Top 10 Online Community Platforms Type For Course Creators 

With online course progression rate declining (average of below 13%), adding an online community could make a big difference in results for your students!

And as a course creator, you may have a vision of what your future thriving community looks like and get excited!

Here is the shortlist of the top online community platforms out there.

1. Circle

Circle is probably the best choice for any creators that want a balance between features and simplicity.

It’s a platform that was built for memberships and community specifically and that kept improving over the years.

The user experience is very polished but still something you can customize to a high degree.

You can create different type of “space”: Posts, chat, courses, events.

Each post can have media and receive likes or comments, just like you would on any social media apps.

And of course you can sell access to specific “Spaces” (threads) and run multiple memberships level with different access tiers.

Gamification is also something Circle does really well with many ways to keep your users engaged and logging back to the platform.

A mobile app is also available on any plan and if you want a custom branded one you also can (at an extra cost).

Beyond many other features you would want in a community platform, Circle has been very forward is terms of integrating AI.

It’s AI copilot and AI agents feature allow you to make each user experience in your community tailored to them.

It can also cut down on a lot of the time consuming tasks like moderation and support.

Pricing:

Circle remains fairly competitive pricing-wise when you consider all the features it now includes.

After the 14 days free trial you can get into the $89 starter plan:

If you want all of the AI and fancy features or simply more customization and access, you will have to upgrade to the higher plan.

Also, if you want to use the email marketing feature Circle has, this will come at an extra cost, which depends on the number of contacts you have.

2. Skool

Skool has really made a dent in the online community space because of its simplicity and association with Sam Ovens and Alex Hormozi.

It was one of the first platforms to be community-centric and not just have a community feature as an add-on to something else.

And even though the platform has expanded and now offers native course hosting and payment, it still remains the easiest community platform to use.

The community feature itself is a simply forum-like feed with threads and post (by you and members).

These are multi-media posts and can be tagged or easily categorized.

The other tabs accessible are Calendar, to see the different live events you can host.

Or Courses for a somewhat limited, but simple course builder.

Finally, Skool also has its own native payment system with lower fees and some form of gamification for your members.

Overall it’s not the most feature-loaded app but certainly the most straight-forward to use for both you and your members.

Pricing:

Recently Skool has introduced a new starter plan at $9/month.

This is available after the 14 days trial.

Still though, the $99/month plan is what most serious users will probably end up using quickly.

Note that this is the pricing per community.

So if you want to have separate communities for different part of your business, you will have to pay 2x the amount.

3. Mighty Networks

Mighty Networks is another of the top 3 community platforms widely cited.

It was probably one of the first ones to come out and has always been a bit different by offering a very unique experience.

One of these specificity is that Mighty Networks is much more optimized for a mobile-first community.

Meaning that if you’re building a community for members to keep in touch on-the-go, then it’s probably the best platform to do that.

That’s because its mobile app is so good, and really fosters networking and messaging among each other.

You can for example enable locations to be shared for members to meet up locally.

And of course all other standard community features are included: threads, courses, live online events, gamification,etc.

The way the platform is laid out can also feel a lot more immersive than competitors.

Pricing:

Mighty networks pricing is aligned with the top of the pack here.

With a 14 days trial and a very similar start plan:

Note here again that the custom branded app will come at an extra cost.

As a side note, Mighty Networks has started to integrate some AI features into the platform but has lagged behind a little (compared to Circle for example).

4. Kajabi

Although Kajabi is not a community-focused platform, we had to mention it.

Creating community on Kajabi is still one of the easiest way for course creators to add this offer to their business and do so much more.

Again the main thing Kajabi does is being a one stop shop for course creators. 

This includes features to help you host a course, build a website and funnel, or set up email campaigns and automations.

Communities are just 1 “product type” the platform has available. But it still offers most of the features specialist platforms have.

You get 1 community per account but can have as many access groups as you want.

These have their own threads and feeds as well as live online Events and Challenges.

A community can then be integrated into a course (but not vice versa) so they feed into each other.

Gamification and other things are a tad more limited than the other platforms we mentioned so far, but it might just be enough for most creators.

Pricing:

It’s hard to compare Kajabi pricing 1-1 with Circle or Skool, but you can get started for $99 for 3 months (or on a 30 day extended trial).

The starter plans are actually pretty close to other competitors but do offer a plethora of other features to help you with your online business.

This may be overkill if you’re just looking for a community addon to your tech stack.

But it can also be very cost efficient if you’re starting from scratch.

5. Heart Beat

Heartbeat is a challenger to Circle and Skool that maybe doesn’t get quite as much attention as it deserves.

It positions itself as an all-in-one community platform built specifically for coaches, course creators, and membership businesses.

The discussion side works how you’d expect: threaded posts, direct messaging, channels you can lock to specific membership tiers. Nothing groundbreaking, but well-executed.

Where Heartbeat stands out is its events infrastructure. You can host public or private events, sell tickets, collect automatic post-event feedback, and integrate with Zoom without leaving the platform. For cohort-based programs or live-heavy communities, this is genuinely useful.

Course hosting is also built in, covering both evergreen and cohort-based formats with drip lessons, assignments, and native video hosting. It’s not as deep as a dedicated LMS, but it covers most use cases.

There’s also a referral program tool, member matching (pairing members based on goals), and a fairly capable analytics dashboard that helps you spot disengaged members before they churn.

The trade-off is that Heartbeat is a smaller platform with a smaller ecosystem than Circle or Skool. It’s actively developed and has a vocal community of users, but you’re betting on a younger product.

Pricing:

Heartbeat offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required.

After that, plans start at $40/month for the Starter tier, stepping up to $108/month for Growth. A Custom plan is available for larger communities that need white-label apps or dedicated support.

Compared to Circle at $89/month to start, Heartbeat is notably cheaper for what you get, which is part of its appeal for creators who don’t need Circle’s full feature depth.

6. Patreon

Patreon is the one of the oldest name in this space and operates on a very different model from everything else on this list.

It’s not really a community platform in the traditional sense. It’s a membership and monetization platform with community features layered on top.

The core proposition is simple: creators set up a page, offer subscription tiers with exclusive perks, and fans pay monthly to access them. Posts, behind-the-scenes content, early access, and direct messaging are the main draws.

Patreon added community chats and member profiles more recently, which brings it closer to a proper community experience. But compared to Circle or Skool, the community side is still fairly lightweight. There’s no structured course builder, no gamification, and limited customization.

Where Patreon genuinely wins is distribution. It has over 300,000 active creators and millions of patrons already on the platform. Discovery is built in, which no other platform on this list can claim. For certain creator types, particularly podcasters, musicians, and writers, that existing ecosystem is worth a lot.

The platform works best when your audience already knows and trusts you, and you want a low-friction way to monetize that relationship without building something from scratch.

Pricing:

Patreon is free to join. Rather than a flat monthly fee, it takes a percentage of what you earn.

For new creators who publish after August 4, 2025, the standard rate is a flat 10% of earnings, plus payment processing fees on top (typically 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction). Legacy creators on older plans may be at 8% or 11% depending on their tier.

At scale, the percentage model can get expensive fast. A creator earning $10,000/month is handing $1,000+ to Patreon before processing fees. That’s something to factor in when comparing it against flat-rate platforms.

7. Discord

Discord started as a gaming chat app and evolved into one of the most widely used community platforms on the internet. With over 200 million monthly active users, it’s in a different category from every other platform on this list in terms of sheer reach.

The core format is servers with channels, which are essentially group chat rooms organized by topic. You can have text channels, voice channels, video channels, and forum-style channels. It’s real-time and conversational by nature.

For many creator communities, Discord works extremely well for one reason: your audience is probably already there. Getting someone to join a new Discord server is a much lower barrier than asking them to sign up for an unfamiliar platform.

The limitations, though, are real. Discord has no built-in course hosting, no native paid memberships (you need third-party tools like LaunchPass to charge for access), and minimal analytics. It’s essentially a very capable chat tool that you have to wire up to everything else yourself.

Moderation also gets unwieldy at scale. Bots help, but managing a large Discord server is a meaningful time investment. And the interface, while familiar to many, can feel chaotic compared to more structured platforms like Circle.

For creators who want a tight-knit, real-time community as a complement to their main product (rather than the product itself), Discord is hard to beat on price. But it’s not really a standalone community business platform.

Pricing:

Discord is free to use. The free tier is genuinely capable and includes unlimited messages, voice and video calls, screen sharing, and the ability to create and manage servers.

Optional paid tiers exist for members: Nitro Basic at $2.99/month and Nitro at $9.99/month unlock higher file upload limits, HD streaming, animated avatars, and server boosts. These are user-level subscriptions, not platform fees.

If you want to charge your community members for access, you’ll need a third-party tool. That adds cost and friction that purpose-built community platforms avoid.

8. Turf

Turf is worth flagging because it shows up in community platform searches, but it’s not really designed for the same audience as the other platforms on this list.

It’s built specifically for SaaS companies, not for course creators or membership businesses. The focus is on in-app customer communities: forums, knowledge bases, feature request boards, changelogs, and product roadmaps, all embedded inside a SaaS product.

If you’re a software company looking to reduce support tickets and keep customers engaged within your product, Turf is worth exploring. If you’re a coach, educator, or content creator looking to build a paid community around your expertise, it’s the wrong tool entirely.

We’ve included it here because it surfaces in searches, but be clear about what it’s actually for before going further.

Pricing:

Turf offers a free plan and a custom enterprise plan. Pricing for paid tiers is available on request.

9. Buddy Press

BuddyPress is a free, open-source WordPress plugin that adds social network functionality to any WordPress site. It’s been around since 2009 and remains one of the most downloaded community plugins in the WordPress ecosystem.

Installing it gives you member profiles, activity feeds, user groups, private messaging, and friend connections, all living inside your existing WordPress site. If you already run a WordPress site and want to bolt on a community layer without moving to a separate platform, BuddyPress is the obvious starting point.

The appeal is control. You own everything: your data, your domain, your design. There are no monthly platform fees and no revenue cuts. For organizations, nonprofits, or educators with existing WordPress infrastructure, that’s genuinely attractive.

The trade-off is that BuddyPress is a plugin, not a product. Out of the box, the design is barebones and needs theme work to look professional. There’s no native course builder, no built-in monetization, and no gamification unless you add more plugins. You’re essentially assembling the experience yourself, which takes technical effort and ongoing maintenance.

BuddyBoss, a premium commercial platform built on top of BuddyPress, is worth considering if you want a more polished version of the same concept with fewer rough edges.

Pricing:

BuddyPress itself is completely free. The real costs are hosting (a reliable WordPress host typically runs $10-$50/month depending on scale), any premium themes or plugins you add, and developer time if you need customization.

BuddyBoss, the premium commercial alternative, starts at around $228/year and includes a more polished interface and better support.

10. Slack

Slack is the dominant workplace messaging tool, and plenty of creators have tried to use it as a community platform. It’s familiar, polished, and almost everyone already has it installed.

The channel-based structure works well for organizing conversations by topic. Threads keep discussions tidy. Integrations with thousands of other tools are genuinely useful. And because Slack is so ubiquitous in professional contexts, getting members to engage is low-friction.

But Slack was designed for internal team communication, not public or paid communities, and the cracks show. The free plan limits message history to 90 days, which means your community’s accumulated knowledge simply disappears. There’s no built-in monetization, no course hosting, no gamification, and minimal community-specific features.

Pricing is the other major issue. Slack charges per user, per month. At $8.75/user/month on the Pro plan, a community of even 100 members costs $875/month. That’s simply not viable for most creator communities when purpose-built alternatives cost a fraction of that.

Where Slack does make sense is for small, professional cohorts or mastermind-style groups where members are already Slack users and the per-seat cost is acceptable. Think high-ticket programs or B2B communities rather than broad membership products.

Pricing:

Slack offers a free plan with significant limitations, including the 90-day message history cap and a 10-app integration limit.

The Pro plan is $8.75/user/month (billed monthly) or $7.25/user/month on an annual plan. Business+ jumps to $15/user/month.

For community use cases, the per-user model makes Slack expensive at any meaningful scale. It’s worth doing the math against flat-rate platforms before committing.