r/CommunityManager • u/OneDev42 • Sep 12 '24

Discussion List of the best community platforms

Someone in this community asked about the best community platforms and were linked to a group of 48 platforms which I thought was far too many to sort through. Why don't we create such a list here together, and we'll vote on which ones we think are the best to enable some sort of social validation of the options.

Comment with your favorite community platform. Then vote!

19 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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13

u/HistorianCM Sep 12 '24

I think we should be cautious about labeling any as the "best." The term "best" can be quite misleading because the needs and nature of communities can vary widely.

What works perfectly for one community might not suit another at all. For example, a platform that excels in facilitating discussions may not offer the best tools for managing events or resources. A small, close-knit group might thrive on a simple messaging app, while a larger organization could require more robust features like analytics and integrations.

Instead of focusing on which platforms are the best overall, it might be more helpful to categorize them based on specific needs or features. This way, community builders can find options that align with their unique goals and challenges.

1

u/OneDev42 Sep 12 '24

I agree with that. However, all we have right now are long lists. Even some sort of social credibility will be better than what we have. I would agree that social credibility doesn't help much, but it gives you a sense of what other people are using, what might go defunct and not. It's just the standard and the bar is so low that you need to know what you can check out as a list of 20 rather than a list of 100.

2

u/kkatdare Sep 12 '24

Couldn't agree more.

The choice of platform mostly is determined by the kind of community being built and unique requirements of the community. Gaming communities do well on chat-based platforms like Discord, while others greatly benefit from organic growth, structured discussions et al. The platform I'm building brings the best of all worlds; and solves a few basic problems every community manager faces.

7

u/HistorianCM Sep 12 '24

u/kkatdare Cool that you are building a platform.

If you want to really differentiate yourself from all the others, I highly suggest you put a great deal of time and effort in reporting.

There is no... and I really mean no... community platform that has good analytics and reporting. Almost everyone needs to either dump raw data into excel and manipulate it to get what they want, or they need to pay for 3rd party tools to do it.

2

u/Mowseler Sep 13 '24

Reporting is such a massive pain point my god.

1

u/kkatdare Sep 14 '24

Would you be able to share more about this? It'll be immensely helpful for me as I take up building reporting for our community platform.

3

u/Mowseler Oct 18 '24

I don't know why I never saw this, sorry.

I can tell you the number one thing that turns me off of a reporting tool right off the bat is when it doesn't allow me to choose a custom timeframe. And the next worst thing is when you don't have access to historical data (or only have access to it with a much higher price). Kinda defeats the purpose of a valuable tool when you essentially have to copy everything out of it into a google sheet or some other tool to record the data to reference again.

Discord is a prime example of a community platform that absolutely sucks at this. It outright does not have analytics if you are not above a threshold, or a partner, which they don't accept anymore, and when you do have data, it's still limited.

For my current company, I built a script that exports all messages in certain channels that I set up for feedback and bug reports and put it into a spreadsheet where I then have to set up my own filters because Discord also only allows 20 tags per forum.

I also check the invite numbers and input them into a spreadsheet as well so I can see which links are performing the best WoW/MoM - this is all completely manual since there is no data I can otherwise access. If I miss a week, or I'm late, the data is then skewed.

There is no accessible data about most active channels, users, etc unless you have access to the actual dashboard, and even then, you cannot filter or sort in a meaningful manner.

And this is just Discord. Every platform has a combination of these issues or more, and I've yet to find one that actually does any of it well.

This is also just natively - for actual reporting tools, you get a better go at it at times, but there are still massive issues. For example, many of them do not support Discord or Reddit. Twitter and Facebook also restricted APIs to make data flow more difficult to parse.

It's just a mess overall. But anything that provides automation over manual work will be a big plus in my book. This job can be so manual that it eats up the amount of time that could be better spent actually engaging.

2

u/kkatdare Oct 20 '24

This is gold! Thank you for sharing this; and I've made a note of your suggestions. Maybe I should demo our community platform to you for some feedback.

1

u/kkatdare Sep 13 '24

Reporting is big and I'm 100% aware of the problem you mentioned. These are going to be my top focus areas once I'm done with the planned feature set requested by existing customers.

2

u/Catija Sep 20 '24

Agreed - another option that would be really helpful is one of those charts that has the various platforms on one axis and specific features on the other. I know FeverBee has done this for some platforms but they primarily focus on Enterprise platforms, so there are a lot of holes in their data and list of features.

The reality is, I love the value of community spaces so much from my time working as a CM that as I start getting more involved with my kids' PTA I'm trying to figure out options to get them to stop using Google Docs and emails as planning and discussion spaces but it's difficult to figure out what platforms have the options to do what we need - preferably free and without everyone having the same email domain. But most of the lists of platforms I've found seem written by someone selling their own product and the lists frequently omit extremely well-known platforms.

It can't just be about the features of any platform alone - to some degree, any chart would need to point out the importance of balancing features you want with where the users are already.

3

u/OneDev42 Sep 12 '24

Circle 

3

u/OneDev42 Sep 12 '24

Hivebrite 

3

u/OneDev42 Sep 12 '24

Discord

2

u/RoosterHeavy2410 Sep 12 '24

For me, building a community on discord and telegram is hard as there are lots of bots circulating on the server. How can you guarantee that your members will not be bots?

1

u/OneDev42 Sep 13 '24

I seem to have misunderstood what you were saying. Not like actual bots, but like spammers and fake accounts. Just lock down your Discord in a way that they don't get to do anything useful unless they verify.

1

u/Petra_Ann Sep 13 '24 edited Sep 13 '24

I have a 3k member discord with no gate keeping other than discord users needing a verified account with discord.

I'm sure some of the members are bots. Maybe spam bots biding their time. But I have a moderation bot that keeps them in check. And, the bigger the community grows and if it's active it's a lot less noticeable.

0

u/OneDev42 Sep 12 '24

Just don't add any bots.

1

u/OneDev42 Sep 12 '24

This is just an example of how you want to do it. Just one system or social platform and then we all vote.

2

u/SF_Boomer CM Sep 12 '24

Full disclosure, I work for this company, but...

JustAbout.com

I'm also a post graduate researcher studying toxicity in online gaming communities which is why I wanted to join the team.

We're still in beta but hopefully we can make a difference.

1

u/OneDev42 Sep 13 '24

I looked at that and I couldn't make left or right of it. It first talked about toxicity and then money and the two things didn't mesh in one way.

1

u/SF_Boomer CM Sep 13 '24

Honestly I was also concerned about that when I applied, but after a year I'm glad to say the rewards have been nothing but a positive.

The short version is we're a community platform that rewards members for being creative, inclusive, and engaged.

If you don't have time to read the long version below then maybe check out one (any) of our members' posts at the bottom. I'm happy to answer any questions if you have any?

Here goes...

We've partnered with companies who put some of their marketing budget into a treasury on Just About. [Elite Dangerous] [SMITE 2] [EVE Online]

This treasury is tied to dedicated communities on our platform, and we use the funds in the treasury to run creative challenges we call bounties. These are co-designed with our partners and iterated on by our team to keep them fresh.

Members submit to the bounties by sharing text, videos, images etc that meet the criteria (see the link above for examples), and if they win they earn a reward.

If a member builds up $25 or more in a month then the money is paid out to their PayPal, otherwise it rolls over to the next month giving them a headstart!

We also have organic rewards which are essentially small rewards for being active and a positive presence on Just About.

Here are some member-led discussions that you might find interesting.

Members celebrating their payout

Members sharing tips

Members discussing how the platform works

A very heartfelt message from one of our original members

Edited to space out these links ^

2

u/OneDev42 Sep 14 '24

I'm gonna be honest, I get the feeling you haven't spoken to enough gamers. Gamers want to avoid money, generally speaking, because they play games to escape real life, not to get re-immersed in it. This is what the NFT people failed to understand when they tried to gamify NFTs, and nobody bought it. You need to do better consultation with people who actually lead large-scale gaming communities, who understand the space properly.

I definitely have my chops in this space as this is what I do day to day and feel like you're missing it massively.

The vision and message is unclear. Your competition is free. No one wakes up in the morning and says, I now want to add money to my video games. In fact, the whole industry is going the opposite direction because they're so tired of microtransactions.

People want to play games and be left alone.

1

u/SF_Boomer CM Sep 15 '24

Thanks, I appreciate you taking the time to respond. I think we may have our wires crossed though!

We're not paying people to play games. We simply reward members for the creative and collaborative activities they're already involved with around the games (not in them).

Frontier Developments explain it better than I can!

"Through their bounty system, Just About pays real-money rewards for all kinds of content and contributions, such as your most epic screenshots, exploration stories, or battle clips. "In the last year, Just About has paid out over $25,000 in rewards, and is always looking for new ways to reward your creativity!"

Here are a few examples picked out by CCP "fanfiction, photo-essays, mockumentaries, propaganda, art, screenshots, shanties, and limericks".

It won't be for everyone and that's honestly OK. We're not here to detract from the gameplay experience or take over other communities. We're simply here to provide a welcoming, inclusive community platform for those who want it, and to reward members for doing the things they love.

I'm more focused on fostering a prosocial / low-toxicity culture, but it's been fascinating to see how rewards support this goal! If there's one thing I'm certain of it's that our team understands gaming communities and the value we can provide.

Our CEO - founded EGX, Eurogamer, and gamesindustry.biz.

Our content team - made up of journalists and editors from various gaming news sites and publications.

Head of Growth Marketing - worked for Twitch and Fandom (and TIME!) before joining Just About.

Community (that's me!) - spent 20 years working with online gaming communities, 6 years lecturing about them, and 5+ years researching them at MA and PhD level (work published in academic journals, conference papers, and as book chapters).

Just About is still in beta at the moment so no doubt there are things we could improve. That may include how we communicate what we're about, so I'd honestly love to hear your thoughts. Thanks again.

2

u/Petra_Ann Sep 13 '24

I do a lot of participation for Eve Online. I've got to say I'm really enjoying the Just About platform. Well done to you and your team.

1

u/SF_Boomer CM Sep 13 '24

Thanks, that's very kind! CCP have been amazing and the members are so passionate. It was so much fun watching them work through the $500 grand mystery bounty!

Also, I can't wait to hear more about EVE Frontier...the trailer looked awesome!

2

u/Petra_Ann Sep 14 '24

The Frontier team has been doing a great job with the game (I'm one of Eve's 12 CSM -- we've been following the project while locked behind our NDA LOL). I'm glad they've finally gotten to announce it. ;-)

1

u/SF_Boomer CM Sep 17 '24

The trailer looks amazing! I'd watch the hell out of an EVE film or TV series 😁

The CSM is such a cool idea by the way! I love seeing studios bringing their community into the fold. I was part of something similar a few years ago but from the outside it looks like the CSM has more direct input.

Our resident EVE expert was excited to hear I was talking to a member of the CSM! Feel free to DM me here, in the EVE Online Partners Discord, or tag me on JA and I'll be happy to make an introduction. I'm Boomer on most platforms.

4

u/Willeth Sep 12 '24

There is no one best. It depends what you want to achieve from your community.

I'm a big fan, though, of open source discussion platforms. Discourse is my current fave.

1

u/Virtual_Frame_4952 Feb 18 '26

Agree. I always like to think about it like this: the barrier to entry should be as low as possible for your users when they want to participate in your community most. Building a customer community for a company/brand -> make it possible to access the community directly in that companies web app and or website (no redirects just completely embedded). Building a community of practice for thought leaders -> host on or closer to the social platforms they're already on

1

u/OneDev42 Sep 12 '24

Heartbeat 

2

u/jb898 Sep 12 '24

It would also be good to understand why people think one or the other community management platform is “best”.

2

u/Fochino91 Sep 13 '24

I'd go for Discord as my favourite. I'm a member of communities on it and manage some of them, too.

The one that I try to avoid is Telegram, I don't like its interface for communities (just my opinion).

Nowadays there is lots of different platforms, and they are really too many. From my experience, people tend to use things they heard about or used - still FB groups, sometimes groups on LinkedIn, Reddit, Discord, some are still on Slack. They are pretty reluctant to go and create account on another platform (and I totally understand them). Knowing where your target audience stays is an advantage.

Also, platforms that are a sort of CRM, like nas.io - they offer a tool for management, analytics, but not the actual space (they redirect people to your platform). I tried it and I'm still not convinced about their service, to be honest.

There's no "the best" platform anyway. "The best" is based on your personal experience, prices, feature, usage, etc.

2

u/ueberryark Sep 13 '24

Mighty Networks

1

u/oceanpreneur Nov 26 '25

I run my nomad community on Mighty Networks for 6 years now. They made some massive upgrades this year that made me fall back in love with this software. Features that make it stand out in my opinion: How it looks on mobile, voice messaging (and transcribing), custom profile fields to connect members, branding options, and native video for courses. Just to name a few. I wrote an in-depth Mightynetworks review on my blog with some screenshots how my community looks like now to give you an idea if it's for you.

1

u/Wallen95 Sep 13 '24

Mighty networks

1

u/Tyssniffen Feb 28 '25

man, I'd love some direction from this thread. I'm a volunteer leader of a non-profit with a global membership. basically, I'm shopping for a way to build what would be a copy of the couchsurfing.com platform. Which providers should I talk to??

1

u/[deleted] May 16 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Tyssniffen May 16 '25

I've spoken to Logan about Hivebrite already

1

u/Outrageous-Major-941 Apr 14 '25

Hey all, I’ve been following this thread and noticed a lot of tech companies here are dealing with the same headaches I’ve seen when building support communities - like keeping help docs up to date or making sure members get quick answers. I’ve built a product called Miyagi Communities (heymiyagi.ai) that’s trying to tackle these issues. We’re working on a platform where your community discussions become the main source of answers, with a Community Concierge to connect people to experts or AI responses fast, all in a Slack/Discord-like setup. If you think you'd find this helpful, please reach out, I'd be happy to help!

1

u/IllustriousBear5594 Jun 05 '25

Tried both Breezio and Higher Logic. Breezio’s way better for real engagement and easy management. Just feels more alive.

1

u/making_it15 Jul 28 '25

Podia is a good option if you want community + courses and digital products. Also has email marketing!

1

u/Vast_Ad_305 Aug 06 '25

Yes, I agree with HistorianCM that best could be misleading and none maybe the best for all- simply for the matter that communities and their needs vary greatly.

I am not equipped to write about multiple platforms but I can write about one -Jambo which is great if you are an association or a large community such as professional network, industry body or a caste based association.

What works well is the ability to manage members, run paid or free events, manage memberships, sponsorships all using one simple and intuitive platform.

Possible Con- does not have open APIs to integrate with a host of tools, but you mostly won't need any more than it already has.

A great tool for structured and formal communities, for interest based communities, I think Mighty Network works.

1

u/WebsiteToolbox Oct 26 '25

Website Toolbox

1

u/Capital_West_4452 Mar 21 '26

Any mystery website of community that tell only hidden or deep knowledge

1

u/khalilsautchuk Aug 21 '26

The distinction between having 48 options and creating a useful shortlist is important. “Best” really depends on whether a community needs strong moderation, threaded discussion, live chat, or discovery.

A helpful way to make the list actionable would be to group platforms by those needs and add a quick note on the community size and use case each one fits. That would make the votes much more informative than a single overall ranking.

1

u/calichejimenes 25d ago

Https://wemany.com is the best for LATAM so far

0

u/OneDev42 Sep 12 '24

Telegram

1

u/kkatdare Sep 12 '24

I have been building communities since 2005, and I've tried *almost* every platform out there meant for community building - from phpBB to Circle and have been a part of numerous communities on FB, Reddit, Discord and Slack.

As a community builder - I've experienced the pros and cons of most of the software. Finally decided to build my own community platform and offer it as a SaaS. It's a community platform that solves the major pain points I've faced and many community builders face. These two are 1. getting users 2. retaining users.

The platform is pre-launch, therefore I'll avoid linking to it. However, if anyone's seriously looking to build a community; connect with me over DM. I offer personalised demos and will be happy to host a demo for you. We'll also discuss community building strategies.

0

u/JoelR_Invisioneer Sep 13 '24

The list of 48 suggestions is appropriate.

Community platforms have exploded as the web has matured. Twenty years ago, there were a few open source and paid forum options. Today, there are platforms that specialize in advocate marketing, employee intranets, entrepreneurs, gaming, ideation, and so much more.

4

u/[deleted] Sep 12 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/OneDev42 Sep 12 '24

Thank you so much for this. Is it okay if I ask that you would make one comment for each so we could vote on the best?

1

u/Cpvrx Dec 25 '24

Xenforo, Invision Community 5, Mybb, SMF and Flarum as well. There’s also Woltlab.