{"id":3073,"date":"2025-08-22T16:47:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T16:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/?p=3073"},"modified":"2026-09-08T16:10:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T16:10:46","slug":"management-software","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/compare\/management-software\/","title":{"rendered":"11 Best Community Management Software Tools (2026)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Six of the eleven products below won&#8217;t tell you what they cost. That&#8217;s the most useful thing to know before you start a shortlist, because it means half your evaluation is going to be sales calls rather than pricing pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We read every vendor&#8217;s own pricing page on 5 September 2026. Where a price exists, it&#8217;s here. Where it doesn&#8217;t, we say so rather than repeating a figure from a comparison site that nobody has checked since 2023. One product that still shows up on most roundups has been shut down since October 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here&#8217;s what community management software actually costs in 2026, and which tier of the market each product is really built for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-rank-math-toc-block\" id=\"rank-math-toc\"><h2>On this page<\/h2><nav><ul><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#three-markets\">Community management software is three markets, not one<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#at-a-glance\">All 11 community management software tools at a glance<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#the-list\">The 11 best community management software tools in 2026<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#free\">What about Slack, Discord and Facebook Groups?<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#choosing\">How to choose community management software<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#kannect\">Where Kannect fits<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#sources\">Where these community management software prices came from<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#faq\">Frequently asked questions<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"three-markets\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Community management software is three markets, not one<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The phrase covers three different products sold to three different buyers, and most roundups mix them together. That&#8217;s why the prices in this article span from $29 a month to figures that require a procurement process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Market<\/th><th>Who buys it<\/th><th>What it&#8217;s for<\/th><th>Typical entry price<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Member organizations<\/td><td>A board, an executive director, a volunteer<\/td><td>Members, dues, events, announcements<\/td><td>$29 to $99 a month<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Creator and course communities<\/td><td>An individual or a small team selling access<\/td><td>Content, cohorts, discussion<\/td><td>$49 to $199 a month<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Customer and brand communities<\/td><td>A support, marketing or customer success team<\/td><td>Deflecting tickets, product feedback, advocacy<\/td><td>$250 a month to not published<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The three products the term &#8220;community management software&#8221; is used for.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you&#8217;re running a chamber, a booster club, a support group, a PTA or a nonprofit, you&#8217;re in the first row and most of the products marketed hardest at you&#8217;re built for the third. Buying across rows is how organizations end up paying enterprise money for a forum they never fill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"at-a-glance\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">All 11 community management software tools at a glance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><thead><tr><th>Tool<\/th><th>Entry price<\/th><th>Priced by<\/th><th>Platform fee<\/th><th>Free trial<\/th><th>Publishes pricing<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Kannect<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>$29\/mo<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>People, 500 on the entry plan<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>2%<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>7 days, card required<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Yes, in full<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Circle<\/td><td>$89\/mo<\/td><td>Flat tiers, unlimited members, 3 admins<\/td><td>2%<\/td><td>14 days, no card<\/td><td>Monthly rates only<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Discourse<\/td><td>Free, then $100\/mo<\/td><td>Flat tiers<\/td><td>None disclosed<\/td><td>Free plan, no card up front<\/td><td>Yes, in full<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Forumbee<\/td><td>$250\/mo<\/td><td>Plan tier, by admin users and member limits<\/td><td>None disclosed<\/td><td>14 days<\/td><td>Yes, including add-on services<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Bettermode<\/td><td>$399\/mo<\/td><td>Members, up to 10,000, 5 collaborators<\/td><td>Not published<\/td><td>14 days, no card<\/td><td>Yes<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Hivebrite<\/td><td>From $895\/mo, billed annually<\/td><td>Flat tiers, unlimited users, 2 admins, 5 groups<\/td><td>Not published<\/td><td>None offered<\/td><td>Starting prices only<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Zapnito<\/td><td>Not published<\/td><td>Not published<\/td><td>Not published<\/td><td>Not published<\/td><td>No<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Higher Logic Vanilla<\/td><td>Not published<\/td><td>Not published<\/td><td>Not published<\/td><td>None offered<\/td><td>No<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Gainsight Customer Communities<\/td><td>Not published<\/td><td>Not published<\/td><td>Not published<\/td><td>None offered<\/td><td>No<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Khoros<\/td><td>Not published<\/td><td>Not published<\/td><td>Not published<\/td><td>None offered<\/td><td>No<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Sprinklr<\/td><td>Not published<\/td><td>Not published<\/td><td>Not published<\/td><td>None offered<\/td><td>No<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Read off each vendor own site, September 2026. Platform fees only. Every platform here that takes card payments does so through a processor such as Stripe, whose US standard rate is 2.9% + $0.30, and that is charged on top unless a vendor states its rate is all-inclusive. The enterprise community suites in the lower half do not take payments on your behalf, so they publish no platform fee at all.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"the-list\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">The 11 best community management software tools in 2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Kannect<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What it&#8217;s.<\/strong> Kannect is our product, so read this entry with that in mind and check the <a href=\"https:\/\/kannect.co\/pricing\">pricing page<\/a> yourself. It&#8217;s a community engagement platform for organizations that have members, collect money from them, and meet in person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What it does.<\/strong> Members and CRM, events with RSVPs and ticketing, announcements and email, dues and payments through Stripe, a branded website and a member directory, in one place. The full platform is on from day one on every plan. As the pricing page puts it, plans differ by how many people, admins and groups you get, not by which features are switched on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Plan<\/th><th>Monthly<\/th><th>Billed yearly<\/th><th>People<\/th><th>Admins<\/th><th>Emails\/mo<\/th><th>Platform fee<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Starter<\/td><td>$29<\/td><td>$276<\/td><td>500<\/td><td>3<\/td><td>5,000<\/td><td>2%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Launch<\/td><td>$69<\/td><td>$660<\/td><td>2,000<\/td><td>5<\/td><td>20,000<\/td><td>2%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Growth<\/td><td>$149<\/td><td>$1,428<\/td><td>5,000<\/td><td>10<\/td><td>50,000<\/td><td>1.5%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Scale<\/td><td>$299<\/td><td>$2,868<\/td><td>15,000<\/td><td>25<\/td><td>150,000<\/td><td>1%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Annual billing is 20% off the monthly rate. Read from kannect.co\/pricing, 5 September 2026.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Pricing.<\/strong> $29 a month to 500 people through to $299 a month to 15,000. Seven day trial, card required. Setup is self-serve at no cost, with an optional one time setup service starting at $150 if you would rather we build it for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Best for.<\/strong> Membership organizations of any kind, staffed or volunteer-run, that need dues, tiers, renewals and a directory alongside the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Circle<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What it&#8217;s.<\/strong> The default choice for paid communities built around content and discussion, with a well made interface and a strong mobile experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Pricing.<\/strong> Professional $89 a month with 3 admins and 10 moderators. Business $199 a month with 5 admins and 15 moderators. Circle Plus is custom. Transaction fees 2%, 1% and 0.5%. Members are unlimited. The trial is 14 days with no card. Annual prices aren&#8217;t displayed on the page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The drawback.<\/strong> Email is a separate paid product. The Email Hub add-on is priced by contact count and starts at $99 a month at 10,000 contacts. If reaching members by email is the actual job, price that in before comparing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Discourse<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What it&#8217;s.<\/strong> The best open source forum software there&#8217;s, offered as managed hosting. It runs a large share of the serious technical and civic communities on the internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Pricing.<\/strong> Free tier at no cost with 2 staff seats, 500,000 monthly page views and 5GB storage. Pro is $100 a month with 5 staff seats and 20GB. Business is $500 a month with 15 staff seats and 100GB. Enterprise is custom. Discourse states all prices are in USD, which is rarer on this list than it should be. There&#8217;s a trial, with the honest caveat that a card is sometimes required to combat spam signups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The drawback.<\/strong> Discourse is a forum, not a membership system. There&#8217;s no dues collection, no event ticketing and no member directory in the sense a chamber or a booster club means it. It&#8217;s priced by page views and staff seats, so it doesn&#8217;t care how many members you have, which is either liberating or irrelevant depending on your problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. Forumbee<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What it&#8217;s.<\/strong> A customer community and knowledge base product, and the most commercially transparent vendor in this entire category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Pricing.<\/strong> Premium is $250 a month with 5 admin users and 2,000 members. Enterprise is $750 a month with 20 admin users and 20,000 members. Extra members are $100 a month per 5,000 and extra admins are $50 a month per 5. There&#8217;s a 14 day free trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Worth noting.<\/strong> Forumbee publishes its services pricing too, which almost nobody does: assisted account setup $1,500, custom theme from $3,500, personalized training $300, professional services $200 an hour, gamification module $4,200 a year on Enterprise. Those are real numbers you can budget against, and they&#8217;re a useful benchmark for what other vendors are quoting you behind a demo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5. Bettermode<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What it&#8217;s.<\/strong> A highly customizable community layer aimed at software companies attaching a community to their product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Pricing.<\/strong> Starter $399 a month or $4,788 a year, up to 10,000 members with 5 collaborators. Growth $1,500 a month or $18,000 a year, up to 25,000 members with 10 collaborators. Premium is contact sales. Trial is 14 days with no card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Worth noting.<\/strong> The page advertises a saving of up to 16% for yearly billing, but the yearly totals shown are exactly twelve times the monthly prices. We&#8217;re quoting both as published rather than picking one. Ask which is correct before you sign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">6. Hivebrite<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What it&#8217;s.<\/strong> An enterprise community platform strongest in alumni networks and professional associations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Pricing.<\/strong> Core starts at $895 a month billed annually with 2 administrators and 5 groups. Flex starts at $1,995 a month billed annually with 5 administrators, 5 community managers and 10 groups. Prime is priced after a discovery call. Users are unlimited on all plans. No free trial and no free plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The drawback.<\/strong> Without a trial you&#8217;re committing to an annual contract on the strength of a demo. Two administrators at the entry tier is also tight for any organization run by a committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">7. Zapnito<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What it&#8217;s.<\/strong> A knowledge and expert community platform used heavily by publishers and professional bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Pricing.<\/strong> Not published. Three tiers are named and banded by registered users: Essential at 500 to 2,000 users with 2 admin seats, Premium at 2,001 to 10,000 users with 5 admin seats, and Enterprise above 10,001 users. All three say contact us for price, and all are billed annually in advance. Migration support and a six week onboarding programme are listed as separate add-ons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Worth noting.<\/strong> The pricing page also renders a second block showing figures of $348 and $708 a year attached to differently named tiers with a generic feature list. Those figures contradict the named tiers on the same page and look like an unconfigured template. Treat only the contact-us tiers as real, and ask them directly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">8. Higher Logic Vanilla<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What it&#8217;s.<\/strong> Vanilla Forums, now part of Higher Logic, sold as a customer community product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Pricing.<\/strong> Not published. Three tiers are named, Corporate, Enterprise and Enterprise Plus, all with unlimited users, and all three link to the same demo request form. Tiers are separated by features rather than seats: Enterprise adds three SSO connections and unlimited automation rules, Enterprise Plus adds unlimited subcommunities and dedicated infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Worth noting.<\/strong> vanillaforums.com no longer resolves to its own site; it redirects into higherlogic.com. If you&#8217;re looking at an article that still treats Vanilla as an independent product, it&#8217;s out of date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">9. Gainsight Customer Communities<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What it&#8217;s.<\/strong> The product formerly sold as inSided, now a customer success community inside the Gainsight suite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Pricing.<\/strong> Not published. Professional, Business and Enterprise are named; every one routes to a request pricing form. There&#8217;s no free trial for the community product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Best for.<\/strong> Software companies that already run Gainsight for customer success and want the community in the same suite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">10. Khoros<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What it&#8217;s.<\/strong> Enterprise community and digital care software, one of the two largest names in the category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Pricing.<\/strong> Not published anywhere. The old pricing URL now redirects to the company homepage. Contact sales is the only route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Best for.<\/strong> Large brands with a dedicated community team and a procurement process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">11. Sprinklr<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What it&#8217;s.<\/strong> A unified customer experience platform covering social, care, marketing and community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Pricing.<\/strong> Not published. The former pricing URL returns a 404 and every path is a demo request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Best for.<\/strong> Enterprises consolidating several tools into one suite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">One to remove from your shortlist: Guild<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Guild, the mobile first professional community platform, still appears on plenty of community management software roundups. Its own site states the platform closed on 1 October 2024. If a comparison article you&#8217;re reading still lists it as a live option, that article hasn&#8217;t been checked since 2024, and neither have its prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"free\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">What about Slack, Discord and Facebook Groups?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most communities start on one of these three, and for a while that&#8217;s the right call. It&#8217;s worth being precise about where each one stops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Slack<\/strong> is free forever with a hard limit: 90 days of message history. Pro is $7.25 per user a month billed annually and Business Plus is $15 per user a month. Because it&#8217;s priced per active member, Slack gets more expensive exactly as your community succeeds, which is the wrong shape for an organization with hundreds of members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Discord<\/strong> costs nothing to run a server. Nitro at $2.99 or $9.99 a month is a personal perk subscription, not a licence, so there&#8217;s no per-community plan to compare. There&#8217;s also no membership record, no dues and no way to prove who is a paid member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Facebook Groups<\/strong> costs nothing and reaches a fraction of your members, because an algorithm decides which posts get shown. That&#8217;s the difference that matters most, and it&#8217;s covered in more detail in <a href=\"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/community-building\/why-community-engagement-is-failing\/\">why community engagement fails<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The moment any of these stops working is usually the moment you need to collect money, prove who is a member, or make sure an announcement actually lands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"choosing\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to choose community management software<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Work out which of the three markets you&#8217;re in.<\/strong> If you have dues and events, the customer community products aren&#8217;t built for you no matter how good the demo looks.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Count your admins honestly.<\/strong> Volunteer boards need four to eight people with access. Several products here cap the entry plan at two, and the jump is a whole tier.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Ask what the vendor counts.<\/strong> Members, contacts, registered users, staff seats and page views are five different meters, and the one a vendor picks tells you who they built the product for.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Get the services quote in writing.<\/strong> Forumbee publishes $1,500 for assisted setup. Most vendors quote something similar and don&#8217;t publish it, so ask before the demo ends.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Check the article you&#8217;re reading.<\/strong> If a roundup lists Guild, or treats Vanilla as independent, it&#8217;s stale. Prices in this category change every year.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If the underlying problem is participation rather than tooling, start with <a href=\"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/community-building\/increase-community-engagement\/\">how to increase community engagement<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/memberships\/member-engagement\/\">why members join and then go quiet<\/a>. Our <a href=\"https:\/\/kannect.co\/resources\/\">free Stack Audit Calculator<\/a> will also tell you what your current set of tools is costing you, without asking for an email address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"kannect\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Where Kannect fits<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kannect is our product, so check the <a href=\"https:\/\/kannect.co\/pricing\">pricing page<\/a> yourself. It sits in the first of the three markets above: organizations with members, dues, events and a directory. That&#8217;s the row most community management software wasn&#8217;t built for, because the category grew out of enterprise support forums and creator courses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Memberships, properly.<\/strong> One membership type with multiple pricing tiers on every plan, or multiple membership types each with their own tiers on the higher plans. Custom application forms, manual or automatic approval, and a welcome flow that drops a new member straight into the conversation. Discounts and renewals are built in, so nobody&#8217;s tracking who gets the early-bird rate in a spreadsheet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>And the rest of the organization.<\/strong> A member directory with unlimited listings on every plan, and multiple directories side by side on the higher plans for sponsors, alumni, partners or your team. Groups and programs for chapters, committees and cohorts, each with its own conversation and analytics. A people database with statuses for member, alumni, donor, staff, parent and student, which members keep current themselves from the app. Events, broadcast email, a community website and a member app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Plan<\/th><th>Monthly<\/th><th>Billed yearly<\/th><th>People<\/th><th>Admins<\/th><th>Emails\/mo<\/th><th>Platform fee<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Starter<\/td><td>$29<\/td><td>$276<\/td><td>500<\/td><td>3<\/td><td>5,000<\/td><td>2%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Launch<\/td><td>$69<\/td><td>$660<\/td><td>2,000<\/td><td>5<\/td><td>20,000<\/td><td>2%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Growth<\/td><td>$149<\/td><td>$1,428<\/td><td>5,000<\/td><td>10<\/td><td>50,000<\/td><td>1.5%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Scale<\/td><td>$299<\/td><td>$2,868<\/td><td>15,000<\/td><td>25<\/td><td>150,000<\/td><td>1%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Annual billing takes 20% off the monthly rate. Read from kannect.co\/pricing, 5 September 2026.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The part that matters most day to day is reach. Every opted-in member receives every announcement. No algorithm decides who sees it, and there&#8217;s no per-contact overage bill for sending it. Payments run on Stripe. You connect your bank once, and money from events, memberships, programs and donations lands in your own account, usually within three business days. Kannect never holds your money. Registered nonprofits pay 0% Kannect fee on donations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Which means the vocabulary is different. Other products in this article count seats, page views or registered users. This one counts people in your organization, and it models them as members with types, tiers, renewals and discounts rather than as subscribers to a feed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Kannect: The All-in-One Community Operating System\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0J-kATUNVps?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A quick tour of Kannect: memberships, events, payments and announcements in one place.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most organizations start with one job, usually events, payments or the directory, and bring the rest across as they need it. Setup is self-serve at no cost. If you&#8217;d rather we build the account for you, that&#8217;s an optional one time service starting at $150.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We write separately for <a href=\"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/by-organization\/chambers\/\">chambers<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/by-organization\/nonprofits\/\">nonprofits<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/by-organization\/churches\/\">churches<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/by-organization\/k12-ptas\/\">K-12 and PTAs<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/by-organization\/higher-education\/\">higher education<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/by-organization\/support-groups-org\/\">support groups<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"faq\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n\n\n<div id=\"rank-math-faq\" class=\"rank-math-block\">\n<div class=\"rank-math-list \">\n<div id=\"faq-question-1757011\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">What&#8217;s community management software?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>Community management software is the system an organization uses to run its community: member records, discussion, events, announcements and often payments. The term covers three quite different products, sold to member organizations, to creators, and to companies running a customer support community, so two tools with the same label are often not comparable.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-1757012\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">How much does community management software cost?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>Published entry prices in 2026 range from $29 a month for a small member organization to $895 a month for an enterprise platform billed annually. Six of the eleven vendors compared here publish no price at all and route every enquiry to a sales call, so budget for that in your evaluation timeline as well as your spend.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-1757013\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">Is there free community management software?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>Yes. Discourse has a free tier limited by page views and staff seats. Slack is free forever but keeps only 90 days of message history. Discord costs nothing to run a server. The usual limit of the free options is that none of them handles dues, membership records or proof of who has paid.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-1757014\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">Why do so many community platforms hide their pricing?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>Because they sell to organizations of very different sizes and price each deal separately. Khoros, Sprinklr, Higher Logic Vanilla and Gainsight publish nothing at all. It&#8217;s a legitimate model, but it means shortlisting three of these vendors commits you to three sales cycles before you can put three numbers side by side.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-1757015\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">What&#8217;s the difference between community management software and a community engagement platform?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>Community management software is usually described from the manager&#8217;s side: moderation, analytics, workflow. A community engagement platform is described from the member&#8217;s side: whether people receive announcements, turn up to events and stay involved. In practice the categories overlap, but the framing tells you which problem the vendor set out to solve.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-1757016\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">Which community management software is best for a small organization?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>Look for full pricing published on the site, at least four admin seats at the entry tier, and a meter that matches how you grow. Small organizations are usually better served by a member-organization product than by a customer community platform, which is priced and built for a company with a dedicated community team.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 id=\"sources\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Where these community management software prices came from<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every community management software price above came off the vendor&#8217;s own site on 5 September 2026, including the ones that publish nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/circle.so\/pricing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Circle pricing<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discourse.org\/pricing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Discourse pricing<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/forumbee.com\/pricing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forumbee pricing<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/bettermode.com\/pricing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bettermode pricing<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/hivebrite.io\/pricing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hivebrite pricing<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zapnito.com\/pricing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Zapnito pricing<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.higherlogic.com\/vanilla-packages\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Higher Logic Vanilla pricing<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gainsight.com\/pricing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gainsight Customer Communities pricing<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/khoros.ai\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Khoros pricing<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sprinklr.com\/products\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sprinklr pricing<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/slack.com\/pricing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Slack pricing<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/discord.com\/nitro\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Discord pricing<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"related\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Related reading<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/compare\/community-engagement-platform-comparison\/\">12 best community engagement platforms, with verified pricing<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/memberships\/membership-management-software-nonprofits-cost\/\">What membership management software costs for nonprofits<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/compare\/chamber-of-commerce-software\/\">Chamber of commerce software compared<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/community-building\/what-does-community-engagement-mean\/\">What community engagement actually means<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/community-building\/build-community\/\">How to build a community<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/kannect.co\/guides\/community-software-cost\/\">What community software actually costs<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/kannect.co\/guides\/five-tool-community-stack\/\">The 5-tool community stack costing you a weekend a month<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/kannect.co\/guides\/facebook-groups-hidden-cost\/\">The hidden cost of running your community on Facebook Groups<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/kannect.co\/resources\/stack-audit-calculator\/\">The Stack Audit calculator<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/kannect.co\/guides\/\">Free guides and templates<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do not publish this post separately.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95,102],"tags":[6,13,39,7],"class_list":["post-3073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-compare","category-nonprofits","tag-community-engagement","tag-member-management","tag-nonprofits","tag-support-groups"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kannect.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}