How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Rankite is independent; if a vendor ever pays for a featured spot, that listing is clearly labeled Partner.
Key takeaways
- Most buyers overpay by picking an enterprise platform when a creator-focused one would do. Start with the use case: support forum (Discourse), paid memberships (Circle, Mighty Networks), customer community (Bettermode), alumni or association (Hivebrite, Higher Logic).
- Discourse is the only genuinely free option: self-hosting costs nothing, and the vendor's own free hosted tier covers small forums. Every other platform on this list starts at $79 per month or more.
- The real price gap is membership caps and admin seats. Entry plans at Circle, Mighty Networks and Bettermode cover unlimited members; Hivebrite and Disciple start around $600 to $900 per month for organizations that need branded apps and governance.
- Higher Logic and Khoros publish no prices at all. If your shortlist includes either, get a written quote with the modules and seat counts itemized before comparing totals.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Discourse | Support forums, knowledge bases and large public communities | Free (self-hosted); $100/month (Pro hosted plan) | Yes |
 Circle | Creators selling paid memberships and courses together | $89/month (Professional, billed annually) | Free trial (14 days) |
 Mighty Networks | Paid communities whose members live on their phones | $79/month (Launch plan) | Free trial (14 days) |
 Bettermode | B2B SaaS companies building customer communities | $149/month (Starter, billed annually) | Free trial (14 days) |
 Hivebrite | Alumni networks, associations and nonprofits with real budgets | $895/month (Core, billed annually) | No (demo through sales only) |
 Higher Logic | Associations that need deep AMS integrations and community strategy | See website (custom quote only) | No (demo through sales only) |
 Khoros | Global brands running massive customer communities | See website (custom quote only) | No |
 Influitive | Marketing teams running customer advocacy programs | See website (custom quote only) | No |
 Disciple | Organizations that want their own branded app in the app stores | $599/month (Branded App, billed yearly) | Free trial |
 Invision Community | Long-running forums that also need clubs, courses and commerce | See website (pricing page was unavailable at review time) | Free trial |
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Most community platforms fail for the same boring reason: the company bought the wrong kind of community. A customer support forum, a paid creator membership and an alumni network are three different products wearing similar marketing. These ten cover the real options, from free open source to enterprise.
#1
Discourse
Best for: Support forums, knowledge bases and large public communities
Visit discourse.org
Starting priceFree (self-hosted); $100/month (Pro hosted plan)
Free planYes
Discourse is the only option here that is genuinely free. The software is open source, so self-hosting costs you nothing but a server, and the vendor's own hosted Free tier covers small forums with 500k monthly page views, 20k emails and 5GB storage. Paid hosting starts at $100 per month (Pro) and $500 per month (Business), with flat pricing that never charges per member. A community of 100 and a community of 100,000 pay the same rate.
The trade is polish. Discourse looks and feels like a forum, because it is one, and it will never give you the course-selling checkout pages or branded mobile apps that Circle and Mighty Networks sell. It is strongest for support communities, developer communities and knowledge bases where searchable history matters more than vibes. Over 22,000 communities run on it, including forums for GitLab, OpenAI and Atlassian.
What we like- Free forever to self-host with the full feature set
- Every hosted plan includes unlimited members with no per-seat fees
- AI spam detection and chat included on all plans
Watch out for- Interface feels utilitarian next to creator-first platforms
- Self-hosting means you own updates, backups and uptime
#2
Circle
Best for: Creators selling paid memberships and courses together
Visit circle.so
Starting price$89/month (Professional, billed annually)
Free planFree trial (14 days)
Circle is the default pick for creators who want to run a paid community without duct-taping five tools together. Professional at $89 per month (billed annually) includes community spaces, courses, live events, a website builder, member directory, gamification and Circle AI with 2,500 monthly credits. Business at $199 adds workflows, API access and removes Circle branding. Scale at $419 adds AI agents, unlimited workflows and custom SSO.
The honest catch is the fee stack. On top of the subscription you pay Stripe's processing fee plus Circle's own transaction fee on every membership payment: 2% on Professional, 1% on Business. For a $100 monthly membership that works out to roughly $5 in fees per member per month. Factor that into your pricing math before committing.
What we like- All-in-one: community, courses, live events, website builder, payments and email in one subscription
- Unlimited members on every plan
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Watch out for- Transaction fees (2% on Professional, 1% on Business) sit on top of Stripe processing fees
- Your own branded iOS/Android app requires Circle Plus at custom pricing
Starting price$79/month (Launch plan)
Free planFree trial (14 days)
Mighty Networks built its reputation on mobile. Sixty percent more member activity happens on its native iOS and Android apps than on web, according to the vendor, and every plan includes those apps. Launch at $79 per month covers community, courses, events, AI co-host and basic automations with a 2% transaction fee. Scale at $179 adds APIs, integrations and more automations at 1%. Growth at $354 adds white-label email, SSO and migration services.
The free trial is generous: 14 days on the Growth plan, so you see the full feature set before paying. The catch, like Circle, is branded apps. Your name in the App Store is reserved for Mighty Pro with custom pricing, and the Launch plan's 2% transaction fee adds up on high-ticket memberships. Strong pick for coaches and course creators whose audience is mobile-first.
What we like- Real native mobile apps on every plan, not web wrappers
- Unlimited members and spaces on all plans
- AI co-host helps design and launch your community
Watch out for- Your own branded app in the App Store requires Mighty Pro at custom pricing
- Transaction fees of 2% on Launch apply on top of payment processing
Starting price$149/month (Starter, billed annually)
Free planFree trial (14 days)
Bettermode (formerly Tribe) is the community platform most B2B software companies actually buy. The no-code builder makes it fast to launch branded discussion spaces, Q&A boards, idea boards and events, and the whole thing can be embedded into your website so members never leave your domain. Starter is $149 per month billed annually ($199 month to month); Growth is $1,500 per month billed annually; Premium is custom with SOC 2, SAML and a dedicated success manager.
Watch the member caps. Starter covers up to 10,000 members and Growth up to 25,000, which means a viral community launch can push you into Premium territory fast. The API and AI search only open up on Growth and above. If your community is the public face of your product support, this is the shortlist pick. If you need a branded mobile app, look at Disciple or Mighty Pro instead.
What we like- No-code builder with modern Q&A, discussion, event and knowledge-base spaces
- Embeds directly into your existing website
- Strong integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack and Zendesk
Watch out for- Entry plan caps members at 10,000, so fast-growing communities face forced upgrades
- No branded mobile app, only mobile-responsive web
#5
Hivebrite
Best for: Alumni networks, associations and nonprofits with real budgets
Visit hivebrite.io
Starting price$895/month (Core, billed annually)
Free planNo (demo through sales only)
Hivebrite is the platform alumni networks and professional associations buy when they outgrow spreadsheets and Facebook groups. The pricing model is unusual and buyer-friendly at scale: every plan includes unlimited users, so a 500-person community and a 50,000-person alumni network pay the same Core price. What steps up with each tier is administration: Core at $895 per month (billed annually) includes 2 global admin seats and 5 groups; Flex at $1,995 adds group admins and more groups.
Everything else is an extension. The branded iOS/Android app, multi-language support, CRM connectors and mentoring module all cost extra, so budget above the base price. There is no free tier and no self-serve trial; evaluation goes through a sales demo. For a university alumni office or trade association, that is normal. For a solo creator, it is wildly overkill.
What we like- Unlimited users on every plan, priced by admin structure instead of headcount
- Purpose-built for alumni, associations and membership organizations
- Branded mobile app, mentoring module and engagement scoring available
Watch out for- Entry price of nearly $11,000 per year rules out small teams entirely
- Mobile app, multi-language and connectors cost extra as add-ons
#6
Higher Logic
Best for: Associations that need deep AMS integrations and community strategy
Visit higherlogic.com
Starting priceSee website (custom quote only)
Free planNo (demo through sales only)
Higher Logic is the incumbent in the association world, serving thousands of customers and over 350,000 communities. The pitch is an engagement platform, not just a forum: community, email marketing, automation and AI personalization in one, with native integrations to association management systems like iMIS, re:Members and Salesforce. Pricing is flat by contract size with no per-member or per-admin charges.
The price of that depth is opacity. Higher Logic publishes nothing; third-party estimates put Thrive Community at roughly $9,000 to $15,000 per year before add-ons. Reviewers cite a steep learning curve and occasional support frustrations. This is a vendor you buy when the board approves the budget and your AMS needs a native connection, not when you are bootstrapping.
What we like- 20-plus native AMS connectors and deep CRM integrations
- Dedicated community advisors help with strategy, not just software
- All-in-one pricing is not charged per member or per admin
Watch out for- No published pricing, so every buyer enters a sales process blind
- Implementation is heavier than self-serve platforms and setup fees apply
#7
Khoros
Best for: Global brands running massive customer communities
Visit khoros.ai
Starting priceSee website (custom quote only)
Free planNo
Khoros, the company formed when Lithium merged with Spredfast, is the enterprise heavyweight of this list. After its 2025 acquisition by IgniteTech, the platform is being rebuilt as AI-native under the name Aurora AI, with Iris AI handling social listening and publishing. The company claims over 4,000 communities powered and 1.8 billion site visits per year.
This is not a product you trial on a credit card. Contracts run into six figures annually and everything is custom-quoted. Buyers with Fortune 500-scale support deflection needs get peer-to-peer communities with gamification, moderation and analytics that smaller platforms cannot match. Everyone else should pick from the other nine and save the enterprise sales cycle.
What we like- Powers thousands of brand communities with billions of annual site visits
- Newly rebuilt as an AI-native platform (Aurora AI) after the 2025 IgniteTech acquisition
- Combines community, social management and care in one platform
Watch out for- Enterprise-only pricing (six figures per year is typical)
- The 2025 acquisition and rebrand to khoros.ai mean the product roadmap is in transition
Starting priceSee website (custom quote only)
Free planNo
Influitive is not a general community platform. It is an advocacy platform: you build a hub where customers complete challenges, write reviews, make referrals and earn rewards, with gamification driving participation. Brands like Cisco, IBM, Adobe and Mountain Dew run advocacy programs on it. The newer Groovy AI agent handles engagement and support tasks inside the hub.
Pricing is entirely custom and starts, per third-party procurement data, in the tens of thousands per year. If your goal is mobilizing happy customers to generate pipeline, nothing else on this list does that specific job as well. If your goal is a discussion community, Discourse or Bettermode will cost you a tenth as much.
What we like- Purpose-built for advocacy: challenges, referrals, reviews and rewards with gamification
- Strong track record with B2B software brands
- Dedicated community features for customer-to-customer connection
Watch out for- No published pricing and no free trial
- Mid-market and enterprise focus means small teams are not the target buyer
Starting price$599/month (Branded App, billed yearly)
Free planFree trial
Disciple's pitch is simple: your community becomes a real app with your name on it in the App Store and Google Play, on every paid plan. Not Circle Plus, not Mighty Pro: every plan. Branded App is $599 per month billed yearly and includes the web version, custom domain, unlimited members, 5 admin seats, 10 groups and one monetizable course. Branded App Pro at $999 adds unlimited admins and groups, Zapier and advanced analytics. Organisation starts at $3,400 per month.
That is expensive next to Circle at $89, but nothing else hands you an app-store presence without an enterprise contract. The honest catch is capacity: entry-plan limits on courses, groups and video minutes mean active creators will land on Pro. The free trial lets you build in the Disciple Console before paying. Good fit for training providers, wellness memberships and professional networks that sell on mobile.
What we like- Your own branded iOS and Android app, listed under your brand, on every paid plan
- Unlimited members
- Full data export and EU/US data residency with GDPR compliance
Watch out for- Steep entry price compared to creator platforms
- Only one monetizable course and 10 groups on the entry plan
Start with the audience, not the feature list. A support community needs search, solved answers and moderation: that is Discourse or Bettermode. A paid membership needs checkout, courses and mobile: that is Circle, Mighty Networks or Disciple. An alumni network or association needs directories, groups and AMS integrations: that is Hivebrite or Higher Logic. An advocacy program needs challenges and rewards: that is Influitive. Write down your use case in one sentence and half this list disappears.
Then price the real cost, not the headline number. Entry prices range from free (Discourse) to $895 per month (Hivebrite), but the add-ons decide the bill: transaction fees on membership payments (Circle, Mighty Networks), branded apps as paid tiers (Circle, Mighty Networks), mobile apps and connectors as extensions (Hivebrite), and custom enterprise contracts (Khoros, Higher Logic, Influitive). Ask every vendor for the total first-year cost including add-ons, migration and transaction fees.
Finally, check the exit. Discourse is open source, so you can leave anytime with your data. Most others let you export members and posts. Ask specifically about content export formats, who owns member data and what happens to your custom domain and SEO on cancellation. The cheapest platform to leave is the one that does not charge you to take your own community home.
The market splits into three price bands with almost no overlap. The creator band runs $79 to $419 per month: Mighty Networks Launch at $79, Circle Professional at $89, Bettermode Starter at $149, Circle Scale at $419. These are self-serve, credit-card purchases with 14-day trials, aimed at creators and small teams. Budget $950 to $5,000 per year plus transaction fees on paid memberships.
The organization band runs $599 to $1,995 per month: Disciple Branded App at $599, Hivebrite Core at $895, Disciple Pro at $999, Hivebrite Flex at $1,995. These target nonprofits, training providers, alumni offices and mid-market companies. Budgets run $7,000 to $24,000 per year before add-ons like branded apps, multi-language or connectors.
The enterprise band is custom-quoted: Higher Logic, Khoros, Influitive and Invision Community (unverified). Expect $25,000 to $150,000-plus per year once modules, implementation and services are included. If you are paying enterprise prices, demand the written quote with every module itemized, because the gaps between quote and final contract are where budgets go to die.
How we chose
We started with the categories buyers search: community management software, online community platform and customer community software. For each candidate we opened the vendor's own homepage to confirm the current domain, checked the vendor's own pricing page for published plans, and compared features, member limits, mobile options and integrations against public reviews on G2 and Capterra and practitioner discussion on Reddit. Where a vendor published no prices, we wrote "See website" instead of quoting a third-party estimate. Two pricing pages were unreachable at review time, and those tools carry the "See website" label too.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest community management software?
Discourse. It is open source and free to self-host with every feature, and the vendor offers a free hosted tier for small forums. The cheapest paid self-serve plan on this list is Mighty Networks Launch at $79 per month. Everything else aimed at organizations starts at several hundred per month.
Should I pick a creator platform or an enterprise platform?
Match the platform to the audience. Creator platforms (Circle, Mighty Networks, Bettermode) optimize for engagement and monetization of memberships. Enterprise platforms (Hivebrite, Higher Logic, Khoros) optimize for governance, integrations and large member directories. A creator platform can serve 10,000 members; an enterprise platform can serve 10,000 members with audit logs and AMS sync. Buy the second only when you need the second.
Do I need a branded mobile app for my community?
It depends where your members are. If most of them will engage from phones, a branded app meaningfully increases retention: Mighty Networks reports 60 percent more activity on its native apps than on web. Disciple and Mighty Pro give you your own app-store listing. Circle reserves branded apps for its custom-priced Circle Plus tier. Test whether members will actually install an app before paying the premium for one.
Can I migrate my community from one platform to another?
Yes, but the difficulty varies widely. Circle, Mighty Networks and Hivebrite all offer migration services on mid and upper tiers, usually covering members, content and payments. Open-source Discourse gives you full data access, so migrations out are easiest there. Before signing, ask the vendor exactly which data exports are available and whether member passwords and payment tokens transfer, because they often do not.
How long does it take to launch a community platform?
Self-serve platforms like Circle, Mighty Networks and Bettermode can go live in days: you configure spaces, set up payments and invite members. Disciple adds app-store review time, typically one to three weeks for iOS approval. Enterprise platforms (Hivebrite, Higher Logic, Khoros) usually take one to three months with onboarding, branding, integrations and training. Plan the timeline around your launch event, not the vendor's sales promises.
What is the difference between community management software and a Facebook Group?
Ownership. A Facebook Group is free but Facebook owns the audience, the algorithm decides who sees your posts, and monetization options are thin. Community management software gives you your own domain, your own member data, full control over the experience and direct monetization through memberships. The trade is cost: free versus $79 per month and up, plus the work of getting members to show up somewhere new.
Sources we checked (12)
- https://circle.so/pricing
- https://www.mightynetworks.com/pricing
- https://bettermode.com/pricing
- https://www.discourse.org/pricing
- https://hivebrite.io/pricing/
- https://disciple.community/pricing
- https://www.higherlogic.com/
- https://khoros.ai/
- https://influitive.com/
- https://invisioncommunity.com/
- https://www.g2.com/categories/community-platforms
- https://www.capterra.com/community-platforms-software/
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has spent more than a decade helping SaaS and e-commerce brands grow through search. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.
