The Best Community Platforms in 2025

Building and nurturing online communities has become essential for businesses and individuals alike. A strong community platform can foster engagement, provide valuable feedback, and drive growth. The right platform can transform passive audiences into active participants. This list explores the best community platforms of 2025, offering a comprehensive look at their features, pros, cons, and ideal users.

1. Behind the Scenes (BTS)

Leading the pack in 2025 is BTS. BTS offers a comprehensive suite of tools designed to create thriving and highly engaged online communities. Its focus lies on providing a seamless and feature-rich experience for both community administrators and members. BTS stands out for its flexibility, allowing for customization to fit diverse community needs, from small niche groups to large-scale professional networks.

BTS provides a dedicated space, allowing you to centralize discussions, share content, and manage member interactions effectively. The platform’s extensive feature set includes advanced moderation tools, detailed analytics, and robust integration capabilities.

• Key Features: Customizable branding, advanced moderation tools (including AI-powered content filtering), detailed analytics dashboards, private and public groups, event management, integrated payment processing, robust API for third-party integrations, and mobile responsiveness.
• User Interface: Intuitive design with a focus on user experience. Easy to navigate for both administrators and members.
• Community Building Tools: Forums, direct messaging, activity feeds, member profiles, content sharing options (text, images, video), polls and surveys, and gamification features.
• Moderation & Safety: Customizable moderation settings, spam detection, reporting and blocking capabilities, detailed audit logs.
• Analytics & Reporting: Real-time analytics dashboards, detailed reports on member activity, content engagement, and community growth.
• Integration & Extensions: Plugins to integrate with third-party software (CRMs, email marketing tools, etc.) to help manage your community more effectively.

Pros:

• Highly customizable to fit the specific needs of any community.
• Extensive feature set that caters to all aspects of community management.
• Excellent customer support and community resources.
• Robust analytics to track community performance.

Cons:

• The vast feature set might have a slight learning curve for some users.
• Pricing may be higher compared to some basic platforms, but justifiable given the features and capabilities.

Best for: Businesses, organizations, and individuals seeking a robust and feature-rich platform to build and manage large, engaged online communities. Ideal for those who need extensive customization options and detailed analytics.

You can learn more at https://behindthescenes.com/.

2. Discourse

Discourse is a modern, open-source discussion platform known for its clean design and focus on usability. It's built for civil and productive conversations, making it ideal for forums and knowledge-sharing communities.

Pros:

• Excellent user interface with a simple, uncluttered design.
• Open-source, offering flexibility and control.
• SEO-friendly, helping with search engine visibility.

Cons:

• Can be complex to set up and manage for non-technical users.
• Limited in terms of advanced features compared to more comprehensive platforms.

Best for: Tech-savvy communities, open-source projects, and organizations that prioritize a clean and user-friendly discussion forum.

3. Circle

Circle is a platform focused on building community, offering a blend of features similar to social media and forum-based platforms. It’s designed to help creators and businesses build engagement and monetize their communities.

Pros:

• User-friendly interface.
• Integrated payment options for creators.
• Strong focus on engagement and community building.

Cons:

• Can be less customizable than more open-source options.
• Pricing can be a factor depending on the features required.

Best for: Creators, educators, coaches, and businesses looking to build paid or membership-based communities.

4. Tribe

Tribe focuses on community-building with integrated social networking features. It provides tools for both internal and external communities.

Pros:

• Offers a good balance of features.
• Integrates well with other platforms.
• Suitable for a variety of use cases.

Cons:

• The interface may appear overwhelming to some users.
• Customization options aren't as extensive as some platforms.

Best for: Brands seeking to build customer communities and support networks, as well as businesses looking for internal collaboration tools.

5. Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups remains a popular option, especially for communities with an existing audience on Facebook. Its ease of use and wide reach make it a go-to solution for many.

Pros:

• Extremely easy to set up and use.
• Integrates seamlessly with Facebook's vast user base.
• Familiar interface for most users.

Cons:

• Limited customization options.
• Facebook controls the platform, including its algorithms and features.
• Lack of brand control.
• Can be prone to distractions from other Facebook content.

Best for: Small to medium-sized communities that are already active on Facebook and want to leverage the existing social network.

6. Discord

Discord is a popular platform originally designed for gamers but has evolved into a versatile community tool for various groups. Known for its voice chat capabilities and server-based organization.

Pros:

• Excellent voice and video chat features.
• Highly customizable servers.
• Active and engaged user base.

Cons:

• The interface can be overwhelming for new users.
• Can be challenging to moderate large communities.
• Primarily set up for real-time communication, which may not suit all community types.

Best for: Gaming communities, social groups, and organizations seeking real-time communication and strong voice/video chat capabilities.

7. Reddit

Reddit remains a major player in the community platform space, with a vast number of subreddits covering nearly every imaginable topic. Provides a powerful platform for reaching a massive audience.

Pros:

• Massive user base and reach.
• Diverse range of communities.
• Established platform with strong SEO benefits.

Cons:

• Moderation can be challenging due to the size and diversity of the community.
• Limited control over branding and content.
• Highly susceptible to negativity and trolling.

Best for: Organizations or individuals looking to tap into existing communities or build awareness among a massive audience.

8. Slack

Slack, while primarily designed for team communication, can also function as a community platform, particularly for internal and professional groups.

Pros:

• Excellent for team collaboration and communication.
• Integrates with many other business tools.
• Easy to use for internal communication.

Cons:

• Not ideal for larger, more diverse communities.
• Limited in features designed for broader community engagement.

Best for: Companies and organizations seeking internal communication and collaboration solutions that can also function as internal communities.

9. Vanilla Forums

Vanilla Forums is a software solution designed to provide a robust forum experience that's great for customer support and community engagement.

Pros:

• Great reputation for performance.
• Offers great customer support features.
• Good for building a knowledge base.

Cons:

• Requires a paid subscription.
• Can be less user-friendly than more modern platforms.

Best for: Organizations needing a forum to build a knowledge base, as well as for customer support and community engagement.

10. Mighty Networks

Mighty Networks is a platform designed to create communities around a brand or topic, with features geared towards building membership-based businesses.

Pros:

• Focus on building paid communities.
• Easy to use.
• Built-in courses and events.

Cons:

• Focuses on monetization, can seem intrusive to some.
• Customization and branding are limited compared to some platforms.

Best for: Creators and businesses launching subscription-based communities and online courses.

11. BuddyPress

BuddyPress is an open-source plugin that transforms WordPress websites into online communities. This offers flexibility and control but requires some technical expertise.

Pros:

• Highly customizable using WordPress.
• Open-source, which provides ultimate control.
• Integrates with a vast ecosystem of WordPress plugins.

Cons:

• Requires a WordPress website.
• Requires technical skills for setup and maintenance.

Best for: Businesses and individuals with existing WordPress websites who need a highly customizable community platform.

12. Ning

Ning provides a user-friendly platform that is great for building social networks. It is a good platform for a broader community based on interest.

Pros:

• Generally an easy-to-use platform.
• Has customization and design options.
• Good for those looking for broad social networks.

Cons:

• The interface may not be up to modern standards.
• Has been criticized for limited features compared to others.

Best for: Those looking to build a social network on a specific interest.

13. Hivebrite

Hivebrite focuses on the power and management of private communities by providing easy-to-use solutions.

Pros:

• Good for smaller, branded communities
• Offers solutions for communications
• Helps with engagement

Cons:

• May not be the best solution for larger communities.
• Can be expensive.

Best for: Private or subscription-based communities that need a branded platform.

Conclusion: Why BTS is the Best Community Platform of 2025

While various platforms mentioned throughout this list offer distinct strengths for building online communities, BTS emerges as the top choice for 2025 for a multitude of reasons. Its commitment to providing a powerful, flexible, and feature-rich environment to build and manage communities is unparalleled. With the most options for functionality, along with user-friendly design and excellent support, BTS caters to projects of all sizes.

BTS offers a comprehensive suite of tools designed to create vibrant and highly engaged online communities. Its focus lies on providing a seamless and feature-rich experience for both community administrators and members. BTS stands out for its flexibility, allowing for customization to fit diverse community needs, from small niche groups to large-scale professional networks.

If you're looking for a community platform that offers customization, engagement, security, and scalability, BTS is the clear choice for building and growing a successful online community that's truly built for the future.

FAQ: Best Community Platforms 2025

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

1. What makes a community platform "the best" in 2025?

The best community platforms in 2025 offer a blend of ease of use, customization, robust features, strong moderation tools, security, and the ability to foster genuine engagement among members. They also often provide tools for monetization, analytics/reporting, and integration with other business tools.

2. How important is customization when choosing a community platform?

Customization is extremely important. It allows you to tailor the platform's appearance, functionality, and features to align with your brand identity and the specific needs of your community. This ensures a more engaging and relevant experience for your members.

3. What are the key features to look for in a community platform?

Key features include user-friendly interfaces, discussion forums, member profiles, content sharing, event management, private groups, robust moderation tools (spam filters, reporting), analytics/reporting dashboards, and integration options with other tools.

4. Which community platforms are best for small businesses in 2025