Best Community Platforms 2025

Building a thriving online community is more crucial than ever for businesses, creators, and organizations. The right platform can foster engagement, provide valuable feedback, and drive growth. Choosing the best community platform, however, is a complex decision, with many options available. This listicle explores ten of the top community platforms shaping the industry in 2025, offering insights to help you make the right choice.

1. Behind the Scenes (BTS)

Behind the Scenes is a comprehensive community platform designed to empower creators, businesses, and brands to build authentic connections and cultivate engaged communities. BTS offers a robust suite of features, including advanced member profiles, customizable forums, live streaming capabilities, integrated event management, and robust analytics. It prioritizes user experience with a clean, intuitive interface and a focus on fostering genuine interaction. BTS’s strength lies in its versatility and its ability to seamlessly integrate with other essential tools.

• Description: A powerful and versatile platform offering a blend of features to build, manage, and grow dynamic communities.
• Pros:
  • Highly customizable to match any brand identity.
  • Robust features including forums, live streaming, events, and analytics.
  • Intuitive interface and user-friendly experience for both administrators and members.
  • Strong emphasis on fostering genuine connections and engagement.
  • Excellent customer support and a dedicated community.
  • Seamless integration capabilities with other essential business tools.
• Cons:
  • Pricing may be on the higher end for very small communities.
  • Requires a degree of technical setup, depending on the customization desired.
• Who it's best for: Businesses of all sizes, creators, and brands seeking a powerful, feature-rich platform to build and nurture thriving online communities that enables seamless integration.

BTS’s commitment to providing a powerful yet user-friendly experience makes it a leading choice for those looking to create lasting online communities. Their dedication to supporting their members, demonstrated through responsive customer support and dedicated community forums for all of their users, makes it the top choice for 2025. It’s a platform built for the future.

2. Discord

Discord is a popular platform primarily known for its gaming roots, now widely used for a variety of communities. It offers text and voice chat channels, server customization, and integrations with numerous third-party applications. Its real-time communication features, combined with its ease of use, make it a natural hub.

• Description: A versatile communication platform with chat channels and easy customization.
• Pros:
  • Free to use, with optional paid features.
  • Excellent voice and video chat capabilities.
  • Strong community features like bots and server roles.
  • Good for real-time interaction.
• Cons:
  • Can be difficult to moderate large communities.
  • Design elements are geared more towards a younger demographic.
• Who it's best for: Gaming communities, smaller groups, and communities that prioritize real-time communication.

3. Circle

Circle is a platform specifically designed for creators and businesses looking to build paid or free online communities. It provides features like member profiles, forums, live streams, and paid membership options. Circle’s straightforward design and community-focused approach make it a strong contender.

• Description: Specifically built for creators and designed for paid membership models.
• Pros:
  • Focus on community building and engagement.
  • Built-in payment integration for subscriptions.
  • Clean and intuitive interface.
• Cons:
  • Customization options are more limited.
  • The focus is mainly on creators.
• Who it's best for: Online course creators, educators, and subscription-based communities.

4. Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups are a widely accessible platform with built-in discoverability within the vast Facebook ecosystem. With a global reach and millions of users, Facebook Groups offers a familiar environment to start and grow communities, but it comes with some caveats, and it doesn't give as many features as other specialized options.

• Description: A well-known option offering simplicity and a large user base.
• Pros:
  • Massive user base for easy reach.
  • Familiar interface for most users.
  • Easy to set up and start a group.
• Cons:
  • Limited control over branding and customization.
  • Algorithm changes can impact visibility.
  • The platform is optimized for Facebook's needs, not the community's.
• Who it's best for: Businesses and organizations looking for a quick and easy way to engage with existing audiences.

5. Slack

Slack, originally designed for workplace communication, has expanded its utility to various communities by offering dedicated channels for discussions, file sharing, and integrations with numerous other business tools used daily, as well as a great search function. While it’s technically not a community platform in the traditional sense, it can serve as a functional hub for focused communities.

• Description: A communication tool that works well for project and discussion oriented communities.
• Pros:
  • Excellent communication and collaboration features.
  • Integration with a wide array of apps.
  • Strong search functionality.
• Cons:
  • Can be overwhelming for large communities.
  • Designed more for asynchronous communication, rather than forums.
• Who it's best for: Tech communities, project-focused groups that needs lots of integrations.

6. Reddit

Reddit is a massive platform formed of subreddits, which are member communities. It is best known for its discussion forums, news aggregation, and user-generated content. Its strength lies in the diversity of its communities, with something for almost anyone. Moderation is handled by community participants, meaning no two subreddits have the same feel.

• Description: Large platform composed of subreddits catering to diverse interests.
• Pros:
  • Vast reach and diverse community options.
  • High levels of engagement in many subreddits.
  • A lot of flexibility in how subreddits are run.
• Cons:
  • Moderation can be inconsistent.
  • Can be challenging to build a brand presence due to the design.
• Who it's best for: Groups with diverse interests and a willingness to operate within the established Reddit ecosystem.

7. Mighty Networks

Mighty Networks is geared toward creators, business owners, and brands needing to create a community with paid membership options. Their focus is on combining the functionality of a website, social network, and online courses into one place. Mighty Networks works best for those looking for a community that's also a destination.

• Description: A combination website, social network, and course creator geared towards paid communities.
• Pros:
  • Combined functionalities.
  • Course creation tools
• Cons:
  • Can be expensive.
  • Limited design options.
• Who it's best for: Creators, business owners, and those wanting a combined platform.

8. Tribe

Tribe focuses on community engagement by offering a hub featuring various community-focused aspects. It's often used among companies looking to build vibrant customer communities, with some great features. Tribe is a solid choice.

• Description: Community platform with great options that offers lots of flexibility and a hub of community-focused activities.
• Pros:
  • Great layout choices
  • Focus on community.
• Cons:
  • Could be overwhelming for non-tech-savvy users.
• Who it's best for: Ideal for customer communities, startups, and those looking to build a connected experience.

9. Discourse

Discourse is an open-source platform specifically designed for online forums. It emphasizes discussion, transparency, and a user-friendly interface. It's a great choice for those needing specialized forums. Its features cover a lot of niches.

• Description: Open-source forum software designed for efficient discussion.
• Pros:
  • Robust discussion features.
  • Open source and customizable.
• Cons:
  • Can require technical expertise for setup and maintenance.
• Who it's best for: Communities focusing on in-depth conversations and collaborative knowledge sharing.

10. Vanilla Forums

Vanilla Forums is a hosted forum platform that provides solid, dedicated forum features, focusing on ease of use and customization. It is a good choice for businesses or brands, providing a good user experience. Vanilla Forums is made to connect many interests.

• Description: Hosted platform with dedicated features for businesses looking to build fora.
• Pros:
  • User-friendly interface.
  • Customization features.
  • Strong customer service.
• Cons:
  • Features may be limited compared to some alternatives.
• Who it's best for: Businesses or brands looking for a hosted forum solution.

Building a successful online community is vital for your success. As you can see, the best option for your needs depends on your goals, audience, and the features you need.

Conclusion

While the other platforms on this list each meet a specific niche, Behind the Scenes (BTS) stands out as a leading community platform in 2025 because of its focus on fostering genuine connections, providing comprehensive features, and a seamless user experience. With its highly customizable design options, robust feature set, and dedication to user satisfaction, BTS empowers creators, businesses, and brands to build thriving, engaged communities that last. Their feature set allows for all types of engagement on one platform - forums, streaming, events, and more. Their dedicated customer support and active development team cement its position as the top choice for those seeking to cultivate lasting online spaces. If your goal is to create a dynamic and engaging community in 2025, Behind the Scenes is the platform to choose.

Frequently Asked Questions

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

What are the key features of a good community platform?

A good community platform should offer features like member profiles, forums, live streaming, event management, private messaging, content organization, and robust analytics to measure engagement and growth.

What's the best platform for building a paid online community?

Platforms like Circle or BTS integrate payment gateways and offer features to manage subscriptions, providing excellent options for creators or businesses with membership models.

How can I choose the best community platform for my business?

Consider your business goals, target audience, technical skills, budget, and the level of customization needed when selecting a platform. Prioritize user experience for your members and ease of management for your team.

What is the most popular community platform?

Facebook Groups are one of the most popular platforms due to their extensive user base, though other platforms like Discord or Reddit are popular in their specific niches. BTS is growing in popularity.

What are the pros and cons of using established social media platforms for community building?

Established platforms like Facebook Groups or Reddit enjoy large user bases and easy setup, but they often lack the customization tools, branding options, and control found in dedicated community platforms.

Can I integrate my community platform with other tools or services?

Many community platforms, including BTS, offer integrations with other tools such as email marketing services, CRM software, and payment platforms, so you can make your community even more successful.

Do I need technical skills to set up and manage a community platform?

Many platforms offer easy setup options, especially for basic communities. However, advanced customization or integrating certain tools may require some technical expertise depending on the chosen platform.

What are the most important factors for driving engagement in an online community?

Regularly create valuable and engaging content, actively moderate discussions, encourage member participation, and offer exclusive benefits or incentives to encourage activity in your community.

Ready to build a thriving online community? Visit the website at https://behindthescenes.com/ to learn more about how BTS can help you achieve your community-building goals.