11 best community software online platform solutions

Oct 28, 2022

You are searching for the most effective online community platform that can manage your community for your business?

Deciding on the most suitable software to run your community could seem overwhelming because of factors like ease of use, as well as the capacity to help clients, platform flexibility as well as other elements are on the line. In order to ease the stress on this important selection, we've looked at the top 11 online community software products which are currently available.

Learn all the specifics, which include the best as well as the ugly of the most popular solutions out there. We've provided a wealth of information about what you should look for in an online community platform , so that you'll be able to make the ideal choice for your business.

What is the essence of the online community software solutions companies?

Community platforms online are software-based platforms that enable you to create an online community for your users to communicate, share knowledge, and connect with others.

Different platforms have strengths and weaknesses. Being aware of your preferences will help narrow down your options when we look at the top online community platforms and their functionality. We'll get started!

What do you need to be looking at in a platform that is a part of a community?

Community software includes a crucial part for community, along with other features that improve the user experience of the user and assist in achieving certain goals. To choose, look for an option that will work for your company both today as well as in the near coming years.

Focus on the whole package, not just on particular elements. Instead, consider the total software and consider how the software fits into the overall vision for your company.

These are the things you ought to be seeking in a high-quality community-based software product:

Easy to operate. It is likely that you will spend a lot of the time creating and managing your community. You'll want to be able to appreciate the experience of users. Be sure that the platform you choose has an intuitive interface that can assist you effectively. Of course, you want it to be user-friendly and fun for your users to use!

Easy and easy to access. Members must be able quickly login when they host an event , or if they'd like to join in. There are fewer obstacles in logging into the system and the less likely it is that members are to be able to take part.

Integrates with the rest of your business. Most communities are part of a larger ecosystem of services, such as the online course or materials for coaching. All products should be labeled in the same manner and appearance and should be easy to navigate between different areas to get to another.

contains marketing and sales functions. There is no way to grow in a place that no one knows about. Ideally, your platform must have tools to help you market your membership and also sell memberships as well as increasing sales for different products.

Analytics that provide valuable information. To provide a excellent experience for your customers that draws them in and keeps them entertained, it is important to know what is working and not. Analytics tools give you the information you need about your clients' behavior and preferences so that you can tailor your marketing in order to offer the best customer service.

11 best online community software solution providers

Now, we'll look at the top online community softwares currently available.

1.

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Key benefits of include:

Simple. makes it super easy to set up and operate your community online. You can make your community as an individual product or use it as the basis for your classes or coaching program.

Multiple levels. You can create community that is free and paid in order for creating"membership funnels "membership funnel" to advertise your business. The free membership can attract potential customers by giving them the opportunity to communicate with your business and friends. Utilize's powerful marketing toolset to upsell your paid community, where members have access to premium content and advantages.

In-depth integration into the marketing and sales tech software. One of the features that distinguish it from other members of in the HTML0 suite is the comprehensive collection of tools for building businesses. Customers have access to the entirety of the toolset, including:

  • Web Builder
  • Creator of landing pages
  • Marketing software for email
  • Funnel builder
  • Pages for ordering and processing payments
  • The host of the podcast

With , all your tools are designed to integrate for ease of making tech integrations, or finding out if there are any issues. Just sign-up, and then you're all set to go.

It is a complete solution that will also allow you to save cash. By investing in single-use products, as well as creating your own tech stack, you will be able to quickly invest hundreds of dollars every month. Paying a monthly cost that covers everything you need to run a profitable online business.

The Basic plan is 100 dollars per monthand is comprised of three digital services (a community, and two additional) plus greater than 10,000 people. Once you've outgrown the basic plan, you are able to switch to the growth plan for one-time payment of $159. This gives you 15 items and up to 25000 contacts.

Try for free for 14 Days

It includes everything an online business needs for an online business. Everything you require to know. Yes! Let's go!

2. Facebook groups

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If you're an avid Facebook fan, most likely, you have an account with at minimum, at the very least, at the very least one Facebook group. Facebook lets you create private groups, where it is possible to interact with your community for business or personal reasons.

Facebook's groups are for no cost, however there are fees hidden in relation to the trust of users and their image. The public's trust on the site has decreased by 66% over the last few years.

For instance, following the creation of an Facebook group for hosting her community, Kathryn Aragon discovered that many of her members were no longer making use of Facebook. To boost engagement her community, she decided to shift her community over to another site.

The biggest benefits of Facebook as a community platform communities are:

Security. The content within the group may only be accessible to other members.

discussion. Posts and comments allow members to discuss questions in real-time. Updates from the group are sent directly to members. This can help streamline communications.

Members management. Administrators of groups are able to oversee the group's members as well as permissions.

There are a few downsides. One is that there is no control over the website (that's the biggest problem) and there is the member directory and no administration of the website. The members don't count as Facebook'scustomers. They're Facebook's customers. Don't forget the massive Facebook outage that occurred in the month of October in 2021. This caused smaller businesses across the globe to block access to their networks and their customers.

A major complaint of group owners is the lack of help in person. just support forums available to aid in troubleshooting.

3. Discord

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Within the realm of gaming, Discord has developed into a vibrant community platform for all types of players. Its goal: to create environments where people are able to connect with each other and share their passions.

A community-based online software solution provider, Discord offers real-time video as well as audio calls. In addition, it has distinct roles for admins and members. In light of its gaming and geeky roots it has dark hues and might not be in line with the style of your business. Discord does not offer numerous options to brand your member area.

It provides the following benefits:

AI-Powered Bots. Bots can be programmed to welcome new users to make the user experience more personalized. Users will be aware that it's a bot interacting with them. But, it's possible to provide fun and enjoyable experiences  as well as provide valuable information.

Reliable, secure private channels. Discord doesn't have a time-lag that makes it appear as though you're in the same room. It's a popular choice for security and every channel is secure, that allows users to feel comfortable during their chats.

Moderator Academy. It's a comprehensive resource for first-time and veteran moderators looking to enhance the management of their communities.

However, the downside is that establishing your Discord community isn't easy. That means you'll have to master the process, and might not achieve most value through the service. You're likely to find you'll find that your Discord server will also be in the same group as different communities you have members involved in, and you'll have to compete for their focus.

Discord can be downloaded for free. Just download the software and install it. Upgrade up to Discord Nitro ($99.99 annually) to get access to more emoticons, bigger uploads, high-quality video, and other upgrades.

4. Mighty Networks

mighty-networks-website

Mighty Networks offers the online platform for online classes that include a community feature. It's a solid platform that can be tailored to meet the needs of your students and provides tools to help to encourage participation from the community.

It is the key to Mighty Networks features include:
   

Mobile access. The online community platform has an app for mobile devices that allows members to connect even when in motion. It's much easier to communicate using your mobile phone rather than using the internet.

Email alerts. Members receive an email notification whenever there's a new activity within the community. Members are notified in a short time to log in and check the things they not noticed.

Branding. Mighty Network allows you to design a brand-friendly section that is identical in appearance and style as your site. Apply your brand's colors on tabs, buttons action icons, as well as text.

It's crucial to understand the fact that Might Networks is a community-focused platform. If you are planning to develop various kinds of merchandise for your company, you may need to buy other software as well as software to host them.

5. Hivebrite

hivebrite-website

Hivebrite can be described as a community management system that is all-in-one specifically designed for educational and non-profit groups. It serves more than 500 institutions like Vanderbilt University, WWF, and Sabin Vaccine Institute.

The prices aren't displayed on their site. To test Hivebrite it's necessary to register for Demos This indicates that they have prices available to corporate customers.

They do have attractive features. The community you manage can be brand-named. It lets you decide on the content of your community, members and tools for marketing from one location.

One of Hivebrite's most distinctive attributes is

Livestream. It's possible to live stream live to the people in the community as well as host events that are real-time.

Access rights. 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 provide greater access for paying members.

Modular features. As your community grows, you are able to enable different features. Options include events, forums as well as networking groups. A media center, a messaging center, job board or directory.

One challenge with the system is linking it to your database as well as other tech. It is likely that you'll have engage an IT specialist to set up the APIs that sync the platform to various applications.

6. Tribe.so

tribe.so-website

Tribe is a community-building tool, with an app ecosystem which allows direct integration with third party organizations, in addition to ways to integrate communities into different products and websites. Some examples of usage cases include customer education the customer's experience and satisfaction for the customer, the customer's support, relationships with brands, management of brands, as well as customers' feedback about product features.

With Tribe The core features take care of the vital community elements. The applications can help you improve your skills. Examples:

  • Slack allows moderators and administrators to receive the ability to receive notifications about various events.
  • Zapier allows you to connect your group with the other technology tools within your stack.
  • Google Analytics helps you measure activities in your local community.

Tribe includes the following characteristics:

Social Sharing. Tribe includes Open Graph tags to allow social sharing. This allows you to share content with others in the communityand draw attention from prospective members.

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

Modification Panel. Tribe gives you the possibility to accept and edit content posted by users. It also allows you to archive posts from the past to make sure your feed is free from chaos.

Tribe is totally free up to up to 100 members. Its Plus Plan costs $59 per month and allows the ability to access Plus apps with up to 2,500 people. To get the maximum benefits from this app, users will need move to the Premium Plan at 299 dollars per month. It will let you get rid of the Tribe logo, use the Tribe API as well as webhooks and expand to 25,000 members.

7. Circle.so

circle.so-website

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 spaces, encourage discussions and generate revenue from the membership. The platform is packed with possibilities and allows you to create an area that is branded to match the design of your site.

Some of the best-known features offered by Circle are:

Integrations that are easy. Circle works with various applications from third-party companies, such as applications for marketing through emails, Slack, Wordpress, and many more, enabling users to advertise their community  or integrate Circle with other applications.

Secret and private spaces. You can create separate spaces for distinct groups within your membership. This is for instance, you could use one area to house your core members and another reserved for premium members.

Searchable member directory. Members can connect to each other by creating custom profiles as well as search filters.

Circle is priced at $35 per month, plus an 4% transaction charge per user. The basic plan provides the bare essentials for the group like messages and conversations. Upgrade to the Premium Plan ($89 per month and 1% transaction fee for each user) for live streaming classes as well as online courses and advanced analytics.

There may be a requirement to pay for the costs of adding ons like extra administrators, additional space, white-labeling of email, as well as custom one-sign-on (SSO).

8. Vanilla Forums

vanilla-forums-website

Vanilla Forums was developed to help mid-sized as well as enterprises to deliver an extraordinary customer experience. The platform is commonly used for customer support, customer experience as well as product marketing and the promotion of brands.

Vanilla offers a smooth user experience, seamless integration with the existing technology stack and flexible , customizing customization that fits your branding.

Some of the main features of Vanilla Forums include:

Knowledge Base. You can create Self-Service Help Centers in your community. It contains guidebooks for users and other assistance materials.

The ability to customize surveys. With Vanilla Forums it is possible to send personalized surveys to your clients for comments directly.

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

This site is not ideal for creators who are independent and entrepreneurs on their own, as pricing will not be displayed on the website. However, if you're interested you can schedule an appointment to speak with one of their representatives for sales.

9. WildApricot

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WildApricot is an entire platform that was designed initially for nonprofits as well as associations. The users include clubs, associations and local and state chapter associations.

Wild Apricot has a self-serve style , allowing you to customize the overall experience of your guests. The gamification system and reputation system can help you produce quality content, provide member-friendly features available and even automate the moderation process.

It includes these essential features:

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

Donations. With WildApricot, you are able to accept donations as well as share progress in reaching your goals in exchange for them. Additionally, you can export the details of your donations to more efficient tracking and managing contributions.

CRM. Like , WildApricot provides a CRM (customer relationship management) software that comes with the most robust directory of members that can be accessed from anywhere.

It's essential to employ third-party software to help you market and run your business. The majority of them will work with WildApricot including WordPress, Mailchimp, and Zapier. Also, payment processing is available only for U.S. and Canada residents.

You can test WildApricot for free as long as you've reached 50 people. Prices will rise when your contacts grow.

  • A month of $48 for 100 contacts
  • 60 dollars a month for 250 contacts
  • $500 contacts for $10 per month. Contacts
  • A month of $190 for 2,000 contacts

10. Disciple Media

disciple-media-website

Disciple Media is a social platform that is composed of three elements consisting of an interface that handles your content both on desktops and mobile devices as well as an application for mobile that allows users to connect, and the web community, which gives people an chance to communicate on desktop.

It's designed to cater to creators, entrepreneurs, and prominent personalities who want to establish their own brand name social media network.

Disciple Media includes the following characteristics:

Multi-layouts. You can store and access content through one central point. Make use of groups, folders and lists to build a custom layout to your user.

Mobile application. Disciple Media is an equivalent to a social media platform by the fact that the mobile app experience is targeted towards customers. There is also a web-based application, however it is limitations compared to its mobile apps.

In-app purchase. Disciple lets you create sponsorships and in-app purchases which allows you to convert the customers you have attracted into your business.

The cost of Disciple is based on the number of people who participate as well as the option of using the mobile or web version or both.

  • Only on the web cost: $46 per monthly for 100 customers
  • For mobile users only, 458 dollars a month for 500 members
  • Mobile and web Mobile: $504 per 500 members

These add-ons include API white labeling and API administration users, and API white labeling. There is also a cost to coach in the community and members support and mastermind functions.

11. Vibely.io

vibely.io-website

Vibely.io was created by two former Asana employee Teri Yu and Theresa Lee, who looked at disrupting the ecosystem of creators in a positive way. Their motto "Built with women in mind, and not by gamers," will provide a hint of what they're planning to set.

Vibely.io is an online platform for communities that allows creators to interact with fans and collect user-generated content.

Vibely.io's most popular features include:

A pledge to think positively. Vibely is a guarantee that there will be the absence of spam, trolls or violence. They aim to create an environment that's welcoming of all users.

tools for accountability and issues. This app has leadersboards tracksers, challenges, and leaderboards to keep everyone engaged.

Ambassadors. Vibely lets you designate individuals in your community who will aid in the welcoming and management of the community members.

Start an Vibely community at no cost and there's no limit on the number of members, ambassadors or super administrators. However, on the Plan that's free, you are not able to accept recurring payment. The Mastermind plan unlocks payments in addition to taking 10% of your earnings.

The best company for community software online

There are many things to consider when selecting the most suitable online community-building platform. It is essential to have tools that can help you create markets, sell, and build your community, and the platform should be user-friendly, both for the community and for you.
   
    As you can see from our evaluations, there's many excellent options, but one stands by itself as an enterprise-wide platform that is all-inclusive.

Only allows you to build and profit from a growing community, along with other digital offerings like online courses and coaching courses. Furthermore, it provides the necessary resources to market and sell products, so you can grow and scale to become a successful knowledge-based business.

If you're looking to start a forum, it's possible to pick one of the forums we've examined. Depending on how big your forum is, the cost could be reasonable (or maybe even free).

Free software applications can make you dependent on other rules and algorithms, while also limiting your growth options. They lack the capabilities required and usually limit the number of members they are willing to take on.

The community you create is yours to manage. You set the rules, the conditions, and even the cost for membership, free or paid.

If you're seeking to create your online presence, this is an all-inclusive solution. With video walkthroughs and tutorials, you can get started quickly. Through University it is possible to access classes on the basic aspects of running an online community. It is available free to all users.

Get your complimentary 14-day trial from today!

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