9 Best Community Platforms in 2025

Building a vibrant and engaging online community has become crucial for businesses and organizations of all sizes. The right platform can foster connections, drive brand loyalty, and provide valuable feedback. While selecting the ideal community platform can be challenging, this guide will explore some of the best options available in 2025. We'll examine their features, advantages, drawbacks, and the ideal user profiles for each, ensuring you find the perfect fit for your needs.

1. Behind the Scenes (BTS)

BTS is a comprehensive community platform designed to empower creators, brands, and organizations to build thriving online communities. It offers a suite of features that facilitate engagement, content creation, and monetization. BTS stands out for its flexibility, robust feature set, and user-friendly interface.

Description

BTS provides a white-label solution, allowing you to customize the platform to match your brand's aesthetic completely. It offers features like advanced member profiles, activity feeds, forums, live video integration, and direct messaging. Content creation tools are integrated, allowing members to contribute videos, podcasts, and articles. Engagement features include gamification, badges, and points systems to incentivize participation. Advanced analytics provide deep insights into community activity, helping you understand member behavior and measure the success of your community initiatives.

Pros

• Highly customizable branding, allowing for a fully branded experience.
• Robust feature set, including forums, live video, and integrated content creation tools.
• Advanced analytics for monitoring and understanding community engagement.
• Flexible monetization options, including subscriptions, memberships and digital product sales.
• Excellent customer support and a dedicated success team to help you navigate setup and beyond.

Cons

• Can be a more complex setup compared to simpler platforms, requiring some initial configuration.
• Pricing may be higher than entry-level platforms given the advanced feature set.

Who it's best for

BTS is ideal for businesses, creators, and organizations seeking a robust, scalable, and highly customizable community platform. It's especially suited for those who want to build a strong brand identity within their community and offer a premium, feature-rich experience. It’s perfect for companies building paid communities, educational programs, and those who prioritize in-depth analytics.

2. Circle

Circle is a popular community platform known for its user-friendly interface and focus on simplicity. It allows you to create forums, courses, and membership sites, all within a single, integrated platform.

Description

Circle offers a clean and intuitive design, making it easy for both community owners and members to navigate. It features discussion forums, event scheduling, and the ability to create paid membership tiers. Circle integrates with other tools like Zoom, making hosting live events and webinars straightforward. The platform is designed to facilitate quick setup and deployment, making it an excellent choice for those looking for a fast launch.

Pros

• Easy to set up and use, perfect for beginners.
• Clean and intuitive user interface.
• Integrated tools for courses and memberships.
• Good for those who are starting out with online communities.

Cons

• Customization options are more limited compared to platforms like BTS.
• Advanced features like deep analytics may be lacking.
• Can become expensive as your community grows.

Who it's best for

Circle is best suited for small to medium-sized businesses, solopreneurs, and creators who need a simple, easy-to-use platform to build a basic community. It’s an excellent choice for those starting out and wanting to get their community up and running quickly, without a steep learning curve.

3. Discord

Discord is a popular platform primarily known for its gaming communities; however, it has evolved into a versatile community tool for various groups. Its flexible structure and wide array of integrations make it an attractive option.

Description

Discord provides text and voice channels, allowing for real-time communication and discussions. Servers can be structured with different channels for various topics, events, and announcements. Extensive bot support adds functionality for moderation, games, and more. It offers robust security features and is particularly well-suited for interactive and dynamic communities. Discord excels at real-time interaction and is great for fostering relationships.

Pros

• Free to use (with optional paid upgrades).
• Excellent for real-time communication and live interaction.
• Wide range of integrations and bot support.
• Strong community features with voice and video chat.

Cons

• User experience can be overwhelming, especially for new users.
• Limited branding and customization options.
• Can be challenging to moderate large communities.

Who it's best for

Discord is ideal for gaming communities, groups focused on real-time discussions, and organizations that prioritize live interaction. Its adaptability makes it useful for everything from niche communities to professional teams needing communication tools.

4. Mighty Networks

Mighty Networks is a community platform focused on building online courses and membership communities. It combines social networking features with content delivery capabilities.

Description

Mighty Networks allows content creators to build courses, sell memberships, and create a centralized hub for their users. It combines a user-friendly interface with features like live streaming, events, and direct messaging. The platform is designed to facilitate both content consumption and community interaction. It emphasizes the social aspect by promoting member contributions and discussion, leading to increased activity.

Pros

• Combines courses, memberships, and community features in one platform.
• User-friendly interface and comprehensive onboarding.
• Built-in monetization options through courses and memberships.

Cons

• Limited customization options compared to other platforms.
• Can be more expensive as your community and content grow.
• The focus is mainly on content delivery; therefore, you may want to integrate third-party tools.

Who it's best for

Mighty Networks is ideal for creators, educators, and businesses focused on selling courses and memberships, who want to build a thriving community centered around their content offerings.

5. Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups are a widely used platform for creating online communities. With billions of users, this platform offers extensive reach and easy access for members.

Description

Facebook Groups provide a familiar and easy environment for people to connect. They offer features like discussion threads, image and video sharing, and live video capabilities. Groups can be public, private, or secret, depending on the desired level of access. Facebook Groups are easy to set up for anyone with a Facebook account, which makes them highly accessible.

Pros

• Extensive reach due to Facebook's vast user base.
• Easy to set up and manage, suitable for beginners.
• Familiar interface for most users.
• Free to use.

Cons

• Limited customization options.
• Lack of control over the platform and its features.
• Reliance on Facebook's algorithms, which might affect visibility.

Who it's best for

Facebook Groups are ideal for businesses and organizations looking for free and easy ways to create communities from within the Facebook ecosystem. They are also suitable for groups aiming to offer a user-friendly, non-technical platform.

6. Discourse

Discourse is an open-source forum platform known for its modern interface and advanced features. It’s designed to foster engaging and organized discussions within online communities.

Description

Discourse offers a clean and modern user interface designed to promote easy navigation. It provides features like threaded discussions, real-time updates, and advanced moderation tools. Discourse also includes email integration, which allows users to engage with discussions directly from their inbox. It emphasizes community health by implementing tools to reduce spam and foster constructive conversations.

Pros

• Open-source and highly customizable.
• Clean and modern user interface.
• Focus on fostering healthy, organized discussions.
• Strong moderation tools.

Cons

• Requires technical skills to set up and maintain.
• Can be more complex to manage compared to other, more straightforward options.
• Hosting and maintenance responsibilities fall on the community owner.

Who it's best for

Discourse is well-suited for tech-savvy users and organizations searching for a highly customizable, open-source forum platform. It’s suitable for those prioritizing structured discussions and advanced moderation capabilities.

7. Tribe

Tribe is a community platform designed to integrate seamlessly into existing websites and applications. It is an excellent platform for embedding community features directly into your core product.

Description

Tribe offers flexible community features that can be embedded into websites, apps, and software. It features discussion forums, Q&A sections, and the ability to integrate customizable widgets. Its focus is on providing a seamless experience directly within your existing product. Tribe facilitates a smooth and consistent user experience, and integrates easily with your existing workflow and design.

Pros

• Easily embedded into existing websites and applications.
• Flexible and customizable.
• Supports many use cases, including customer support and product feedback.
• Modern and clean user interface.

Cons

• Customization and feature sets can be limited compared to more comprehensive platforms.
• Pricing can be a factor, given the nature of the service.

Who it's best for

Tribe is ideal for companies, software providers, and businesses that want to integrate community features directly into their products or services. It is best suited for those looking to improve user engagement and collect insights.

8. BuddyBoss

BuddyBoss is a WordPress-based community platform that allows for extensive customization and control. It works specifically with WordPress, and offers unparalleled flexibility.

Description

BuddyBoss lets you transform your WordPress website into a fully functioning community platform. It offers features like member profiles, activity feeds, groups, forums, and events. Its strength lies in its ability to take advantage of the flexibility and extensibility inherent in WordPress. Because it is built on WordPress, it ensures ultimate control and customization. BuddyBoss integrates well with a range of WordPress plugins to extend its capabilities, delivering a robust and extensible solution ideal for any community.

Pros

• Complete control and customization options.
• Integrates seamlessly with WordPress.
• Large ecosystem of plugins and themes.
• Open source flexibility.

Cons

• Requires some technical expertise to set up and manage.
• Requires a WordPress website.
• Can need a variety of plugins.

Who it's best for

BuddyBoss is ideal for WordPress users who want to create a highly customizable community platform. It is particularly great for organizations already using a WordPress website, seeking to fully control the user experience.

9. Vanilla Forums

Vanilla Forums is a mature community platform with an advanced feature set. It’s known for its scalability and has been used by some of the world's most popular brands, proving that it is capable of providing a great experience.

Description

Vanilla Forums provides rich discussion forums and a broad range of features designed for enterprise-level communities. It offers complete customization, moderation tools, and robust analytics. It enables deep integration through APIs and advanced customization options. It is optimized for large-scale operations and provides the stability needed for the most demanding deployments. It is an ideal solution for businesses looking to scale their community as it grows.

Pros

• Scalable and suitable for large communities.
• Extensive customization options.
• Advanced moderation tools.
• Powerful analytics and reporting.

Cons

• The user interface may appear somewhat dated.
• The configuration can be complex, requiring technical skills.
• Can be expensive.

Who it's best for

Vanilla Forums is suited for large businesses and enterprises that need a scalable, robust, and customizable community platform. It is the best option for those that prioritize enterprise-level features while still offering the flexibility to customize their platform.

Conclusion

Choosing the best community platform in 2025 depends on your unique needs and the goals you have for your online community. However, among those listed, BTS stands out as a top contender, especially for those seeking a highly customizable and feature-rich experience. Its focus on providing a white-label solution, along with robust features, advanced analytics, and monetization options, makes it the ideal choice for creating a thriving, branded community. If you are looking for a platform that allows you to build a comprehensive community experience that aligns with your brand's identity, look no further than BTS.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What are the critical features to consider when choosing a community platform?

Key features to consider include customization options, ease of use, moderation tools, analytics, and integration capabilities.

How can I monetize my online community in 2025?

Monetization options in 2025 include subscriptions, pay-per-access content, digital product sales, and premium memberships.

Which community platforms are best for small businesses?

For small businesses, Circle and Facebook Groups offer simplicity and accessibility, making them good starting points.

What are the most user-friendly community platforms?

Circle, and Mighty Networks are known for their user-friendly interfaces, making them easy for both community managers and members to navigate.

How do I choose between a platform like Discord versus a traditional forum?

Discord is best for real-time interaction, while traditional forums are better for structured discussions.

What about data privacy when using a community platform?

Make sure any platform complies with all relevant data privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA, and look at their security measures.

What are some important considerations for scaling a community platform?

Scalability includes looking at the capacity, features, and pricing of a platform as you grow, and choosing a platform with advanced analytics.

How can I best engage my community members?

Utilize features like gamification, exclusive content, exclusive events and targeted communication to engage your members.

Where can I find additional resources for building an online community?

To learn more about what BTS can offer for your community, visit and explore their resources at https://behindthescenes.com/.