11 top online community software solutions platforms

Looking for the right online community platform that can host your business's branded community?

Choosing the right online community software can feel daunting, given that factors like user-friendliness, service support, platform flexibility, and more are in play. In order to ease the burden of this big selection, we've reviewed the top eleven online community software solution companies on the market.

Find out all the details--the good, bad, and the ugly of the top-rated solutions available there. There are plenty of tips on what you should look for in an online community platform , so you'll be able to make the ideal choice for your business.

What is the the online community software solutions offered by companies?

Community platforms online are software solutions which allow you to build an online space for your members to learn, connect, and connect with other members.

Each platform has its own strengths. Knowing your priorities can help narrow the options as we review the most popular communities on the internet as well as their features. We'll get started!

What to look for in a community platform

Community software solutions have a fundamental community component, as well as other features that add value and support specific goals. When choosing a solution, you should look for an option that is suitable for your business both now and for the future.

Do not focus solely on specific aspects. Instead, look at the total package and how the program is integrated into the overall vision of your organization.

This is what you should look for in a good community software solution:

Intuitive and easy to learn. You'll be spending a great deal of time developing and managing your community. You'll want to be able to appreciate the interaction. Be sure that the platform is intuitive and allows you to work efficiently. Of course, you would like it to be simple to use and enjoyable for your customers to use!

Accessible and simple. Your guests should be able to quickly sign in when organizing an event or are looking to participate. The fewer hurdles there are for logging in to the platform, the more likely members are to join.

integrates with other aspects of your organization. A majority of communities belong to a larger ecosystem of products that include online classes, coaching, and training materials. Everything needs to have the same branded appearance and design, and it should be easy to move from one area to another.

It includes sales and marketing capabilities. There is no way to grow an online community that nobody knows about. Ideally, the platform should have tools to help you promote your membership, selling memberships, and upselling your other products.

Insightful analytics. To provide a great experience that attracts members and keeps them engaged you have to understand what's working and what isn't. Analytics tools provide you with all the data you require about your members behavior and preferences so you can focus your efforts to provide the most effective service.

11 of the top community software online solution firms

We'll now look over the most popular online community software currently available.

1.

Key benefits of include:

The simplicity. makes it super easy to create and manage your community online. Your community can be a standalone product or use it as a value-add to your courses or coaching program.

Multiple levels. You can create both paid and free communities in order to create the "membership funnel" for your business. A free membership will attract prospective customers with the help of providing them the opportunity to communicate with your company and other peers. Then, use 's robust marketing toolsets to promote your community that is paid for, so members will have access to exclusive content and benefits.

In-depth integration into the sales and marketing tech system. One of the things that sets apart is its complete suite of tools for building businesses. When you sign up as a user, get access to the entire range of tools, which include:

• Builder for websites
• Build a landing page
• Email marketing software
• Funnel builder
• Pages for ordering and processing payments
• Host of the podcast

With , all your tools are designed to work together so you never have to worry about building tech integrations or identifying breakdowns. Just sign in, and you're set to rock and roll.

A complete and integrated solution can also help you save cash. If you invest in one-off items and building your own tech stack, you will easily invest hundreds of dollars each month. With , you have one monthly fee that covers everything you need for running a successful online business.

The Basic plan is one hundred dollars per month, and it includes 3 digital products (a community as well as two additional) and up to 10,000 contacts. If you are unable to use the basic plan, you can change to the growth plan, which costs one-time payment of $159. That gives you 15 products and up to 25,000 contacts.

Try it for free for 14 days

is everything your online business will require. All in one place.        Yes! Let's go!

2. Facebook groups

If you're a Facebook member most likely, you belong to at least some Facebook group. Facebook lets you create private groups where you can communicate with your followers to discuss business or personal issues.

Facebook group memberships are completely free however, there are hidden charges regarding the trust of users and their reputation. The trust of the public in the business has declined by 66% in recent times.

In this case, for instance, following the creation of an Facebook group for hosting her community, Kathryn Aragon discovered that many of the members no actively engaging on Facebook. In order to increase engagement, she had to move her community over to another site.

The main benefits that come with Facebook as a platform for community include:

Privacy. The content within the group is only viewed by other members.

Discussion. Posts and comments permit members to debate subjects in real-time. Group updates are distributed directly to members, which will help in streamlined communication.

Members management. Administrators of groups can manage the group members and permissions.

The downsides are that there is no control (that's the biggest problem) and there is no member directory and website management. The members aren't Facebook'scustomers. They're Facebook's customers. Don't forget the huge Facebook downtime in October 2021, which caused small businesses around the world to instantly shut off access to their networks and their clients.

A major complaint of community owners is the lack of support that is direct, as there are only support forums offered to assist with troubleshooting.

3. Discord

In the world of gaming, Discord has become a popular community platform that is accessible to all kinds of players. The aim of the platform is to build areas where people can come together around similar interest.

As an online community software solution company, Discord offers real-time video and audio conversations. It also includes custom roles to distinguish members and administrators.
 Due to its gaming and geeky roots, the style is dark and may not align with your brand's style. There aren't the option of branding your member area.

It provides the following benefits:

AI-Powered Bots. Bots can be programmed to greet new users and customize the experience. Members will know it's a bot interacting with them. However, you can make it fun to interact with it while providing useful information.

Reliable, secure private channels. Discord doesn't have a time-lag and therefore it feels as if you're part of the same space. It's known for its security and all channels are completely private, which allows members to feel safe in their discussions.

Moderator Academy. It is an extensive guide for both veteran and first-time moderators looking to upgrade their management of their communities.

On the downside, creating your Discord community isn't easy. It's a steep learning curve, and you might not be able to get the most out of the platform. It's possible that your Discord server will be with the other communities you have members involved in, which means it will be competing for attention.

Discord is available free of charge. You just need to download the software and set it up. You can also upgrade to Discord Nitro ($99.99 per year) to access more emojis and uploads with more capacity, as well as high-resolution video, and a few other upgrades.

4. Mighty Networks

Mighty Networks offers an online course platform with built-in community features. It's a robust platform that lets you customize branding as well as functions that foster community involvement.

It is the key to Mighty Networks features include:
 

Mobile access. This community site online has the mobile application which makes it simple for members to engage when they're in the field. In fact, it's easier to engage with your mobile device than via the web.

Email alerts. Members are notified via email whenever there's a new activity in the community. This gives them a quick reminder to sign in and check out what might be missing.

Branding. Mighty Network allows you to build a brand-named area that shares the same style and appearance to your website. Apply your brand's colors to tabs, buttons, actions, and text icons.

It is important to remember it is important to note that Might Networks is a community-focused platform. If you're planning to build other types of products to grow your business, you may need to invest in other apps and software to host them.

5. Hivebrite

Hivebrite is an all-in-one community management platform designed for nonprofits and education organisations. It serves more than 500 organizations like Vanderbilt University, WWF, and Sabin Vaccine Institute.

They don't display their prices on their website. To evaluate Hivebrite it is necessary to register for Demos, which is an indication they only offer corporate pricing plans.

That said, they do offer attractive features. Your community can be fully branding. Additionally, it allows you to manage your community's content and tools for marketing all in one spot.

A few of the most notable features offered by Hivebrite:

Live stream. It's possible to livestream to community members and organize real-time gatherings.

Rights of access. With Hivebrite, you can assign different access rights to distinct categories of users like students and alumni. It is also possible to create levels of membership, with greater access to members that pay.

Modular features. As your community develops, you may turn on different features. The options include forums, events and networking groups. messaging center, media center and even a job board or directory.

The biggest challenge is the integration with your database , and with other technology. It is likely that you'll have engage an IT expert to complete the APIs for synchronizing it with other tools.

6. Tribe.so

Tribe is a programmable community platform with an app ecosystem that allows direct integrations with third party companies, as well as ways to integrate the community into other products as well as websites. The use cases for Tribe include education of customers and customer satisfaction, as well as support for customers, customer relationships with brands, brand management, as well as product feedback.

With Tribe, the core features take care of the crucial community aspects. Apps extend your capabilities. Examples:

• Slack gives admins and moderators the ability to receive notifications about various events.
• Zapier connects your community with the other technology tools within your stack.
• Google Analytics helps you measure the activity of your community.

Tribe includes the following features:

Social-sharing. Tribe includes Open Graph tags to allow social sharing. This makes it easy to share content with others in the community and generate interest from potential members.

Integration. Third-party integrations with over 30 different apps let you to integrate your community and the tools that you're already using.

Modification panel. Tribe gives you the option to let users edit, or reject posts from users. It also allows you to archive older content to keep your feed tidy.

Tribe is completely free the first 100 members. The Plus Plan costs $59 per month, includes users to use Plus applications and more than 2,500 members. However, to benefit the most from the app, you'll have to move to the Premium Plan at $299 a month. It will let you remove the Tribe branding, access its API and webhooks, and expand to 25,000 members.

7. Circle.so

Circle lets you build communities around your classes as well as coaching or customer support. It is designed to ease the community building process, allowing you to create content and private areas, facilitate discussionsand make money from your membership. It is loaded with options and lets you create a branded space to match your website.

Some of Circle's standout features include:

Integrations that are easy. Circle is compatible with the third-party software, like tools for marketing via email, Slack, Wordpress, and  other tools, allowing you to promote your community , or even integrate the two with other software.

Secret and private spaces. You can create separate spaces for different members in your membership. For instance, you might have one space for core members and another for premium members.

Searchable member directory. It allows members to connect to one another by creating custom profile fields and search filters.

Circle costs $35 per month plus an 4% transaction fee per user. The Basic plan offers only the essentials of your group, such as discussions and private messaging. Make the upgrade to the Premium Plan ($89 a month with a transaction fee per user) to access classes, live streaming and more advanced analytics.

There may be a need to cover the cost of additions like additional space for administrators, additional space, white-labeling of email, and a custom single sign-on (SSO).

8. Vanilla Forums

Vanilla Forums is created to enable mid-sized and enterprises to deliver outstanding customer service. It's often used for the support of customers, customer experience, product marketing, and brand awareness.

Vanilla delivers a pleasant user experience, integration into your existing tech stack, as well as flexible customizations to suit the style of your business.

Key features of Vanilla Forums include:

Knowledge base. You can create a self-service Help Center within your community that includes user guides and Help documents.

Customization of surveys. With Vanilla Forums, you can send out customized surveys to your audience for direct responses.

Open source community. You can download Vanilla's open source code for free and manage your own community. Feeling techy? It is possible to contribute the code.

This platform is less ideal for creators who are independent and entrepreneurs on their own, as pricing cannot be listed on the website. But if you're interested, you can make an appointment with one of the sales representatives.

9. WildApricot

WildApricot can be described as an integrated application which was initially developed for nonprofits and associations. Now, its users include associations, clubs, as well as chapters of local and state level.

Wild Apricot has a self-serve style that lets you personalize each aspect of your community. Its gamification and reputation system helps you promote good content, make member-friendly features available and even enable moderation automation.

It contains these important features:

Event management. Plan events such as virtual auctions, online conferences, and webinars--and get sponsors for your event. Also, you can make your calendar public and create registrations for your event.

Donations. With WildApricot, you are able to accept donations as well as share progress towards your donation goals. You can also export your donation records so that you can monitor and track the donations.

CRM. Like , WildApricot has a CRM (customer relationship management) tool with an extensive member directory which can be accessed from anywhere.

It is necessary to use third-party software for marketing and running your company. They will most likely integrate with WildApricot which includes WordPress, Mailchimp, and Zapier. Payment processing, however, is only available for U.S. and Canada residents.

WildApricot is a free service that allows you to try it for at no cost for up to 50 contacts. Prices will rise as your community grows:

• $48 a month for 100 contacts
• 60 dollars a month for 250 contacts
• A month's rent of $110 for 500 contacts
• One month at $190 per 2 000 contacts

10. Disciple Media

Disciple Media is a community platform that consists of three parts that include a console to manage your content on mobile or desktops, an app for mobile where members can engage with each other, and the community on the web, which gives people an opportunity to connect on desktop.

It's designed for creators, founders, and other influencers looking to develop their own brand social platform.

Disciple Media includes the following attributes:

Different layouts. You can store and share content from one central area. Make use of groups, folders and lists to design a custom structure for your users.

Mobile application. Disciple Media is an equivalent to a social network in that the mobile app experiences are geared toward users. It also has a web-based app that is however, it lacks features compared to the mobile application.

In-app purchases. Disciple lets you drive in-app purchases and sponsorships, so you can make your users customers.

The price of Disciple will depend on the amount of participants as well as your preference of web, mobile, or both.

• Web-only: $46 per month for 100 members
• Only mobile: $458 a month for 500 users
• Mobile and web 504 dollars for 500 users

Additional features include API white labeling, API additional administrative users. You'll also pay more to get community coaching members' support and mastermind features.

11. Vibely.io

Vibely.io was created by two former Asana employees, Teri Yu and Theresa Lee who wanted at disrupting the community of creators in a positive way. Their slogan "Built with women in mind, not by gamer dudes" provides a sense of the tone they're going for.

Vibely.io is an online community platform which allows creators to communicate with their fans, and also collect user-generated content.

Vibely.io's top features include:

The commitment to positiveness. Vibely is committed to not allowing trolls, spam, or even violence. Their goal is to build a space where everyone belongs.

Challenges and tools for accountability. This app offers the leaderboards, challenges and trackers that keep everybody motivated.

Ambassadors. Vibely lets you appoint individuals in your community who will help you welcome and manage your members.

You can create your own Vibely community for free without a limit on the number of members, ambassadors and super administrators. On the free plan it is not possible to accept regular payments. The Mastermind program allows payments to be accepted and takes 10% of your revenue.

The top online community software solution firm

There are a variety of factors to take into consideration in deciding on the ideal online community-building platform. You need tools to build, market, and sell your community. The platform must be user-friendly to both your members.
 
 From our evaluations, there's many good choices however one stand in its own as an all-in-one enterprise platform.

Only allows you to develop and profit from a vibrant community along with other digital goods like classes online and coaching courses. Furthermore, it provides all the tools you need to sell and market the products so that you can expand and grow a profitable knowledge business.

If you're looking to create a forum, you might choose one of the other communities we've looked at. According to the scale of your group it may be reasonable (or even free).

However, free software are subject to external algorithms and rules while limiting your growth potential. The software doesn't have the features you need and often cap the amount of users that you are able to be able to accept.

With , your community is yours. You decide the guidelines, terms and conditions as well as the cost, regardless of whether it is free or paid.

If you're trying to establish an online presence, this is an all-in-one answer. Through video tutorials and walkthroughs to get you up and running fast. Through the University, you have access to the basics of running an online community that is accessible to all users.

Start your free 14-day trial of right now!