6 Online Community Platforms in 2026
Six current online community platforms compared on pricing, features and the kind of community each one suits best.
If you want to bring people together online, the platform should match the community you are actually building. A paid course needs different tools from a customer chat group or a free neighborhood community.
Here are six useful options and the trade-offs to check. Prices below come from each company's own site on August 29, 2026. They can change, so confirm them before signing up.
Quick comparison
| Platform | Best for | Current starting point |
|---|---|---|
| Circle | A branded, paid community with events and courses | Professional: $89/month |
| Kajabi | A full creator business with marketing and sales | Basic: $179/month on monthly billing |
| Thinkific | Courses with a supporting community | Pricing is localized on its site |
| Skool | A simple community-and-course bundle | Hobby: $9/month plus a 10% transaction fee |
| Facebook Groups | A community where members already use Facebook | Check Facebook's current group tools |
| Slack | Conversation for a team or professional cohort | Free plan available |
Circle
Circle combines discussions, courses, events, live rooms, live streams, member profiles and paid memberships. Its Professional plan is $89 per month and includes unlimited members, 20 spaces, 200 GB of storage and a 2% transaction fee. Business is $199 per month and adds workflows, APIs, automated transcriptions and a lower 1% transaction fee.
Choose Circle if: the community itself is the product and you want it under your own branding and domain.
Watch for: transaction fees, feature limits and paid add-ons. Branded mobile apps sit in Circle's custom-priced offering rather than the standard plans.
Kajabi
Kajabi is broader than community software. It puts products, websites, landing pages, email, checkout, automation and community in one system. On monthly billing, Basic is $179 per month, Growth is $249 and Pro is $499. Basic includes one community, five products and 2,500 contacts.
Choose Kajabi if: you want one platform to market, sell and deliver courses, coaching, memberships or other digital products.
Watch for: you are paying for a full business platform. If you only need discussion spaces, a narrower community product may be simpler.
Thinkific
Thinkific is course-first. Its current Basic plan includes unlimited courses, one community, five community spaces, video lessons, quizzes, student discussions and a custom domain. Paid memberships begin on the Start plan, while Grow expands the account to three communities and adds B2B sales and API access.
Thinkific localizes prices and currencies, so use its pricing page for the current amount in your region rather than relying on a converted figure here.
Choose Thinkific if: structured learning is the main product and community supports the course.
Skool
Skool keeps its offer unusually compact. Hobby costs $9 per month with a 10% transaction fee. Pro costs $99 per month with a 2.9% transaction fee. Both list unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls, plus a custom URL and affiliate tools.
Choose Skool if: you want a simple combination of community, courses and calls without assembling lots of separate settings.
Watch for: the cheaper plan's transaction fee. Calculate the fee against expected sales, not just the subscription price.
Facebook Groups
Facebook Groups remain an option when your members already have Facebook accounts and low signup friction matters more than owning the experience.
Choose Facebook Groups if: you are validating a free community or serving an audience already active on Facebook.
Watch for: limited control over the surrounding interface, member experience and platform rules. Check Facebook's current help center before promising specific admin or monetization features.
Slack
Slack is built around channels and messages rather than courses or public memberships. Its free plan currently provides 90 days of searchable message history, up to ten app integrations and one-to-one huddles. Paid plans add unlimited message history, unlimited integrations and group huddles.
Choose Slack if: the group works like a team, professional cohort or customer workspace and conversation is more important than a course catalog.
Watch for: a busy chat stream can make durable resources hard to find. The free plan's history limit also matters for communities meant to build a long-term knowledge base.
How to choose
Start with four questions:
- Are people paying for community, a course or a broader membership?
- Do you need a branded domain or mobile app?
- Is the experience based on chat, structured lessons or searchable discussions?
- What will subscription charges and transaction fees cost at your expected revenue?
Run a small pilot before migrating everyone. Invite a representative group, host one event, publish the core resources and see where members get stuck. The best platform is the one your team can manage and your members will actually return to.
When you need to explain the new space, record a short walkthrough with Tella and pin it in the welcome area.
