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Creating an online community has become one of the most powerful ways to connect with your audience, share knowledge, and build a sustainable business. Whether you’re an educator, content creator, entrepreneur, or thought leader, choosing the right platform can make or break your community-building efforts.
The landscape of community platforms has exploded in recent years, with each offering unique features and approaches to bringing people together online. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore six of the most popular platforms—Circle, Skool, Mighty Networks, Bettermode, GroupApp, and Kajabi Communities—and show you exactly how to use each one to build thriving communities.
Circle: The All-in-One Community Hub
Circle has quickly become one of the most popular choices for creators and businesses looking to build engaged online communities. What sets Circle apart is its clean, intuitive interface that feels familiar to anyone who’s used modern social platforms, combined with powerful features that go far beyond basic discussion boards.
How to Build Your Community on Circle
Getting started with Circle is refreshingly straightforward. When you first set up your community, you’ll create different “Spaces” within your community. Think of Spaces as organized sections where different types of conversations and content can happen. You might have a Space for general discussions, another for course content, one for member introductions, and perhaps a private Space for your premium members.
The beauty of Circle lies in its flexibility. You can structure your community exactly how you want it. Some community builders prefer a simple layout with just a few Spaces, while others create elaborate structures with dozens of Spaces organized by topic, membership tier, or content type.
One of Circle’s standout features is its integration capabilities. You can connect Circle with your existing tools—email marketing platforms like ConvertKit or Mailchimp, payment processors like Stripe, and even Zapier for custom automations. This means you can create seamless experiences where someone purchases access to your community and automatically gets added without any manual work on your end.
The live streaming feature in Circle deserves special mention. You can host live events directly within your community, with chat happening alongside the stream. This creates an intimate experience where members can interact with you and each other in real-time. After the stream ends, it’s automatically saved and becomes part of your community’s content library.
Circle also shines when it comes to member engagement features. You can create polls to gather feedback, set up events with RSVP tracking, and even gamify participation with member levels and achievements. The platform tracks engagement metrics, showing you who your most active members are and which Spaces get the most interaction.
For monetization, Circle makes it easy to create multiple membership tiers. You might offer a free tier with limited access, a mid-tier paid membership with more exclusive content, and a premium tier with one-on-one access to you. Each tier can access different Spaces, creating natural incentives for members to upgrade.
The mobile app experience on Circle is excellent, which matters because many community members prefer to engage on their phones. The app allows for push notifications, so members stay engaged even when they’re not actively thinking about your community.
Skool: Where Learning Meets Community
Skool has emerged as the go-to platform for creators who prioritize education and structured learning experiences. Founded by Sam Ovens, Skool combines community features with course hosting in a way that feels natural and integrated rather than forced together.
Building Your Educational Community on Skool
What makes Skool unique is its laser focus on gamification and active learning. From the moment members join your Skool community, they’re incentivized to participate through a points and levels system. Members earn points by posting, commenting, and getting upvotes from others. This creates a virtuous cycle where quality participation is rewarded and encouraged.
Setting up your Skool community starts with defining your “Classroom” section—this is where your structured course content lives. Unlike traditional course platforms where content is passively consumed, Skool encourages discussion around each lesson. Members can ask questions directly on lesson pages, creating a living knowledge base where future members benefit from past discussions.
The community feed in Skool works similarly to a social media timeline, but with a crucial difference—it’s optimized for valuable conversations rather than quick dopamine hits. Posts that generate meaningful discussion rise to the top, and the leaderboard system naturally surfaces your most helpful and engaged members.
One particularly clever feature is the calendar function. You can schedule live calls, events, or office hours, and members can add them directly to their personal calendars. This reduces no-shows and keeps your community consistently showing up for live interactions.
Skool’s search functionality is surprisingly powerful. As your community grows and accumulates hundreds or thousands of posts, members can easily find past discussions on specific topics. This turns your community into a searchable knowledge base, adding tremendous value for new members who might otherwise ask questions that have already been answered.
For course creators making the switch to Skool, the transition is smooth. You can drip-release content on a schedule, require completion of previous modules before unlocking new ones, and track member progress. The difference from traditional course platforms is that learning happens in community rather than in isolation.
The pricing model on Skool is straightforward—one price for unlimited members. This removes the stress of worrying about platform costs eating into your revenue as your community grows. You can use Skool’s built-in payment processing or connect it to your existing payment setup.
What really sets Skool apart is how it naturally facilitates accountability and peer learning. Because members can see each other’s activity and progress, there’s social pressure to keep up and participate. Study groups form organically, members help each other overcome obstacles, and the entire community moves forward together.
Mighty Networks: Building More Than Just a Community
Mighty Networks takes a different approach to community building. Rather than focusing solely on discussions or courses, Mighty Networks positions itself as a platform for building complete ecosystems—places where people don’t just talk, but where they connect, learn, and organize around shared interests and goals.
Creating Your Mighty Network
When you start building on Mighty Networks, you’re creating what the platform calls a “Network”—a branded space that can include multiple groups, courses, events, and member features. The platform gives you tremendous flexibility in how you structure this space.
One of Mighty Networks’ most powerful features is its subgroups functionality. Within your main Network, you can create subgroups around specific topics, interests, or membership levels. Each subgroup can have its own feed, events, and content. This allows you to serve diverse member needs within a single community. For example, a fitness community might have subgroups for runners, weightlifters, and yoga practitioners, each with relevant discussions and content.
The member profile features in Mighty Networks are more robust than most platforms. Members can showcase their skills, interests, and what they’re looking for from the community. This makes it easier for members to find each other and form connections based on shared interests or complementary skills. The platform encourages these one-on-one and small-group connections, recognizing that not all valuable community interaction happens in public feeds.
Mighty Networks has invested heavily in its native app experience. When you create a Mighty Network, it can be accessed through the Mighty Networks app, but you also have the option to create your own branded iOS and Android apps. This is a game-changer for communities that want a premium, branded experience without the six-figure development costs of building custom apps.
The courses feature in Mighty Networks is comprehensive. You can create both cohort-based courses that members go through together and evergreen courses that members can access anytime. The platform supports various content types—videos, PDFs, audio, and text—and you can structure your courses with modules, lessons, and activities.
One often-overlooked feature is the Questions section. When setting up your Network, you can create custom questions that members answer when they join. This serves multiple purposes: it helps you understand your members better, it gives members ways to connect with each other based on their answers, and it can guide members to the most relevant subgroups or content.
Mighty Networks’ event features are particularly strong. You can host both online and in-person events, charge for them separately or include them in memberships, and facilitate connections between attendees. For communities that want to move from purely digital to occasional in-person meetups, Mighty Networks provides the infrastructure to make that happen seamlessly.
The platform offers multiple monetization options. You can charge for Network membership, sell courses separately, charge for subgroups, or combine these approaches. The flexibility allows you to experiment with different business models and find what works best for your community and content.
For community builders focused on transformation and genuine member success, Mighty Networks provides built-in features for tracking member progress and celebrating milestones. Members can share their wins, track their progress through courses, and receive recognition from the community.
Bettermode: The Developer-Friendly Community Platform
Bettermode (formerly Tribe) positions itself as the community platform for companies that want full control over their community’s look, feel, and functionality. While platforms like Circle and Skool offer beautiful pre-designed experiences, Bettermode gives you the tools to create something completely custom.
Building a Customized Community with Bettermode
Bettermode’s strength lies in its flexibility. The platform is built on a framework that allows for deep customization without requiring extensive coding knowledge, though developers can dive deep into the API if they want to create truly unique experiences.
When you start with Bettermode, you’re essentially building with blocks. The platform provides various “apps” or widgets—discussion forums, Q&A sections, article libraries, member directories, and more. You arrange these however you want to create your ideal community structure. This modular approach means you’re not locked into someone else’s vision of what a community should look like.
The design customization options are extensive. You can control colors, fonts, layouts, and even create completely custom pages with HTML and CSS if you want. For brands that have established visual identities, this level of control is crucial. Your community can look like a natural extension of your website rather than a separate tool with its own aesthetic.
Bettermode’s permissions system is sophisticated, allowing you to create nuanced access controls. You can define roles with specific permissions, create private sections for different member tiers, and control exactly who can do what within your community. This makes Bettermode particularly attractive for companies building internal communities or customer success communities where access control is critical.
One of Bettermode’s unique features is its AI-powered moderation and content recommendations. The platform can automatically flag inappropriate content, suggest relevant discussions to members based on their interests and activity, and even help surface unanswered questions to members who might be able to help. This intelligent layer helps communities scale while maintaining quality.
The analytics in Bettermode go deep. You can track not just basic metrics like active users and posts, but also more sophisticated measures like member health scores, content performance, and even predict which members might be at risk of churning. For data-driven community builders, these insights are invaluable.
Integration capabilities are a major focus for Bettermode. The platform offers pre-built integrations with popular tools, but it also provides webhooks and a robust API for creating custom integrations. This means you can connect your community to your CRM, support system, product database, or any other tools you use.
For companies building customer communities, Bettermode offers features specifically designed for customer education and support. You can create knowledge bases that integrate with discussion areas, allowing customers to find answers or ask questions seamlessly. The platform can also integrate with your product, showing community activity within your app or surfacing relevant community content when users encounter issues.
The SEO capabilities in Bettermode are noteworthy. Community content can be indexed by search engines, turning your community into a traffic driver. Public discussions can rank in Google searches, bringing new potential members to your community organically.
Bettermode’s pricing reflects its enterprise-focused positioning. It’s generally more expensive than platforms like Circle or Skool, but for organizations that need the flexibility and control it offers, the investment can be justified by reduced development costs and increased community effectiveness.
GroupApp: Mobile-First Community Building
GroupApp takes a distinctly different approach from other platforms—it’s designed primarily for mobile, recognizing that many people prefer to engage with communities on their phones throughout the day rather than sitting down at a computer.
Creating an Engaging Mobile Community with GroupApp
The first thing you’ll notice about GroupApp is its native app experience. Rather than accessing your community through a web browser, members download a dedicated app. This might seem like a small difference, but it fundamentally changes how people engage. With an app on their phone’s home screen, your community becomes more present in members’ daily lives.
Setting up your GroupApp community involves creating different sections within the app. You might have a feed for general updates and discussions, a section for resources and files, an events calendar, a member directory, and any other sections that make sense for your community’s purpose.
The chat functionality in GroupApp feels more like texting than forum posting, which lowers the barrier to engagement. Members can quickly share thoughts, ask questions, or offer support without the formality often associated with traditional online forums. This creates a more intimate, responsive community atmosphere.
GroupApp’s push notification system is a key engagement driver. When something happens in the community—a new post, a reply to their comment, or an upcoming event—members get notified instantly. Of course, notifications can be customized, so members aren’t overwhelmed, but the default settings do a good job of keeping people looped in without being annoying.
One interesting feature is the ability to create subgroups within your main community. These can be organized around specific topics, geographic locations, or membership tiers. Subgroups maintain the intimate feel that makes GroupApp special while allowing your community to serve diverse member needs.
The content sharing capabilities in GroupApp are designed for mobile. Members can easily share photos, videos, and files directly from their phones. This makes the platform particularly good for communities where visual content is important—fitness communities sharing progress photos, food communities sharing meal creations, travel communities sharing adventures.
For live interactions, GroupApp supports both text-based chat and video calls. You can host office hours, coaching calls, or mastermind sessions right within the app. The barrier to joining is low—members don’t need to click through to Zoom or another platform; they just tap to join.
GroupApp’s monetization features are straightforward. You can charge for community membership, create paid subgroups, or offer one-time purchases for specific content or events. The payment processing is handled within the app, creating a seamless experience for members.
The admin tools in GroupApp are optimized for mobile management. You can moderate content, post updates, and manage members from your phone, which is perfect for community builders who are often on the go. You don’t need to be at your computer to run your community effectively.
One limitation to be aware of: because GroupApp is mobile-focused, it’s not ideal for communities built around long-form content or complex course structures. It shines for communities where quick, regular engagement is more important than deep dives into comprehensive content.
The member directory features help facilitate connections. Members can create profiles, indicate their interests and skills, and discover other members with shared interests. The platform encourages direct messaging between members, fostering the one-on-one relationships that often become the most valuable aspect of community membership.
Kajabi Communities: The All-in-One Creator Platform
Kajabi has long been known as a comprehensive platform for course creators and online entrepreneurs. Their Communities feature integrates directly with their course, website, and email marketing tools, creating a unified ecosystem for building an online business.
Leveraging Kajabi to Build Your Community-Centered Business
The power of Kajabi Communities comes from its integration with the broader Kajabi platform. If you’re already using Kajabi to host courses or manage your online business, adding a community component is seamless. Members can access courses and community from the same login, creating a cohesive experience.
When you create a Kajabi Community, you start by defining different sections. These might include a welcome area for new members, topic-based discussion areas, a wins section for celebrating successes, and any other sections that serve your community’s purpose. The structure is flexible, allowing you to organize discussions in whatever way makes sense for your audience.
One of Kajabi’s strengths is its content bundling capabilities. You can create offers that include courses, coaching, and community access all together. For example, you might offer a basic tier with course access only, a mid-tier that adds community access, and a premium tier that includes everything plus one-on-one coaching. Kajabi handles all of this from a single platform.
The member experience in Kajabi Communities is clean and straightforward. Members can post updates, ask questions, share resources, and engage with each other’s content through likes and comments. While it may not have all the bells and whistles of dedicated community platforms, it covers the essentials well.
Kajabi’s automation capabilities extend to community management. You can automatically add members to your community when they purchase specific products, send welcome sequences with tips for getting started, and even trigger emails based on community activity (or inactivity). This helps with member onboarding and engagement without requiring constant manual effort.
The live event features integrate with Kajabi’s video hosting. You can schedule live sessions, deliver them through Kajabi, and have them automatically saved and added to your content library. The community feed can serve as the chat and discussion area before, during, and after live events.
For creators who produce a lot of content, Kajabi Communities provides a natural home for that content to be discussed and implemented. When you release a new course lesson, podcast episode, or piece of content, you can create a post in the community to facilitate discussion and implementation. This transforms passive content consumption into active engagement.
The analytics in Kajabi give you insight into both community activity and business metrics. You can see which community sections are most active, which members are most engaged, and how community membership affects course completion rates and retention. This data helps you make informed decisions about your community strategy.
Kajabi’s pipeline feature is particularly useful for community builders. You can create member journeys that guide people from initial awareness through purchase and into active community participation. This systematic approach to member acquisition and onboarding can significantly improve retention and lifetime value.
The platform’s email marketing tools integrate seamlessly with community activity. You can segment your email list based on community engagement, send targeted messages to inactive members to re-engage them, or highlight popular community discussions to members who might have missed them.
For creators who want to maintain a branded experience, Kajabi offers customization options for both your website and community. While not as extensive as Bettermode’s customization, you can adjust colors, logos, and layouts to maintain brand consistency.
One consideration with Kajabi Communities is that it’s part of a larger platform. This is perfect if you need those other features (course hosting, website building, email marketing), but it makes Kajabi more expensive than standalone community platforms. You’re paying for the entire ecosystem, which can be worth it if you use it fully, but might be overkill if you only need community features.
Choosing the Right Platform for Your Community
Each of these platforms excels in different areas, and the right choice depends on your specific needs, technical comfort level, budget, and community-building goals.
Circle is ideal if you want a balance of powerful features and ease of use, with excellent integration capabilities. It’s particularly good for communities that blend discussion, content, and live interaction.
Skool is perfect for educational communities where you want to combine structured learning with active discussion and peer support. The gamification features naturally encourage participation.
Mighty Networks shines when you’re building something bigger than a simple discussion community—when you want subgroups, member connections, and potentially a branded app experience.
Bettermode is the choice for organizations that need deep customization, sophisticated permissions, or want to create a community experience that perfectly matches their brand and integrates with existing systems.
GroupApp is best for communities where mobile engagement is paramount and you want to create an intimate, chat-like atmosphere rather than a formal forum.
Kajabi Communities makes sense when you’re already invested in the Kajabi ecosystem or want to build an all-in-one online business with courses, marketing, and community from a single platform.
The good news is that most of these platforms offer free trials or demo periods. Before committing, you can test the member experience, explore the admin tools, and get a feel for whether the platform aligns with your vision for your community.
Remember that while the platform matters, what matters more is the value you provide within it. The most successful communities share certain characteristics regardless of platform: clear purpose, consistent engagement from leadership, quality members who support each other, and valuable content or experiences that justify membership.
Your platform should empower you to create these things, not get in the way. It should feel intuitive to you as an admin and welcoming to your members. It should grow with your community rather than constraining it.
Start by clarifying your community’s purpose and the experience you want to create. Then evaluate platforms based on how well they support that vision. Consider your current technical skills and the time you have available for community management. Think about your budget and how it might change as your community grows.
Most importantly, remember that you can always migrate communities if needed. While switching platforms takes work, it’s possible. Don’t let fear of making the wrong choice prevent you from getting started. The biggest mistake is not building a community at all.
The opportunity to build meaningful online communities has never been greater. These platforms provide the infrastructure, but you provide the vision, leadership, and value that turns a platform into a thriving community. Choose the tool that feels right, commit to showing up consistently for your members, and focus on creating genuine value and connection.
Your community is waiting. Pick your platform and start building.
Making Your Community Thrive: Beyond Platform Choice
While choosing the right platform is important, it’s only the foundation. The real work of community building happens in how you engage, facilitate, and nurture the relationships within your community. Let me share some universal principles that work across all these platforms.
First, be consistently present. Community members need to see you regularly participating, not just when you’re launching something or asking for feedback. This doesn’t mean you need to respond to every post or be online 24/7, but you should have a regular rhythm of engagement that members can count on. Maybe it’s morning check-ins, weekly Q&A sessions, or daily prompts that spark discussion. Whatever it is, consistency builds trust and sets the engagement rhythm for your entire community.
Second, celebrate your members. When someone has a win, make a big deal about it. When someone asks a great question, acknowledge their curiosity. When someone helps another member, thank them publicly. Recognition fuels more positive behavior and makes members feel valued. Most platforms have features that support this—pinned posts, member spotlights, or achievement systems—but the key is making recognition part of your community culture, not just a platform feature you use occasionally.
Third, facilitate introductions and connections. Some members will naturally connect with each other, but many won’t unless you create opportunities and structures for connection. New member welcome threads, buddy systems, accountability partnerships, or small group challenges all help members form the one-on-one relationships that often become the most valuable part of community membership. The platform provides the tools, but you need to create the culture and opportunities for connection.
Fourth, be willing to have difficult conversations. Every community will eventually face conflicts, violated guidelines, or members who detract from the group dynamic. How you handle these situations defines your community culture. Address issues promptly and fairly, communicate your standards clearly, and be willing to remove members who consistently work against the community’s values. This protects your best members and signals that you’re serious about maintaining a positive environment.
Fifth, evolve with your community. What works for 50 members won’t work for 500 members. Be prepared to adjust your structure, add new features, create subgroups, or change how you engage as your community grows. Listen to member feedback and watch engagement patterns. The best community builders are constantly experimenting and adapting.
Final Thoughts: Your Community-Building Journey
The platforms we’ve explored—Circle, Skool, Mighty Networks, Bettermode, GroupApp, and Kajabi Communities—each offer unique approaches to bringing people together online. They’ve invested millions of dollars and countless hours building features that make community building more accessible than ever before.
But here’s what I want you to remember: the platform is a tool, not a magic solution. I’ve seen thriving communities on basic platforms and ghost towns on sophisticated ones. The difference isn’t the technology—it’s the leadership, vision, and consistent effort of the community builder.
Your community will reflect your values, your consistency, and your genuine care for your members. It will grow through word-of-mouth when members find real value and connection. It will thrive when you create a space where people feel safe to be vulnerable, excited to share their knowledge, and inspired by others’ progress.
Start small if you need to. You don’t need hundreds of members to have a valuable community. Some of the most transformative communities I’ve seen have fewer than 100 members who are deeply committed and actively engaged. Focus on creating value for each member rather than chasing growth metrics.
Be patient with the process. Community building is a long game. It typically takes three to six months before you start seeing the kind of organic engagement and member-to-member interaction that makes communities special. During that initial period, you’ll be doing more of the heavy lifting—starting conversations, facilitating connections, creating content—but this investment pays off as your community matures.
Trust your instincts about what your specific community needs. While these platforms offer similar features, your community might thrive with approaches that work differently than other communities. Maybe your members prefer async discussion over live calls. Maybe they value one-on-one connections more than group interactions. Maybe they want structured learning or maybe they prefer organic knowledge sharing. Pay attention to what energizes your members and double down on that.
The online community space will continue evolving. New platforms will emerge, existing ones will add features, and member expectations will shift. Stay curious and open to new approaches, but don’t get so caught up in chasing the latest platform or feature that you neglect the fundamentals of community building.
Remember why you’re building this community in the first place. Whether it’s to support people through a transformation, to bring together people with shared interests, to create a space for learning and growth, or to build a business around your expertise—that purpose should guide every decision you make about your community.
The world needs more genuine, supportive, value-driven communities. There’s so much noise online, so much superficial engagement, so many extractive relationships. When you build a real community—a place where people support each other, learn together, and form meaningful connections—you’re creating something rare and valuable.
You don’t need to be a tech expert or have a massive audience to build a thriving community. You need clarity about your purpose, commitment to showing up consistently, genuine care for your members, and the willingness to learn and adapt along the way.
Choose the platform that feels right for your needs and budget. Set it up in a way that supports your vision. Invite people who align with your community’s purpose. Show up consistently and authentically. Facilitate connections and celebrate wins. Handle challenges with grace. Keep evolving.
That’s the formula, regardless of which platform you choose. The technology changes, but the fundamentals of bringing people together and creating value remain constant.
Your future community members are out there right now, looking for exactly what you’re about to create. They’re searching for connection, knowledge, support, and belonging. The platform you choose will be the home where you welcome them, but your leadership, vision, and care will be what makes them stay.
So take action. Choose your platform, set up your community, and start inviting people into the space you’re creating. Don’t wait until everything is perfect. Don’t overthink every decision. Start building, stay consistent, and trust the process.
Your community is waiting. The time to begin is now.
