11 of the top online community software solutions platforms

Oct 28, 2022

Do you want to find the most effective online community site to host your brand's community?

It is a daunting task to select the best software to use for your group could be daunting due to factors such as user friendliness, support for customers and platform versatility and many more aspects are on the line. So that you can ease the stress of making the best choice We've looked at the top eleven communities software vendors online that are readily available.

Explore the entire section to find out everything you need to know about the good, bad, and the awful of the highest rated options available there. The post contains a large detail on what you is important to consider when selecting an online community platform , which will help you make the ideal choice for your requirements.

What are they exactly?

Platforms that allow online community are software solutions that allow you to build an appearance and feel of a virtual space that allows members to learn, connect and connect with other members.

Different platforms have different benefits. Knowing your requirements will help you narrow down your options as we review several of the most well-known communities on the internet and their capacities. Let's get going!

What should you look for in a community-based platform

Community software comes with a fundamental functionality for community, as well as additional options that can be beneficial since they can help you reach particular objectives. In selecting a solution, look for the right software for your business now and within the next few years.

Do not focus solely on specific elements. Instead, think about the complete package and consider how it fits in the overall strategy of your company.

The things to consider when you are looking for a community-focused software program

Easy to comprehend. There's a good chance that you'll be spending several hours developing and managing the community. It's essential to provide an enjoyable and productive experience. Be sure that your platform has a user-friendly interface that allows you to work effectively. Additionally you'd like it to be simple to use and fun for users to utilize!

Easy to use. Your guests should be able quickly join when you are organizing an event, or if they are looking to join. There ought to be less hurdles to getting into the system and the easier it is for guests to join.

Connects to the rest of your business. Most communities consist of an entire set of online learning programs and other training resources. Every single one of these must feature the exact same design and appearance, as well as it can be easily moved from one place to another.

contains marketing and sales functions. It's impossible to expand your network with someone who is not known to anyone. A good platform comes equipped with the tools you need in helping advertise your group to offer memberships, as well as selling other items.

Analytics that are insightful. To provide a fantastic experience for customers , one that attracts them and keeps them engaged and engaged, you must be aware of what's working and which ones aren't. Analytics tools provide you with all the information you require about your customer's behavior and habits, which allows you to concentrate your efforts on your best strategies.

11 of the top companies for community software and online solutions

Check out at the top online community applications currently in use.

1.

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Benefits of this include:

simple. makes it super simple to set up and manage your community online. It can serve as an independent product, or use it as an added benefit to the coaching program or your courses.

Multi-level. You can create communities that are free and pay to establish the "membership funnel" to your company. Your free membership can attract new customers through the aid in giving them the ability to communicate with your business and peers. Use the power of marketing tools from eMarketing to advertise the paid-for membership where members will have access to premium content as well as benefits.

Integration into the marketing and sales technology systems. One of the benefits of HTML0 is that it comes with a complete set of tools for building businesses. If you sign-up as a user, get access to the entire toolkit that includes:

  • Web Builder
  • The creator of landing pages
  • Marketing software that sends emails
  • Funnel builder
  • Sites to process payments as well as ordering
  • The host of the podcast

The tools you have chosen are built to use together, removing any hassles associated with building technology integrations, and diagnosing any issues. Sign in and then play and play.

It is a complete solution which can help to cut costs. If you decide to invest in one-time goods as well as creating your own technology stack, you can effortlessly spend hundreds of dollars every month. There is only one monthly cost that includes everything you need to run an online business that is profitable.

The Basic plan will cost the user $100 per month. It comprises 3 digital items (a community and two others) in addition to the possibility of 10,000 contacts. Once you've outgrown the basic plan, it's possible to upgrade into the Grow plan with a the annual price of $159. There are 15 distinct products as well as up to 25,000 contacts.

Test it at no cost for 14 days

It has everything your online company needs. It has everything you must know about. Yes! Let's go!

2. Facebook groups

facebook-group-screenshot

If you're an active Facebook member You are likely to belong to at the very the minimum, one of the groups that is on Facebook. Facebook allows users to establish private groups in which it's possible to communicate with your followers to discuss personal or professional issues.

The Facebook Facebook groups are for free. However, there are hidden costs that relate to the trust of users and their credibility. Trust in the company has dropped by 66% over the last few decades..

For instance, when she started the Facebook group for hosting the community, Kathryn Aragon discovered that many of her members weren't engaged on Facebook. In order to increase the amount of people who joined her group, she made the decision to transfer the group to a different site.

The primary benefits with Facebook as an online social media platform that fosters community arethe following:

Security. The content within the group is available only to members of the group.

discussion. Posts and comments enable members to talk about topics in real time. News from the group is sent directly to members. This allows for a more effective communication.

Control of members. Administrators of groups can manage the group's members and their permissions.

The disadvantages of this are the fact that Facebook has no influence on the website (that's an issue) and there is no member directory or website administration. Members do not count as Facebook'scustomers. They're Facebook's customers. Let's not forget the enormous Facebook outage which occurred during October of 2021. This caused businesses of all sizes all around the world to cut the access to their Facebook networks as well as their customers.

The most common complaint from people who are part of the community is that there is none of the support they need that is directly because there aren't any forums of support that are used to troubleshoot issues.

3. Discord

discord-website

As it has gained popularity in the world of gaming, Discord has grown into a very popular social networking platform that's available to all sorts of gamers. Its goal is to offer spaces for players to connect to share similar interest.

An online community-based software business, Discord offers real-time video as well as audio calls. Also, the platform has specific roles that separate the participants from the admins. Due to the gaming aspect as well as its geeky backdrop, the themes are dark and might not be a good fit for your business's design. There's not many possibilities to create your own membership spaces.

It includes the following features:

AI-Powered Bots. Bots can be programmed to be welcoming to new users, making the experience more personal. People will notice the fact that the bot interacts with them. It is possible to provide pleasant experiences with it, while providing useful facts.

Reliable, secure private channels. Discord doesn't have the time-lag which makes it appear to be in the same room. It is a very well-liked option for privacy and security. Discord chat channels are secure and allow users to remain protected when they communicate.

Moderator Academy. It is an all-inclusive source for veteran and novice moderators that want to develop their community management skills.

It's a disadvantage that creating your Discord community isn't easy. This means that you'll have to learn which means it's likely that you don't receive maximum benefits from this service. Your Discord server will form in the same group with the other communities that the users are. So, you'll be competing for their interest.

Discord is free to download. Simply download the app and configure it. You can also upgrade up to Discord Nitro ($99.99 every year) for more emoticons , bigger uploads, and higher quality videos as well as a variety of other upgrades.

4. Mighty Networks

mighty-networks-website

Mighty Networks offers an online learning platform with built-in community functions. The system is robust, and permits personalized branding as well as functions to encourage involvement from communities.

This is what makes Mighty Networks features include:

Mobile access. The online community website has a mobile-friendly application which allows users to connect with others while on the move. It's much easier to communicate with your phone than on the web.

Email alerts. Members receive email notifications when there's new community activity. They get a brief reminding to sign in and go at what's not seeing on their monitor.

Branding. Mighty Network allows you to create a brand-related website that has an identical look and feel as your website. Simply apply your logo's colors to the hyperlinks of tabs, buttons and as icons.

It's crucial to know that Might Networks is a community-focused platform. If you want to create different kinds of products to grow your business, you might need to invest in additional applications and the software to host the products.

5. Hivebrite

hivebrite-website

Hivebrite It's a community management system which is designed to be all-in-one for educational institutions and non-profit organizations. It supports more than 500 institutions such as Vanderbilt University, WWF, and Sabin Vaccine Institute.

Prices aren't displayed on their site. To test Hivebrite you'll have to join their Demos this is an indication the company only offers price plans for corporations.

They do come with attractive abilities. Your community is able to become branded. This allows you to organize your community's information and marketing tools into one location.

Some of the most popular options offered by Hivebrite are:

Live feed. It's possible to livestream community members to organize live events.

access rights. With Hivebrite, it is possible to grant access rights to different categories of users, such as former students or graduates. Additionally, you can set up different levels of membership which provide greater access to members paying.

Modular features. As your community grows, you are able to select different features. There are many options to utilize forums, events and networks. The message center, the media center and even directories or job boards.

The main challenge is connecting the platform with your database and different technologies. It is likely to hire an IT expert to develop an API that connects the platform by using different instruments.

6. Tribe.so

tribe.so-website

Tribe is a platform that builds communities that has an app-based community which allows direct communication to companies that are third party, in addition to methods to incorporate the community into other applications or websites. Some examples of usage cases include education for customers and customer satisfaction as well as support to customers, branding relations, leading in branding, as well as feedback from clients about their products.

In Tribe the core features of Tribe provide essential community components. Applications can help you improve your abilities. Examples:

  • Slack gives admins and moderators the possibility of receiving alerts about various happenings.
  • Zapier links your network to the other applications within your tech stack.
  • Google Analytics helps you measure the activity of your followers.

Tribe is an assortment of these attributes:

Social Share. Tribe includes Open Graph tags, which permit social sharing. It's very easy to share your posts on the Tribe community, in order to attract attention from prospective members.

Integration. Third-party integrations with more than 30 applications allow users to join their community together with your existing tools. employ.

Modification Panel. Tribe gives you the option to allow changes, edits and block posts by users. You can also archive old material to make sure that your feed doesn't get sucked into chaos.

Tribe is free to those who join the Tribe community for. The Plus Plan costs monthly at $59 and permits users to use Plus applications as well as over 2,500 users. If you want to get maximum value out of this app, you'll have to switch to the Premium Plan for $299 per month. This allows you to remove the Tribe logoand use the webhooks and API and also increase the amount of users by 25,000.

7. Circle.so

circle.so-website

Circle can help you create groups around the classes you teach, coaching or help for customers. It aims to simplify the process of creating community by making it easy to design pages and contents that encourage discussions and generate revenue from your membership. It offers a range of options and allows you to design a website using your company's logo consistent with the web site you've built.

The most notable features of Circle are:

Easy integrations. Circle is compatible with various tools provided by third party companies, such as the marketing email software Slack, Wordpress, and it allows you to market your company or incorporate it into other software.

Spaces that are secure and hidden. You can create distinct spaces for various members of your group. In this case, for instance, you could create an area for the core members, while the other area is only for those with the highest cost.

Searchable member directory. Members can join each other by creating their own profile areas and filtering their search.

Circle cost $35 per month , and it comes with an 4% transaction fee per user. The base plan offers the most basic functions of your community, which comprises messages and chats. It is possible to upgrade into the premium Plan ($89 monthly plus 1 percent transaction fees per user) for live streaming courses Online classes Live streaming classes, as well as advanced analysis.

You may find that you'll need be charged more for any additional services like extra spaces for administrators, more space, white-labeling of email, and customized Single Sign-On (SSO).

8. Vanilla Forums

vanilla-forums-website

Vanilla Forums was developed to help mid-sized firms and larger enterprises to give an exceptional customer experience and better customer experience. The site is often utilized for aid of customers, customer experience along with the marketing of products as well as marketing of brand names.

Vanilla gives you a wonderful user experience and seamless integration into your current tech stack, as well as flexible customizations to suit the design of your business.

Some of the major aspects of Vanilla Forums consist of:

Knowledge Base. You can create Self-Service Help Centers within your neighborhood. This includes user guides as well as assistance documents.

The ability to customize surveys. With Vanilla Forums you can build custom surveys to your target audience, allowing direct responses.

Open source community. It is possible to download Vanilla's open source code for free to create an own group. Do you feel tech-savvy? You can provide the code source.

This isn't the best platform for creators who are independent and sole-preneurs. Pricing isn't available in the web site. If you're interested in this platform, it's possible to schedule the appointment of an agent regarding the sales.

9. WildApricot

wildapricot-website


   

WildApricot offers an entire platform originally designed specifically for associations and nonprofits. Nowadays, it's employed by clubs, chapters and associations that are locally and state-level.

Wild Apricot has a self-serve layout , which allows you to alter every aspect of the community. Gamification and the reputation system enable you to display high-quality content, unlock member features and even make moderation automated.

It's an excellent source of:

Event managing. Plan events such auctions, online auctions and virtual conferences webcasts, auctions and many other events. Also, it is possible to locate sponsors for your event. In addition, you are able to create your own event calendar as well as organize event registrations.

Donations. With WildApricot, you can accept donations and then track progress towards your donation goals. It is also possible to export the donation data to more efficient tracking and management of the donation.

CRM. Like , WildApricot has the CRM (customer relationship management) program that has the largest member directory accessible anywhere.

It's important to employ the services of third parties for marketing and managing your company. Most will integrate with WildApricot like WordPress, Mailchimp, and Zapier. Processing payments, as well, is only available to U.S. and Canada residents.

You can try WildApricot at no cost up to 50 contacts. Prices will increase when your reach grows.

  • $100 for 100 contacts
  • 60 dollars per month up to 250 contacts
  • A monthly rent of $110 per 500 contact.
  • A month's rent of $190 for 2000 contacts

10. Disciple Media

disciple-media-website

Disciple Media is a community platform comprising three elements comprised of an console that manages your content across devices that include desktops or mobiles along with a mobile-friendly application where members are able to join a web-based community as well as a desktop area to interact with.

This platform is specifically designed to cater to creators, founders, and prominent personalities who want to create their own brand-name online social network.

Disciple Media includes the following attributes:

Multiple designs. You can store and access content in one central point. Make use of folders, groups and lists to create an distinct structure for every user.

Mobile application. Disciple Media is similar to a social network in that the mobile-friendly experiences are created for users. There is a web app but it's limited in terms of capabilities when compared with the mobile app.

In-app purchase. Disciple lets you create sponsorships and in-app purchases as well as convert customers to members.

Cost of Disciple is dependent upon the number of students as well as your preference between mobile, internet or both.

  • On the Internet only Monthly cost is $46 for 100 members
  • Mobile only. 500 dollars per month, at $458 for 500 users.
  • Mobile and Web: $504 for 500 members

The additional features are API whitelabeling, API whitelabeling and. Additionally, you'll be required to pay for coaching services within the community, as well as member support and mastermind features.

11. Vibely.io

vibely.io-website

Vibely.io was created by two ex- Asana employees Teri Yu and Theresa Lee and they wanted to challenge the existing Creator communities through taking a positive approach. Their motto "Built with women in mind and not for gamers" gives a glimpse of what kind of atmosphere they are aiming to create.

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

Vibely.io's most popular features include:

A commitment to positive thinking. Vibely is committed to not allow spam, trolls, and different forms of violence. The goal of Vibely is to provide an environment that's welcoming to everyone.

Tools and challenges to increase accountability. This app has tasks, leaderboards and trackers to ensure that everybody is involved.

Ambassadors. Vibely lets you choose individuals in your community who will help in the supervision and acceptance of your members.

Start your own Vibely community free of charge without any limit to the number of ambassadors, members and super-administrators. However, with the basic plan, it's not possible to take regular payments. The Mastermind plan unlocks payments and also takes 10% of the revenue.

The best online community software business

There are numerous things to consider when choosing the ideal online platform to build community. It is crucial to use tools to help build markets, sell products and expand your community and the platform should be easy to use for both the users and the.
   
    According to our analysis we found plenty of good alternatives One stands out as a complete business solution.

It only permits you to build and build a dynamic and lively community. It also offers additional digital offerings like online classes, online coaching and online training. Additionally, it provides you with all the resources you require for marketing and selling your goods so you can expand and grow your business with ease based on the knowledge.

If your objective is to create a forum, it's possible to choose any of the communities we've looked at. Based on the amount of people in your group, that option could be an appropriate option (or possibly free).

The free software choices could make users subject to a variety of rules and algorithms and also limit the potential for growth. The programs do not have the features that you require and typically limit the number of users that you are authorized to accept.

The membership you sign up to is yours. Terms, conditions, and cost of membership, whether unpaid or paid.

If you're trying to establish your online presence, this is the perfect all-in-one device. Through videos, tutorials along with videos, it can assist you in getting online fast. By registering with The University you can receive training on the basics of running an internet-based community. The University is free for everyone who uses the site.

Begin your complimentary trial of 14 days today!

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