9 Best Online Community Platforms To Build Real Connections With Your Audience (2026)

TL;DR — Best Online Community Platforms I’ve Tested (2026)
An online community platform gives you a private space you own, where your audience can connect, discuss, learn, and keep showing up long after a single course or piece of content.

Here’s a quick snapshot of the platforms I recommend.

Mighty Networks – Best overall for paid communities built on daily engagement, challenges, and events
Circle – Best for structured community businesses that combine spaces, courses, events, and payments
Skool – Best for beginners and coaching programs that run on daily participation and accountability
Heartbeat – Best value for coaches running cohort-based and learning-led communities
Kajabi – Best for edupreneurs who want community tied directly to courses, email, funnels, and checkout
Podia – Best budget all-in-one for solo creators who want a paid community, courses, and email under one roof
Swarm – Best for video-first communities where coaching happens through video, voice, and live sessions
Thinkific – Best for course-first businesses that want a community layer around learning
BuddyBoss – Best for WordPress users who want full ownership and deep customization

Just testing an idea? Facebook Groups cost nothing and meet people where they already spend time. Once you want to charge for access or own your member data, move to one of the platforms above.

Note: This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase through links on this page, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Community Platforms: Build, Engage, and Grow Your Business

In a world where people can learn almost anything with a simple prompt in ChatGPT, Gemini, or any other generative AI platform, selling information alone isn’t as lucrative as it used to be.

People want something more.

They want engagement, personal connection, interactivity, and exchange of ideas.

I’ve seen this market shift closely over the last few years. The most successful edupreneurs I know now consider an active community critical to their business growth.

And it makes complete sense.

A survey found that 27% of consumers actively participate in online communities. Another study found that 98% of online community members feel a sense of belonging to their community.

By packaging informational products and courses with online communities, you can create an irresistible offer that not only attracts leads but also strengthens your relationship with your audience

That’s what online community platforms like Circle, Skool, Mighty Networks, and others let you do.

They are powerful tools for building communities you can run alongside your established online course business.

However, online community software vary in features and pricing. Plus, they’re designed for different use cases, industries, and community goals.

To help you find the best option for your business, I’ve broken down the best online community platforms in this article along with their core strengths and weaknesses.

Read: How to start an online community for your business

The Best Online Community Software| Pricing & Features Compared (2026)

Here’s a bird’s eye view of the best online community platforms and software in my experience.

All prices shown are annual billing rates unless noted. Starting price is the cheapest plan that lets you charge for community access. Transaction fees are platform fees only. Stripe or PayPal processing fees apply on top on every platform.

Read: 15+ proven ways to boost online community engagement

Which Online Community Platform Should You Choose?

Start with what you want the community to do for your business. Find the row that matches your situation, then read that platform’s review below before you commit.

If you want to…	Choose	Why it fits	Watch out for
Sell access to the community itself, with members talking every day	Mighty Networks	Streaks, points, polls, livestreams, and unlimited Spaces keep members active	It needs an active host, and Zapier, Kit, and MCP sit on higher plans
Run several programs, cohorts, or membership tiers	Circle	Space Groups and Access Groups keep each program organized and grant access on purchase	Workflows, branding removal, and email marketing sit on higher plans or add-ons
Launch your first community with minimal setup	Skool	One familiar layout, simple gamification, and fast setup	No email marketing, quizzes, or custom design
Want the platform to send you new members	Skool	Its Discovery directory recommends your group to interested Skool users	Growth Boost takes 30% of sales from members Discovery brings in
Teach cohort programs where courses, chat, and calls stay connected	Heartbeat	Cohort courses, Zoom events, and automation workflows from the entry plan	A 350-member cap on the entry plan and no built-in livestreaming
Teach a physical or visual skill that needs feedback	Swarm	Members reply with video and voice, and courses accept video practice submissions	Members must feel comfortable on camera, and the entry plan has one space
Want community, courses, and email in one simple tool	Podia	Built-in email with revenue tracking, plus chat and paid community tiers	Light engagement tools and a small email subscriber allowance
Sell courses and coaching with funnels, and use community as support	Kajabi	Email, funnels, checkout, courses, and community share one member database	Simpler community tools than the dedicated platforms
Run a course-first business that needs a place for learners to talk	Thinkific	The strongest course tools here, with Spaces tied to enrollment	No automation for welcoming or re-engaging members
Already run a WordPress site and want full ownership	BuddyBoss	Your members and data live on your own site, next to your WordPress LMS	You manage hosting, updates, and plugin conflicts
Need your own branded app for members	Kajabi (Pro plan)	The branded app comes included, without enterprise pricing	Circle, Mighty Networks, and Heartbeat reserve branded apps for their top plans
Test whether people want a community around your topic	Facebook Groups	No cost, and your audience already uses it	No native way to charge, and you don’t own the member list

Why I Shortlisted These Nine Community Platforms (And Left Others Out)

Plenty of tools call themselves online community platforms. But far fewer are built for the people I write for on Learning Revolution.

I’ve built this list for edupreneurs, coaches, consultants, and other professionals who want to turn their expertise into income, with a community at the center of what they sell.

It isn’t a list for corporate intranets, internal team communities, or large customer-support forums. Those are real needs, but they call for different tools and a different buying process.

Secondly, I’ve used all the platforms I’ve included in this list.

I also run my own courses and community on a platform from this list, so I know how quickly a “community feature” can turn out to be a forum nobody visits. That experience shaped what I looked for.

What a platform had to do to make the list

For an expertise business, a community has a specific job. It should keep learners engaged between lessons, give them a reason to renew, and make your offer worth more than the information inside it.

With AI able to answer most factual questions in seconds, that human layer is increasingly what people pay for.

So I looked for platforms that could handle six things.

• Structure: Separate spaces for discussions, courses, events, and resources, so a community stays organized as it grows.
• Access control: Tiered memberships, private spaces, and access that updates automatically when someone buys, upgrades, or cancels.
• Learning: Courses, cohorts, or at least a clean way to tie learning to the conversation, since most of my readers sell knowledge.
• Engagement: Tools that give members a reason to come back, such as live events, gamification, challenges, or prompts.
• Monetization: Native ways to charge for access, from subscriptions and payment plans to bundles with courses and coaching.
• Real cost: A price that makes sense for a solo expert or small team once you add transaction fees, add-ons, and the plan you’ll actually need.

No platform here is perfect on all six. Each one is strong enough on the ones that matter for a specific kind of expertise business, and I’ve tried to be clear about where each one falls short.

What didn’t make the cut, and why

The online community platforms I’ve excluded from this list fall into one of the following categories.

1. Social and chat tools

Facebook Groups, Discord, and Slack all host communities, and plenty of experts start there.

The problem is control.

On Facebook, an algorithm decides who sees your posts, and you don’t own your member list.

Discord and Slack are built for real-time chat, so useful conversations scroll away and get hard to find. Slack’s free plan also hides older message history, and its paid plans charge per member, which gets expensive fast for a paid community.

None of the three gives you native courses or a clean way to charge for access.

They’re fine for testing whether people want to gather around your topic. That’s why I mention Facebook Groups as a free starting point.

Once the community becomes part of what you sell, you’ll want a platform you control.

2. Corporate and enterprise community software

Tools like Discourse, Hivebrite, Bettermode, Higher Logic, Khoros, and Disciple are built for organizations. Many hide their pricing behind a demo request, start at prices aimed at company budgets, and focus on customer support, alumni networks, or knowledge bases rather than paid learning communities.

In my work with associations through Tagoras, these tools can make sense. For a solo expert or a small education business, they’re usually more platform, more setup, and more cost than the job requires.

3. Platforms with community as an afterthought

This was the hardest group to cut, because most of these are good products.

Teachable and Kartra both have community features, but they sit on the edge of platforms built mainly for courses or marketing funnels.

Teachable’s community covers basic discussion and is missing from its entry plan. Kartra focuses on funnels, email, and checkout, and its members area doesn’t give you the structure or engagement tools of a real community.

GroupApp came closest to making the list. It pairs strong course tools with community channels and no transaction fees.

It has no native livestreaming or branded mobile app, though, and its community and branding options are more limited than the platforms I kept. If structured learning matters far more to you than community depth, it’s worth a look.

Why some course platforms still made it

You’ll notice Thinkific and Kajabi on the list, even though neither is a dedicated community platform.

I kept them because many of my readers sell courses first and want a community that supports learning. For that business, a strong course platform with a solid community layer often beats a strong community platform with weak courses.

BuddyBoss made the list for a similar reason. It takes more work than any hosted platform, but for experts already on WordPress who care most about owning their members and data, nothing else here offers the same control.

Before you read the reviews, it’s worth asking yourself one question.

Is the community the product you’re selling, or is it the thing that makes your courses and coaching worth more?

Your answer will point you toward a very different set of platforms on this list.

The Best Online Community Platforms for Coaches, Consultants, and Course Sellers

Let me now share the platforms that I recommend to my own community members at Learning Revolution to consider when they’re building a community led business.

1. Mighty Networks – Best All-In-One Community Platform

• Core features: Community spaces and discussions, courses and challenges, livestreams and events, native mobile apps
• Starting price: $79/mo on the Launch plan (annual billing), or $95/mo billed monthly · 14-day free trial
• Best for: Creators and edupreneurs who want to run large paid communities where members talk, learn, and meet every week
• Not for: Content libraries, simple forums, help desks, or anyone who can’t show up regularly to host

Mighty Networks makes the most sense when the community itself is the product. If people pay you mainly to connect with each other, learn together, and get access to you, it gives you more tools for that than most platforms on this list.

However, for smaller communities, it has too many features you probably won’t need at this stage.

If you already have a large community or plan to build one with aggressive marketing, Mighty Networks is an excellent platform to do so.

Everything in Mighty lives in Spaces.

Each Space works like a container you build up feature by feature. You can switch on a feed, a chat, a course, an events calendar, or a member directory, and mix them in the same Space.

That structure suits paid communities with more than one type of member.

A premium tier, a cohort, or a topic group can each get its own Space with its own discussions, calls, and content, while everyone else stays in the main community. Unlimited members and Spaces come with every plan, so you can add groups as you grow.

For engagement, Mighty gives you polls and questions, streaks, points, and leaderboards that reward people for taking part.

People Magic surfaces what members have in common, like a shared location or career change, so new members find each other faster. A built-in referral program lets members invite friends from inside the community.

Learning and live events sit in the same place as the conversation.

You can run on-demand, cohort-based, and live courses with quizzes and certificates, launch paid challenges, and host livestreams without a separate video tool.

Mighty lets you sell memberships, subscriptions, installment plans, free trials, and one-time offers, and give each Space, course, or challenge its own price.

That lets you run a free community with paid tiers on top, all from one login.

Mighty’s AI Cohost helps you plan your community, from how to structure your Spaces to what your first paid challenge or founding-member offer could look like.

Members also get AI conversation starters, which give quieter people something easy to reply to. On higher plans, the Infinite Question Engine posts questions and polls on a schedule, so the feed keeps moving on days you can’t show up.

When Mighty Networks won’t work well

Mighty is a poor fit if you run a small community or if your members mostly want to watch lessons and leave. In that case, you’ll pay for engagement tools nobody uses, and a course platform like Thinkific or Kajabi will serve you better.

It also takes real setup. Flexible Spaces give you a lot of choices, and a community with too many Spaces feels empty. Plan to start small, with one or two Spaces, and add more only when members ask for them.

Mighty Networks also has no email marketing tool. The platform sends notifications and automated messages inside the network, but onboarding sequences and win-back campaigns need Kit or another email platform.

Main features in Mighty Networks

• Flexible Spaces: Combine feeds, chat, courses, events, and a directory in any Space, with unlimited Spaces on every plan.
• Engagement tools: Polls, questions, streaks, points, and leaderboards give members reasons to come back.
• People Magic: Help members find others with shared interests or backgrounds.
• Courses and challenges: Run on-demand, cohort, and live courses or paid challenges inside the community.
• Built-in livestreaming: Host calls and workshops without a separate video tool.
• Native payments: Sell tiers, subscriptions, installments, and trials from one dashboard.
• AI Cohost and MCP: Plan your community with AI and manage it from Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini on higher plans.

Pros	Cons
Built specifically for paid communities where members interact	Needs an active host, since the tools won’t create engagement on their own
Unlimited members and Spaces on every plan	Flexible Spaces take thoughtful setup, and too many make a community feel empty
Polls, streaks, points, and leaderboards encourage regular participation	Transaction fee on every plan, highest on the entry plan
Courses, challenges, and livestreams live inside the community	Zapier, Kit, affiliates, and the MCP need higher plans
Native payments for tiers, subscriptions, and trials	Branded mobile apps only on Mighty Pro
AI Cohost and conversation starters help keep the feed active	Community content doesn’t build SEO for your own website

Mighty Networks Pricing Plans

See our full Mighty Networks review >>

Read: The Best WordPress LMS Plugins To Sell Online Courses

2. Circle – The Most User-Friendly Community Platform

• Core features: Spaces and access groups, built-in courses and events, livestreams, paywalls, AI and automation
• Starting price: $89/mo on the Professional plan (annual billing) · 14-day free trial
• Best for: Edupreneurs and community-led businesses that want discussions, courses, events, and payments organized in one hosted platform
• Not for: Creators on a tight budget, or anyone who needs full ownership and developer-level control

Circle is probably the fastest improving and evolving community platform right now. In fact, it has already evolved from being a basic community platform to a complete e-learning platform with community and audience engagement at its heart.

It works best when you have a large and established community that needs structure. If you run several programs, cohorts, or membership tiers, it gives you a clean way to keep each one organized without members getting lost.

Instead of discussions in Slack, courses in an LMS, events on Zoom, and payments somewhere else, Circle handles everything in one place under your brand.

The trade-off is cost.

Circle’s entry plan covers the basics, but many of the features that make it shine sit on higher plans or come as paid add-ons.

Everything in Circle lives in Spaces.

Each Space has one job, such as discussion posts, chat, events, a course, or a member directory. You group related Spaces into Space Groups, which appear in the left sidebar, so members always know where to go.

Access Groups handle permissions.

You bundle several Spaces into one Access Group and link it to a paywall or invite link. When someone buys, they get every Space in that group at once. That makes Circle a strong fit for tiered memberships, alumni groups, and cohort programs.

Learning and live events sit right next to the conversation.

You can publish courses, gate lessons by membership level, and bundle a course with community access. Livestreams and smaller live rooms let you run calls and workshops without Zoom. Leaderboards, badges, and in-post polls give members extra reasons to take part.

You can sell subscriptions, one-time purchases, and installment plans, add free trials and coupons, and offer upsells after checkout.

Circle also offers email marketing features as an add-on.

From the same dashboard as your community, you can capture contacts with forms, send broadcasts, schedule campaigns, and build automated email workflows.

Because your members and email contacts sit in one list, you can segment by what people do in the community and personalize emails based on those actions.

Circle also has a solid AI layer.

Circle AI helps you write posts, summarize long threads, and answer questions inside the admin dashboard. Circle includes a monthly allowance of AI credits on every plan.

On the Scale plan and up, AI agents trained on your posts, courses, and resources answer common member questions and help with onboarding, and AI workflows take over routine moderation and admin tasks.

Circle’s MCP connects Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini to your community. You can ask it which Spaces have gone quiet, which members look likely to churn, or to invite a list of new members and post a welcome message.

When Circle won’t work well

Circle gets expensive as you grow. Workflows, custom profile fields, branded email notifications, and removing Circle branding all start on Business. Email marketing runs through Email Hub, a separate add-on charged on top of your plan. Branded mobile apps need Circle Plus.

Every plan also carries limits on Spaces, admins, moderators, and live attendees, plus a transaction fee on sales. A small creator who just wants one community with a paywall can end up paying for structure they don’t use. Skool or Podia will cost less in that case.

Main features in Circle

• Spaces and Space Groups: Organize posts, chat, events, courses, and directories into a clear sidebar members can follow.
• Access Groups: Bundle Spaces into tiers and grant access automatically when someone pays or accepts an invite.
• Courses tied to membership: Gate lessons by tier and bundle courses with community access.
• Email Hub (add-on): Send broadcasts, automated campaigns, and segmented emails based on what members do in the community.
• Livestreams and live rooms: Host calls, workshops, and small-group sessions without a separate video tool.
• Paywalls: Sell subscriptions, one-time offers, and installments with trials, coupons, and upsells.
• Circle AI and agents: Summarize threads, draft content, and answer member questions automatically on higher plans.
• Circle MCP: Manage your community from Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini on the Business plan and up.

Pros	Cons
Spaces, Space Groups, and Access Groups keep large communities organized	Many key features sit on higher plans or cost extra as add-ons
Access Groups make tiered memberships easy to manage	Email marketing (Email Hub) is a paid add-on
Courses, events, livestreams, and payments in one hosted platform	Limits on Spaces, admins, and moderators on every plan
Clean, easy interface for both members and admins	Transaction fee on every plan
Circle AI, agents, and workflows cut admin work as you grow	Branded mobile apps only on Circle Plus
MCP lets you run reports and tasks from Claude or ChatGPT	Course tools lack advanced LMS features

Circle Pricing Plans

See our full Circle review >>

3. Skool – Simplest Online Community Platform

• Core features: Community feed, simple courses, events calendar, gamification, built-in payments
• Starting price: $9/mo on the Hobby plan, or $99/mo on Pro · 14-day free trial
• Best for: Beginners, coaches, and small communities that run on daily participation and accountability
• Not for: Businesses that need advanced course tools, strong branding, email marketing, or deep automation

Unlike Circle and Mighty Networks, Skool is the platform I recommend to beginners and anyone starting a small community.

It’s affordable, and quite easy to set up. Members find it easy to use from day one, which matters a lot when you’re trying to get your first 50 people talking.

It isn’t as feature-rich as Circle or Mighty Networks. But at the start, you probably don’t need those features anyway. You need members showing up, and Skool is built around exactly that.

I’ve been using Skool for three years now, and it’s a genuinely good platform as long as you go in knowing what it is. Think of it as a minimalist community where you can also sell courses.

Every Skool group has the same simple layout.

A community feed sits at the center, with a classroom for courses, a calendar for events, and a member list. Because every group looks the same, members who’ve used Skool before already know their way around yours.

Gamification is what keeps people coming back.

Members earn points when others like their posts and comments, climb levels, and appear on a leaderboard. You can lock courses until members reach a certain level, which gives active members a reward and gives quiet ones a reason to join in.

Discovery is among Skool’s strongest features.

Skool runs a public directory of communities, and it recommends yours to Skool users interested in your topic. On Circle, Mighty, Thinkific or Kajabi, every visitor has to come from your own marketing.

On Skool, the platform itself can send you new members.

You can charge a monthly or annual membership, add a free trial, and run an affiliate program so members earn a commission for bringing in others. Video hosting and unlimited live calls come with both plans, so you don’t need separate tools for either.

When Skool won’t work well

Skool keeps things simple on purpose, which means it has clear limits.

The classroom handles videos, text, and files, but it has no quizzes, certificates, or assessments. There’s no built-in email marketing, which is the biggest gap.

You can’t send automated sequences to new leads or win back a member who goes quiet, so you’ll still need a tool like Kit or MailerLite. Design is almost fixed, so your community will look like every other Skool group with your logo on it.

If you outgrow Skool, Circle or Mighty Networks give you more structure, and Kajabi adds the marketing tools Skool leaves out.

Main features in Skool

• Simple community feed: One central place for posts, questions, and wins, organized by categories.
• Discovery: Skool recommends your community to users interested in your topic, so new members can find you without your own marketing.
• Classroom: Host courses with videos, text, and attachments, and unlock them by level.
• Gamification: Points, levels, and leaderboards reward members for taking part.
• Calendar and live calls: Schedule events and run unlimited live calls inside the group.
• Built-in payments: Charge monthly or annual memberships with free trials.
• Affiliate program: Let members earn a commission for bringing in new people.

Pros	Cons
Very easy to set up and run, even for beginners	No quizzes, certificates, or advanced course tools
Affordable entry plan with unlimited members and courses	High transaction fee on the Hobby plan
Gamification drives regular participation	No built-in email marketing
Discovery can send you new members without your own marketing	Skool takes 30% of sales from members Discovery brings in (Growth Boost)
Familiar layout members already know from other groups	Very limited design and branding control
Unlimited video hosting and live calls on both plans, plus mobile apps	Discussions don’t build SEO for your own website

Skool Pricing Plans

Read our detailed Skool review

4. Heartbeat – Best Value for Learning-Led Communities

• Core features: Channels and threaded discussions, courses and cohorts, events and voice rooms, payments, automation workflows, Pulse AI
• Starting price: $40/mo on the Build plan (annual billing), or $49/mo billed monthly · 14-day free trial
• Best for: Coaches, educators, and course creators who want community, courses, events, and payments in one place without paying Circle or Mighty Networks prices
• Not for: Communities that expect to grow past a few hundred members quickly on a small budget, or anyone who wants built-in livestreaming

Heartbeat sits between Skool and Circle. It gives you much more structure and automation than Skool, at a lower entry price than Circle or Mighty Networks.

That makes it a strong value pick for coaches and educators who teach inside their community. Discussions, courses, events, documents, and payments all live in one place, on your own domain.

You can run threaded discussion channels, real-time chat channels, and private channels for specific groups, plus direct and group messages.

Voice and video rooms let members drop into live conversations, and a member directory and Match-Ups help people find others with shared interests.

Courses sit right next to the community.

You can run evergreen, drip, and cohort-based courses, and keep templates, lesson notes, and resources in a Documents area members can always find.

Cohort programs work especially well here, because the course, the discussion channel, and the live sessions stay connected.

Events are mostly done for you. Heartbeat sets up the Zoom call, invites members, and brings the recording back into the community afterward.

Automation is where Heartbeat stands out at its price.

Workflows start on the entry plan, so you can onboard new members, follow up when someone goes quiet, and send reminders without doing it by hand.

From Grow up, you also get unlimited workflows and cancellation flows that offer a coupon or a downgrade before a member leaves.

Pulse AI comes with every plan. Describe what you want in a chat, and Pulse sets up channels, courses, offers, sign-up pages, and workflows for you.

Members can use the Heartbeat app for iOS and Android on every plan, so the community travels with them.

When Heartbeat won’t work well

The entry plan caps you at 350 members. That’s fine for a coaching group or a first cohort, but a fast-growing community will hit the limit and need Grow, which costs about three times as much.

There’s no built-in livestreaming. Events run through Zoom, so you’ll need a Zoom account for live sessions. Native video hosting for course lessons also starts on Grow, so on the entry plan you’ll embed videos from YouTube, Vimeo, or Wistia.

Main features in Heartbeat

• Channels and messaging: Run threaded discussions, chat channels, private groups, and direct messages in one place.
• Courses and cohorts: Host evergreen, drip, and cohort-based courses next to the conversation.
• Events and voice rooms: Schedule events with automatic Zoom setup and recordings, or open a voice and video room.
• Member connections: Badges, a member directory, and Match-Ups help members find each other.
• Built-in payments: Sell memberships, tiers, courses, and paid waitlists with upsells and access groups.
• Automation workflows: Onboard, remind, and win back members automatically, starting on the entry plan.
• Pulse AI: Build channels, courses, offers, pages, and workflows by describing what you want.

Pros	Cons
Lower entry price than Circle or Mighty Networks	Entry plan caps you at 350 members
Automation workflows included on the entry plan	No built-in livestreaming, so events run through Zoom
Pulse AI builds channels, courses, pages, and workflows for you	Native video hosting only from the Grow plan
Courses, cohorts, events, and documents next to the community	Transaction fees are higher than most platforms here
Unlimited admins and moderators on every plan	Branded mobile app only on the top plan
Custom domain on every plan, plus imports from Slack and Circle	Smaller, newer platform than the big names on this list

Heartbeat Pricing Plans

Try Heartbeat for Free

5. Swarm – Best for Video-First Coaching Communities

• Core features: Video, voice, and text threads, native live events, courses with video practice, gamification, storefront and payments
• Starting price: $19/mo on the Launch plan (annual billing), or $29/mo billed monthly · 14-day free trial
• Best for: Coaches and experts whose teaching is visual, physical, or personal, such as fitness, dance, music, language, parenting, and high-ticket group coaching
• Not for: Text-based discussion communities, anyone who doesn’t want to appear on camera, or businesses that need email marketing and a CRM built in

Most community platforms center on text posts. Swarm puts video first, instantly making it a more engaging but higher effort community platform.

Members reply to threads with short video clips and voice notes, so conversations feel closer to a real meeting than a forum.

For coaches who teach a skill, that changes what’s possible. You can film a demonstration, and members can reply with a video of their own attempt for feedback.

The other side of that is simple.

If your community runs on written discussion, or you’d rather not be on camera, Swarm is the wrong tool.

You’d also want a highly motivated audience to get them on camera because most people hesitate to share videos in a new community.

Swarm primarily focuses on video content but it still supports text posts.

You organize each community into hubs and topics. Inside a thread, members can mix text, video replies, voice notes, screen shares, images, and embeds, and @mention others to pull them in.

Direct messages and group chats support video and voice too. Automatic transcripts and AI recaps help members who can’t watch every video keep up.

You can also host meetings for interactive sessions or webinars for one-way broadcasts, invite co-hosts and guest speakers, and even go live without scheduling first.

On higher plans, recordings post back into the community automatically, so a live session becomes content members can watch later. If you prefer Zoom, you can paste in a link instead.

Swarm can also host online courses.

You get drag-and-drop modules with enforced lesson order, video, text, PDFs, and embeds in any lesson, plus quizzes and certificates.

Swarm encourages engagement through gamification. Members earn points, climb levels, keep streaks, collect badges, and appear on leaderboards, with bonus points for video replies.

For selling, Swarm gives you a branded storefront where you can sell memberships, courses, downloads, event tickets, and bookings, with multi-tier memberships and paywalls on every plan.

When Swarm won’t work well

Swarm only pays off if you and your members actually use video. If members prefer to read and type, you’ll pay for a format nobody uses, and Circle or Skool will serve you better.

There’s no built-in email marketing or CRM. Swarm connects to your marketing tools through Zapier and its API on the top plan, so you’ll still need a separate email platform.

Main features in Swarm

• Video-first threads: Members reply with video clips, voice notes, and text in the same conversation.
• Native live events: Run meetings or webinars inside the community, with recordings that post automatically on higher plans.
• Practice-based courses: Enforced lesson order, quizzes, certificates, and video submissions for feedback.
• Gamification: Points, levels, streaks, badges, and leaderboards, with bonus points for video.
• Transcripts and AI recaps: Help members keep up without watching every video.
• Storefront and payments: Sell memberships, courses, downloads, tickets, and bookings from one branded page.
• Branded app: Put your community on members’ home screens on the Scale plan.

Pros	Cons
Video and voice replies create deeper connection than text threads	Only works if you and your members are comfortable on camera
Ideal for teaching skills that need demonstration and feedback	Entry plan has a 10% transaction fee, the highest on this list
Native live events with meeting and webinar modes	Live streams cap at 30 to 90 minutes depending on plan
Courses support video practice submissions and cohorts	Branded app, white label, Zapier, API, and SSO need the Scale plan
Gamification that rewards video participation	No built-in email marketing or CRM
Low entry price and a branded storefront	Entry plan allows just one space

Swarm Pricing Plans

Try Swarm for Free

6. Podia – Best Balance of Community and Learning on a Budget

• Core features: Community home feed and spaces, group and member chat, courses, coaching, events, email marketing, Podia MCP
• Starting price: $42/mo on the Mover plan (annual billing), or $49/mo billed monthly · 14-day free trial
• Best for: Solo edupreneurs and small teams who want community, courses, and email under one roof at a fair price
• Not for: Large email lists, advanced marketing automation, or programs that need deep learning design and assessment

Podia has transformed itself from an all-in-one course platform into a community-led e-learning platform.

You can still sell courses, coaching, digital downloads, and events. Community now sits at the center of everything, though. Every customer lands in a shared home feed with discussions, updates, and events in one place.

If learning experiences are a core part of your offer, Podia gives you one of the best balances of learning and community features on this list. Plus, it has email marketing built in, which most community platforms don’t.

I’ve been a paid Podia user since 2018 and have recommended it for years to people who need a bit of everything without paying a premium.

As soon as someone signs up, subscribes, or buys, they join your community. You organize it into spaces by topic or tier, and paid plans can gate premium spaces and content.

Members get an activity feed, profiles, direct messages, and group chats of up to 10 people. A Top Contributors widget highlights active members, pinned posts keep announcements visible, and a built-in upgrade button lets free members move to a paid plan in one click. That turns your free community into the top of your sales funnel.

Learning sits right alongside the conversation.

Courses support video, drip content, quizzes, certificates, and access limits, and you can run cohort-based courses where a group moves through the material together. Live and in-person events come with reminders and replays you can sell as products. You can bundle community access with any course, download, coaching offer, or event.

Email is built in too.

You can send broadcasts, run automated sequences, and segment members by what they bought or how they engage. Each email shows the revenue it brought in, so you can see what’s working without a separate tool.

Every plan also includes Podia MCP, which connects Claude, ChatGPT, or another AI tool to your account. You could ask it to find everyone who finished a course, create a coupon for your next offer, and draft an email to them in one request.

When Podia won’t work well

Everything in Podia works, but nothing goes particularly deep. It sits between a simple community tool and a full business platform, and it’s built for beginners and mid-sized creators.

Email is the clearest example. It’s fine for early-stage creators, but there’s no visual automation builder, no advanced behavioral triggers, and segmentation is basic next to Kit or Kajabi. Each plan also includes a fairly small number of email subscribers, so a growing list pushes your costs up.

The community is also newer. Podia relaunched as “the New Podia” in mid-2026 and moved every account over by August, so it has less of a track record than Mighty Networks or Circle. The free community plan is gone too, so you’ll pay from day one after the trial. Podia also charges only in your account’s base currency, so international members pay in your currency.

Main features in Podia

• Community at the center: Every customer joins a home feed with spaces, discussions, updates, and events.
• Chat and profiles: Group chats of up to 10 people, member-to-member DMs, and member profiles help people connect.
• Free-to-paid upgrades: Gate premium spaces behind paid plans, with a one-click upgrade button for free members.
• Courses and events: Drip content, quizzes, certificates, cohorts, and live or in-person events with replays.
• Built-in email: Broadcasts, automations, and segments, with revenue tracking for every email.
• Everything in one bundle: Combine community, courses, downloads, coaching, and events into one offer.
• Podia MCP: Manage members, coupons, content, and email drafts from Claude or ChatGPT on every plan.

Pros	Cons
Community now sits at the center of the platform	Features cover the basics but rarely go deep
Good balance of learning and community features	Email automation is basic next to Kit or Kajabi
Email marketing built in, with revenue tracking	Small email subscriber allowance on every plan
Chat, DMs, Top Contributors, and an upgrade button for free members	No learning paths, deep assessments, or detailed reporting
Podia MCP included on every plan	Transaction fee on the entry plan, and affiliates start on Shaker
Simple to use, with free migration help	Newly relaunched community with a shorter track record

Podia Pricing Plans

Read our detailed Podia Review for more in-depth analysis

7. Kajabi Communities – Best for Advanced Marketing and Automation

• Core features: Community channels, challenges and meetups, courses and coaching, email and funnels, checkout, AI tools
• Starting price: $143/mo on the Basic plan (annual billing), or $179/mo billed monthly · 14-day free trial
• Best for: Edupreneurs who sell courses, coaching, or memberships and want the community tied to their email, funnels, and checkout
• Not for: Creators who mainly want a community and don’t need the rest of the business tools that come with it

Kajabi is an advanced audience growth platform with a full system for selling your expertise. Community features are one part of it.

You can run landing pages and email campaigns that turn subscribers into buyers, take payment, and then bring those buyers into a member portal where your courses and community live side by side.

Nothing has to be stitched together.

But if the community is your whole product, you’ll pay for a lot of tools you won’t use. So, only go for Kajabi if you plan to sell courses, coaching, and other digital products alongside the community.

Kajabi organizes a community into channels.

Members can post, comment, and react inside topic channels, and you can control who sees each one. Because access comes from your products, offers, and subscriptions, the community becomes part of what people pay for.

You can run time-bound challenges where members earn points and climb a leaderboard, and host live meetups for Q&As, workshops, and group calls.

Kajabi has also rebuilt its community video experience and added a notification center, so members can keep up with activity more easily.

Members can open the community, courses, and podcasts in the free Kajabi app on iPhone and Android, on every plan. The free app sends no push notifications for your business, though. Push notifications come with your own branded app, which Pro includes.

Courses, coaching, and community live in one member portal. Members can work through a lesson, track their progress, and then jump into the discussion about it without logging in anywhere else.

Kajabi’s email marketing, automation, and sales features are more advanced than any community platform on this list. It lets you build sequences, funnels, and lead generation campaigns tied directly to your community and courses.

Kajabi’s AI tools go further than most platforms on this list.

Cofounder works like an AI business partner that can draft a full product, offer, sales page, and email sequence from one conversation. Backstage turns existing material into personalized coaching programs. Expert Agents, AI assistants trained on your own content, are still listed as coming soon.

The Kajabi MCP connects Claude or ChatGPT to your account. You can describe a task, like creating an offer page for a new community tier and drafting an email to current members, and review the result before anything goes live.

Overall, Kajabi is overkill for most beginners and too simplistic for someone looking to offer community as a product.

But if community plays a support role in your broader e-learning business that offers coaching, courses, and live engagement, Kajabi is hard to beat.

When Kajabi Communities won’t work well

The community tools are solid, but they’re simpler than what you’ll find on Mighty Networks, Circle, or Skool. You get fewer engagement mechanics, less control over how you structure the community, and fewer ways to customize it.

If members join mainly to talk to each other, a dedicated platform will serve them better.

Kajabi is also expensive for a community alone. Its value shows up when you use the email, funnels, checkout, and courses too.

Main features in Kajabi Communities

• Community channels: Organize discussions by topic and control who can see each channel.
• Access tied to products: Grant community access automatically through courses, offers, and subscriptions.
• Challenges and leaderboards: Run time-bound challenges where members earn points and compete.
• Meetups: Host live Q&As, workshops, and group calls for members.
• One member portal: Courses, coaching, and community sit together, with progress tracking.
• Built-in marketing: Email, landing pages, funnels, and checkout move people from subscriber to member.
• AI tools and MCP: Cofounder, Backstage, and the Kajabi MCP help you build and run your business, with Expert Agents on the way.

Pros	Cons
Community connects directly to email, funnels, and checkout	Community tools are simpler than Mighty Networks, Circle, or Skool
Access to channels comes automatically with what members buy	Expensive if you only need a community
Challenges, leaderboards, and meetups add structure	Cohort courses, affiliates, and advanced automations need Growth or higher
Courses, coaching, and community in one member portal	Branded mobile app only on Pro
Strong AI tools, including Cofounder, Backstage, and the MCP	Limited control over community layout and customization
One platform for experts selling several products	Everything depends on one platform if something goes wrong

Kajabi Pricing Plans

Read our full Kajabi review, or see how members use it in my Kajabi Communities review

8. Thinkific – Best Course Features With Basic Community Tools

• Core features: Communities and Spaces linked to courses, threaded discussions, live events, notifications, full course and learning tools
• Starting price: $82/mo on the Start plan (annual billing), the first plan with paid memberships, or $109/mo billed monthly · 30-day free trial
• Best for: Edupreneurs and training businesses who sell learning experiences and want a community to keep learners engaged
• Not for: Businesses where the community itself is the product and needs deep engagement tools or automation

Thinkific’s community features aren’t in the same league as Circle, Mighty Networks, or even Skool. It isn’t a dedicated community platform, and it doesn’t try to be.

What it does offer is a better course and learning experience than any community platform on this list. So if you sell learning experiences and want a community to keep your audience engaged around them, Thinkific is an excellent choice.

I’ve been using Thinkific since its early days, and I run my own Platform to Profits program on it. I still see it first as a learning platform with a community layer on top.

Thinkific lets you give each course, cohort, or membership tier its own Space and control who gets in through course enrollment or membership.

Inside each Space, members can post threaded discussions, react, and send direct messages. You can host live events, and push notifications and weekly digests keep members up to date.

Community analytics show you who’s active and which members drive the conversation, and moderator roles help you keep things on track.

Members can also join the conversation from Thinkific’s mobile app, which comes with every plan. A branded app under your own name is a paid add-on.

Because the community lives on the same platform as your courses, learners move from a lesson to the discussion about it without logging in anywhere else. That works well for cohort programs, customer training, and membership-based education.

Where Thinkific really earns its spot is the learning side.

You get structured courses with progress tracking, quizzes, assignments, and certificates, plus live Zoom lessons inside courses.

On Thinkific Plus, you can add learning paths, SCORM files, and content built in Articulate. Thinker AI, also on Plus, answers learner questions using only your own course content, and Thinkific’s MCP lets Plus schools connect Claude or ChatGPT to their course and learner data.

When Thinkific won’t work well

If the community is your main product, Thinkific will feel thin. You get fewer engagement tools than Mighty Networks or Skool, no gamification to speak of, and less control over how the community looks and works.

Automation is the biggest gap I’ve run into. In Platform to Profits, there’s no way to automatically welcome new members or nudge quiet ones back. That’s manageable with a few hundred members, but it becomes real work past that, and dedicated community platforms handle it for you.

Main features in Thinkific Communities

• Communities and Spaces: Give each course, cohort, or tier its own Space, with private access when you need it.
• Access tied to learning: Members join through course enrollment or a membership, so the right people land in the right Space.
• Discussions and messaging: Threaded posts, reactions, and direct messages keep conversations organized.
• Live events: Host sessions for members right inside the platform.
• Notifications and digests: Push alerts and weekly email digests bring members back.
• Community analytics: See who’s active and which members drive engagement.
• Strong course tools: Progress tracking, quizzes, certificates, and live lessons that dedicated community platforms can’t match.

Pros	Cons
Course and learning tools far stronger than any dedicated community platform	Community tools are basic next to Circle, Mighty Networks, or Skool
Community and courses live on the same platform	No automation to welcome new members or win back quiet ones
Spaces and access tied directly to courses and memberships	Little gamification or engagement mechanics
Live events, notifications, and weekly digests	Paid memberships start on the Start plan
Community analytics to spot your most active learners	Branded mobile app costs extra
Thinker AI and MCP for schools on Thinkific Plus	Learning paths, SCORM, Thinker AI, and MCP are Plus-only

Thinkific Pricing Plans

See our Thinkific Community review >>

9. BuddyBoss – Best WordPress-Based Community Platform

• Core features: Activity feeds, groups and forums, profiles and messaging, LMS integrations, gamification, native mobile apps (sold separately)
• Starting price: Plan discontinued/yr on the Start plan (Plan discontinued), plus your own WordPress hosting · 14-day money-back guarantee
• Best for: Edupreneurs, training businesses, and associations that already run on WordPress and want full ownership of their community, data, and design
• Not for: Anyone who wants a hosted platform that works out of the box, or doesn’t want to manage hosting, plugins, and updates

BuddyBoss is the only platform on this list that you own outright. It’s a set of WordPress plugins and a theme that turn your own website into a full community and learning platform.

If you’re not already on WordPress, I won’t recommend taking this path because its a lot of unnecessary work.

But if you have a WordPress site and want to add a community to it, BuddyBoss is the platform I strongly recommend.

Your members, content, and data live on your site, and no platform can change the rules, raise your fees, or shut down your community. You can also publish your own branded app under your name in the App Store and Google Play.

The trade-off is that you’ll have to manage everything yourself. Set up your WordPress site, choose hosting, configure the plugins, and keep everything updated.

BuddyBoss gives you the social features of a private network on your own site. Members get profiles, activity feeds, friends and followers, posts with photos and video, comments, reactions, @mentions, and direct messages.

You can add public, private, or hidden groups, discussion forums, events with RSVPs and ticket sales, job boards, and a member directory.

Feeds show activity based on what members follow and join, with no algorithm deciding what people see.

For learning, BuddyBoss has its own Memberships and Courses tools built in, and it also connects with LearnDash, LifterLMS, Tutor LMS, and MemberPress Courses. If you haven’t picked an LMS yet, my guide to the best WordPress LMS plugins compares them.

That means you can keep the LMS you already use and wrap a community around it, with course groups, discussions, quizzes, certificates, and lessons that unlock over time. Live classes run through the Zoom integration.

Because it runs on WordPress, you can extend BuddyBoss with thousands of plugins for payments, email, analytics, and more. Developers also get an API, open-source code, and a toolkit for custom builds.

When BuddyBoss won’t work well

BuddyBoss asks more of you than any other platform here. You need WordPress hosting that can handle a busy community, and BuddyBoss itself recommends a managed host with dedicated resources over cheap shared hosting. You’ll also handle plugin updates, conflicts, and backups, or pay someone to do it.

BuddyBoss gives you tools and leaves the strategy to you. You won’t find built-in engagement prompts or community-design guidance like Mighty Networks offers. For a small or early-stage community, that’s a lot of unnecessary work.

Main features in BuddyBoss

• Full social network: Profiles, activity feeds, followers, groups, forums, and direct messages on your own site.
• Courses your way: Use BuddyBoss’s built-in courses or connect LearnDash, LifterLMS, Tutor LMS, or MemberPress.
• Events and live classes: Run events with RSVPs and ticket sales, plus live classes through Zoom.
• Gamification (Scale plan): Points, badges, ranks, leaderboards, and competitions.
• Native mobile apps: Publish your own branded iOS and Android apps under your developer accounts, sold separately.
• Full ownership: Your site, your members, your data, with no platform rules or algorithm in the way.
• WordPress flexibility: Extend with thousands of plugins, an API, and open-source code.

Pros	Cons
You own your site, members, and data outright	You manage hosting, updates, and plugin conflicts yourself
Works with the WordPress LMS you already use	Total cost climbs once you add hosting, LMS plugins, and the app
Native branded apps published under your own name	Mobile app is a separate subscription that costs more than the web license
No platform fee on LearnDash, MemberPress, or WooCommerce sales	LMS integrations and real-time messaging start on Launch
Full social features, including groups, forums, events, and job boards	Gamification and multilingual support need the Scale plan
Endless customization through plugins, an API, and open-source code	No built-in engagement strategy, and overkill for small communities

BuddyBoss Pricing Plans

See our full BuddyBoss review >>

How We Evaluate and Test Online Community Platforms

Reviews of platforms on the Learning Revolution site are overseen by the site’s founder, Jeff Cobb, an e-learning industry expert with more than 20 years of experience working with online courses and related platforms. All evaluations are conducted by a team of analysts who have extensive experience using, testing, and writing about these types of platforms. We dedicate numerous hours to researching each platform, ensuring each aligns with the needs of online course sellers, and vetting specific areas like core features, usability, pricing, and customer satisfaction. Our reviews are unbiased, and while we will participate in affiliate programs, if available, we do not accept payment for placement in our articles or links to external websites.

What is an Online Community Platform?

An online community platform is cloud software that allows you to create, host, and manage interactive online communities.

It comes with member management, content creation, course selling, generative AI, and instant messaging features that help you build a thriving and interactive online community around your eLearning business.

The best online community software lets you organize your discussions using threads, tags, and categories. Many also come with live streaming and event management features to help you create branded experiences.

Facebook and LinkedIn Groups are examples of free online community tools. However, if you want to monetize your community, sell products, and create a tailored environment for your community members, you’ll need a premium online community solution.

How To Choose The Right Online Community Software (What Actually Matters)

The right online community platform depends less on features and more on how community fits into your business. Two platforms can look similar on paper and perform very differently once real members show up.

Before comparing tools, get clear on a few fundamentals.

1) Is the community the product—or a supporting layer?

This is the most important decision.

Some businesses sell access to the community itself. The value comes from discussion, accountability, peer learning, and relationships. In these cases, engagement mechanics matter more than content delivery.

Other businesses use community to support courses, coaching, or memberships. Here, the community exists to improve completion rates, retention, and outcomes—not to replace the product.

Platforms like Skool and Mighty Networks work best when community is the product. Tools like Thinkific and Kajabi make more sense when community sits on top of a course or digital product business.

2) Engagement design (not just discussion features)

A healthy community doesn’t happen by accident.

Look at how the platform encourages participation:

• Are discussions structured or chaotic?
• Can you guide behavior with prompts, polls, challenges, or events?
• Does the platform reward participation or surface active members?

Some platforms are built for daily interaction, while others support as-needed participation. Choose based on how often you expect members to show up.

3) Access control, roles, and moderation

You need control as your community grows.

Good platforms let you:

• Gate access by membership, course, or role
• Create private spaces for cohorts, programs, or tiers
• Assign moderators and manage permissions without friction

Moderation tools matter more over time than at launch. Look for reporting, spam protection, and role-based controls that scale.

4) Content, learning, and events

Most communities blend conversation with content.

Pay attention to:

• Supported content formats (text, video, files, live sessions)
• How well discussions connect to lessons, resources, or recordings
• Whether live events and replays live inside the community

If learning outcomes matter, frictionless movement between content and discussion is critical.

5) Monetization and business fit

Not every platform is built to make money.

Ask whether the platform supports:

• Paid memberships or subscriptions
• One-time payments or bundles
• Course, coaching, or event sales
• Access rules tied directly to payments

If community drives revenue, monetization needs to be native—not an afterthought.

6) AI considerations (where it actually helps)

AI shouldn’t be a gimmick—it should reduce friction.

The most useful AI features in community platforms help with:

• Onboarding new members by answering common questions
• Summarizing long discussion threads so knowledge doesn’t get buried
• Improving search and discovery across posts and resources
• Supporting moderation and reducing admin workload

AI works best when it supports clarity and scale, not when it replaces human interaction.

7) Integrations and long-term flexibility

Finally, think beyond launch.

Check whether the platform integrates with:

• Email marketing and CRM tools
• Course platforms or payment processors
• Analytics and automation tools

Also consider lock-in. Hosted platforms optimize for speed and simplicity. Self-hosted or WordPress-based tools offer ownership and flexibility but require more effort.

Online Community Platforms vs. Membership Platforms: What’s the Difference?

Membership platforms are built to control access to content. Their main job is gating courses, videos, downloads, or resources behind logins, subscriptions, or one-time payments. Interaction between members is usually limited or optional.

Online community platforms are built to connect people to each other through discussions, groups, events, and shared experiences. Engagement, conversation, and relationships sit at the center of the product.

Practically speaking, modern community platforms often include membership features as well, which is why many people search for a single membership community platform. Tools like Mighty Networks, Circle, and Kajabi let you sell paid access, manage subscriptions, and restrict content by plan or role—while still prioritizing interaction.

The difference comes down to intent. Membership platforms monetize content. Community platforms monetize connection, participation, and belonging, with content playing a supporting role. If gating content is your main job, see my roundup of membership site platforms.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the best online community platform?

Mighty Networks is the best overall choice for paid communities where members interact every day. The right pick still depends on your business. Circle suits structured communities with several programs or tiers, while Skool fits beginners and small groups. Kajabi and Thinkific work best when the community supports courses you already sell.

What is the best online community platform for beginners?

Skool is the easiest platform to start with. You can set it up quickly, members already know the layout from other groups, and the Hobby plan starts at $7.50/mo. Points and levels give early members a reason to post. Once you need email marketing, deeper courses, or your own branding, you can move up to Circle, Mighty Networks, or Kajabi.

Is there a free online community platform?

Facebook Groups is the most practical free option, and it works well for testing whether people want to gather around your topic. You can’t charge for access natively, though, and you don’t own your member list. Thinkific and Podia have both dropped their free plans. Most platforms on this list offer a free trial instead, usually 14 days, while Thinkific’s runs 30 days.

How much does it cost to run an online community?

Expect to pay more than the price on the pricing page. Entry plans on this list start at $7.50/mo and go up to $143/mo. Four other costs usually add up on top of the plan.

• Platform transaction fees: Some entry plans take up to 10% of each sale.
• Payment processing: Stripe or PayPal fees apply on every platform.
• Add-ons: Email marketing, branded mobile apps, and extra admin seats often cost extra.
• Upgrades: Automation, white labeling, and integrations often sit on higher plans.

Before you choose, price the plan you’ll realistically need a year from now.

Which online community platforms have no transaction fees?

Kajabi and Thinkific charge no platform transaction fees on any plan when you use their built-in payment processors. BuddyBoss charges none on its Launch and Scale plans, or when you sell through LearnDash, MemberPress, or WooCommerce. Most dedicated community platforms take a cut on their entry plans and lower it as you upgrade. Skool and Swarm charge the most, at 10% on their entry plans. Stripe or PayPal processing fees still apply everywhere.

Can you sell online courses on a community platform?

Yes. Every platform on this list lets you host and sell courses, but the depth varies widely. Skool’s classroom handles videos and files, with no quizzes or certificates. Mighty Networks, Circle, Heartbeat, Swarm, and Podia add tools like quizzes, certificates, drip content, or cohorts. If structured learning is your main product, Thinkific or Kajabi will give you stronger course tools with a community layer on top.

Skool vs. Circle: Which one should you choose?

Choose Skool if you’re starting out, want a simple setup, and plan to run one community built on daily participation. Choose Circle if you run several programs, cohorts, or membership tiers and need spaces, access groups, email, and automation to keep them organized. Skool costs less to start, and its Discovery directory can bring you new members, though it takes 30% of sales from members it sends you. Circle gives you far more control as you grow. My Skool vs Circle comparison goes deeper.

When should you move from a Facebook Group to a paid community platform?

Move when the community becomes part of what you sell. Clear signs include wanting to charge for access, needing private spaces for cohorts or tiers, losing good discussions in the feed, or wanting to email your members directly. Facebook handles none of these well, and its algorithm still decides who sees your posts. Start with a simple platform like Skool or Podia, and invite your most active members first.

Which online community platforms have their own mobile app?

Several do, but a branded app with your own name in the app stores almost always costs extra. Skool includes its own Skool-branded apps on both plans. Mighty Networks offers branded apps through Mighty Pro, Circle through Circle Plus, and Kajabi on its Pro plan. Thinkific sells its branded app as an add-on, Heartbeat includes one on its top plan, and Swarm’s Scale plan installs to members’ home screens from the browser. BuddyBoss sells native apps as a separate subscription.

Which online community platforms work with ChatGPT and Claude?

Five platforms on this list offer an MCP connection, which lets AI assistants like Claude and ChatGPT read your data and run tasks in your account. Podia includes its MCP on every plan. Circle offers one from the Business plan, Mighty Networks on higher plans, Thinkific on Thinkific Plus, and Kajabi through the Kajabi MCP. In practice, you can ask which members went quiet this month, or have the AI draft an offer and an email for you to review.

Does an online community help your website’s SEO?

Usually not. On hosted platforms, most discussions sit behind a login, so search engines can’t index them as part of your site. BuddyBoss is the exception, since the community runs on your own WordPress site. A community still feeds your SEO indirectly, though. Member questions show you exactly what your audience wants to know, which makes them some of the best topic ideas you’ll find for your blog.

Can you move your community to a different platform later?

Yes, but members move more easily than conversations. Most platforms let you export your member list, while posts, comments, and history rarely transfer cleanly. Some platforms help with the move. Heartbeat imports communities from Slack and Circle, and Podia offers free migration help. If you think you may switch later, keep your email list in a separate tool so you can always reach your members.

What is the best online community platform for coaches?

Skool suits coaches who run group programs built on daily check-ins and accountability. Heartbeat fits coaches who teach cohorts and want automation from the entry plan. Swarm works best when coaching happens through video, such as fitness or music. If you also sell courses and need email and funnels, Kajabi keeps coaching, community, and marketing in one account.

Which community platform is best for cohort-based courses?

Heartbeat and Mighty Networks handle cohorts best among dedicated community platforms. Each one keeps the course, the discussion, and the live sessions connected, so a group moves through the material together. Circle works well for running several cohorts side by side. If structured learning matters most, Thinkific and Kajabi offer stronger course tools with a community layer.

Do you need a community if you already sell online courses?

Not always, but a community often makes a course worth more. It gives learners a place to ask questions, share progress, and stay accountable, which matters more now that AI can answer most factual questions on demand. If your course is short and self-paced, a simple discussion space inside Thinkific or Kajabi may be enough. If people pay you for a change that takes months, a dedicated community will likely pay off. Which kind of course do you sell?

Jeff Cobb, Founder of Learning Revolution

Jeff Cobb is an expert in online education and the business of adult lifelong learning. Over the past 20+ years he has built a thriving career based on that expertise – as an entrepreneur, a consultant, an author, and a speaker. Learning Revolution is a place where Jeff curates tips, insights, and resources to help you build a thriving expertise-based business. Learn more about Jeff Cobb here.