Community content creation with posts, comments, and messaging
Event management tools and optional job boards
Ability to customize under a WordPress theme
White-label apps
Pros:
Multiple templates to choose from with branding options
Decent community features considering its a WordPress plugin with member dashboards and profiles
Can gate premium content and charge access, integrating with 1000s of other WordPress themes and plugins like LearnDash or ecommerce tools
Add a white-label app native to iOS or Android
Cons:
WordPress plugins often glitchy and may require more development
Requires multiple plugins for full functionality of a community engagement platform
The apps are very basic
Conclusion

We hope these 14 options have helped you identify the best community engagement platform for your needs!
And if you want to try G2’s top-rated community management software–the platform with more $1 million communities than any other–come try Mighty! It’s free for 14 days, no credit card required.
Ready to start building your community?
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