Buyer's Guide: Online Community Management
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users find Mighty Networks to have intuitive ease of use, simplifying connection and program setup for new creators.
Users commend the responsive and proactive customer support from Mighty Networks, enhancing their overall platform experience.
Users appreciate the expansive features and resources of Mighty Networks that enhance connectivity and user experience.
Users feel the absence of critical features like voice notes and feed organization hinders their experience with Mighty Networks.
Users find the high pricing of Mighty Networks a limitation, especially if community growth is slow.
Users find the difficult setup of Mighty Networks frustrating, often requiring external help and significant time investment.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users value the ease of use of Circle, appreciating its intuitive design and clean layout for enhanced experience.
Users value the responsive support and continuous feature additions from the Circle team, enhancing their overall experience.
Users appreciate the seamless user interaction on Circle, enabling meaningful engagement and organized community discussions.
Users find the missing features like limited calendar events and underdeveloped website builder frustrating and restrictive.
Users express concern over Circle's high subscription costs, which may limit accessibility for small communities and organizers.
Users express frustration over limited customization options in Circle, hindering personalizability of courses and user management.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users value the quick and responsive customer support from Hivebrite, ensuring timely resolution of issues.
Users enjoy the smooth implementation and excellent customer support of Hivebrite for effective community management.
Users value the ease of use of Hivebrite, finding it accessible for all skill levels on various devices.
Users find limited customization options in Hivebrite, making it challenging to tailor the platform to diverse needs.
Users find Hivebrite expensive, especially for small communities, with additional costs for essential features driving up expenses.
Users report encountering bugs that disrupt login and functionality, complicating their overall experience with Hivebrite.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users find Webex Events & Webinars highly easy to use, simplifying event organization and attendee registration.
Users value the seamless scalability of Webex Events, enabling large, interactive events without technical issues.
Users appreciate the customizable features of Webex Events, enhancing event management and audience engagement significantly.
Users find limited customization options frustrating, wishing for better integrations and a more user-friendly event setup.
Users find the learning curve steep due to confusing features and unintuitive backend options for new organizers.
Users note missing features like limited customization and inefficient management, indicating room for improvement in Webex Events & Webinars.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users highlight the ease of use of Gainsight Customer Communities, making it beginner-friendly and intuitive for all.
Users value the meaningful engagement of Gainsight Customer Communities, fostering connections and sharing valuable insights.
Users value the customization options in Gainsight Customer Communities, fostering a community experience aligned with their branding.
Users find the limited customization in Gainsight Customer Communities restricts flexibility and brand alignment.
Users find the poor interface design of Gainsight Customer Communities makes suggestions and navigation difficult.
Users find the difficult learning process challenging due to continuous updates and occasionally disorganized community content.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users find Glue Up to be incredibly easy to use, streamlining processes and enhancing overall efficiency.
Users appreciate the user-friendly interface of Glue Up, facilitating efficient event management and member communication.
Users commend Glue Up for its excellent customer support, highlighting quick responses and professionalism from the team.
Users find the missing features frustrating, particularly the lack of tools for managing subscriber data effectively.
Users note a significant learning curve that necessitates time for training and proper onboarding to avoid overwhelm.
Users find limited customization options in Glue Up, wishing for more creative control over design elements and event materials.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users find Bevy to be incredibly easy to use, streamlining event setups and community management efficiently.
Users value Bevy for its effective event management capabilities, enhancing community connectivity through versatile virtual events.
Users value the strong community engagement features of Bevy, facilitating seamless virtual events and member connections.
Users find the lack of member communication and document uploads limits networking opportunities on Bevy.
Users find Bevy's limited customization restricts community management, especially for complex workflows and event pages.
Users note the limited features of Bevy, affecting community management and essential communication tools.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users find Bettermode to be extremely user-friendly, thanks to its intuitive setup and supportive resources available.
Users value the customization options in Bettermode, enabling easy setup and tailored community experiences for diverse needs.
Users love the intuitive design of Bettermode, making customization and community building effortless and enjoyable.
Users find Bettermode lacking in customization options, limiting their ability to fully adapt the platform to their needs.
Users express frustration over limited functionality, noting a lack of customization options and missing features like surveys and polls.
Users face access limitations with Bettermode, needing to use Chrome instead of a dedicated app for convenience.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users commend Viafoura's responsive customer support, appreciating their quick issue resolution and valuable collaboration.
Users find Viafoura to be easy to use, praising excellent support and seamless implementation throughout their experience.
Users value the powerful moderation tools of Viafoura, enhancing community engagement and fostering meaningful discussions.
Users find the red tape in content management to be a frustrating barrier for efficient progress.
Users find the analytics dashboard confusing, making it challenging to access and utilize reporting features effectively.
Users find Viafoura's limited features hinder their performance analysis and integration efforts, impacting overall usability.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users rave about Nas.io's ease of use, appreciating its intuitive design and seamless integration of features.
Users appreciate the efficient client service and all-in-one platform that simplifies managing events and digital products.
Users love the organization management features of Nas.io, enabling streamlined community building and easy member management.
Users find the poor interface design distracting and cumbersome, impacting their initial experience with Nas.io.
Users experience connectivity issues with Nas.io, facing frequent blackouts and requiring restarts during use.
Users find the branding aesthetics in emails lacking on the free plan, impacting their overall satisfaction.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users appreciate the ease of use of Commune, enjoying the supportive community and intuitive design for engagement.
Users love the intuitive design of Commune, which ensures easy navigation and quick engagement for all members.
Users value the access convenience of Commune, benefiting from community support and a helpful mobile app.
Users feel the booking process is outdated, suggesting a need for a more customer-centric and streamlined approach.
Users feel that Commune lacks essential features in the web app, limiting its overall functionality and usability.
Users feel there is a lack of essential features in the Commune web app, impacting its overall usability.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users commend the excellent customer support from BigMarker, appreciating quick, professional assistance whenever needed.
Users appreciate the ease of use of BigMarker, enhancing their webinar experience with seamless functionality and customizations.
Users appreciate the user-friendly interface of BigMarker, which simplifies navigation and enhances overall webinar engagement.
Users report integration issues with Salesforce and email delivery, affecting their overall experience with BigMarker.
Users find the difficult learning curve of BigMarker challenging, requiring time to master its feature-rich interface.
Users experience missing features like better slide sharing and face issues with audio and live recording glitches.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users value the ease of use of Heartbeat, facilitating effortless navigation and efficient community management.
Users love the responsive support and consistent feature updates of Heartbeat, enhancing their community management experience.
Users commend the responsive customer support of Heartbeat, enhancing the overall user experience significantly.
Users report glitches and bugs in Heartbeat that hinder functionality and require multiple attempts to resolve.
Users find the difficult setup of Heartbeat requires extensive study and potentially purchasing pre-configured solutions.
Users find Heartbeat to be expensive, hindering trial opportunities without committing to a costly plan.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users appreciate the ease of use of Café, allowing effortless coordination and organization for hybrid teams.
Users value the team collaboration features of Café, enhancing communication and connection for hybrid teams.
Users appreciate the simplified hybrid work coordination that allows easier organization of office days and colleague visibility.
Users experience bugs and interface clunkiness that hinder functionality, especially with larger teams and mobile access.
Users find the interface complexity and occasional stability issues hinder effective team management, especially for larger groups.
Users face a confusing interface that hinders scheduling and task management, especially for larger teams.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users commend the outstanding customer support from Higher Logic Thrive, appreciating their responsiveness and commitment to resolving issues.
Users value the robust engagement tools of Higher Logic Thrive that foster meaningful interaction among community members.
Users appreciate the robust engagement tools of Higher Logic Thrive, enabling customized community interactions and effective marketing strategies.
Users struggle with the poor interface design of Higher Logic Thrive, finding it clunky and limiting for navigation.
Users experience integration issues with Higher Logic Thrive, particularly with third-party software and customization challenges.
Users often face a steep learning curve with Higher Logic Thrive, making advanced features challenging to navigate.
Online community management software enables organizations to design, govern, and scale owned digital spaces where customers and members interact. As engagement expands beyond simple forums into support deflection, product feedback, education, and advocacy, manual approaches introduce inconsistency and moderation risk. A dedicated community management platform centralizes conversations, content, and governance, allowing teams to operationalize engagement across customer community software and enterprise community platforms rather than treating community as a side project.
Based on 500 G2 reviews, buyers most often adopt online community management to improve retention, reduce support load through peer-to-peer answers, and create structured feedback loops with product teams. Overall satisfaction is strong at 4.54/5 stars, with ~92% of reviews rating 4+ stars. Users rate Meets Requirements and Ease of Use highest, while Ease of Setup and Ease of Admin lag, reflecting a category that delivers clear value once properly configured. Likelihood to recommend reinforces that well-run community management becomes a durable growth lever.
Pricing is typically subscription-based, with costs driven by the number of admins and members, branding and white-labeling, analytics depth, automation, and security features like SSO. When comparing affordable community management platforms for small business with enterprise community platforms, buyers should factor in not just licensing, but the ongoing operational effort required to moderate, analyze, and continuously evolve the community.
G2’s top-rated PSA software includes Mighty Networks, Circle, Hivebrite and Webex Events & Webinars. (Source)
Gainsight Customer Communities
Satisfaction reflects user-reported ratings across factors such as ease of use, feature fit, and quality of support. (Source 2)
Market Presence scores combine review volume, third-party signals, and overall market visibility. (Source 2)
G2 Score is a weighted composite of Satisfaction and Market Presence. (Source 2)
Learn how G2 scores products. (Source 1)
Based on G2 reviews, online community management delivers the most durable value when organizations treat community as an operating discipline rather than a content or engagement tactic. High-performing teams establish structure early, clearly defining member roles, designated spaces or groups, moderation rules, and a lightweight taxonomy, which reduces friction later as engagement scales.
Teams that see the strongest outcomes strike a balance between engagement flexibility and operational control. While rich interaction features matter, long-term adoption depends on whether community managers can run the platform without excessive manual effort. The most effective implementations tightly integrate online community management with adjacent workflows, support deflection and escalation, marketing-led advocacy and events, and product feedback and beta programs, so conversations consistently translate into action.
For buyers evaluating affordable community management platforms for small businesses versus enterprise community platforms, the real decision point is governance, not just price. Smaller teams often win by prioritizing speed and low administrative overhead, while larger or customer-facing organizations benefit from permissions, SSO, auditability, and reporting that allow customer community software to function as a system of record. The right fit depends on how central the community is to your operating model and the level of complexity you need to manage as it grows.
Online community management is the practice of creating and maintaining a digital space where members interact, ask questions, share knowledge, attend events, and provide feedback. It includes moderation, content programming, member onboarding, analytics, and governance. In software terms, it often means using a platform to centralize discussions, member profiles, resources, and engagement workflows, allowing the community to scale reliably.
Start with structure (spaces, rules, roles), then establish recurring rhythms (welcome flows, weekly prompts, events, and support patterns). Set clear moderation policies and escalation paths. Track participation metrics (active members, posts, response time, unanswered questions) and adjust programming based on what actually drives return visits. The most effective teams connect the community to support, product, and marketing workflows.
The purpose is to establish an ongoing, owned relationship with your customers, members, or employees. Communities reduce support load through peer-to-peer answers, increase retention by building belonging, and generate product insights through continuous feedback. For many organizations, they also become an advocacy and education channel—helping users learn faster, connect with peers, and stay engaged beyond individual transactions.
Core features typically include discussion spaces, member profiles and directories, role-based permissions, moderation tools, notifications, analytics, and content management (posts, resources, announcements). Many platforms add events, courses, direct messaging, and integrations with CRM/help desk tools. For larger orgs, SSO, advanced governance controls, and deeper reporting become critical to scale safely and consistently.
The biggest benefits are scalable engagement and operational efficiency. You get one place to host discussions, organize content, and manage members, reducing fragmentation across email and social channels. Many teams also see support deflection, faster response times, stronger loyalty, and better product feedback. Over time, a well-run community becomes a compounding asset that lowers acquisition costs and improves retention.