Compare the best community platforms for hosting branded forums and member communities.
91 tools
Tools in Community Platforms
Forem — Forem is the open-source, Ruby on Rails community platform originally built to power DEV Community, offering blogging-forward social features, AI moderation tools, and self-hosting for building online communities.
HumHub — Open-source social intranet and community platform for self-hosted or cloud team collaboration and knowledge sharing.
Lemmy — Lemmy is a free, open-source, federated link aggregator and discussion platform built on ActivityPub, offering a self-hostable alternative to Reddit.
Commsor — Commsor is a B2B go-to-market platform that maps sales teams' professional networks to surface warm introduction paths and automate referral programs.
Bettermode — Bettermode is a Toronto-based, white-labeled customer community platform combining discussion forums, Q&A, events, and AI-powered search under a brand's own domain.
Circle — All-in-one community platform for creators and brands, combining discussion spaces, courses, paid memberships, live events, and payments in one branded product.
Mighty Networks — Mighty Networks is an all-in-one community platform that lets creators and entrepreneurs combine memberships, online courses, events, and branded apps into a single network for their audience.
Discourse — Open-source community forum and discussion platform, free to self-host or available as managed hosting, used by companies and communities for forums and support.
Hivebrite — Community engagement platform for building branded member directories, events, groups and monetized communities.
Higher Logic Vanilla — All-in-one online community platform for B2B and B2C customer engagement, support forums, and product feedback.
Khoros Communities — Enterprise online community platform from Khoros for branded customer support forums, product feedback, and peer-to-peer engagement.
Disciple — Disciple (formerly Disciple Media) is a UK-based platform for building fully branded iOS, Android, and web community apps with courses, livestreams, and monetization, no coding needed.
Skool — Skool is an all-in-one community platform that combines discussion feeds, courses, events, and gamified leaderboards so creators and businesses can run a paid or free community from a single link.
Heartbeat — Heartbeat is an all-in-one community platform for creators and businesses, combining discussions, courses, events, a branded mobile app and payments to run paid memberships.
Geneva — Geneva is a free, all-in-one group communication app combining chat, audio rooms, livestreaming, forums, and event planning for clubs and communities, now owned by Bumble Inc.
Forumbee — Forumbee is cloud-based online community software that combines discussion forums, Q&A, a searchable knowledge base, and idea/feedback boards to help businesses build branded customer and employee communities.
Flarum — Flarum is a free, open-source discussion forum platform with a PHP/Laravel backend and a Mithril.js single-page frontend, distributed under the MIT license with an extension ecosystem for adding features.
NodeBB — NodeBB is a modern, real-time discussion forum platform built on Node.js, offered as both free self-hosted open-source software and a fully managed hosted service.
MyBB — MyBB is a free, open-source PHP forum (bulletin board) platform maintained by a volunteer community, used to run self-hosted discussion communities.
phpBB — phpBB is a free, open-source internet forum and bulletin board software package written in PHP, first released in 2000 and now one of the most widely used forum platforms in the world.
Loomio — Open-source collaborative decision-making software built by a worker-owned cooperative, unrelated to Loom despite the similar name.
Decidim — Decidim is a free, open-source platform for participatory democracy that lets governments and organizations run proposals, budgets, and voting online.
Polis — Polis is an open-source, AI-assisted platform for large-scale public deliberation that lets participants submit and vote on statements, then uses machine learning to surface areas of consensus and disagreement among large groups.
Akkoma — Akkoma is a free, open-source, self-hosted microblogging server for the ActivityPub fediverse, forked from Pleroma for faster development and richer features.
Answer — Apache Answer is a free, open-source Q&A platform for building community forums, help centers, and knowledge bases, governed by the Apache Software Foundation.
Artalk — Artalk is a free, open-source, self-hosted comment system for websites and blogs, built with a Go server and a lightweight ~40KB vanilla JavaScript client.
AsmBB — AsmBB is a free, open-source, self-hosted forum engine written entirely in assembly language (FASM), built for speed and minimal server resources.
BuddyPress — BuddyPress is a free, open-source WordPress plugin that turns any WordPress site into a full social network with profiles, groups, and activity feeds.
Coral — Coral is an open-source commenting and community platform for newsrooms, originally built by Mozilla, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, now developed by Vox Media.
diaspora* — diaspora* is a free, open-source, privacy-focused social network built on a decentralized network of independently run servers called pods.
Elgg — Elgg is a free, open-source social networking engine written in PHP that lets organizations build their own private online communities with blogging, groups, and file sharing.
Enigma 1/2 BBS — ENiGMA½ is a free, open-source, modern Bulletin Board System (BBS) package written in Node.js that recreates the classic dial-up BBS experience over Telnet, SSH, and WebSocket for today's internet.
GoToSocial — GoToSocial is a free, open-source, self-hosted ActivityPub server that lets you run your own lightweight, Mastodon-compatible fediverse instance.
Hatsu — Self-hosted, fully automated ActivityPub bridge written in Rust that lets any static site federate with the Fediverse without adding a dynamic backend.
Hubzilla — Free, self-hosted, open-source platform for decentralized social networking, websites, file sharing, and wikis.
Iceshrimp.NET — Iceshrimp.NET is a free, open-source ActivityPub microblogging server rewritten in .NET with Mastodon-compatible client support.
Isso — Lightweight, self-hosted commenting server written in Python that serves as a privacy-friendly, open-source alternative to Disqus.
Misago — Misago is a free, open-source, Django and React-based forum application designed for building fast, scalable, and modern online communities.
Movim — Movim is a free, open-source, decentralized social network and web-based XMPP client that lets people chat, publish posts, and join communities across federated servers.
OSSN — Open Source Social Network (OSSN) is a free, self-hosted PHP script for building custom social networking websites and online communities, with an optional one-time-purchase premium version adding extra features.
PieFed — PieFed is a free, open-source, federated link-aggregation and discussion platform built on ActivityPub, offering a Reddit-like community experience that interoperates with Lemmy, Mbin, and the wider Fediverse.
qpixel — Open-source, AGPL-3.0 licensed Ruby on Rails Q&A community platform that powers the Codidact network, letting anyone self-host a multi-community knowledge-sharing site with voting, reputation-based privileges, and Markdown content.
remark42 — remark42 is a free, open-source, self-hosted commenting engine written in Go that site owners can embed on blogs and articles as a privacy-focused alternative to Disqus.
Scoold — Scoold is a self-hosted, open-source Q&A and knowledge-sharing platform for teams, modeled after Stack Overflow, with a free community edition and paid Pro tiers.
Simple Machines Forum — Simple Machines Forum (SMF) is a free, open-source PHP and MySQL bulletin-board application used to run online discussion communities and forums.
Socialhome — Socialhome is a free, open-source, self-hostable federated personal profile and social networking platform that connects to other servers using the ActivityPub and Diaspora protocols.
Talkyard — Talkyard is an open-source community discussion platform that combines forums, Q&A, idea voting, chat, and embeddable blog comments in one tool.
yarn.social — Decentralized, open-source social micro-blogging ecosystem built on the twtxt format, where users store and control their own posts as plain text files.
admidio — Admidio is a free, open-source, self-hosted PHP application for managing memberships, events, documents, and communication for clubs, associations, and community organizations.
ruzuku — Create, sell, and teach online courses with Ruzuku. Zero transaction fees, unlimited students, built-in community, and human support. Start free today.
starchapter — StarChapter is a web-based management platform built for volunteer-run chapters and professional associations, combining a chapter website, event registration and ticketing, and member communications in one dashboard.
patreon — Build a community, share exclusive work, and turn your passion into a thriving business with Patreon. Get started today!
masjidbox — All-in-one mosque management software trusted by 2500+ mosques worldwide. Digital screens, mobile app, donations, prayer times & more: start free today.
growthzone — GrowthZone helps associations and chambers grow their communities and help them thrive with easy-to-use association management software. Discover intuitive software and dedicated support designed for your mission.
silkstart — SilkStart is cloud-based association management software (AMS) that lets non-profits, trade groups, and membership organizations handle member management, dues, events, a member website, and communications from one platform.
clubexpress — Associations, clubs get easy-to-use platform. Manage membership, dues, events, calendar, discussion forums, more. Custom website, telephone help desk
galaxydigital — Make volunteer management easy with a comprehensive set of tools to recruit, engage, and track volunteers. Trusted by 50,000+ mission-driven organizations.
lck-cloud — LCK cloud is a Japanese no-code SaaS platform for building membership sites — with member login, gated content, and monthly subscription billing — without hiring developers.
360alumni — 360Alumni is an all-in-one alumni engagement platform that helps schools, nonprofits, and membership organizations manage directories, events, mentorship, and fundraising in one place.
crosstalk — CrossTalk is a free audience-engagement platform that adds comments, live chat, polls, and AI-powered article summaries to any website.
respectify — Respectify moderates comments before they post and coaches commenters toward better discourse. Near drop-in replacement for Google's Perspective API with compatible toxicity scoring and migration guides.
almabase — The integrated platform that works on top of your CRM for digital engagement, event management and online giving campaigns, turning 1000s of constituents into donors without more staff.
alumnforce — AlumnForce is a web and mobile platform that helps schools, corporations, and nonprofits manage and engage alumni and professional communities through networking, mentoring, career services, and virtual events.
crowded — Crowded is a SaaS platform that lets organizations launch and manage a fully branded, modular online community — combining forums, blogs, events, and a marketplace in one white-labeled hub on their own domain.
gradnet — Easily manage your alumni & community members, simplify fundraising, organize events, collect membership fees, host online voting, foster mentoring & many more with the Gradnet alumni management software.
lmcomments — Comments, reactions and moderation for any website. No ads, no tracking, we never sell your data. Free plan forever, no credit card.
raklet — All-in-one platform to grow your audience. Build, grow and monetize through memberships, newsletters and other digital tools. No coding required.
chesspodium — Chess Podium helps clubs organize players, pair rounds, publish standings, share archives, and sell registrations from one place.
uuki — UUKI Community platform helps you build meaningful relationships within your community through events, newsletters, and a community page with web3 integrations
nationbuilder — NationBuilder is a cloud-based CRM and campaign platform that helps nonprofits, advocacy groups, and political campaigns manage a central supporter database, build action-driven websites, process donations, and run email, text, and advocacy campaigns from one system.
hoopstr — Hoopstr is alumni engagement software trusted by 1,200+ institutions and corporates across 28 countries, driving placements, fundraising, and mentoring.
veryconnect — VeryConnect is a cloud-based membership and association management platform that combines CRM, payments, communications, events, and a member portal in one system.
myclubhouse — myClubhouse is a UK-built membership management and club website platform for sports clubs, societies, and volunteer-run organizations, combining a member database, online payments, and event/booking tools in one system.
mycantera — Free youth soccer club management with AI. Plan training, run match reports, manage rosters and attendance, organize tours — for coaches and parents.
jerseywatch — Powerful sports management software for teams and leagues. Build a website, register players, and send messages - all in an easy-to-use platform. Try for free.
go — Manage your sports league efficiently with TeamSideline's software. Get started today for seamless registration & scheduling!
leaguearc — Sports league management software for registration, scheduling, live scoring, standings, playoffs, in-season tournaments, payments, and league websites.
konfhub — KonfHub is the best AI powered event management platform that helps you plan events, manage registrations, handle ticketing, and track attendees easily.
civicplus — CivicPlus is an all-in-one civic technology platform used by more than 13,000 local governments, schools, and public agencies to run resident-facing services like websites, 311 requests, meetings, and utility billing.
brakto — Ditch the spreadsheets. Run better tournaments with Brakto — free printable brackets, online registration, live scoring, day-of court/time edits & voting contests for 50+ sports.
chmeetings — Get the #1 Church Management Software for churches. All In One platform, easy-to-use. Help you manage online giving, accounting, membership and much more.
list2play — List2Play is a free directory for multiplayer and Discord servers, offering live player tracking, vote widgets, and growth tools for community owners.
goals — Goals.Fit is a virtual challenge platform for cycling clubs, charities, and race organizers to run live-leaderboard fitness challenges and grow year-round community engagement.
pointapp — POINT is an all-in-one volunteer management platform that helps nonprofits recruit, onboard, schedule, and track volunteers through a website widget, admin dashboard, and mobile app.
echothread — AI spam filter for comments, optional no-account commenting, threaded replies, reactions, and moderation. Free for your first site.
wildapricot — Rated #1 year after year, WildApricot is the most powerful, all-in-one membership management software. Start an instant free trial now.
memberleap — MemberLeap is a top-rated association management software with a 4.8/5 rating on Capterra and nearly 850 clients. Streamline member management, events, billing, communications, and your association website from one powerful platform.
lifeloop — LifeLoop is the leading senior living software that bridges proactive engagement and wellness—helping older adults live not just longer, but better.
glueup — Grow your Association, Chamber or Nonprofit effortlessly with Glue Up's All-in-one platform that streamlines events, memberships, CRM, email marketing
growthzone — GrowthZone helps associations and chambers grow their communities and help them thrive with easy-to-use association management software. Discover intuitive software and dedicated support designed for your mission.
meetpure — MeetPure Events is an ethical event management platform for masjids, nonprofits, and community groups — RSVPs, ticketing, planning, and check-in in one place.