20 Best Online Community Platforms in 2024 (Top Picks Revealed)

Did you know that 76% of internet users participate in an online community? And it's no wonder, these platforms are crucial for connecting like-minded individuals, sharing knowledge, and building strong networks. Online communities have become a vital part of our digital lives, powering billions of user interactions each month.

In fact, 88% of community professionals acknowledge building online communities play a critical role in achieving their company’s mission, and 64% admit that online communities have helped them improve business decision-making.

But with so many options out there, how do you find the right online community platform for your needs?

Finding the perfect online community platform can feel overwhelming. With countless features, pricing plans, and user experiences to consider, making the right choice is no small feat.

This article is your ultimate guide to selecting the best online community platform. We'll break down the top platforms, highlighting their unique features and benefits.

Lets explore the best community platforms out there. Let's find the perfect match for your needs and help your community thrive.

Online community platforms are dynamic digital spaces where people with common interests gather to interact, share, and collaborate. Unlike traditional online forums, these platforms offer a more integrated and engaging experience.

Traditional forums are often simple message boards. They allow users to post questions and answers, but the interaction is usually limited to text-based threads. They can feel static and disconnected.

Online community platforms, however, provide a richer, more interactive environment. They combine various features like real-time messaging, video conferencing, and social media-like feeds. These elements foster deeper connections and more meaningful interactions.

Additionally, online community platforms offer tools for moderation, analytics, and user management. This makes it easier for community managers to maintain a healthy and active community. The focus is on creating a vibrant space where users can engage in multiple ways, from discussions to collaborative projects.

Online community platforms offer numerous benefits that can transform the way you connect and engage with your audience. Here are some of the key advantages:

Online community platforms are powerful tools for creating and maintaining a thriving online community. They help increase engagement, facilitate active participation, and provide valuable tools for community managers. Whether you're looking to build a branded online community or simply enhance member engagement, these platforms offer the solutions you need.

Choosing the right online community platform can be a game-changer for your community. Here are key factors to consider:

Choosing the right community platform involves balancing these considerations. Think about what matters most for your community’s needs and future growth. Whether it's ease of use, powerful management tools, or the ability to sell courses, finding the perfect fit will set your community up for success.

Here’s a curated list of the top community platforms to help you engage, grow, and manage your online communities effectively:

Best for: Startup owners

Venturz is a versatile community building software designed specifically for startup owners. It combines powerful tools for content creation, community management, and social networking. With its website builder and in-built CMS, you can create stunning landing pages and manage your content seamlessly.

The platform supports live streaming and allows you to post both images and video content, making it ideal for engaging community members through rich media. The built-in AI assistant helps you create community posts efficiently, and you can assign member roles to ensure clear permissions and responsibilities.

Venturz also offers powerful analytics to track community engagement and direct messaging for real-time communication. Community members can leave comments, ask questions, and create polls to foster discussion and interaction. Additionally, you can schedule community posts and share them on various social media platforms.

Venturz is a comprehensive community builder that provides startup owners with the tools they need to create and manage a thriving community.

Best for: Course creators

Mighty Networks is a robust community platform designed to help you create your own community space. It combines social networking, course creation, and community management in one seamless platform. Whether you're hosting live events, offering online courses, or fostering group discussions, Mighty Networks provides the tools you need to engage your community members effectively. The platform is user-friendly and supports a wide range of features, including video communication, messaging features, and customizable branding options.

Read In-Depth Comparison of Venturz vs. Mighty Networks

Best for: Professional teams and workplaces

Slack is a well-known community platform that excels in enhancing communication and collaboration within professional teams. Designed for workplaces, Slack offers a dynamic environment where team members can connect, share ideas, and work together seamlessly.

With its organized discussion forums, Slack makes it easy to create channels for different topics, projects, or departments. This ensures that conversations stay relevant and easily accessible. The platform supports various forms of communication, including direct messaging, group chats, and voice and video calls, making it a comprehensive tool for team connectivity.

Slack operates on a freemium model, providing essential features for free while offering additional capabilities through paid plans. These paid plans unlock advanced features such as unlimited message archives, enhanced security, and more integrations with other tools, which are crucial for larger organizations.

Slack is a powerful community platform that helps professional teams connect and collaborate effectively, making it a top choice for workplace communication.

Best for: Educators and course creators

Skool is a great community platform tailored for educators and course creators. It provides a comprehensive community space where you can seamlessly integrate community building with online course delivery.

Skool offers tools that make it easy to create and sell courses, allowing you to monetize your knowledge effectively. The platform is designed to enhance both teaching and learning experiences, fostering an interactive and engaging environment.

With Skool, you can build a thriving community space where students can connect, discuss, and collaborate. This interaction enriches the learning process and helps in community building, making it a holistic solution for educators looking to deliver online courses.

Skool stands out as a versatile platform that supports both educational content and community engagement, making it ideal for educators looking to create a dynamic learning environment.

Best for: Creators and educators

Circle is a comprehensive community platform that brings together your community, courses, and content in one seamless experience. Designed for creators and educators, Circle makes it easy to build a community space that engages and grows with your audience.

Circle supports a variety of interactive features including live events, course discussions, and real-time communication. You can host live streams, manage online courses, and foster vibrant discussions within your community. The platform also offers robust technical knowledge and priority support, ensuring that you and your community members have everything needed for a successful experience.

Circle is an excellent choice for those looking to build a dynamic and interactive community space, offering a perfect blend of features to support both content and community engagement.

Read In-Depth Comparison of Venturz vs. Circle.so

Best for: Educators and entrepreneurs

Thinkific is a great platform for creating and selling online courses, designed to help educators and entrepreneurs turn their knowledge into engaging learning products. It combines powerful tools for course creation, community building, and marketing to provide a seamless experience for both creators and learners.

Thinkific offers a comprehensive suite of features including a course website builder, customizable themes, and integrated e-commerce tools. You can create professional web storefronts to promote your courses and other learning products without any coding skills. The platform also supports the creation of engaging learning communities, where members can access exclusive content, live lessons, and events.

In addition to its community platform capabilities, Thinkific allows you to sell courses and digital products, leveraging built-in marketing and e-commerce features. This flexibility makes it easy to generate income and grow your audience. The platform also supports branded mobile apps, enabling your community members to connect and learn from anywhere.

Thinkific stands out among other platforms by providing a robust environment for creating, marketing, and selling online courses, while also fostering a strong community space for learners.

Best for: Social learning and cohort-based programs

Disco is a cutting-edge community platform designed for social learning and cohort-based programs. It combines AI-powered tools with a user-friendly interface to create an engaging and collaborative learning environment. Disco supports a wide range of features that make it easy to build and manage your community space.

With Disco, you can create and operate cohort-based courses, engage in community-based learning, and host live events. The platform's curriculum builder allows for quizzes, polls, and assignments, enhancing the learning experience. Community engagement is at the core of Disco, with features like DMs, channels, threads, and social feeds to keep members connected.

Disco also offers advanced AI tools to streamline operations, making it a great platform for both community leaders and learners. Custom branding and modular spaces ensure that your community space looks professional and on-brand.

Disco is ideal for those looking to create a dynamic and interactive learning environment, leveraging the power of AI to enhance community engagement and operational efficiency.

Best for: Coaches, experts, and creators

Swarm is a unique community platform that focuses on video-centric interactions, making it an excellent choice for coaches, experts, and creators. Designed to foster authentic and personal connections, Swarm enables members to engage through asynchronous video chats, group discussions, and direct messaging. This platform stands out by prioritizing video communication, which helps to create an in-person feel within the community space.

Swarm makes it easy to build and scale your community. You can set up your community space quickly, invite members, and start engaging with them through various interactive features. The platform supports selling memberships, allowing you to monetize your community effectively. You can also host live events, conduct AMA sessions, and share screen recordings, making it a versatile tool for any community leader.

Swarm is ideal for those looking to build community spaces that feel personal and engaging, offering a modern approach to community building with its focus on video communication.

Best for: Entrepreneurs and creators

Kajabi is an all-in-one platform that equips entrepreneurs and creators with the tools needed to build, grow, and manage their online businesses. Known for its comprehensive feature set, Kajabi simplifies the process of creating and selling online courses, coaching programs, memberships, and more.

Kajabi stands out as a robust online community software that allows you to build a community where your members can connect and thrive. It integrates seamlessly with other tools, providing a cohesive experience for community managers and their members. This platform is not just about community building; it's designed to be the only platform you need to run your entire business.

Kajabi is ideal for those looking to consolidate their business tools into one platform, offering everything needed to build community, manage content, and grow revenue effectively.

Read In-Depth Comparison of Venturz vs. Kajabi

Best for: Casual and widespread community building

Facebook Groups is a widely used community platform ideal for building and managing large, casual communities. It provides a familiar and user-friendly interface where community members can interact through posts, comments, and reactions. This platform is accessible to anyone with a Facebook account, making it easy to attract and engage a broad audience.

Facebook Groups allows for various types of interactions, including text posts, images, videos, and live streams. Group admins can organize content using features like pinned posts, events, and announcements, facilitating structured and engaging discussions among other community members.

Facebook Groups is a convenient choice for those looking to build and engage with a large community without needing advanced technical skills or additional software. However, its limitations in monetization and customization might require supplementing with other tools for those looking to fully capitalize on their community.

Read In-Depth Comparison of Venturz vs. Facebook Groups

Best for: Gamers and tech-savvy communities

Discord is a versatile community platform designed primarily for gamers but has expanded to cater to a wide range of communities. It offers robust features for voice, video, and text communication, making it ideal for real-time interaction and collaboration. Discord allows users to create custom servers where community members can join different channels based on topics or activities.

With Discord, you can stream high-quality, low-latency video, making it feel like you're hanging out with friends in person. The platform supports a variety of engagement tools such as custom emojis, stickers, and soundboard effects to add personality to your chats. It's easy to hop in and out of voice or text chats without needing formal invitations, facilitating spontaneous and continuous conversations.

Discord is perfect for building a dynamic and interactive community, especially for those who value real-time communication and a rich multimedia experience. Its versatile features make it a strong contender among other community platforms

Best for: Businesses focused on customer engagement and support

Higher Logic Vanilla is a premier customer community platform designed to enhance customer engagement, support, and satisfaction. It provides a comprehensive suite of community features that help businesses build vibrant and interactive communities, driving regular engagement and strengthening customer relationships.

Higher Logic Vanilla supports a variety of community features such as discussion forums, knowledge bases, and events. It integrates seamlessly with other systems like learning management systems, ticketing tools, and marketing platforms, creating a central hub for customer engagement. This integration helps improve customer outcomes by providing easy access to resources and peer support, which in turn reduces support ticket volumes and increases efficiency.

Higher Logic Vanilla is ideal for businesses looking to create a centralized space for customer interaction, support, and engagement, offering powerful tools to build and maintain a successful customer community.

Best for: Connecting local communities and groups

Geneva is a social network and online platform designed to help people connect with others in their local area. It serves as a group chat app that brings together individuals who want to meet, chat, and engage in activities within their city. Geneva makes it easy to discover groups nearby, participate in discussions, and organize or join events and meetups.

The platform offers a variety of features to foster community building, including group chats, event planning, and member discovery. Geneva emphasizes offline interactions by encouraging users to find and connect with people in their vicinity, making it an excellent tool for building local networks and friendships.

Geneva is perfect for those looking to build or join local communities, providing a robust social network and online platform that bridges the gap between online interaction and offline connections.

Best for: Membership-based organizations

Wild Apricot is a powerful community platform designed to manage and grow membership-based organizations. It combines a forum platform and website builder with robust member databases and event management tools. This all-in-one solution is perfect for clubs, non-profits, associations, and other membership-driven groups.

Wild Apricot offers extensive features for creating and managing a community. The platform includes a member database where all membership data is securely stored and easily accessible. Its website builder allows you to create a professional online presence with customizable templates and branding options. Additionally, the platform supports regional chapters and subgroups, enabling localized community building.

For event management, Wild Apricot provides live event functionality, including ticketing and registration features. This makes it easy to organize and promote events to your community. The platform also offers branding options, ensuring your community space aligns with your organization's identity.

Wild Apricot is ideal for organizations looking for an integrated solution to manage their community, streamline membership tasks, and host events, all while maintaining a professional and branded online presence.

Best for: Video content creators

Uscreen is an all-in-one video membership platform designed to help creators build and scale their businesses. It combines robust video hosting capabilities with comprehensive community features, enabling creators to deliver a premium membership experience. Uscreen allows creators to monetize their content through subscriptions, creating a sustainable revenue stream.

The platform offers a Netflix-style video library, which provides an engaging and user-friendly interface for members. Creators can build supportive communities with public and private channels, fostering interaction and engagement among members. Uscreen also supports live streaming, making it easy for creators to host live events and connect with their audience in real-time.

Additionally, Uscreen provides mobile and TV apps, ensuring that members can access content across various devices. The platform includes flexible monetization tools, marketing automation, and detailed analytics to help creators optimize their membership offerings and grow their audience.

Uscreen is ideal for video content creators looking for a reliable online platform to build and monetize their community, providing all the necessary tools to engage, retain, and grow their audience.

Best for: Content creators and educators

Podia is a online community management software for content creators to build and manage their communities, sell courses, and offer memberships. It allows creators to host both free and paid communities, providing a space where genuine conversations can thrive without the interference of algorithms.

Podia offers a range of features to enhance community engagement. You can set up forum-like topics for organized discussions, give members access to your products directly within the community, and enable multimedia conversations with text, images, videos, and embeddable content. The platform supports creating membership feeds, integrating with online courses, and establishing private groups or masterminds.

Podia is ideal for creators looking to build a cohesive and interactive community around their content, offering a comprehensive suite of tools to support both engagement and monetization.

Best for: Enterprises focusing on customer success and peer-to-peer support

inSided is a robust online customer community software designed to enhance customer success, support, and engagement. It is tailored for enterprises that aim to scale customer interactions through a variety of community features. The platform facilitates ideation, co-creation, and peer-to-peer support, making it a versatile tool for building and maintaining a vibrant customer community.

With inSided, businesses can create a centralized hub where customers can access resources, share knowledge, and support each other. The platform includes features such as discussion forums, Q&A sections, and product feedback channels. These tools help drive customer engagement and satisfaction by allowing users to connect, share insights, and collaborate on solutions.

inSided is ideal for enterprises looking to build a strong, supportive community around their products and services, leveraging customer expertise and fostering collaborative problem-solving.

Best for: Large, diverse communities and open discussions

Reddit is a well-known social network and online platform that hosts a vast array of communities, or "subreddits," dedicated to virtually every topic imaginable. It is designed to facilitate open discussion and information sharing among its users. Each subreddit operates as an individual community with its own rules and moderators, fostering a unique environment tailored to specific interests.

Reddit allows users to post content in the form of text, links, images, and videos, and engage through comments and upvotes/downvotes. This voting system helps highlight popular and valuable content while pushing down less relevant posts. Reddit’s structure supports large-scale community building and engagement, making it a go-to platform for both niche interests and broad discussions.

Reddit is ideal for those looking to join or create large, vibrant communities centered around shared interests, providing a dynamic environment for discussion, information exchange, and community building.

Best for: Modern discussion forums and community management

Discourse is an advanced online community builder designed to facilitate civilized discussion and provide a modern, feature-rich community platform. It supports a range of community features that make it an ideal choice for community managers looking to build and maintain an engaging and interactive online community.

Discourse offers a flat forum structure that keeps conversations fluid and easy to follow, eliminating the need for pagination. It supports real-time chat, allowing community members to build relationships through informal conversations. The platform is designed to be mobile-friendly, ensuring seamless access across devices.

Key features of Discourse include AI integration for easier moderation, customizable user experiences, a powerful admin dashboard, and comprehensive spam protection. It also supports single sign-on, social logins, and a trust system to help maintain community standards. Discourse is fully open source, providing flexibility and confidence for integration into your site.

Discourse is regarded as one of the best community platforms, offering a powerful and flexible solution for community managers looking to build and nurture an active online community.

Read In-Depth Comparison of Venturz vs. Discourse

Best for: Custom community apps and secure content hosting

Tribe Social is an innovative online community app that allows you to create a fully customized and branded community platform. Designed for businesses that need more control over their community tools and tech stack, Tribe Social provides a secure, intuitive app for engaging your audience.

Tribe Social offers a range of community tools to help you build and manage your online community. These include features for creating and organizing content, such as community feeds, courses, replays, and events. The platform supports branded mobile notifications, ensuring that your community members stay engaged with your content.

One of Tribe Social's standout features is its ability to migrate your existing content from various platforms into one centralized hub. This makes it easier for community members to find and access the information they need. Additionally, Tribe Social integrates with popular tools like Zoom, Active Campaign, Kajabi, and Salesforce, providing a seamless experience for managing your community.

Tribe Social is ideal for organizations looking to build a secure, branded community app that provides complete control over their content and tech stack, offering robust community tools to enhance engagement and interaction.

Creating an engaging and supportive community is crucial for the success of any startup. By leveraging the best online community platforms, you can foster interaction, support, and growth among your members. Each platform offers unique features and capabilities, so it's essential to explore the options and choose the one that best fits your needs and community plan.

For an all-in-one solution tailored to the needs of startups, consider Venturz. Our platform provides powerful tools to build, manage, and grow your community effortlessly. With features designed to enhance engagement and streamline operations, Venturz is the perfect choice for startups looking to create a vibrant and thriving community.

Start exploring Venturz today and take the first step towards building a successful community for your startup.

A community platform is an online tool designed to facilitate interaction, engagement, and collaboration among members with shared interests. It offers features like forums, chat, events, and content sharing to build and manage vibrant, interactive communities.

The two types of online communities are public and private. Public communities are open to anyone and focus on broad engagement, while private communities require membership approval, providing a more controlled and exclusive environment for interaction and support.

An installation can be a tool for community building by creating a shared physical space that encourages interaction, collaboration, and engagement. It serves as a focal point for community activities, fostering connections and a sense of belonging among members.

Maintain eye contact by looking at the camera, use natural gestures to convey enthusiasm, and choose a clean, well-lit background. Show genuine interest by actively listening, smiling, and nodding, and ensure your audio and video quality are clear for effective communication.