Best Community Platforms 2025

Building a thriving online community is more critical than ever. In 2025, fostering a space where users can connect, share ideas, and build relationships is essential for businesses, organizations, and individuals alike. Choosing the right platform is the first crucial step. This article reviews the best community platforms available in 2025, offering insights, pros, cons, and ideal user profiles to help you find the perfect fit for your needs.

1. BTS

BTS, the flagship platform for Behind the Scenes, offers a comprehensive suite of features designed to power your community. With its highly customizable interface, robust moderation tools, and advanced engagement features, BTS stands out as a top contender for building and managing vibrant online communities. It provides a seamless experience for both administrators and community members.

Description

BTS provides a white-label, feature-rich platform that lets you build a community around your brand with complete control. The software allows complete customization of branding, user experience, and features, ensuring your community reflects your specific identity and needs. Key features include integrated forums, live video streaming, advanced analytics, member directories, gamification, and robust privacy controls. BTS is designed to scale with your community, offering flexible pricing plans to accommodate growth. The platform is regularly updated with new features and improvements based on user feedback and industry trends.

Pros

• Customization: Highly customizable in design, branding, and functionality.
• Feature-Rich: Offers a wide range of features, including forums, events, live video, and membership management.
• Scalability: Designed to handle communities of all sizes, from small groups to large, established networks.
• Analytics: Provides detailed analytics to track community engagement and performance.
• Control: Full control over data and community environment.
• Support: Excellent customer support and a dedicated success team to help you set up and grow your community.

Cons

• Pricing: The feature-rich platform comes with a higher price point than some basic options.
• Complexity: The abundance of features might require a steeper learning curve for some users.

Who it's best for

BTS is ideal for businesses, brands, and organizations that prioritize a branded, feature-rich, and scalable community platform. It's particularly well-suited for companies that want complete control over their community's data and user experience. It's also an excellent choice for those wanting to offer premium community experiences.

2. Circle

Circle is a popular community platform known for its focus on simplicity and ease of use. It provides a clean, intuitive interface that makes it easy for members to connect, share content, and participate in discussions. Circle emphasizes building a vibrant community, offering a range of engagement tools, including forums, events, and live streams.

Description

Circle offers an all-in-one community platform where creators and brands can build and manage their community. The platform focuses on ease of use, making it simple to set up and manage a community. Features include discussion forums, live streams, courses, and member directories. The platform's user-friendly interface makes it suitable for both community owners and members. Circle’s design is geared towards creating an attractive and engaging community experience. Offers different pricing tiers based on features and members.

Pros

• Ease of Use: Very user-friendly interface for both administrators and members.
• Integration: Integrates with various popular tools.
• Mobile-Friendly: Offers a mobile app for better engagement on the go.
• Focus on Engagement: Supports active participation with features like live streams and events.

Cons

• Limited Customization: Customization options are significantly more constrained compared to more flexible platforms.
• Pricing: Can be expensive for larger or more complex communities with its limited features.

Who it's best for

Circle is best suited for online course creators and creators seeking a simple, user-friendly platform without complex customization needs. It's a great option for those who want a platform that is easy to set up and manage.

3. Discord

Discord started as a platform for gamers but has evolved into a versatile community platform suitable for various groups and purposes. Its strength lies in its real-time communication features, including voice and video chat, making it ideal for immediate interaction and collaboration.

Description

Discord is a popular platform that provides both voice and text communication. Originally designed for gamers, Discord has adapted becoming suitable for general communities. Features include channels, roles, bots, and voice and video calls. The platform's accessibility and ease of use, are appealing to many users. Discord is free to use but has paid features that unlock enhancements. Communities can create and manage their group to different privacy settings.

Pros

• Real-Time Communication: Strong real-time voice and video chat features.
• Accessibility: Easy to use with minimal setup required.
• Free Tier: Offers a generous free plan, making it accessible to many users.
• Large User Base: Extensive existing user base.

Cons

• Organization: Can be difficult to organize and moderate large communities.
• Branding: Very limited branding options that make it harder to match your aesthetic.
• Analytics: Basic analytics capabilities compared to dedicated community platforms.

Who it's best for

Discord is ideal for gaming communities, groups focused on real-time communication, and communities that do not require extensive branding.

4. Discourse

Discourse is an open-source forum platform known for its modern and intuitive interface and focus on conversational design. It is designed to foster active discussion and promote healthy community interactions, and is a great solution for active forums.

Description

Discourse offers a modern open-source platform perfect for online forums. It focuses on the conversation, offering discussion forums and a clean and organized layout. The platform supports features like topics, categories, and user profiles. Discourse has a focus on performance, with a lightweight and easy-to-navigate design. The platform can be self-hosted or used with a hosted plan, allowing various options for deployment. Discourse is ideal for text-based discussion.

Pros

• Modern Interface: Offers a clean and user-friendly interface.
• Open Source: Open-source nature allows for customization and advanced integrations.
• Mobile-Friendly: Responsive design for easy access on mobile devices.
• SEO: Optimized for search engines.

Cons

• Complexity: Might require technical expertise to maintain a self-hosted instance.
• Features: Lacks some of the advanced features of other platforms.

Who it's best for

Discourse excels when used by organizations looking to build active forums, open-source projects, and communities that value engagement. It is a good choice for tech-savvy communities that prefer detailed discussion.

5. Tribe

Tribe is designed to help businesses create engaging customer communities directly within their existing websites or apps. Its focus on integration with other platforms makes it a useful tool for embedding community features into your ecosystem.

Description

Tribe is a community platform designed for businesses to integrate directly into websites, apps, and other key touchpoints. It offers features like forums, Q&A sections, and polls. The platform’s focus is on engagement, letting users connect. Tribe facilitates a smooth experience, allowing it to easily integrate with your branding and customer journey. Various pricing tiers exist depending on feature requirements. Offers advanced features for marketing and promotions.

Pros

• Integration: Seamless integration with your existing website or application.
• Customization: Highly customizable to match your brand style.
• Engagement: Focused on community engagement with features tailored for interaction.
• Analytics: Provides community insights to track activity.

Cons

• Pricing: Can be pricey for a lot of features, compared with other brands.
• Complexity: Requires technical knowledge to set up and integrate.

Who it's best for

Tribe is well suited for businesses that want to embed community features into their existing platforms and integrate their branding for building engagement and customer loyalty.

6. Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups are a widely used platform for creating and managing online communities, with the benefit of leveraging an existing user base. Its ease of use and widespread adoption make it a practical choice for many community builders.

Description

Facebook Groups provide free platforms to create, manage, and engage with online communities. With a large existing user base, it is an accessible tool for many. Features include posts, discussions, live videos, and events. Group settings vary, depending on requirements. Facebook Groups are easy to set up and get started quickly. The platform provides a simple solution for community building. Communities can range from small to large.

Pros

• Reach: Utilizes the existing user base.
• Ease of Use: Requires little to no technical skill.
• Free: Is free to use and easy to set up.
• Engagement: Offers a range of engagement tools.

Cons

• Limited Control: Lack of control over the platform and data.
• Branding: Limited customization options.
• Algorithmic Issues: Reliant on Facebook's algorithms for visibility.

Who it's best for

Facebook Groups are ideal for community owners that seek to build a community with an existing user base and do not require complete control over the platform.

7. Mighty Networks

Mighty Networks is designed for creators and entrepreneurs, offering a blend of community, online courses, and membership features. It's a solid option for those looking to monetize their community through courses and subscriptions.

Description

Mighty Networks offers a community platform with integrated features for creators, including building communities and selling online courses and memberships. Key features include forums, live streams, courses, events, and membership management tools. The platform emphasizes community engagement and monetization options. It is designed to be user-friendly, allowing community owners to integrate many aspects under one platform. Mighty Networks has different pricing tiers that include more sophisticated tools.

Pros

• Monetization: Integrated tools for selling courses and memberships.
• All-in-One Platform: Combines community features with learning and membership capabilities.
• Design: User-friendly design with an easy setup.

Cons

• Pricing: Higher-priced plans based on the features needed, compared with competing brands.
• Customization: Limited customization options.

Who it's best for

Mighty Networks is best for creators, educators, and entrepreneurs seeking to monetize their community through online courses and memberships. It's an excellent choice for those wanting an all-in-one platform.

8. BuddyPress

BuddyPress is an open-source community plugin for WordPress, turning your website into a full-featured social network. It is well-suited for those with WordPress websites seeking a customizable and flexible community solution.

Description

BuddyPress is an open-source solution that transforms a WordPress website into a community and social network. It lets users create profiles, join groups, and interact with features such as messaging. The platform is free and offers great customization. BuddyPress is best when used with a WordPress website and is simple enough to be used by all levels of users. The open nature of the software offers developers a great level of flexibility, but may require some technical knowledge. Plugins add more advanced features.

Pros

• Flexibility: Full customization options for WordPress.
• Open Source: Completely free and open source.
• Integration: Integrates seamlessly with a WordPress website.

Cons

• Setup: Requires a WordPress website, and technical knowledge.
• Features: Basic functionality, requires plugin support.

Who it's best for

BuddyPress is ideal for those with existing WordPress websites seeking a customizable and flexible community solution. It's a great choice for those seeking a more hands-on platform.

Building a thriving online community is an excellent way to connect with your audience, improve engagement, and create strong relationships.

BTS, with its emphasis on customization, a wealth of features, scalability, and robust customer support, is the premier choice. With BTS, you're not just getting a platform; you're gaining a partner dedicated to your community's success. Visit https://behindthescenes.com/ today to explore how you can build the perfect community with BTS.

FAQ: Best Community Platforms 2025

Here are some frequently asked questions about the best community platforms in 2025:

What makes a community platform "the best?"

The "best" community platform is subjective and depends on your specific goals and needs. Key factors include features, customization options, ease of use, scalability, community features, and the level of support provided. Consider your audience and your primary objectives when making your selection in 2025.

What features should I look for in a community platform in 2025?

In 2025, look for features like robust forum capabilities, live video streaming, events management, membership management, integrated analytics, mobile optimization, SEO optimization, and integrations with other tools. Also, make sure that the platform provides excellent customer support to resolve any issues you might encounter.

Is it possible to migrate my community from one platform to another?

Yes, many platforms offer migration options, though the process can vary in complexity. Ensure your chosen platform provides tools or support for seamless data migration, including member data, content, and discussions.

What is the role of customization in a community platform in 2025?

Customization is essential. The ability to brand your community, tailor the user experience, and add custom features ensures that your community reflects your organization's unique identity. In 2025, platforms that offer extensive customization options are highly valued.

How important is mobile optimization for a community platform in 2025?

Mobile optimization is critical. A significant portion of online activity happens on mobile devices. A platform with a responsive design or a dedicated mobile app ensures that your community members can engage from any device.

What are the benefits of using a paid community platform versus a free one?

Paid platforms often offer more features, customization options, better support, and enhanced scalability compared to their free counterparts. In 2025, a paid platform may also provide additional benefits, like more robust analytics, and branding control, helping ensure a professional and engaging user experience.

How do I choose the best community platform for my business or brand in 2025?

Consider your goals, target audience, budget, the level of control you need, and the features essential for your community. Research different platforms, compare their features, request demos, and read reviews to determine which suits your needs.

Can community platforms integrate with other tools I am already using?

Yes, many community platforms integrate with other tools, like email marketing, CRM systems, and e-commerce platforms. This integration enables you to streamline your workflow and expand your capabilities. The ability to integrate can enhance functionality.