11 top online community software solution platforms

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

Selecting the best software for your community can be overwhelming, as elements such as ease of use the ability to support customers, flexibility of platforms along with other factors are on the line. To ease the pressure that comes with this major decision, we've reviewed the top eleven online community software solutions that are available.

Find out the full details, including the good, bad, and the ugly of the most popular solutions out there. We've shared tons of insights regarding what to be looking for in an online community platform , so you'll be able to make the ideal choice for your business.

What exactly are online community software solution companies?

Online community platforms are computer-based solutions which allow you to build a digital space for members to interact, share knowledge, and connect with other members.

The different platforms offer strengths and weaknesses. Being aware of your preferences can assist you in narrowing down your options when we look at the best online community platforms and their functionality. We'll get started!

What should you look for in a community platform

Community software has a fundamental community component, as well as other functions that enhance the experience and help achieve specific objectives. To choose, look for an option that is suitable with your organization both now and for the future.

Focus on the whole package, not just on particular aspects. Instead, consider the total package and how well the software fits into the long-term vision of your business.

This is what you should be looking for in a quality community-based software product:

Easy to operate. You'll be spending much of your time developing and managing your community. You'll want to be able to appreciate the user experience. Make sure the platform has a user-friendly interface that helps you efficiently. Of course, you want it to be user-friendly and fun for your users to use!

Accessible and simple. Members must be able quickly sign in when hosting an event or they would like to join in. The fewer hurdles there are in logging into the system, the more likely members will be to participate.

Integrates with the rest of your company. Most communities are part of a larger ecosystem of products such as online courses or coaching materials. Every product should be branded with the same style and look, as well as it should be easy to navigate from one space to the next.

includes sales and marketing functions. You can't grow a community that no one is aware of. Ideally, the platform should have tools to help you promote your membership as well as selling memberships and increasing sales for other products.

Analytics that are insightful. To provide a great experience that attracts members and keeps them engaged it is important to know the things that are working and not. Analytics tools provide you with all you need to know on your customers' habits and preferences, so that you can target your efforts to provide the most effective service.

11 top online community software solution firms

We'll now look over the top online community softwares today available.

1.

Key benefits of include:

Simple. makes it super simple to build and run your online community. You can make your community an independent product, or utilize it as a value-add to your courses or coaching program.

Multiple tiers. You can create both paid and free communities in order for creating the "membership funnel" to promote your company. A free membership will attract potential customers by giving them the opportunity to communicate with your company and other peers. Utilize's powerful marketing toolset to upsell your paid community, where members have access to premium content or benefits.

In-depth integration into the sales and marketing tech system. One of the aspects that differentiates it from the rest the HTML0 suite is its comprehensive set of business-building tools. Users have access to all the toolset, including:

• Web Builder
• Builder of landing pages
• Email marketing software
• Funnel builder
• Pages for ordering and processing payments
• Host of the podcast

With , all your tools are built to be integrated to eliminate the headache of developing tech integrations, or identifying breakdowns. Simply sign up, and you're ready to roll.

As an all-in-one solution, can also help you save cash. Investing in one-off products and creating your own technology stack, you could quickly invest hundreds of dollars each month. By paying 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 comprises 3 digital services (a community, and two other) and more than 10,000 contacts. When you outgrow the Basic plan, you can change to the growth plan for $159 a month. That gives you 15 products as well as up to 25,000 contacts.

Try free for 14 days

It has everything your online business requires for your online business. All you need to know.        Yes! Let's go!

2. Facebook groups

If you're an avid Facebook user most likely, you have a connection to at the very least at least one Facebook group. Facebook allows you to create private groups in which you are able to connect with your audience either for business or personal reasons.

Facebook's groups are for free, but there are costs hidden regarding the trust of users and their reputation. The trust of the public in the business has declined by 66% in the last few years.

In this case, for instance, following the creation of an Facebook group for hosting her community, Kathryn Aragon discovered that many of her members weren't anymore using Facebook. To boost engagement her community, she decided to shift her community over to another site.

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

Security. The content within the group can only be viewed by other members.

Discussion. Posts and comments permit members to debate issues in real-time. Group updates are distributed directly to members. This can help streamline communications.

Members management. Group administrators are able to manage the group members and permissions.

The downsides are that there is no ownership (that's the biggest problem) and there is no member directory or management of the website. The members aren't Facebook'scustomers. They're Facebook's customers. We should not forget about the great Facebook outage of October, 2021, which led small companies across the world to instantly shut off access to their networks and their clients.

A major complaint of owners of community groups is the absence of support in person, and just support forums available to assist with troubleshooting.

3. Discord

In the gaming world, Discord has been a thriving community platform for all types of users. Its goal: to create spaces where people can connect to share the same passions.

A community-based online software solution provider, Discord offers real-time video and audio calls. Additionally, it offers custom roles that distinguish between members and administrators.
 Due to its gaming and geeky roots, the design has a dark tone and may not be in line with your company's design. Discord does not offer numerous options to brand your membership space.

It provides the following benefits:

AI-Powered Bots. Bots can be programmed to greet new users and make the experience more personal. Members will know it's a bot interacting with them. However, you can create fun experiences with it , while also offering useful information.

Reliable, secure private channels. Discord doesn't have a time-lag which makes it feel as if you're part of the same room. It's a popular choice for security and all channels are secure, which allows participants to feel comfortable during their conversations.

Moderator Academy. It is an extensive resource for first-time and veteran moderators who want to improve their management of their communities.

The downside is that creating your Discord community can be complicated. This means that you'll have to learn, and you might not achieve most value from the platform. It's possible that your Discord server will also be alongside all of the other communities your members are in, so you'll be competing for their attention.

Discord is free to download. Simply download the software and install it. Upgrade up to Discord Nitro ($99.99 a year) to get access to more emojis larger uploads, higher-quality video and other upgrades.

4. Mighty Networks

Mighty Networks offers an online platform for courses with an integrated community feature. It's a robust platform that 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 online community platform features a mobile app which makes it simple for members to engage when they're at the move. It's actually simpler to interact with your mobile device than via the web.

Email alerts. Members are notified via email whenever there's a new activity in the community. They get a brief reminder to sign in and see what they might have missed.

Branding. Mighty Network allows you to make a brandable area that shares the same look and feel to your website. Simply apply your branded colors to buttons, tabs, actions, and text icons.

It is important to remember that Might Networks is a community-focused platform. If you want to create different kinds of products for your company, you may need to buy other software as well as software for hosting them.

5. Hivebrite

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

They don't display their prices on their site. To test Hivebrite it is necessary to sign up to Demos, which is an indication they only offer prices for corporate customers.

They do have attractive features. Your community is able to be brand-named. And, it lets you control your community's content, members and tools for marketing from one location.

One of Hivebrite's most distinctive features:

Live stream. It's possible to livestream live to members of the community and hold real-time events.

Rights of access. With Hivebrite, it is possible to grant different access rights to various categories of users like graduates and students. Additionally, you can create different levels of membership that offer greater access to paying members.

Modular features. As your community grows, you are able to turn on different features. Options include events, forums and networking groups. messaging center, media center and a job board or directory.

One challenge with this platform is connecting it to your database and other tech. It is likely that you'll have engage an IT expert to complete the APIs that sync the platform with various tools.

6. Tribe.so

Tribe is a community-building platform, with an app ecosystem that allows direct integrations with third party companies, as well as tools to embed the community into other products as well as websites. Examples of use cases are customer education the customer's experience, success for customers, customer support, customer relationship with brands, brand management, as well as customer feedback on products.

With Tribe The core features take care of the vital community elements. Applications can enhance your abilities. Examples:

• Slack gives admins and moderators notifications of various activities.
• Zapier is a way to connect your group with the other technology tools within your stack.
• Google Analytics helps you measure activities in your local community.

Tribe comes with the following features:

Social sharing. Tribe includes Open Graph tags to facilitate social sharing. This makes it easy to share content outside the community, and to draw attention from prospective members.

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

Modification Panel. Tribe gives you the possibility to accept, edit, or reject posts made by users. It also allows you to archive older posts to ensure your feed stays free of clutter.

Tribe is completely free as many as 100 members. The Plus Plan costs $59 per month, includes users to use Plus applications and up to 2,500 users. Though to get the most benefit from the app, users will need move to the Premium Plan at $299 a month. This will allow you to remove the Tribe branding, access its API and webhooks, and expand to 25,000 members.

7. Circle.so

Circle lets you build a community around your courses as well as coaching or customer service. It's goal is to streamline the community-building process by equipping 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 that matches your website.

A few of the most memorable features offered by Circle are:

Easy integrations. Circle is compatible with tools from third parties, such as tools for marketing via email, Slack, Wordpress, and  other tools, allowing you to promote your community , or even integrate it with other products.

Private and secret spaces. You can create separate areas for different groups within your membership. In this case, for instance, you could have one space to accommodate core members while another is reserved for premium members.

Searchable member directory. It allows members to connect by establishing customized profile fields as well as search filters.

Circle is priced at $35 per month, plus a 4% transaction fee per user. The Basic plan offers the bare essentials for your group, such as conversations and private messaging. Make the upgrade to the Premium Plan ($89 per month, plus a 1% transaction fee per user) for access to Live streaming courses, online classes and advanced analytics.

There may be a need to cover the cost of add-ons such as extra administrators, extra space, white-labeling of email, and custom single sign-on (SSO).

8. Vanilla Forums

Vanilla Forums is created to enable mid-sized and enterprise organizations to offer extraordinary customer experience. The platform is often utilized for customer support, customer experience as well as product marketing and the promotion of brands.

Vanilla delivers a pleasant user experience, integration with the existing technology stack and flexible , customizable customization that fits your branding.

Principal characteristics of Vanilla Forums include:

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

Customization of surveys. With Vanilla Forums it is possible to send personalized surveys to your customers for direct comments.

Open source community. You can download Vanilla's open source code for free and create your own community. Feeling techy? You can even contribute to the code.

This platform is less suited to independent creators and solopreneurs, and pricing cannot be available on the site. But if you're interested, you may schedule an appointment to speak to one of the sales representatives.

9. WildApricot

WildApricot offers a complete platform which was initially developed for nonprofits and associations. Its users now include clubs, associations, and local and state chapter associations.

Wild Apricot has a self-serve style that lets you personalize the entire experience of your group. Its gamification and reputation system lets you create good content, make member-friendly features available and even automate moderation.

It contains these important features:

Event management. Plan events such as online auctions, virtual webinars, conferences and more. You can also find sponsors for your event. You can also publish your event calendar and organize event registration.

Donations. With WildApricot, you can accept donations and communicate progress toward your goals for donations. You can also export the records of your donations for easier keep track of and manage donations.

CRM. Like , WildApricot offers a CRM (customer relationship management) software that comes with a robust member directory that can be accessed from anywhere.

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

You can test WildApricot for free as long as you have 50 contacts. Prices will rise when your network grows

• $48 a month for 100 contacts
• 60 dollars a month for 250 contacts
• $500 contacts for $110 per month. contacts
• $190 a month for 2,000 contacts

10. Disciple Media

Disciple Media is a community-based platform which is comprised of three elements consisting of a console that manages the content that you create on mobile and desktops, an app for mobile which allows users to interact, and the web community, which gives people an opportunity to connect on desktop.

It's designed for entrepreneurs, creators, and influential personalities who wish to create their own brand-name social media platform.

Disciple Media includes the following features:

Multi-layouts. You can store and share content from one central location. Make use of groups, folders and lists to build a custom structure for your users.

Mobile application. Disciple Media is similar to a social network by the fact that its mobile application experiences are geared toward users. It also has a web-based app, but it has limited capabilities compared to the mobile app.

In-app purchases. Disciple lets you drive in-app purchases and sponsorships which allows you to convert your customers into customers.

The price of Disciple depends on the number of participants and the choice of mobile or web or both.

• Only on the web: $46 a month for 100 users
• For mobile only, $458 a month for 500 members
• Web and mobile: $504 for 500 members

The add-ons are API white labeling, API additional administrative users. You'll also pay more for coaching in the community as well as member support and mastermind features.

11. Vibely.io

Vibely.io was created by two former Asana employee, Teri Yu and Theresa Lee, who looked at disrupting the community of creators in a positive way. Their tagline "Built by women, not by gamer guys," will give you an idea of the tone they're going to create.

Vibely.io is a creator-controlled internet community platform which allows creators to interact with fans and collect user-generated content.

Vibely.io's best features are:

A commitment to positive thinking. Vibely guarantees no spam, trolls, or violence. They aim to create an environment that is inclusive of everyone.

Tools for accountability and challenges. The app includes leadersboards, challenges, and trackers that keep everybody engaged.

Ambassadors. Vibely allows you to designate leaders in your community to help you welcome and manage the members.

Create a Vibely community at no cost and there is no limit to the number of members, ambassadors, or super administrators. However, on the plan that is free there is no way to take recurring payments. The Mastermind plan unlocks payments as well as takes 10% of your revenue.

The top online community software solutions firm

There are a variety of factors to take into consideration when selecting the most suitable online community-building platform. You need tools to build markets, sell, and build your community, and the platform needs to be user-friendly both for you and your community members.
 
 As you can see from our evaluations, there's many good choices however one stand in its own as an all-in-one enterprise platform.

Only empowers you to create and monetize a active community, along with other digital offerings like online courses and coaching programs. Furthermore, it provides all the resources you require to sell and market the products so that you can grow and scale a profitable knowledge business.

If you're looking to start a forum, it's possible to choose any of the forums we've examined. Depending on how big your community it could be affordable (or perhaps free).

But free software solutions can make you subject to other algorithms and rules while limiting the growth possibilities. They lack the capabilities you need and often cap the number of members you can be able to accept.

The community you create is yours. You set the rules, conditions and cost of membership, free or paid.

If you're looking to build an online presence, is your all-in-one solution. With video walkthroughs and tutorials, you can get started fast. Through University there is access to training in the basics of running an online community. It is available free to all users.

Start your free 14-day trial of today!