People around the world are looking for new and innovative ways to connect with others who share their interests. We're looking for community. And brands and businesses are building some AMAZING community spaces, whether free or monetized.
You don’t need thousands, or even hundreds of members to call what you’re building an online community.
But you do need a community platform that lets you create a unique virtual space where your members can master something interesting together. It’s just a matter of finding an online community platform that will let you support your members, grow your community, and deliver results and transformation to people.
The problem is that with so many options on the market, it can be hard to know how to evaluate community platforms and which one to choose.
Ahead, we’ll define what we mean when we say community platform, provide clear criteria for evaluating community platforms, and take a look at the best online community platforms on the market. We’ll help you find the right online community platform for your needs.
If you want more support in building your online community, come join OUR Mighty Community for free and meet other new and established community owners! We’d love to meet you. Join for free!
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What is a community platform?
A community platform is a dedicated virtual space where people who share the same goals, interests, or motivations can connect and build relationships.
The best modern community platforms should let you bring together content, community, courses, and commerce in one place – no mixing and matching software – and help you experience member-led growth.
Benefits of community platforms
At Mighty, we’ve watched thousands of communities grow and thrive. And we’ve learned something about what it takes to turn a community into a 6-, 7- and even 8-figure digital business.
In fact, the greatest opportunity in the world is staring brands in the face–your competitors probably aren’t doing it.
When you can get out of the mindset of searching for customers, followers, subscribers, or whatever, and shift to the mindset of looking for members–you’ve got something unique. People want to belong. People are looking for places where they can feel like they belong.
Brands that give people a place to belong have the ultimate competitive edge.
And that’s why online communities are so powerful. McKinsey even identified a community flywheel as the ultimate emerging business model for the 2020s. They recognized that when brands build community, they create a self-perpetuating flywheel where members keep coming back and keep engaging, and where selling becomes effortless.
When you build a member-led growth business, you don’t need funnels or high-pressure selling. And community Hosts transform into facilitators of self-driving membership communities. It’s honestly unlike anything you’ve ever seen–unless you’ve seen it.
Here are some examples from Mighty:
- An entrepreneurship org. launched to 5,000 members and made over $30,000 in 2 ½ weeks.
- A health-focused launch to 100 high-ticket members added $40,000 in ARR.
- An author & speaker launched a 4-week promotion in their membership community and saw an additional $30,000 in revenue.
- A podcaster and author sold 5,000 seats to a $997 course in 10 days to existing members.
- One community launched a 13-week add-on course and generated an additional $100k in revenue in 2 months.
So member-led growth is the ultimate benefit of an online community. But here are some others:
- User-generated content
- Members find a place to belong
- Members experience transformation
- Monetized engagement
- Sell high-ticket products
- Sell courses & events
- Reach your members by app
- Get instant product feedback and ideas from members
- Supermembers help you grow
- Create recurring revenue
- Build brand awareness
Types of online community platforms
Usually we see three different types of Hosts looking for communities:
- Enterprise: Established businesses and brands looking for robust and brandable community platforms. They need customization, branded apps, advanced member-features, and a powerful community engine.
- Digital Business: Creators and leaders (e.g. coaches, fitness instructors, mastermind leaders) planning to build a digital business around their community. They need good community features for their budget, and want to mix in payment gateways and bundling so they can sell memberships, courses, events, etc.
- Personal: There are Hosts looking for a free community for fun who won’t charge their audience. They’ll choose platforms like Facebook or Discord, which are free and easily accessible but don’t have robust community engines, monetization options, or branding.
Which of these descriptions apply to you? Once you know what level of platform you’re looking for, you can choose your community solution.
Do give yourself room to grow though. We see a lot of people outgrow their community platforms when their communities take off, and it can be frustrating to switch. For example, Hosts who start with small digital businesses often find they grow into large digital businesses and want enterprise-level solutions and branded apps. If their community platform doesn’t offer those, they need to move.
It’s always possible to migrate a community, but it’s a lot of work. Usually, it’s better to start on a platform that gives you room to grow.
What should you look for in an online community platform?
Depending on your goals, here are some features to look for as you search for the right platform:
- Great content options (e.g. discussion posts, polls, surveys, and Q&As).
- Accessible on web, iOS, and Android apps.
- Branded apps (under YOUR brand on iOS and Android)
- Multiple ways to monetize through events, paid memberships, subscriptions, and online courses.
- AI community options to boost your engagement and creativity (and make life easier)
With that in mind, here are the best online community platforms that offer some combination of the above features.
15 Community platforms ranked
What are the best community platforms? Here are our top picks.
1. Mighty Networks
Ranked best online community platform by G2
Mighty Networks is a versatile, member-led growth platform that has every feature listed above–and you can use it to create a place to belong. Its community engine gives you the power to help your members build authentic connections with each other, with customizable Spaces that can connect members around similar interests.
Each Space can be customized to include any feature you want, things like livestreaming, courses, events, articles, polls, questions, and direct messaging. And each member gets a customized activity feed to keep them engaged.
Mighty was also ranked the best online community software of 2023 by the tech review site G2, with a customer satisfaction score of 99 – the highest of any community platform.
With a Mighty Network, creators and brands can build a thriving community on their own brand. And you can monetize subscriptions, memberships, online courses, events, and groups; plus use a ton of innovative features to get your community members that much closer to their goals.
Plus, Mighty is the ONLY community platform with integrated AI, Mighty Co-Host™, which:
- Instantly creates course outlines and member profiles.
- Keeps your conversations alive with icebreaker questions, the “make it better” text editor, and connecting you to members with things in common
Mighty makes it easy to turn online communities into thriving digital businesses, letting you charge in 135 different currencies or even monetize with token-gating. You can build memberships, bundles, one-time fees, and more.
It’s the last community platform you’ll ever need. No stitching together integrations to get courses and community and events–it’s all in one place. You can even upgrade to a branded app when you’re ready.
Mighty Networks features
- Discussion forums, video content, text & articles, polls, livestreaming, and more built-in
- Dynamic course platform with course communities, a versatile LMS, live events, course discussions, and all-member chats
- Tons of branding flexibility to customize–even light or dark mode.
- Enhanced analytics, with a custom dashboard
- Unlimited members, admins, and moderators on every plan
- Sell memberships, bundles, or one-time products in 135 currencies globally or with token-gating
- Members can access your community on a beautiful native app that works for every device
- Integrated community AI with Mighty Co-Host™ that can instantly create course outlines, landing pages, and member profiles.
- Tons of free support in the Mighty Community!
Pricing
$33/mo for the community plan. $99/mo for the business plan (best for coaching and courses).
"As a host, Gina Bianchini and her team LISTEN!! I'll say that again, THEY LISTEN TO THE HOSTS! So over the last 6 years they have been asking us what we want and making changes to the platform in response to what the hosts, our communities and our members need. Yeah, that's cool!" Verified G2 Review
2. Mighty Pro
Best Community Platform on Branded Apps
Mighty Pro is the branded version of Mighty Networks built for established businesses and brands, letting you build customer and member communities on your own branded app. It gives you G2’s top-rated community platform under your own brand.
It comes with all of the features mentioned above, deployed on your app, with branded push notifications and splash screens. You own the apps and your app store listings. We handle everything else including your launch, design customization, and VIP technical support.
Instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to create a custom app, Mighty Pro’s white-label approach will give you more for less. And when you choose Mighty Pro, you’ll work directly with Account Executives and Community Strategists who have scaled 7-figure creator brands and 8+-figure subscription businesses.
Mighty Pro has built branded community apps for Adriene Mishler, YouTube’s best-known yoga instructor with over 10 million subscribers, Fortune, Drew Binsky, the TED community, Cambridge University, and Sadie Robertson Huff.
If you want to see your brand on your own custom app, schedule a call with us. We'll give you a demo of what you can do!
Mighty Pro features
- G2’s top-rated community platform on your own apps.
- Empower your Hosts with Mighty Co-Host™ AI features including moderation tools, the Infinite Question Generator, and auto course outlines and profiles.
- Branded apps, splash screens, and push notifications
- Proactive updates and App Store & Google Play Store submissions
- VIP support from the Mighty Pro Team.
- Access to the Mighty Pro community
Pricing
It varies. Book a call for a free estimate.
3. Higher Logic Vanilla
Best Corporate Forum-Only Platform
Vanilla Forums is one of the online community platforms that are directed toward large corporations, giving them a tool to build customer communities. It lets companies customize their own brand and a set of community management features. Members can publish content, create groups and subgroups, and add questions and polls.
While Vanilla Forums offers companies a chance to build customer support and engagement, access to a knowledge base, and useful integrations, it is only a forum feature. It doesn’t come with other features of an all-in-one platform like selling memberships, subscriptions, or online courses. So, if you’re looking for a community that you can monetize, this isn’t the right choice for you.
Vanilla Forums features
Pros
- Corporate forum solution for large companies with customization features for a corporate brand
- Some customization features, reporting, and gamification
- Moderation tools + Integration with business apps like Salesforce and Zendesk
Cons
- No real features other than a forum (e.g. no courses)
- Limited subscription tools
- No apps or white-label apps
Pricing
- Est $9,000 - $150,000/year
4. Disciple
Enterprise Branded Apps
Disciple is an online community platform that lets you build a customized community space, adding features of your own brand. And it comes with the features of a community platform, things like an activity feed, discussion forums, Q&As, and content creation–text, videos, and images.
Like others on this list, Disciple has member management tools, analytics, and even a built-in email feature. And it can be used to monetize with subscriptions or gated content.
Finally, a Disciple community can be deployed on a branded mobile app, which is a benefit. The app has features the website doesn’t have, including livestreaming. It’s great to have functionality on the app, but it’s a downside when the app and the online community platform have different UX.
Disciple features
Pros
- Online community forum with good content options
- Sell subscriptions or gated content
- Branded mobile apps
Cons
- Different UX between the online platform and the app
- Outdated community features and feel
- Pricing increases the more members you have
Pricing
Prices start from £38/mo for the first 100 members (web only), £499/mo to include a mobile app (and up to 500 members), and £833/mo for a white-label mobile app. And virtually every feature is an add-on.
5. Hivebrite
Best for Alumni Management
Hivebrite is a community platform that’s built specifically for alumni networks, although they’re branching out into other use cases. It includes dedicated subgroups where students and alumni can build connections, a branded mobile app, and a job board feature for posting employment opportunities. It comes with a content management system built-in, and it gives you data and analytics.
Hivebrite also comes with a built-in event management system for in-person events, including calendars, invitation emails, ticketing, online payments, and integration with social networks. Finally, it can also run donor campaigns.
The downside to Hivebrite is that it’s missing a virtual event feature, which means that if you want to get your alumni together for virtual meetings, coffee hours, or training sessions, you’d need to pair it with a different event or virtual event app.
Hivebrite Features
Pros
- Alumni networking app with dedicated subgroups
- CMS + Custom feeds
- Live event management, ticketing, schedules
- Job board, data and analytics
- Branded apps
Cons
- Community-building features are extremely basic
- No livestreaming, video, or courses
- Very limited virtual event features
Pricing
- Starts from $8,000 yr.
6. Kajabi
Best for Course Creators + Minimal Community Functions
Kajabi is well-known among course creators as a place to host an asynchronous course. It has an excellent course platform that’s combined with a marketing toolkit to sell courses with things like landing pages, email campaigns, and triggers.
In previous years, they weren’t on this list because of the lack of community options. But with many course creators wanting to combine vibrant learning communities with asynchronous instruction, Kajabi recently bought a company called Vibely to improve this feature.
The result is what they call Community 2.0., which moves Kajabi beyond a simple forum and adds a livestreaming feature with live meet-ups. The new community feature is an improvement, but as far as UX goes, it’s a bit awkward. It takes a separate login to access your community–making it impossible to integrate well with your course. And if you wanted to teach a live course on Community 2.0, the LMS isn’t integrated.
It ends up feeling a bit like 2 separate products, which is basically what it is. Its improved community features and overall course strength land Kajabi a place on this list, but the community platform is still missing some essentials.
Kajabi features
Pros
- Excellent asynchronous course LMS with drip content, evaluation options, and customization features
- Integrated email marketing, landing pages, and other sales tools
- Some new AI features for course creation, landing page copy, and scripts
- Community 2.0 adds livestreaming and video conferencing features
Cons
- Community 2.0 needs a separate login, doesn’t connect to the LMS, and still has limited community functions.
- One of the most expensive options on this list.
- No branded apps, which many successful communities need.
Pricing
- The basic plan is $149/mo for 3 products, the growth plan is $199/mo with up to 15 products. The pro plan is $399/mo with 100 products.
7. Bettermode
The Forum Platform for Corporations
Bettermode (formerly Tribe) is another white-label community platform aimed at corporations that want to add a community space to their existing website (a customer community). Essentially, it’s a forum function that gives you a place to create discussions, post content, and give value to your customers on a mobile app.
On Bettermode, customers can connect with each other by asking questions, participating in polls, and posting images and videos. And these members can create profiles and you can assign member roles.
You won’t get access to standard community features like connecting members by location or common interests, and more. There’s no way to create and host online courses or live events, which minimizes both the potential impact you can have on your members and your ability to deliver transformation around your community’s shared goals.
Bettermode Features
Pros
- Forum-based community with an explore function
- Organize conversations with “spaces”
- Custom domain & website builder
- White-label app options
Cons
- Limited community functions
- No courses or live events
Pricing
- Starts from $599/mo with custom enterprise pricing
8. Circle
Circle is a good all-in-one community platform with features like discussion forums, livestreaming and events, and different ways to create content. It also has member profiles that let your members showcase themselves and find like-minded people.
Circle lets you create memberships and bundles, giving you a way to monetize your community. You can create spaces and dedicate them to either discussions, chat, courses, or events.
The downside to Circle is that you can’t put multiple things in the same space. You can’t chat in an event space. You can’t have a discussion in a course space. This segmentation can be a drag on engagement.
With additional costs to add many extras (things like admins, spaces, etc), it’s a more costly option than an all-in-one like Mighty Networks.
Many of Circle’s features are also really early in development, with apps and courses added in the past year. They’re still working the bugs out and it’s hard to say how these features will fare long-term.
Circle features
Pros
- Create discussions, chat, events, and course spaces
- Monetize memberships with subscriptions or bundles
Cons
- Only one feature per space. Courses can’t be mixed with events, with chat, etc.
- There are limits on seats for admins, members, spaces, etc. with additional costs to add more
- iOS only app (update - Android added in beta in 2023)
Pricing
- Pricing starts from $89/mo for the community features, $199/mo to add workflows and customizations, and $360/mo for an enterprise plan with all features, dedicated services, and priority support.
9. Facebook Groups
Let’s talk Facebook Groups. They’re a popular community platform because of Facebook’s huge user base and since Facebook makes it pretty easy to build a Groups page. The pros are pretty well-known, lots of people use Facebook, and it’s free, easy, and accessible.
It might be a good place to start.
As far as free online communities built on social media platforms go, Facebook groups work okay.
For larger communities or paid membership communities, Facebook is probably not the right place to host though. Between the lack of payment integrations, the fact that it doesn’t really have the capacity for large groups, and because you’ll be fighting the algorithms, it’s probably better to look at the other options on this list. Plus, some people are hesitant to put their data on Facebook.
But if you’re just starting out, or want a really simple and free community option, it can work.
Facebook Groups features
Pros
- Free & easy to use
- Good apps that integrate with a Facebook account
- Well-known and popular
Cons
- Fight the algorithm
- No monetization options
- You pay to reach your members
- No real branding options
Pricing
- Free
10. Geneva
Geneva is an online community platform and chat app that creates chat rooms, forums, video, and audio-only rooms that’s good for hosting different types of conversations. It comes with an events calendar and virtual events (including RSVPs), application forms, moderation features, and the option to add admins. For content creators, it even has “post rooms” which can be used for a traditional blog.
Geneva is free, which is great! But it’s missing monetization features–so it’s not good for a paid community of any kind. While it works well for chats with small groups, it’s not really strong at connecting large groups of members together.
Geneva features
Pros
- Chat features with video, audio, and different rooms
- Virtual events hosting & traditional blog posts
- Free
- Good apps
Cons
- Can’t be monetized
- Minimal member management features
- Not good for a large community
Pricing
- Free
11. Slack
Slack is a platform a lot of people know. Built for the workplace, it helps teams organize work. But it’s also become a go-to for some people trying to launch online communities.
It’s got channel and messaging features and basic member profiles–meaning it can host discussions. With mentions, different content features, and “huddles” for quick calls, it does have some of the features that make online communities work. And its familiarity has led some people to organize online communities using it, earning it a spot on this list.
But in the big picture, Slack isn’t great for online communities. It’s got limited member roles and limited content types, and it lacks the types of features to build out a full community business (events, courses, content gating, etc.) Slack is also missing monetization, so you can’t start a paid community on it.
It’s basically like Discord, you might use it for a free community because it’s familiar, but most Hosts outgrow it OR find that their community fails from lack of engagement options. Let’s not forget that Slack works for the virtual office because people HAVE to be there. It doesn’t have the features to keep people showing up for fun. And when it comes to creating your own brand around your community, Slack has no options for this either.
Slack features
Pros
- Good chat & messaging features (it replaced email for the office)
- Organize conversations, tag relevant people
- Mix 1:1 chat and group conversations.
Cons
- No monetization
- Missing features for a vibrant community (content, courses, events, etc.)
- No personalization
Pricing
- From $8.75/mo per user up to enterprise-level pricing
12. Wild Apricot
The Community Platform for Nonprofits
Wild Apricot is a community management platform created for nonprofit organizations. It has some good features for community engagement and discussions and it also allows you to keep track of, automate, and simplify membership in your organization or association. With Wild Apricot, you can create, organize and manage your member databases, use the platform’s website builder to create a professional-looking website, securely accept online payments, and manage virtual events. Plus, you can create subgroups for regional chapters, so that each can have its own website and community.
When it comes to having something more robust, like a dedicated community space where members can connect, or features like online courses, where members can master something interesting together, that’s where this platform falls short.
Wild Apricot features
Pros
- Forum platform & website builder
- Member databases
- Regional chapters & subgroups
- Live event functionality for ticketing
- Branding options
Cons
- Dated look and user experience
- Limited community features (courses, gated content, etc. missing)
- No branded apps (despite being an enterprise solution)
Pricing
- From $60-$900/mo
13. Discord
Discord is a community platform that’s built for gamers, but it’s developing a reputation as a place to host online communities of all types. It has a community forum-type engine, but you can also live stream and chat (since it was built for streaming games).
Discord is great for free communities. But it’s not made for paid communities. There aren’t really any monetization features, and other than a few personalization features you can’t build your own brand on the platform.
Discord features
Pros
- Good community forum engine with chat options
- Good for streaming
- Popular among gamers
Cons
- No monetization features
- No branding options
Pricing
- Free
14. Discourse
Best Open-source Community Platform
Discourse is another option, and it does have an open-source community code that they post for free on Github. What this means is that Discourse gives you a discussion forum that’s simple, but effective. You can organize conversations and replies, and add moderators.
The downside to Discourse and its open-source approach is that you do need to pay for hosting somewhere. Discourse will do it for you, but it ends up starting from $100/mo, which is more expensive than several of the community platforms on this list. All this means that Discourse is an okay forum engine if you’re a developer, but otherwise, you’re better to go with an all-in-one that’s done for you (and potentially cheaper).
Discourse Features
Pros
- Forum with comments and moderation
- Custom code that’s open-source
Cons
- Extremely dated feel and user experience
- No community features other than a forum
- Requires development
Pricing
- From $50/mo
15. Memberium
Best WordPress Community Platform
If you’re a diehard WordPress fan and looking for a community platform that’s a WordPress plugin, you could look at Memberium. It works like a content gate, barring off sections of your site to make them members only, and includes a community component. You can also pair it with an LMS plugin like LearnDash if you want to add a course.
Word to the wise, Memberium is one of the top community platforms that’s a WordPress plugin, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right choice. G2 only ranks Memberium with a score of 29, and you can use literally all of the options on this list as a subdomain with a WordPress site.
Memberium features
Pros
- WordPress plugin
- Gated content and member-areas
- Forum features
Cons
- Very basic and dated user experience
- Likely requires development to customize
- No apps
Pricing
- From $37 or $57/mo depending on your CRM.
Conclusion – Ready to start building?
The days of cobbling together a Facebook group or Slack community and integrating it with your online course and payment system are over.
It's time to get it all in one place.
That’s what Mighty does. It simplifies your business, making your life a heck of a lot easier.
- Mighty makes it RADICALLY EASIER to get started and attract your members
- Mighty makes it RADICALLY EASIER to engage a community and spark connections between members
- Mighty makes it RADICALLY EASIER to build a digital business
- Mighty makes it RADICALLY EASIER to scale and moderate a community
Mighty is the only platform that lets you bring together community, courses, content, commerce, and live events–and scale to your own branded mobile apps when you’re ready
Let’s start building the community you’ve been dreaming of!
