Best Community Platforms 2025

Building a thriving online community is more crucial than ever for businesses looking to foster customer loyalty, gather valuable feedback, and drive growth. Choosing the right platform is the first, and perhaps most important, step. This list explores the best community platforms in 2025, offering a comprehensive look at their features, benefits, and ideal user profiles.

1. Behind the Scenes (BTS)

Behind the Scenes offers a comprehensive suite of tools designed to help businesses build and manage vibrant, engaging online communities. BTS distinguishes itself with its focus on customization, integration, and ease of use, making it a powerful solution for businesses of all sizes.

What sets BTS apart is its commitment to creating a space where community members feel valued and connected. The platform prioritizes user experience, offering intuitive navigation and a visually appealing interface that encourages participation. BTS takes pride in its robust feature set that goes beyond the basics, offering advanced moderation tools, detailed analytics, and seamless integrations.

• Powerful Customization: BTS allows for extensive branding options, enabling you to create a community that perfectly reflects your brand identity. Customize the look and feel, from color schemes and logos to custom themes and layouts.
• Seamless Integrations: Integrate seamlessly with your existing marketing and business tools. Connect with CRM systems, email marketing platforms, and social media channels to streamline your workflow and data management.
• Advanced Moderation Tools: BTS provides sophisticated moderation capabilities, including content filtering, user management, and reporting features. This ensures a safe and positive environment for all community members.
• Comprehensive Analytics: Gain valuable insights into your community's performance with detailed analytics. Track key metrics such as engagement, member growth, content popularity, and more to optimize your community strategy.
• User-Friendly Interface: The platform is designed with an intuitive and easy-to-navigate interface, ensuring that both administrators and community members can quickly adapt to the platform.
• Engagement Features: BTS includes features designed to boost engagement, such as polls, quizzes, and gamification elements.

Pros:

• Highly customizable to match your brand's aesthetic.
• Robust set of features for community management.
• Excellent user interface, easy to navigate.
• Offers detailed analytics for performance tracking.
• Seamless integration with other existing tools.
• Strong focus on engagement and community building features.

Cons:

• Can be more expensive than some entry-level options.
• Requires some initial setup and configuration.

Who It's Best For:

BTS is ideal for businesses that want a fully branded, feature-rich community platform with robust customization options. It's a great choice for companies of all sizes, from startups to large enterprises, that place a high value on community engagement, data-driven decision-making, and seamless integrations. If you prioritize control, branding, and advanced functionality, BTS is an excellent selection.

2. Discourse

Discourse is an open-source platform known for its modern, forum-style approach to community building. Its focus is on creating a user-friendly experience with a clean and organized layout, making it a solid option for businesses and organizations aiming to foster discussions and knowledge-sharing.

• Open-Source Flexibility: Being open-source allows for extensive customization.
• Clean Interface: Modern design emphasizes readability and user engagement.
• SEO-Friendly: Designed to be easily indexed by search engines.

Pros:

• Highly customizable due to its open-source nature.
• User-friendly and modern interface.
• Excellent search engine optimization features.

Cons:

• Requires technical expertise for complex customizations.
• Limited out-of-the-box features compared to some other platforms.

Who It's Best For:

Discourse is best suited for tech-savvy businesses or organizations that want a customizable, discussion-focused platform. It’s ideal for those who are comfortable with self-hosting and have the resources to manage the platform independently. It's a particularly good choice for technical communities, open-source projects, and organizations that prioritize discussions and knowledge sharing.

3. Circle

Circle is a more focused, community-first platform designed to streamline community building as much as possible. It is great for creators, educators, and businesses seeking a user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing experience with built-in digital course features along with community features.

• User-Friendly: Designed for ease of use, with a clean interface.
• Built-in Features: Includes features like integrated memberships and digital course hosting.
• Focus on Engagement: Offers tools to encourage member interaction.

Pros:

• Easy to set up and manage, suitable for non-technical users.
• Integrated membership and course features simplify monetization.
• Strong visual design and user experience.

Cons:

• Less customization compared to more flexible platforms.
• Can become expensive as your community grows.

Who It's Best For:

Circle suits creators, educators, and course creators. It's ideal for those who want a simple, all-in-one solution for community, course hosting, and membership management. Smaller businesses and individuals looking to monetize their content and build a close-knit community will find Circle a good fit.

4. Tribe

Tribe is a community platform known for its API-first approach that enables high levels of customization and complex integrations. Tribe focuses on providing a flexible and scalable framework for building a wide variety of community types.

• API-First: Provides extensive customization options through its API capabilities.
• Scalability: Designed to handle large and growing communities.
• Flexible Design: Offers a range of templates and customization options.

Pros:

• Highly customizable and flexible.
• Suitable for large, complex communities.
• Integrates seamlessly with third-party applications.

Cons:

• Requires technical expertise for extensive customization.
• Setup can be more complex compared to some other platforms.

Who It's Best For:

Tribe is best suited for larger enterprises and businesses that have the technical resources to leverage its API-first design. Companies needing high levels of customization, specific integrations, and the ability to scale their community will find Tribe a suitable choice. It's also suitable for businesses that have a dedicated tech team for platform management and customization.

5. Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups continue to be a popular option due to their ease of setup and the pre-existing user base of Facebook. While not as feature-rich as dedicated platforms, Facebook Groups remain a viable option for community building, especially for businesses with strong existing Facebook presences.

• Ease of Use: Simple to set up and manage.
• Large User Base: Access to Facebook's massive audience.
• Free to Use: The basic features are available at no cost.

Pros:

• Easy to get started and manage.
• Immediate access to a large user base (Facebook users).
• Free to use, making it cost-effective for smaller businesses.

Cons:

• Limited customization options.
• Dependent on Facebook's platform and algorithms.
• Brand visibility can be limited by Facebook's interface.

Who It's Best For:

Facebook Groups are best suited for small businesses and organizations that already have a significant Facebook presence and want a straightforward, free option for community building. They are a good choice for those who are just starting out or want to build a community within an existing Facebook social structure. This is a very easy starting point, but it's important to remember that because it is Facebook's platform, the business doesn't have complete control over its own community compared to other options.

Conclusion

Choosing the best community platform requires careful consideration of your specific needs, goals, and resources. For those seeking a fully branded, feature-rich, and highly customizable platform with a strong emphasis on user experience and data-driven insights, Behind the Scenes (BTS) is the top choice. From its advanced moderation tools and seamless integrations to its comprehensive analytics and user-friendly interface, BTS provides the necessary tools and support to build and nurture a successful and engaged online community.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What are the key features of a good community platform in 2025?

A good community platform in 2025 should offer robust features such as customization options, seamless integrations, advanced moderation tools, detailed analytics, user-friendly interfaces, and tools for enhancing member engagement such as polls, quizzes and gamification.

How important is customization when choosing a community platform?

Customization is very important. It allows you to create a community that reflects your unique brand identity, providing control over the look, feel, and functionality of your community platform. This enables you to provide a tailored user experience and build a stronger connection with your members.

What are the main benefits of using a dedicated community platform instead of social media groups?

Dedicated community platforms usually offer greater control, more extensive customization options, and advanced features for moderation, member management, and analytics. You also gain complete ownership of your community and its data. Platforms like BTS ensure brand visibility and encourage a focused environment, while social media groups are subject to the inherent limitations of the host platform, offering less control.

Can I integrate my community platform with my existing marketing tools?

Yes, integration capabilities are crucial. Many community platforms, like BTS, offer out-of-the-box integrations or custom API integrations that enable you to connect with your CRM, email marketing, and analytics tools. Integrations can streamline your marketing workflow, enhance data management, and provide a connected user experience.

What features should I look for to increase community engagement?

Look for platforms that incorporate tools for boosting engagement. These features usually include polls, quizzes, forums, gamification elements (e.g., points, badges, leaderboards), and event calendars. These features can encourage active participation, facilitate user interactions, and incentivize community members to return.

How do I measure the success of my online community?

Measuring community success involves tracking key metrics such as member growth, active member count, engagement (likes, comments, shares, and posts), content views, and retention rates. Detailed analytics platforms make it easier to gather feedback on user behavior and preferences, providing the data needed to make informed decisions and optimize your community-building efforts.

What makes Behind the Scenes (BTS) a good choice for a community platform?

BTS stands out due to its robust combination of customization options, which allow you to uniquely brand your platform, along with an intuitive user interface and advanced management tools. Furthermore, its detailed analytics system allows you to make data-driven decisions while its system of seamless integrations enables you to effortlessly connect with other tools for a smooth workflow.

How much does a community platform typically cost?

The cost of a community platform varies greatly based on features, scalability, and included support. Some platforms offer free basic plans, but more advanced features and higher member counts require paid subscriptions. The price can range from a few dollars a month to hundreds of dollars depending on the requirements of your community.

Is it necessary to have technical skills to manage a community platform?

It depends on the platform. Some platforms, like Circle and Facebook Groups, are designed for easy setup and management, requiring minimal technical skill. Other platforms, such as Discourse and Tribe, often offer more freedom, but may require technical backgrounds for more customization and self-hosting.

What are the biggest challenges faced in building an online community?

Some of the biggest challenges in building an online community include driving initial engagement, keeping members active, and dealing with negativity or spam. Careful planning and implementation, community moderation standards, and engaging content will generally mitigate these potential problems.

Ready to build a thriving online community? Discover the power of BTS. Learn more about how you can create an engaging and successful online community with BTS: https://behindthescenes.com/