11 of the best online community software platform solutions

You are looking for the best online community platform that can host your business's branded community?

Choosing the right community software online can be difficult, considering that aspects like user-friendliness, the ability to support customers, flexibility of platforms as well as many other aspects are on the line. To alleviate the stress of this big selection, we've reviewed the best 11 community software solution companies on the market.

Check out the article to learn 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 be looking for in the online community platform to ensure you can make the best decision for your company.

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

Online community platforms are solutions for software that let you create an online space for your members to connect, learn and interact with each other members.

Each platform has its own strengths. Being aware of your preferences can assist you in narrowing down the choices as we go through the top online communities and their functionality. We'll get started!

What should you look for in a community-based platform

Community software solutions have a core community functionality with other features that add value and assist with specific goals. If you are looking for a solution, make sure to choose an option that is suitable to benefit your company today and in the near future.

Don't focus exclusively on individual features. Instead, look at the entire package, and see how the program fits into the long-term vision of your organization.

This is what you should look for in a good community-based software product:

Intuitive and easy to operate. You're going to spend many hours building as well as managing the community. You'll want to be able to appreciate the user experience. You must ensure that the platform you choose to use is intuitive and helps you efficiently. Of course, you would like it to be user-friendly to use and enjoyable for your customers to use as well!

Simple to access. Members will be able to swiftly log in when you're organizing an event or are looking to participate. There are fewer obstacles for logging in to the system, the more likely members will want to take part.

Connects to the rest of your company. The majority of communities form part of an entire ecosystem of goods: online courses as well as coaching and other training products. Everything needs to have the same branded appearance and design, and it must be simple to move from one area to the next.

includes sales and marketing features. There is no way to grow an online community that nobody is aware of. Ideally, the platform will have tools to help you promote your community by selling memberships, as well as increasing sales for 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 give you all you need to know regarding your member's habits and preferences, so that you can direct your attention on the most efficient ways.

11 best online community software solution providers

Now, let's review the top online community softwares currently available.

1.

The main benefits are:

Simplicity. makes it super simple to set up and manage your community online. You can make your community an independent product, or utilize it as an added value to your training or coaching programs.

Multiple levels. You can create free and paid communities to design the "membership funnel" to promote your company. The free membership you offer can draw new customers, by providing them with a space to interact with other members of your community and with you. Utilize's powerful marketing toolsets to promote your community that is paid for, so members will have access to exclusive content and benefits.

A deep integration with the sales and marketing tech platform. One of the features that distinguish it the HTML0 suite is its comprehensive set of tools for building businesses. As a user, you get access to the entire toolset, including:

• Website builder
• Landing page builder
• Software for marketing emails
• Funnel builder
• Payment processing and order pages
• Host of the podcast

All your devices have been designed to integrate to eliminate to worry about creating tech integrations or identifying breakdowns. Just sign in, and then you're all set to roll.

It is a complete solution that can also help you save money. By investing in single-use products or building your own tech stack, you could effortlessly spend hundreds of dollars every month. By paying just one cost per month that will cover everything you need for running an effective online business.

The Basic plan is one hundred dollars per month, and it includes 3 digital products (a community, and two other) and more than 10,000 contacts. Once you've outgrown the basic plan, you are able to upgrade to the Growth plan, which costs $159 per month. You get 15 different products and up to 25,000 contacts.

Try it for free for 14 days

Everything your business online needs. All you need to know.        Yes! Let's go

2. Facebook groups

If you're an avid Facebook member, you probably have a connection to at the very least at least one Facebook group. Facebook lets you create private groups that allow you to communicate with your followers to discuss business or personal issues.

Facebook's groups are for free, however, there are hidden charges in terms of trust and reputation. Trust in the company has declined by 66% in recent years.

In this case, for instance, following the creation of a Facebook group for hosting her community, Kathryn Aragon discovered that many of her members weren't actively making use of Facebook. To boost engagement the group, she needed to transfer the group to a different platform.

The most significant benefits for Facebook as a community platform arethe following:

Privacy. The content within the group may only be seen by members of the group.

Discussion. Posts and comments enable members to talk about subjects in real-time. Any group updates are sent directly to members. This helps to streamline communication.

Management of members. Group administrators can easily manage the group members and the permissions.

Downsides include lack of ownership (that's an issue) and no member directory or website management. Members aren't really the site'scustomers. They're Facebook's customers. Don't forget the great Facebook outage that occurred in the month of October in 2021. This affected small-scale businesses across the world to immediately be denied access to their communities and customers.

Another major issue cited by owners of community groups is the absence of direct support, with just support forums available to assist with troubleshooting.

3. Discord

Since it gained traction in the realm of gaming, Discord has been a thriving community platform that is accessible to all kinds of users. The goal is to provide places where users can meet around similar interests.

Discord is an online software for community solution company, Discord offers real-time video and audio calls. It also includes custom roles for distinguishing members from administrators.
 Given its gamer and geeky roots, the aesthetics have a dark theme and may not match your business's design. Discord doesn't give you many options for branding your members' area.

It includes the following functions:

AI-Powered Bots. Bots can be programmed to greet new users and customize the experience. The members will be aware that it's an automated system that interacts with them, but you can create fun experiences with it , while also offering useful information.

Reliable, secure private channels. Discord isn't tied to time and therefore it feels like you're in the same room. It's known for its privacy and the channels are completely private, which allows users to feel secure during their conversations.

Moderator Academy. This is a complete guide for both veteran and first-time moderators looking to upgrade their community management skills.

The downside is that creating your Discord community isn't easy. This means that you'll have to learn which means you may not achieve the most out of Discord's platform. The Discord server you use Discord server will be in the same group as other communities your members are participating in, meaning it will be competing for focus.

Discord is free to download. Simply download the app and then set it up. You can also upgrade to Discord Nitro ($99.99 a year) to get access to more emojis larger uploads, higher-quality video, as well as a couple of other improvements.

4. Mighty Networks

Mighty Networks offers an online platform for courses with a built-in community feature. The system is robust, and can be customized to fit your needs and tools that promote community involvement.

It is the key to Mighty Networks features include:
 

Mobile access. This community site online has a mobile app which makes it simple for participants to interact with each other in the field. Actually, it's much more convenient to connect on your phone than online.

Email alerts. Members get email alerts when there's new community activity. It gives them a short nudge to log in and see what they might have missed.

Branding. Mighty Network allows you to make a brandable area that shares the same style and appearance to your site. Just apply your logo's color to tabs, buttons, actions, and text icons.

It's crucial to know that Might Networks is a community-focused platform. If you want to create various other kinds of products in order to expand your business it may be necessary to buy other software and software that host them.

5. Hivebrite

Hivebrite is a community management system that is all-in-one designed for nonprofits and education groups. It is used by more than 500 organizations including Vanderbilt University, WWF, and Sabin Vaccine Institute.

They don't display their prices on their website. To evaluate Hivebrite for yourself, you'll have to sign up to a demo--a strong signal that they only offer corporate pricing plans.

That said, they do offer attractive features. The community you manage can be completely branding. It lets you manage your community, content as well as marketing tools all in one place.

Some of Hivebrite's standout features:

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

Rights of access. With Hivebrite, it is possible to grant different access rights to different users, such as graduates and students. You can also create tiers of membership that offer greater access to paying members.

Modular capabilities. As your community develops, you may activate different functions. Options include events, forums, networking, groups, media center, messaging, and even a job board or directory.

One of the challenges with this platform is integrating it with your existing database as well as other technologies. In most cases, you'll need engage an IT expert to complete the APIs that sync it to other software.

6. Tribe.so

Tribe is a customizable community platform, with an app ecosystem that allows direct third-party integrations and ways to integrate the community within other products and websites. Use cases include customer education, customer success, service support for customers branding, leadership in brand, and product feedback.

With Tribe the main functions take care of essential community components. Apps extend your capabilities. As an example:

• Slack provides moderators and admins the ability to receive notifications about various events.
• Zapier is a way to connect your group with other tools in your tech stack.
• Google Analytics helps you measure activity in your community.

Tribe is a collection of the following attributes:

Social-sharing. Tribe includes Open Graph tags that allow social sharing. It is easy to share content outside the community, and to draw attention from prospective members.

Integration. Third-party integrations with nearly 30 apps allow you to merge your community with the tools you're already using.

Modification panel. Tribe gives you the option to let users modify, or even reject content made by users. It also allows you to archive older posts to ensure your feed stays free of clutter.

Tribe is available for free to up to 100 members. The Plus Plan costs $59 per month, includes Plus apps and up to 2,500 users. To get the best out of the app, you'll need to change to the Premium Plan at $299 a month. It will let you get rid of the Tribe logo, utilize its webhooks and API, as well as increase membership to 25,000.

7. Circle.so

Circle allows you to build a community around your courses, coaching, or assistance for customers. It's goal is to streamline the process of building communities by allowing members with content creation tools and private areas, facilitate discussionsand make money from your membership. It is loaded with capabilities and lets you make a space with a logo which is compatible with your site.

The most notable features of Circle are:

Easy integrations. Circle works well with other third-party tools, including the email marketing software Slack, Wordpress, and  other tools, allowing you to promote your community , or even integrate the two with other software.

Spaces that are secret and private. You can create distinct areas for various categories in your membership. As an example, you may create a space specifically for core members and another for premium members.

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

Circle costs $35 per month and includes a 4% transaction fee per user. The Basic plan offers only the essentials of your community, including discussions and private messaging. Upgrade to the Professional Plan ($89 monthly plus a 1% transaction fee per user) for access to Live streaming courses, online classes and more advanced analytics.

It is possible that you will have to pay extra for add-ons such as extra administrators, extra 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 provide outstanding customer service. It is frequently used to provide the support of customers, customer experience as well as product marketing and brand awareness.

Vanilla provides a good user experience, a seamless integration with your current tech stack as well as flexible customizations to suit the style of your business.

Principal aspects of Vanilla Forums include:

Knowledge base. You can create Self-Service Help Centers in your community. It houses your user guides and assistance documents.

Surveys can be customized. With Vanilla Forums it is possible to send personalized surveys to your customers to get immediate feedback.

Open source community. You can download Vanilla's open source code for free and manage your own community. Do you have a passion for technology? Contribute to the source code.

This platform is less suitable for independent creators or solopreneurs, and pricing is not displayed on the website. If you're interested in the platform, you may schedule an appointment to talk to an agent for sales.

9. WildApricot

WildApricot is an all-in-one system which was initially developed specifically for associations and non-profit organizations. Its users now include clubs, associations, and state and local chapter organizations.

Wild Apricot has a self-serve design that lets you customize every aspect of your community. Its reputation and gamification systems allows you to promote quality content, make member-friendly features available as well as automate moderation.

It includes these key characteristics:

Event Management. Plan events such as auctions online, virtual conferences, and webinars--and get sponsors for your event. It is also possible to make your calendar public and set up event registrations.

Donations. With WildApricot, you are able to accept donations as well as communicate progress toward your donation goals. You can also export the records of your donations to make it easier to monitor and track donations.

CRM. Like , WildApricot provides the CRM (customer relationship management) tool that includes a robust member directory that is accessible from any location.

It is necessary to use third-party software to help you market and run your company. They will most likely integrate with WildApricot such as WordPress, Mailchimp, and Zapier. Also, payment processing is only available for U.S. and Canada residents.

You are able to test WildApricot free as long as you have 50 contacts. Your price will then increase as your community grows:

• A month of $48 for 100 contacts
• 60 dollars a month for 250 contacts
• $500 contacts for $110 per month. contacts
• $190 a month for 2000 contacts

10. Disciple Media

Disciple Media is a community-based platform which is comprised of three elements: a console for managing the content you publish on your mobile device or desktopdevices, a mobile application where members can engage with each other, and the community on the web offering users a desktop space to engage.

The platform is designed to be used by entrepreneurs, creators, and other influencers looking to create their own brand-name social platform.

Disciple Media includes the following attributes:

Multiple layouts. You can store and distribute content from a central area. Use folders, groups, and lists to design custom structures for your community.

Mobile application. Disciple Media is an equivalent to a social network because the mobile user experience is geared towards customers. It also has a web-based app, but it has limited features compared to the mobile application.

In-app purchase. Disciple lets you make in-app purchases as well as sponsorships and turn your members into subscribers.

Cost of Disciple is dependent on the number of participants as well as your preference of mobile or web or both.

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

Add-ons include API white labeling, API extra administrative users. There is also a cost for community coaching members' support and mastermind functions.

11. Vibely.io

Vibely.io was created by two former Asana employees, Teri Yu and Theresa Lee, who looked to challenge the communities of creators with a positive approach. Their tagline "Built with women in mind, not gamer guys," provides a sense of the tone they're going to create.

Vibely.io is a creator-controlled 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 guarantees no spam, trolls, or any kind of violence. Their goal is to build an environment that is inclusive of everyone.

Tools for accountability and challenges. It includes leadersboards, challenges, and trackers that keep everybody motivated.

Ambassadors. Vibely allows you to designate leaders in your community to assist you in welcoming and managing members.

You can create an Vibely community for free, with no limit on the number of people who are members, ambassadors and super administrators. On the free plan, you can't accept recurring payments. The Mastermind plan unlocks payments as well as takes 10 percent of the revenue.

The best online community software firm

There's plenty to think about in deciding on the ideal online community platform. There are tools needed to create, market, and sell your group, as well as the platform must be user-friendly to both the members.
 
 From our reviews, there are numerous options to choose from However, one stands out as an all-in-one business platform.

Only allows you to develop and market a vibrant and lively community as well as other digital offerings like online courses and coaching programs. And, only gives you the necessary tools to sell and market these items, so you are able to grow and expand to become a successful knowledge-based business.

If you're looking to create a forum, it's possible to choose one of the other communities we've looked at. Depending on the size of your group the option might be pricey (or even free).

However, free software will subject you to outside algorithms and rules while limiting the growth possibilities. The software doesn't have the features that you require and typically limit the number of participants you can accept.

The community you create is yours. Your terms, conditions, and cost of membership, free or paid.

If you're planning to create an online social network, is the perfect solution for you. With video walkthroughs and tutorials to get you online quickly. Through the University, you have access to training in basic aspects of running an online community. It is available accessible to all users.

Begin your no-cost 14-day trial from right now!