Find the best community platform for your organization

Choosing a community platform is a big decision that can significantly impact your community’s success.

Make the right decision for your community and its goal!

Keep scrolling to discover how different community platforms stack up or book a demo now to talk to a community expert.

Discover why Hivebrite is right
for your community



Here’s how to make
the right choice

With so many platforms out there, choosing the right one can be overwhelming, especially when considering your organization’s situation and your audience’s needs! The primary goal in creating this article is to provide you with an authentic and unbiased evaluation of the top online community platforms based on your needs.

The primary goal of this guide is to provide readers with an authentic, unbiased evaluation of the top online community platforms based on their needs. Through extensive research and analysis, we present not only our strengths but also those of our competitors, offering a clear and honest comparison to help you make an informed choice.

Top community platforms: Find the best fit for your organization

Customization and flexibility

Tailor every aspect of your community platform with Hivebrite’s robust customization options to meet the unique needs of your organization.

Advanced engagement tools

Drive deeper interactions with powerful engagement features like forums, events, and AI-driven peer-to-peer matching.

Seamless integrations

Connect seamlessly with your existing tools and systems, thanks to Hivebrite’s wide range of integration capabilities.

Built to scale

Hivebrite’s modular design grows with your community, providing scalable solutions for both small and enterprise-level organizations.

Security and compliance

Hivebrite prioritizes data security and compliance by adhering to the latest regulations and data privacy standards, ensuring robust protection and secure handling of your information.

Support and services

Hivebrite offers ongoing training, strategic guidance, and professional services to ensure your community’s success at every stage.

How do I choose a community platform?

1. Understand your audience

Start by understanding your audience and choosing a platform that aligns with their specific needs. A platform well-suited to your audience will enhance engagement and effectiveness.

2. Understand your goals

Next, align the platform with your goals. Identify your core objectives—scalability, knowledge sharing, advancement, and customer satisfaction—and select a platform that excels in those areas.

3. Understand your resources

Understand your resources, what you are able to commit in terms of budget and human resources to your community. Any community management platform will require upfront investment and dedicated community management resources to be successful. Assess whether you have the resources to fully leverage these features, require additional professional services from your provider or if a more budget-friendly option with fewer options might be a better fit.

By evaluating these factors—audience needs, goal alignment, and available resources—you can choose a community platform that best supports your objectives and operational capabilities.

Choosing the best online community platform for your organization size

Enterprise organizations

Top Choice

Hivebrite is specifically designed to meet the complex and evolving needs of enterprise-level organizations across various industries, including technology, finance, consulting, and more. These organizations often require highly customized solutions, advanced functionalities, and ongoing strategic support to build and sustain successful communities. Hivebrite’s platform provides the tailored experience, seamless integrations, and continuous collaboration necessary for enterprises to achieve their community goals.

Positives:
  • Advanced functionalities: Hivebrite empowers enterprises with robust features like customizable groups and sub-communities, a powerful branded mobile app, multi-language localization, robust integrations, and in-depth analytics. Extensive features fill gaps in your tech stack while powerful integrations connect to your existing systems to achieve strategic goals.
  • Security and compliance: Hivebrite prioritizes data security and compliance by implementing advanced AES-256 encryption, regular penetration testing, and maintaining certifications like ISO27001 and PCI-DSS. Our platform adheres to GDPR and CCPA-CPRA regulations, ensuring robust protection and secure handling of your information.
  • Support built for success: Hivebrite is more than just a platform; it is your partner. Support offerings include training, ongoing strategic and tactical guidance and support through professional services. We ensure that organizations not only build successful communities but continuously evolve them to meet changing business landscapes and community needs.
Negatives:
  • Complexity of implementation: The advanced customization and integrations required by enterprises may lead to a more complex and time-consuming implementation process. However, Hivebrite’s dedicated support team works closely with organizations to ensure a smooth and successful launch.
  • Investment requirement: The level of customization and support Hivebrite offers may come with a higher initial investment compared to simpler community tools but results in a lower total cost of ownership over time. The comprehensive nature of our native features eliminate the need for additional point solutions.

Hivebrite is the ideal partner for enterprise organizations seeking a scalable, secure, compliant, and highly customized community platform. With its advanced functionalities and ongoing collaborative expertise, Hivebrite empowers enterprises to build and sustain communities that drive engagement and achieve strategic business objectives.

Learn more

Get a demo of Hivebrite and see how the Hivebrite platform can work for you.

Mid-sized organizations

Top Choice

Hivebrite is tailored to meet the needs of small and midsize organizations across industries including tech, consulting, investment firms, and more. These organizations often face unique challenges in building and sustaining successful communities, like attracting and retaining members, driving engagement, balancing monetization with value, and securing resources. Hivebrite’s platform is designed to help organizations overcome these challenges by providing a customized community experience with rich and customizable functionality with exceptional ease of use for admins and users alike.

Positives:
  • Modular model: Hivebrite’s modular design allows small and midsize businesses to create a community platform that adapts to their unique needs. The platform’s flexibility means businesses can start with a setup of core features and expand as they grow, utilizing a wide range of engagement modules and integrations to evolve with their community.
  • Support and education: Hivebrite offers continuous training and support to help organizations fully harness the power of our platform. Whether you’re just starting out or have a dedicated community team, we provide the resources, training, and services needed to maximize engagement and achieve your community goals.
Negatives:
  • Upfront investment: Unlike platforms offering low-cost or free starter packages, Hivebrite’s robust feature set may require more upfront investment by comparison for a lower total cost of ownership over time. The comprehensive nature of our platform is built to meet your future needs.

Learn more

Get a demo of Hivebrite and see how the Hivebrite platform can work for you.

Emerging communities

Top Choice

Mighty Networks is a community platform that allows creators to build and manage their own online communities, offering features such as courses, events, and membership subscriptions within a customizable and unified space. Mighty Networks tends to cater towards B2C communities.

Positives:
  • Video streaming capabilities: Mighty Networks supports video streaming, allowing creators to host live events and deliver high-quality video content directly within the platform.
  • Monetize content through courses: Mighty Networks allows creators to monetize their content by offering both live and pre-recorded courses. The platform supports passive income through evergreen courses while enabling creators to charge a premium for live experiences, making it easy to maximize revenue.
  • Attractive polished UI: Mighty Networks offers an attractive and polished user interface designed to enhance the community experience and tailored to their B2C and creator audience. The platform’s sleek design includes unique features like “People Magic,” which visually showcase members in interactive bubbles.
Negatives:
  • Lacking advanced functionality: Mighty Networks lacks advanced functionality, offering limited flexibility in user roles, sub-community management, and community structuring. It also provides basic membership management features and minimal integration options, which can hinder streamlined operations and engagement.
  • Freemium model limitations: The “freemium” model can be misleading, as the Pro version’s costs may be comparable to or exceed those of other platforms like Hivebrite.The platform’s focus on self-serve solutions and lack of professional services may not meet the needs of organizations looking for more hands-on support.
  • Insufficient data management capabilities: Mighty Networks falls short in providing comprehensive tools for data management, which can complicate the organization and retrieval of member information and inhibit reporting on community performance.

Learn more

Learn more about Mighty and see if it is right for you

Emerging communities

Runner up

Hivebrite offers the Connect package, specifically crafted for small mission-based communities looking to scale over time. Hivebrite is not a marketplace or creator space. Small creator communities whose business model and primary monetization is solely reliant on the community are a better fit for alternative community technology platforms. B2C communities tend to be better suited for social media platforms.

Hivebrite now offers AI powered peer-to-peer matching engagements via Orbiit for communities of all sizes.

Learn more

Get a demo of Hivebrite and see how the Hivebrite platform can work for you.

Supplementary solutions for your community

Top Choice

Various

If you’re seeking incremental functionality, there are many point solutions that specialize in specific features like discussion forums or chat—such as Slack, Circle, and Bettermode. However, when you’re ready to integrate these functionalities seamlessly, Hivebrite is the comprehensive community management platform to choose. Since migration can be costly and disruptive, opting for a holistic platform that can grow with your community from the start is the smartest choice.

Positives:
  • Fast setup: Plug and play solutions offer quick setup allowing you to get started right away.
  • Easy to plugin: These point solutions are simple to integrate for immediate use.
  • Low upfront cost: You only pay for the specific features you need, keeping initial costs down.
Negatives:
  • Higher total cost of ownership: Over time, the need to add more functionality results in increased costs as your community grows, often resulting in higher cost than a full-service solution.
  • Disruptive to migrate: Transitioning from point solutions to a full-service platform down the road can be expensive, time-consuming, and highly disruptive to members.
  • Complexity of management: Managing multiple tools can become cumbersome as you scale, requiring more oversight and resources.
  • Fragmented community experience: Using several platforms leads to an inconsistent user experience, which can confuse and frustrate community members, especially during migration.

Conclusion

Selecting the right community platform comes down to aligning the platform’s capabilities with your organization’s unique needs and goals. Whether you’re seeking advanced features for an enterprise-level community, scalable solutions for a mid-sized organization, or an easy-to-use platform for a smaller group, it’s crucial to consider both the opportunities and limitations of each option. Hivebrite offers unmatched flexibility, scalability, and support for growing communities, making it a top choice for organizations looking to build and sustain impactful, thriving communities at any stage.

With many vendors in the community management space, we’re here to help you find the perfect solution. Get in touch to discover the platform that best meets your community’s unique needs.