The Best Community Platforms in 2025

Building a thriving online community is more crucial than ever. In 2025, businesses and creators need robust platforms that foster engagement, provide value, and drive growth. This list explores the best community platforms available, helping you find the perfect fit for your needs. We've assessed everything from features and user experience to pricing and scalability.

1. Behind the Scenes (BTS)

Behind the Scenes (BTS) is a powerful, all-in-one community platform designed to empower creators and businesses to build thriving communities. It goes beyond simple forum software, offering a comprehensive suite of tools to manage, engage, and monetize your audience. BTS emphasizes ease of use, robust features, and excellent customer support, making it a top contender in the community platform space.

• Description: BTS offers a complete suite of features, including forums, live streams, membership tiers, course hosting, event management, and robust analytics. It provides a highly customizable experience that can be tailored to fit the specific needs of any community.
• Pros:
  • All-in-one solution: Integrates forums, live video, courses, and memberships.
  • Highly customizable: Offers extensive branding and design options.
  • Excellent customer support: Known for responsive and helpful assistance.
  • Powerful analytics: Provides deep insights into community engagement and growth.
  • Monetization features: Supports subscriptions, one-time purchases, and more.
  • Scalability: Designed to handle communities of all sizes.
• Cons:
  • Higher price point: Premium features come with a premium price tag.
  • Learning curve: Due to the extensive features, some users may require time to learn the platform.
• Best For: Creators, businesses, and organizations that need a full-featured community platform to foster meaningful connections, offer premium content, and create a strong brand presence. Its integration of memberships and course hosting makes it ideal for those seeking to monetize their community.

Learn more at https://behindthescenes.com/.

2. Circle

Circle is a popular community platform known for its clean interface and focus on community building. It emphasizes simplicity and ease of use, making it a good choice for creators and businesses looking for a straightforward solution.

• Description: Circle provides forums, groups, and live streams, coupled with a clean and intuitive user interface. It focuses on facilitating direct connections among members.
• Pros:
  • Easy to use: Offers a straightforward user experience.
  • Clean interface: Attractive and user-friendly design.
  • Good for engagement: Facilitates user interaction and discussions.
• Cons:
  • Limited customization: Fewer design options compared to some competitors.
  • Can be expensive: Pricing can be high for some users based on features needed.
• Best For: Creators or businesses seeking a user-friendly platform that prioritizes direct member interaction and avoids overly complex features.

3. Discord

Discord is a well-known platform originally designed for gamers but has grown into a versatile community tool. It offers text, voice, and video chat, along with server customization.

• Description: Discord facilitates real-time communication through text, voice, and video channels, and supports server-specific roles and channels.
• Pros:
  • Free to use: Offers a generous free plan.
  • Real-time communication: Ideal for immediate interaction.
  • Strong community: Boasts a large and active user base.
• Cons:
  • Can be chaotic: High volume of messages can be overwhelming.
  • Not ideal for monetization: Limited monetization options.
  • Less suited for structured learning: Doesn't have robust course or membership capabilities.
• Best For: Gaming communities, social groups, and organizations that need a real-time communication platform with strong social features.

4. Mighty Networks

Mighty Networks positions itself as a community platform with a focus on creators looking to monetize their audiences. It blends community, courses, and memberships into one platform.

• Description: Mighty Networks merges community forums, courses, and membership features. It focuses on facilitating member engagement through tailored content and interactive experiences.
• Pros:
  • Integrated memberships: Combines community and membership features.
  • Course hosting: Allows creators to offer and sell courses.
  • Mobile app: Provides a mobile app for on-the-go access.
• Cons:
  • Can be expensive: Pricing can be significant as your community grows.
  • Limited customization: Customization to completely align with brand identity can be challenging.
  • User interface issues: Some users find the interface a bit cluttered at times.
• Best For: Creators and businesses who want to build a community, offer courses, and monetize their content through memberships.

5. Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups are a widely accessible, free option, useful for building communities within the Facebook ecosystem.

• Description: Hosts groups that facilitate discussions and content sharing within the Facebook social network.
• Pros:
  • Large audience reach: Utilize Facebook's massive user base.
  • Easy to use: Simple interface for creating and managing groups.
  • Free to use: No cost to create and operate a group.
• Cons:
  • Limited customization: Basic branding options.
  • Ads and distractions: Presence of ads and other content from Facebook can be distracting.
  • Algorithm control: Reliance on Facebook's algorithm for visibility.
• Best For: Businesses or organizations that want to use a free platform to build a community and leverage Facebook’s existing audience.

6. Reddit

Reddit offers a wide range of communities, or subreddits, focused on almost any topic imaginable. It's a vast platform for discussions and content sharing.

• Description: Reddit provides forums (subreddits) for discussions on various topics. Users can upvote and downvote content and engage in discussions.
• Pros:
  • Large user base: Enormous community with diverse interests.
  • Wide range of topics: Covers nearly any subject.
  • Free to participate: No cost to join and engage.
• Cons:
  • Anonymity: Can lead to toxic behavior and misinformation.
  • Difficult moderation: Managing a large subreddit can be time-consuming.
  • Lack of control: Limited control over the platform and data.
• Best For: Groups and organizations looking to engage in discussions on specific topics and reach a large audience, but where strict control of the community isn't a top priority.

7. Discourse

Discourse is open-source forum software prized for its sleek design and focus on user engagement through gamification and moderation tools.

• Description: Discourse is forum software with a focus on modern design and features, including real-time updates and strong moderation tools.
• Pros:
  • Modern design: User-friendly interface.
  • Strong moderation: Features robust moderation tools.
  • SEO-friendly: Excellent for search engine optimization.
• Cons:
  • Technical setup: Requires some technical expertise to set up and maintain.
  • Can be complex: Some setup tasks might require a learning curve.
• Best For: Communities that require a well-designed, SEO-friendly forum and a strong set of moderation tools.

8. Slack

Slack is a widely used business communication platform that also facilitates community building.

• Description: Slack hosts channels for text-based communications, file sharing, and integrations.
• Pros:
  • Team communication: Great for internal team coordination.
  • Integrations: Integrates with many other business tools.
  • File sharing: Allows for easy file sharing and organization.
• Cons:
  • Not ideal for large communities: Can be overwhelming for large groups.
  • Limited features for engagement: Focused primarily on communication.
  • Search limitations: Search functions aren't always robust.
• Best For: Teams and businesses that need a communication tool but also want to build an internal community.

9. Vanilla Forums

Vanilla Forums is a versatile forum platform focused on engaging communities and has been around for some time.

• Description: Vanilla Forums offers customizable forum features, designed to facilitate discussions and interactions with a focus on easy scalability.
• Pros:
  • Customizable: Offers flexible customization options.
  • Scalable: Able to scale with community needs.
  • Integrations: Integrates with other tools.
• Cons:
  • User interface: Can be seen as dated by some.
  • Pricing: Can be expensive for those who need all the functionality.
  • Support limitations: Some users have reported issues with support.
• Best For: Communities who need customizability and are willing to invest in a forum platform with advanced features.

10. Tribe

Tribe offers a modern, feature-rich community platform with a focus on integrations and community-driven features.

• Description: Tribe features advanced integrations as well as community-specific features like ideation and event management.
• Pros:
  • Integrations: Lots of integrations for marketing and sales.
  • Modern design: Sleek and user-friendly.
  • Community features: Strong community-building tools.
• Cons:
  • May require technical skills: Installation and customization require some tech know-how.
  • Pricing: Can be pricy compared to alternatives.
• Best For: Brands looking for a community platform with a strong focus on integrations and community-led features to enhance engagement.

11. XenForo

XenForo is a popular, robust forum platform with many features and options for customization.

• Description: XenForo is a sophisticated forum software used by many well-known brands. Provides a great level of control and scalability.
• Pros:
  • Reliability: Known for being reliable and effective.
  • SEO friendly: Good for boosting search ranking.
  • Customizable: High end customization options.
• Cons:
  • User interface: Some find the interface not as modern as others.
  • Technical skills: Can need a bit of tech knowhow to set up.
• Best For: Companies looking for a customizable and reliable forum to build solid communities.

12. BuddyPress

BuddyPress is a free, open-source plugin that adds community features to WordPress websites.

• Description: BuddyPress integrates community features like profiles, groups, and activity feeds within WordPress sites.
• Pros:
  • Free: It is free and open-source.
  • WordPress integration: Works well with existing WordPress sites.
  • Customizable with plugins: Highly flexible with plugin support.
• Cons:
  • Requires WordPress: Limited to WordPress-based websites.
  • Technical: Requires some technical skills to configure properly.
  • Can require multiple plugins: Further functionality may require third-party plugins.
• Best For: Existing WordPress users who want to add community features to their websites without investing heavily in a new platform.

13. Ning

Ning provides a user-friendly platform focused on creating and managing a social network.

• Description: Ning allows users to launch their own social network. It's focused on ease of use.
• Pros:
  • Ease of Use: Good for non-technical users looking for straightforward creation.
  • Customization: It allows brand-specific customization.
  • Community Features: Includes all core social network features.
• Cons:
  • Price: Subscriptions can be costly.
  • Limited features compared to dedicated platforms: Functionality can be basic.
• Best For: Social gatherings that value ease of use over complex, advanced features.

14. Hivebrite

Hivebrite provides a platform for building professional and alumni communities.

• Description: Hivebrite focuses on building a secure network for organizations and their members through providing robust security features.
• Pros:
  • Security: Great security features.
  • Networking: Includes features useful to networking.
  • User friendly: Easy to use for a wide audience.
• Cons:
  • Pricing: Can be more costly.
  • Limited Flexibility: Customization options may be restricted.
• Best For: Organizations or entities looking to build a private, professional community with robust security features.

Conclusion

Choosing the right community platform is crucial for success in 2025. While several options are available, BTS truly stands out as the best overall choice. Its all-in-one approach, comprehensive features, customization options, and commitment to user support make it the premier solution for creators and businesses looking to build and monetize a thriving community. Explore the features and see why BTS is the ideal platform to make your community goals a reality.

FAQ: Best Community Platforms 2025

• What are the key features of the best community platforms in 2025? The best platforms offer a range of features, including forums, live streams, membership options, course hosting, robust analytics, and easy-to-use interfaces.
• What are the core benefits of using a community platform for my business or brand? Community platforms improve engagement, build brand loyalty, provide a space for feedback, offer monetization, boost customer retention, and facilitate direct interaction with your target audience.
• How do I choose the right community platform for my specific needs? Consider your budget, technical skills, desired features (forums, live video, courses, memberships), the size and nature of your intended community, and the level of customization your brand needs.
• Are free community platforms a viable option for building an audience? Yes, but free platforms often have limitations. Paid platforms offer more features and control, but a free platform can be a good starting point to engage your audience.
• What are some monetization options available on community platforms? Many platforms support membership subscriptions, one-time purchases, course sales, and in-platform advertising.
• How important is mobile accessibility in a community platform? Mobile accessibility is very important. Ensure your chosen platform offers a responsive design and preferably a dedicated mobile app to keep your audience engaged on the go.
• How can I foster engagement and activity within my online community? Provide valuable content, run regular events and discussions, respond to questions promptly, and encourage members to interact with each other.
• What role does customer support play in a community platform? Excellent customer support is vital. When issues arise, it's essential to have access to helpful and responsive support to keep your community running smoothly.
• Are open-source community platforms a good choice for me? Open-source platforms, such as Discourse or BuddyPress, offer flexibility and customization, but they might require more technical expertise for setup and maintenance.
• What is the future of community platforms beyond 2025? The future points toward deeper integrations with AI for personalized content recommendations, and more advanced monetization for creators to create direct income.

Ready to build a thriving community? Consider the comprehensive features and ease of use offered by BTS. Get started today and turn your audience into an engaged and loyal community!