Best Community Building Platforms in 2026

Circle

Circle suits creators, brands, solopreneurs and community businesses that want community, course and event functions together.

Discourse

Discourse suits organizations that want to host a discussion community and choose between self-hosting and managed hosting.

HumHub

HumHub suits organizations seeking an intranet, knowledge base, project hub, or community space.

Elgg

Elgg suits universities, schools, organizations, and companies building a community or collaboration platform they can host and extend.

NodeBB

NodeBB suits organizations creating forums for brand communities or product support, as well as teams that want a self-hosted option.

BuddyPress suits site owners building self-hosted communities on WordPress.

It suits companies building customer communities, gathering product feedback, and connecting support, learning, and discussion experiences.

PeepSo suits WordPress site owners building an online community with member profiles, groups, and social features.

Mighty Networks

It suits community hosts who need private spaces, events, courses, or cohorts across web and mobile.

It suits organizations building branded portals and communities connected to Salesforce data for customers, partners, or employees.

Flarum

It suits site operators building self-hosted communities who need permissions, moderation, customization and API access.

Open Social suits organizations seeking tools for cross-organisation collaboration, customizable community structures and integrations with external systems.

Influitive suits customer marketing, sales, customer success, and product teams seeking to organize advocacy programs.

PeopleGrove Engagement Hub

Engagement Hub is intended for colleges and universities, including alumni, career, enrollment, experiential learning, and mentorship departments.