But how do you do all of this?
Now, that’s where online community platforms come into play.
A robust online community tool not only simplifies the running of community events, but it also enables you to make community members aware of your ultimate goals and makes it much easier to maintain a flourishing online community.
Studies show that 58% of the brands have both online and in-person communities, and 38% have only digital communities. If you too have a community and are looking for an online community platform to keep your members engaged and encourage them to collaborate with each other; you’ve come to the right place.
We’ve researched a lot of online community software solutions and have identified 8 of the best platforms that will meet your community needs. Let’s dive in.
What is a Community and Why is it Important?
A community is a group of people who come together to achieve shared objectives and goals. This can be a group of a 100 individuals or even a 1000 members. Organizations often form online communities to achieve a common company goal, such as a business function, a social cause, and more. According to this report, 33% of organizations have 10,000 people or more in their online communities.
The 2020 Community Industry Trends Report says that 88% of community professionals believe that the community is critical to the company’s mission. Community members actually play a vital role in driving business growth, fostering brand loyalty, and nurturing customer relationships. They also support the company’s initiatives and raise awareness about the mission through word-of-mouth and social media channels.
What are Online Community Platforms?
An online community platform is a digital collaborative tool where people with shared goals communicate, interact, collaborate, engage, and discuss essential information remotely. They bring together members from diverse backgrounds and locations, allowing them to strengthen their connection and support each other in achieving common goals.
An online community software offers various features such as live event hosting capabilities, dedicated chat rooms, branding & customization options, course building capabilities, member profile creation, analytics, AI automation, and multimedia sharing capabilities (images, videos & files) to foster engagement and collaboration in an online setting.
8 Best Online Community Platforms You Can Consider Investing in
1) Airmeet
Airmeet is a virtual and hybrid event platform, primarily used for hosting interactive virtual events like webinars, conferences, meetups, and workshops. However, the platform offers features that are essential for building, growing, and sustaining online communities, making it the ideal tool for community meetups and gatherings.
Airmeet is a versatile platform that allows organizations to host events in multiple formats, including webinars, conferences, town-halls, summits, learning and development programs, and more. Airmeet is capable of accommodating up to 10,000 members per event, so it can handle your community’s growing number of members with ease and without lag or any crashes.
One notable feature of Airmeet is that it is a browser-based platform, supporting a range of browsers, including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, and Safari; no downloads or installations are required. Your community members can effortlessly participate in the event, engage with your speaker, and connect with peers.
Airmeet has a 4.6 rating on G2 and 750+ reviews.*
Features That Airmeet Offers
- Branding and Customization
- Live HD event streaming capabilities
- Interactive tools (live chat, real-time poll & Q&A)
- Advanced networking tools (speed networking, social lounge & fluid space)
- Backstage area
- Interactive virtual stage
- Breakout rooms
- Multimedia sharing capabilities
- Cloud recording
- Gamification
- Multilingual closed captions and transcripts
- Mobile event app
- AI-powered chatbot
- Robust analytics and reporting
- Data privacy and security
- 24/7 customer assistance
- Integrates external platforms like CRM & Marketing
Airmeet Pricing Plans*
- Free Plan – With Airmeet’s free plan, you can host an event with up to 100 attendees. Features like a social lounge, speed networking, chat, polling, and Q&A are all included in this plan. This is a great way to test the platform’s features before committing to a paid plan.
- Premium Webinars – This plan begins at $167, which is billed annually and includes a 16% discount. It can be used by 2 team members/organization and allows hosting unlimited webinars from 100 to 10,000 attendees. This plan is well-suited for organizations that want to grow their community and need advanced tools.
- Events Plan – This plan can be utilized by 5 team members/organization and is ideal for large-scale events and looking to explore the platform’s all the features. Contact Airmeet and get a custom quote.
- Managed Events – This plan features Airmeet event experts managing your event from beginning to end, covering all aspects from event planning to post-event content creation and data insights. Contact Airmeet for a tailored and suited quote.
Pros
✅ Robust networking features
✅ User-friendly interface
✅ Numerous customization options
✅ Supports a variety of event formats
✅ Excellent customer support
Cons
❌ Expensive pricing plan for smaller communities or those with limited budgets
❌ For a first-time user, exploring features can be daunting
Airmeet Reviews on G2
“I find Airmeet ideal for creating a distinctive design for the virtual event homepage and its accessories. With Airmeet, publishing or sending invitations to specific audiences is very easy and effective in achieving the desired reach. It’s great how the event registrant list is automatically updated, allowing them to transparently receive confirmation of their registration. I love how Airmeet notifies participants in real-time about all preparations and updates. – Andrea F.”
“Airmeet stands out for its intuitive user interface and seamless experience for both organizers and attendees. The standout feature for me is the speed networking and virtual tables—it truly replicates the in-person event feel and encourages meaningful, spontaneous conversations. The backstage and session management tools are also incredibly robust, making it easy to run professional-grade webinars and conferences. – Amanda T.”
2) Swarm
Swarm is an online community platform designed to build real connections through face-to-face video chats. It describes itself as a video-centric community platform. Swarm allows community members to share their screen, voice notes, and text important messages, as well as exchange videos with each other, creating a truly personalized experience.
Swarm Live allows you to create powerful live video experiences for your members. It supports various event formats from webinars and mastermind groups to live podcast recordings, enabling you to provide your audience with an immersive live event experience.
On Swarm, you can sell membership & courses and hold masterclasses, all with zero transaction fees. Swarm is specifically designed for coaches, industry experts, and creators, allowing you to monetize your expertise, build a large community, and earn recurring income for bite-sized advice.
Swarm works a little differently from most online community platforms. Experience it and get the most out of it.
Swarm has a 5.0 rating on G2 and 1 review.*
Features That Swarm Offers
- Live video and auto-post recording capabilities
- Threaded video, screen, audio, or text discussions feature
- Ability to sell courses and earn
- AI assistance
- White labeling opportunities
- Engagement tool like a poll and private 1-on-1 or group chat
- Video and audio transaction
- Mobile app support
- Dedicated area for each of your online communities, groups, and cohorts
Swarm Pricing Plans*
- Novice – The monthly cost of this plan is $49, and the annual cost is $39 for 1 space and 25 members. It includes video, voice, text, accepting payments, transcriptions & AI, but no live streams.
- Pro – This plan costs $99 each month and $79 if you choose to pay annually for 5 spaces and 50 members per space. It includes the Novice features plus live streams (45 minutes).
- Expert – The monthly payment for this plan is $199, and the yearly fee is $149 for unlimited spaces and 150 members per space. It includes full white label & app, accepts payments, Zapier & API access, and live streams (1 hr).
- Elite – This plan costs $339/month for unlimited spaces and unlimited members. It includes the Expert features plus SSO, and live streams (90 minutes). Book a demo for this plan.
Pros
✅ Easy-to-use platform
✅ Focus on video-centric communication
✅ AI chatbot assistance
Cons
❌ No marketing tool integrated
❌ Can be expensive for low-budget coaches and creators
Swarm Reviews on G2
“Swarm is so far the best tool I used for code reviews, its tight integration with P4V makes it amazing to use, see the changes in detail and add your feedback. – Vidyanshu V.”
3) Circle
Circle is an all-in-one online community platform that allows you to build your own community – all under your own brand. This platform is trusted by 15,000+ of the world’s top communities, including Harvard University, Miro, Ali Abdaal, Lovable, Tim Ferriss, Good Inside, and more.
Circle allows you to customize your spaces, host live events, launch & create courses, as well as use a prompt discussion room to engage a community audience. Plus, it offers a gamification feature such as a leaderboard, points, and badges to gamify your community events and give members a memorable experience.
Circle can be a game-changer platform for your community since it not only provides you with a dedicated space to connect, interact, and engage your members, but also creates a truly unforgettable experience.
Circle has a 4.7 rating on G2 and 201 reviews.*
Features That Circle Offers
- Live event streaming capabilities
- Online course creation functionality
- Branding and customization
- Gamification to boost audience engagement
- AI agent support
- An email marketing tool to share personalized emails
- A website builder for creating landing and sales pages
- Branded mobile app for iOS and Android devices
- Analytics to track community engagement
Circle Pricing Plans*
- Professional – This plan costs $89 a month and comes with a 14-day free trial. It includes unlimited members, 3 admins, 10 moderators, 20 spaces, and 100 GB of attachment storage.
- Business – This plan comes in for exclusively $199 per month, which includes a free 14-day trial. It includes unlimited members, 5 admins, 15 moderators, 30 spaces, and 250+ GB of attachment storage.
- Enterprise – This plan comes in for just $199 per month, and it includes an entirely free 14-day trial. It includes unlimited members, 10 admins, 100 moderators, 100 spaces, and 1TB of attachment storage.
- Plus – It is a custom pricing. It includes 20 admins, 200 moderators, 500 spaces, and 2TB of attachment storage.
Pros
✅ Comprehensive set of features to meet community needs
✅ Course building capabilities
✅ Numerous community engagement tools
Cons
❌ Limited customization option
Circle Reviews on G2
“I’ve worked with a lot of community platforms, but Circle continues to stand out as one of the most progressive and responsive out there.
They truly listen to their users. Whether it’s through feature requests, feedback loops, or creator support, Circle keeps evolving based on real needs, not just trends.
As someone who builds and supports communities every day, that kind of intentional product development makes a huge difference.
Grateful to be part of a platform that puts creators and community builders first. – Serena G.”
“Has a one hub for all products, everything in one place is a great tool so the community would complement the courses. Events interface is premium really in design and functionality with all the reminders and their customization. – Yasmine M.”
4) Disco
Disco is the AI-first learning platform that makes it easy to create, engage, and scale learning experiences your members can truly love. This platform allows you to create engaging course content and learning products for multiple cohorts and groups. It offers discussion channels, direct messaging, and social feeds to foster interaction among members.
Disco supports a kind of learning, such as employee onboarding, skill development, academy programs, compliance training, customer & partner training, bootcamps with AI content creation, and more. Disco is a well-suited tool for organizations that want to upskill community members and give personalized experiences.
Disco has a 4.6 rating on G2 and 22 reviews.*
Features That Disco Offers
- Engaging course builder
- AI automation to skip the repetitive task
- Engagement tools like channels, direct messages, and threads
- Detailed analytics and reporting
- AI-generated content, graphics, and prompt Support
- Event hosting capabilities with transcript
- Content management abilities
- Customized spaces
- Payment and membership management
Disco Pricing Plans*
- The Organization Plan – This plan allows you to launch, automate, and scale learning programs from a single workspace. It includes features such as a branded learning workspace for courses, resources, and community, AI-powered curriculum and content generation, unlimited workflow automations, core integrations (Zapier, Zoom, Slack, Stripe), a dashboard to measure member engagement and completion, a 60-minute onboarding session, and weekly office hours. Contact their team to know the pricing of the plans.
- The Enterprise Plan – This plan allows you to manage multiple learning workspaces with advanced integrations and security. It includes all features in the organization, plus API access, webhooks, single sign-on (SSO), custom-branded mobile app (by request), SCORM file support, named success manager, and personalized onboarding. Reach out to their team to know the pricing of the plans.
Pros
✅ Comprehensive set of features to manage the community
✅ Great customer experience
✅ Easy-to-use platform
Cons
❌ New users may find the platform uneasy to navigate
Disco Reviews on G2
“Disco has allowed us to create social learning experiences seamlessly and efficiently. Instead of a rigid flow of instructor to student feedback, Disco allows peers and colleagues to learn from each other’s feedback and learn together rather than separate alongside each other. – Lori J.“
“My organization has had the pleasure of using the Disco platform for over 2 years now. We were looking for an interactive digital platform for our members to interact, learn and share amongst one another. Disco was the solution, and the consistent added features and improvements to the platform has been a huge reason as to why we’ve continued to use and recommend the platform. – Ismail M.”
5) Mighty Networks
Mighty Networks is a popular and all-in-one online community platform for creators and entrepreneurs. It allows you to create courses and host live, engaging events so that you can build a powerful community under your own brand.
With Mighty Networks, you can upload a previously recorded video and share it with your community to watch at their convenience. Mighty Networks is an excellent choice to instruct, educate, and engage your community in an online environment because it supports distance learning.
Mighty Networks has a 4.6 rating on G2 and 526 reviews.*
Features That Mighty Networks Offers
- Live event streaming capabilities
- Activity feed
- Course building and managing capabilities
- Multiple content sharing abilities (such as guides, PDFs, videos, or articles)
- People magic AI
- Dedicated chat feature
- Gamification to boost audience engagement
- Real-time analytics
- Unlimited automation
Mighty Networks Pricing Plans*
- The Community Plan – It costs $49 per month on annual billing, which includes features like members’ profiles, streaks, chat, feed, and events. You can start a community or move one over from a social media group or a chat app.
- The Courses Plan – It costs $109 per month on annual billing, which includes features such as courses & challenges, basic automation, and gamification. You can add courses, challenges, and resource libraries to a community or membership.
- The Business Plan – It costs $189 per month on annual billing, which includes features such as 10 custom fields and intermediate automations. You can integrate easily with other tools and support your growth with automatic polls & questions and other extras.
- The Growth Plan – It costs $360 per month, which includes features such as more livestream hosts, advanced automation, and 30 custom fields. You can grow your revenue with dedicated services and support and our most advanced automations.
- Might Pro – Get a custom demo. It includes features such as a custom-branded app, advanced data reports, and unlimited custom fields. You can create a premium experience with your own custom-branded apps and setup and strategy services.
Pros
✅ Unlimited members, Hosts, moderators, and Spaces
✅ Strong gamification
✅ 14-day free trial
Cons
❌ Limited integrations and analytics on low-tier plans
Mighty Networks Reviews on G2
“I’ve been using Mighty Networks to run my yearlong journaling membership community and I will never leave 😂 Not only is the platform beautiful, intuitive, and offers incredible features not available on other platforms, but they have THE BEST customer service I’ve ever experienced. If you’re looking to build a community with the support of brilliant individuals, literally look no further. Mighty Networks is the platform to use. MN is not only the best but they are constantly innovating and creating new features so you can grow your community seamlessly. Couldn’t recommend them enough! – Ashley L.”
“What I like best about Mighty Networks is how it brings everything together in one place — community, content, events, and even courses.
It’s not just a social platform; it’s a powerful tool for creators who want to build a meaningful space around their expertise. I love that I can offer value to my audience without sending them off to a dozen different platforms. It feels like a private, clutter-free space where real connections happen — and the ability to brand it as my own makes it feel even more professional and aligned with my business. – Karen D.”
6) Bettermode
Bettermode is an all-in-one customer community platform designed to help businesses enhance their customer experience, boost engagement, and cultivate meaningful relationships with their audience. It provides you with a dynamic virtual space and empowers you to connect and engage with them, as well as grow an online community.
Bettermode has established itself as the best online community software for businesses and organizations. It is trusted by several popular brands, including IBM, Hubspot, Bosch, Lenovo, Samsung, FlutterFlow, Mercedes-Benz, Preply DeepL, and more.
This community software leverages cutting-edge AI to ensure your customer community thrives with minimal moderation effort. Its AI capabilities set a new standard for community health and engagement.
Bettermode has a 4.6 rating on G2 and 112 reviews.*
Features That Bettermode Offers
- Customized theme
- AI smart and fast search
- API and webhooks
- Group chat capabilities
- Localization & Translation
- Sleek and customizable templates
- Robust analytics and reporting
- Several external platforms
- AI-powered community management
Bettermode Pricing Plans*
- Starter – This plan is completely free. It includes the domain, badges, 100 members, and 20 spaces. It is ideal for hobbyists and individuals exploring web app creation.
- Pro – This plan costs $49 (billed annually). It includes unlimited members, a custom domain, priority support, advanced analytics, an integrated platform, and scale with add-ons. This plan is designed for creators and startups scaling their products.
- Enterprise – This is a custom pricing. Book a demo for it. It includes guaranteed SLA, data residency, advanced security & controls, SOC 2 (Type 2), and dedicated account support. This plan is tailored for excellence in scalability, security, and support.
Pros
✅ Starter plan is free
✅ Robust moderation tools
✅ Gamification to boost audience engagement
Cons
❌ Limited marketing tools
Bettermode Reviews on G2
“Helpful templates to get you started, then very easy to customize and make our own. Some easy to follow articles and videos to help us make the most out of Bettermode, and yes of course they have a community platform to network with others building on Bettermode.
As I’ve developed my offer it’s been easy to update the calls to action on the home page and customize the various spaces. Still happy with the platform and support. – Daniel D.”
“Ease of use, anyone can get started without code. It took a while for me to understand the concept of building CMSs that are then applied to spaces/pages but after I figured it out, it worked like a charm. Overall, there’s minimal time spent on setting up the platform so you can spend more time on creating content.
There are also many templates to choose from to get started. Their support team is extremely responsive and helpful in answering questions. – Emil K.”
7) Heartbeat
Heartbeat is a one-stop solution for community-based businesses. It gives you the building blocks to create a perfectly personalized online community. Heartbeat is trusted by more than 7,000 communities. It offers all the tools needed to run a profitable, scalable community business. Heartbeat has integrated tools for managing cohort-based and evergreen (self-paced) courses.
This platform effortlessly lets you connect with your members and create rich text posts, comments, send messages, and share videos on every device — web, desktop, iOS, and Android.
Heartbeat has a 4.9 rating on G2 and 23 reviews.*
Features That Heartbeat Offers
- Course creation functionality – evergreen courses, cohort-based courses, and more
- Live event hosting capabilities
- Discussion forum – Threads, chats, and direct messages
- Affiliate management
- Integration like Zapier, Notion, and more
- Knowledge base or library creation capabilities
- Automate workflows
- Payment option
- Powerful analytics
Heartbeat Pricing Plans*
- Starter – This plan costs $40 a month (billed annually), comes with a 14-day free trial that includes up to 1000 members capacity, courses (Evergreen & Cohort-Based), paid waitlists, landing pages, automated workflows, documents, match-ups, voice & video rooms, reporting & analytics, paid affiliate programs, searchable member directory and more
- Growth – This plan costs $108 a month (billed annually), comes with a 14-day free trial that includes starter features plus unlimited members, lower transaction fees, email white-labeling, admin auto-responder, priority support (1 business day), API access, conversion tracking (FB, Google).
- Custom – This custom pricing allows you to work directly with Heartbeat’s founders to tailor your community. It includes all growth features plus fast-tracked feature requests, priority support (same say), concierge onboarding, branded mobile app (White-Label), custom technical support, custom analytics exports, custom security agreement, custom legal agreement, and 1:1 onboarding help.
Pros
✅ Built-in tools for creating and delivering courses
✅ Workflow automation to avoid repetitive tasks
✅ Simple UI and UX
Cons
❌ Limited customization
Heartbeat Reviews on G2
“Heartbeat is a great tool to manage community, easy to use, great support and a lot of new features every month, there is a lot of videos and documentation that explain how to use it in the right way, also many event where the producer suggest how to use it in the right way – Olderico C.”
“What I appreciate most about Heartbeat is how responsive the team is to user feedback. They actively listen and implement improvements, which shows their commitment to enhancing the user experience. Their support is excellent, and they promptly address questions and concerns. The ease of implementation and use is remarkable; I found myself navigating the platform effortlessly right from the start, and when I was in doubt I consulted their large knowledge base on how to use each segment of the community. I found it very helpful. The community organization features allow for manual control over access for individuals or entire groups, making management straightforward and efficient. With all these capabilities, I’ve found everything I need in Heartbeat, enabling me to concentrate on growing my business without the hassle. I use it every day, and it seamlessly integrates with various tools, offering many choices that suit my workflow. – Stasha K.”
8) Kajabi Communities
Kajabi is an exceptional platform that empowers creators and entrepreneurs to build successful online businesses, turning their passions, skills, and experiences into diverse revenue streams. This platform has been used by 1.6K+ creators so far and has made a lot of money from it.
With Kajabi communities, you can create rich online courses, offer exclusive memberships, grow a thriving community, create free or subscription-based podcasts, develop personalized training experiences, and more.
You can easily make your live session interactive through the live chat and breakout room features. Additionally, you can record your live sessions, which will later make excellent learning resources in the future. Indeed, Kajabi is an ideal solution for online course creators, coaches, and entrepreneurs.
Kajabi Communities has a 4.3 rating on G2 and 80 reviews.*
Features That Kajabi Communities Offers
- Ability to create, market, and sell online courses
- Suite of coaching tools
- Podcast creation and launching
- Landing page builder
- Branded mobile app
- Analytics & performance
- Funnels and automation
- No-code website builder
- Native sales and marketing feature
- Contact CRM tools to move your audience off social media
Kajabi Communities Pricing Plans*
- Kickstarter – It costs $71 per month (billed annually). It includes 1 website, 1 product plus 1 community, 250 contacts, 7,500 marketing emails, and unlimited landing pages. This plan is perfect for beginners launching their first online business.
- Basic – This plan costs $119/month (billed annually). It includes 1 website, 3 products, 10,000 contacts, unlimited marketing emails, unlimited landing pages, 3rd party Integrations, and a custom domain. This plan offers everything you need to start your business.
- Growth – It costs $159/month (billed annually). It includes 1 website, 15 products, 25,000 contacts, unlimited marketing emails, unlimited landing pages, 3rd party Integrations, 24/7 Support, a custom domain, custom branding, multiple admin users, and webhooks. This plan is ideal for those who want to scale their established business.
- Pro – This plan costs $319/month (billed annually). It includes 3 websites, 100 products, 100,000 contacts, unlimited marketing emails, unlimited landing pages, 3rd party integrations, 24/7 support, a custom domain, custom branding, multiple admin users, a custom code editor, and webhooks. This plan allows you to scale your business with advanced features.
Pros
✅ An all-in-one solution for building online communities
✅ User-friendly interface
✅ Robust analytics and reporting tools
Cons
❌ Expensive for straters
Kajabi Communities Reviews on G2
“The sales pages and website are really easy to create, the membership modules are simple and easy to use. Integration with other services is very good – Julian F.”
“Easy to implement all in one platform for courses, website, email, shopping cart, and way more. It has tagging, email sequences, quizzes, podcasts, blogs, video hosting, and incredible flexibility. The end result is beautiful and fast. Customer support is responsive. – Anastasia C.”
(*All details mentioned here are accurate as of August 2025)
Final Thoughts
We explored a list of the top online community platforms, their features, pricing plans, pros and cons, and much more. Choose the software now based on your specific needs, budget, and community event goals.
Consider a platform that offers free trials so that you may learn about the platform’s usability, interactive elements, and other features before subscribing to it for an extended period of time.
If you want to host effective and engaging community events, trust Airmeet, which offers a free trial to familiarize you with all of its features and capabilities. In fact, if you invest in Airmeet, it will definitely pay off and certainly provide a great return. You will not just host an engaging event but also a memorable one that your community members will remember.
Frequently asked questions
Online community platforms are designed to meet the needs of already existing communities that offer various deep features to tailor the community events, such as customizable branding, dedicated discussion space, event management tools, and more. Social community-building platforms like Facebook groups, WhatsApp groups, and LinkedIn groups, on the other hand, allow you to build and expand your community. The owner of all these platforms controls the data and sets certain rules that you have to abide by.
Key features you should look for:
- Live event hosting capabilities in HD format
- Course creation capabilities
- Branding and customization features to reinforce brand identity
- Live event recording capabilities
- Interactive tools such as live chat, real-time poll, and Q&A to boost audience participation and engagement
- Multimedia content support, like images, videos, files, and documents
- Supported with a mobile event app, so members can participate in events from anywhere
- An analytics and reporting tool to gauge the overall event performance
- Multilingual support should be offered to make an event inclusive for members from various language backgrounds
- Adhere to strong data privacy and security
- Should be able to handle a growing number of participants
- AI integration to enhance user experience and increase engagement
- Integrated with an external platform like CRM and marketing to simplify the workflow
