A curated list of platforms, tools, and resources for building and scaling online communities, membership sites, and course platforms.

Whether you're launching a paid community, online course, or membership site — this list covers every major platform, self-hosted option, and supporting tool to help you make the right choice.

• All-in-One Platforms
• Course Platforms
• Forum & Discussion
• Chat-First Platforms
• Self-Hosted Solutions
• White-Label & API-First
• Community Engagement Tools
• Monetization & Payments
• Email & Communication
• Analytics & Insights
• Gamification
• Event & Webinar Tools
• Content & Knowledge Base
• Migration Tools & Guides
• Resources

Platforms that combine community, courses, content, and monetization in a single product.

Dedicated platforms for creating and selling online courses.

• Teachable — Course creation with built-in checkout and affiliate marketing.
• Thinkific — Course platform with site builder and student engagement tools.
• Podia — Courses, digital downloads, and coaching in one place.
• LearnDash — WordPress LMS plugin with advanced quizzing and certificates.
• LearnWorlds — Interactive course platform with social learning features.
• Udemy — Marketplace model. Large audience, limited branding control.
• Skillshare — Subscription-based marketplace for creative courses.
• Coursera for Business — Enterprise learning with university-backed content.

Platforms focused on threaded discussions and Q&A.

• Discourse — Open-source forum with trust levels, categories, and deep plugin ecosystem.
• Forem — Open-source platform powering Dev.to. Great for developer communities.
• NodeBB — Real-time forum built on Node.js with social media integration.
• Vanilla Forums — Enterprise community and forum platform (now Higher Logic).
• Tribe — API-first community platform with deep customization.
• Khoros — Enterprise community management and social customer service.
• Reddit — Subreddits for niche communities. Free but no monetization tools.

Real-time messaging and chat-centric community tools.

• Discord — Voice, video, and text chat with bots and roles. Free. Popular for gaming, crypto, and creator communities.
• Slack — Team messaging. Used for paid communities via Slack Connect.
• Geneva — Group chat app designed for communities, clubs, and organizations.
• Telegram — Encrypted messaging with groups up to 200K members and channels for broadcasts.
• Element (Matrix) — Decentralized, encrypted chat built on the Matrix protocol.

Host your own community platform with full control over data and customization.

• Discourse — Ruby on Rails forum. Self-host or use managed hosting.
• Flarum — Lightweight, modern PHP forum. Extensible with plugins.
• phpBB — Classic open-source forum. Battle-tested since 2000.
• Lemmy — Federated link aggregator, similar to Reddit. Part of the Fediverse.
• Mastodon — Federated microblogging. Self-host your own instance.
• Moodle — Open-source LMS for courses and training. Used by universities worldwide.
• Open edX — Enterprise-grade open-source LMS powering edX.

Build custom community experiences with APIs and SDKs.

• PubNub — Real-time messaging API for in-app chat.
• Stream — Chat and activity feed APIs. Powers large-scale apps.
• CometChat — In-app messaging SDK with voice and video.
• Amity — Social features SDK: feeds, chat, video, user profiles.
• Tribe — Headless community platform with REST and GraphQL APIs.

Tools to boost member engagement, retention, and interaction.

• Orbit — Community analytics and member relationship management.
• Common Room — Intelligent community-led growth platform.
• Commsor — Community operations platform. Track contributions across platforms.
• Luma — Beautiful event pages and community calendars.
• Tally — Free form builder. Great for community surveys and signups.
• Typeform — Interactive forms and surveys for member onboarding.

Tools for subscriptions, paywalls, and community commerce.

• Stripe — Payment infrastructure. Subscriptions, one-time, invoicing.
• Gumroad — Sell digital products, memberships, and courses.
• LemonSqueezy — Merchant of record for digital products. Handles tax globally.
• Memberful — Membership management that integrates with existing sites.
• Buy Me a Coffee — Simple supporter payments and memberships.
• Patreon — Subscription platform for creators. Tiered membership model.
• Ko-fi — Tips, memberships, and shops for creators.
• Whop — Marketplace for digital products and community access.

Email marketing and transactional email for communities.

• ConvertKit — Email marketing built for creators. Visual automations.
• Resend — Developer-first transactional email API.
• Mailchimp — Email marketing with automations and audience tools.
• Beehiiv — Newsletter platform with monetization and referral programs.
• Buttondown — Minimalist newsletter tool for developers and writers.
• Substack — Newsletter platform with paid subscriptions and community notes.

Track community health, engagement, and growth.

• Orbit — Community member analytics and relationship tracking.
• Common Room — Cross-platform community analytics.
• PostHog — Open-source product analytics, session replay, and feature flags.
• Mixpanel — Product analytics with funnel and retention analysis.
• Plausible — Privacy-friendly, open-source web analytics.

Add game mechanics to drive engagement and retention.

• BadgeOS — WordPress plugin for achievements and badges.
• Bunchball (BI Worldwide) — Enterprise gamification platform.
• Mambo.io — Gamification engine with points, badges, and leaderboards.
• Captain Up — Engagement and gamification for websites and apps.

Host live events, webinars, and workshops for your community.

• Luma — Event pages and calendars with registration and reminders.
• Zoom — Video conferencing and webinars. Industry standard.
• StreamYard — Browser-based live streaming to multiple platforms.
• Riverside — High-quality recording for podcasts and video interviews.
• Hopin — Virtual event platform with networking and expo features.
• Crowdcast — Webinars and live Q&A with built-in registration.

Create docs, wikis, and knowledge bases for your community.

• Notion — All-in-one workspace for docs, wikis, and project management.
• GitBook — Documentation platform for technical and product teams.
• Slite — Team knowledge base with AI-powered search.
• Tettra — Knowledge management for internal teams.
• HelpScout — Help desk with knowledge base and in-app messaging.

Resources for migrating between community platforms.

• Circle to Tenant.so Migration Guide — Step-by-step guide for migrating from Circle.
• Skool to Tenant.so Migration Guide — Move your Skool community to Tenant.so.
• WordPress to Tenant.so Migration Guide — Transition from WordPress + plugins (LearnDash, MemberPress, BuddyBoss, bbPress) to an all-in-one platform.

• The Community Building Garden — Curated resources on community building.
• CMX Hub — Community industry research, events, and resources.
• Community Club — Newsletter and resources for community professionals.
• Lenny's Newsletter — Product and growth insights (covers community-led growth).

• The Business of Belonging by David Spinks — How to build communities that drive growth.
• Get Together by Bailey Richardson, Kevin Huynh, Kai Elmer Sotto — Practical guide to building communities.
• People Powered by Jono Bacon — How communities drive business value.
• Buzzing Communities by Richard Millington — Data-driven community management.
• The Art of Community by Jono Bacon — Building communities around open source and beyond.

• Masters of Community — Interviews with community leaders.
• Community Signal — Community management best practices.
• In Before the Lock — Online community strategy and tactics.

Contributions welcome! Please read the contributing guidelines before submitting a PR.

If you know of a platform, tool, or resource that should be on this list, open an issue or submit a pull request.

This list is released under CC0. You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, even for commercial purposes, without asking permission.

_{Curated by Tenant.so — The Community Operating System}