Tools and Software

A curated list of tools and resources for building, growing, and operating communities.

Community and Chat

These are general purpose community and/or chat platforms.

• Twist — Teams, collaborative conversations
• Telegram — Simple, fast, secure chat
• Mattermost — Open source messaging for teams
• Geneva — Cozy, private space for your people
• Discord — Chat platform with voice channels
• WhatsApp — Reliable group messaging
• Openland — Modern social network
• Palapa — Thriving online community
• Gitter — Chat, networking platform
• Spectrum — Community platform for the future
• Mesh Chat — Group messaging, collaboration
• Quorum — Manage clients, collect payments
• PrivyChat — Private chat communities
• Band — Simple community chat
• Bunches — Paid group chat
• Rocket Chat — Ultimate communication hub
• Guild — Messaging app for professionals
• Sense Chat — Secure messenger with rewards
• Element — Open, secure, communication
• Zulip — Open source chat, collaboration
• Slack — Workplace communication, community tool
• Disciple — Community and subscriptions
• Tribe — Community in your own product
• Quill — Messages for groups, focus
• Commsor — Grow and measure community
• CountablePro — Brand, audiences, data
• Zyper — Build brand communities
• Upstream — Professional networks
• Zapnito — Community platform for expertise
• Aluminati — Student, Alumni community
• Union.vc — Networking, mentor platform
• Community.com — Build your community
• Panion — Build community
• Honeycommb — Beautiful social network
• Mobilize — Delightful community platform
• Tchop — Mobile social network
• Groop — All-in-one social network
• Orbit — All-in-one community
• TokyWoky — Enterprise community
• ConnectPlus — NextGen virtual app
• Hivebrite — Online communities
• OverGroups — Stripe + Telegram
• Dish — Make Slack a social network (profiles!)
• Heartbeat — Cohort & curriculum
• Signal — Simple messaging
• Glue Up — All-in-one CRM
• Such.chat — Telegram customer support
• TChop — Mobile community
• Loop Team — Best parts of remote work
• CrowdStack — Engage, Retain, Grow
• Laylo — Messaging tool from creator to fan
• Echofin – All-in-one community management platform.

Membership Tools

Here are a list of tools and platforms to sell subscriptions and manage recurring membership for communities.

• Gumroad — Sell products and subscriptions
• Memberstack — #nocode membership on any website
• Patreon — Monthly membership platform
• Pico — Member accounts / payments for your community
• LaunchPass — Charge for access to Slack
• MemberSpace — Turn your website into “members-only”
• Join It — Membership management, community database
• Podia — Sell online courses, webinars, downloads
• Bunches — Group chat for creators
• Substack — Simple email (paid) newsletters
• uScreen — Sell videos online
• WhereBy.Us — Monetize newsletter
• Playbook — iPhone subscription business
• Teachable — Get paid to share what you know
• Kajabi — Build your own knowledge business
• Stream — Creators become entrepreneurs
• LetterHead — Email newsletter monetization
• Memberful — Memberships to audience
• Letterdrop — Free & subscription newsletter platform

Event Management

A list of experience and event management tools that can help you curate, manage, engage, and operate online events & experiences.

• Icebreaker — Online events
• Hio Social — Virtual, in-person events
• Vibely — Challenge platform
• Run The World — Fun virtual experiences
• Superpeer — Video platform for knowledge
• Teohh — Future of remote gatherings
• Hopin — Virtual venue for events
• Remo — Paid webinars, events
• HeySummit — Online events made simple
• Toasty.ai — Engaging social events
• Crowdcast — Grow community, online events
• Bevy — Online conferences
• Shindig — Communicate, collaborate
• Boon.tv — Members-only community
• Moment House — Elevated digital experiences
• Tame — Virtual event platform
• Airmeet — Fantastic virtual meetups
• Sococo — Work remotely, side-by-side
• Rally — Host video events
• Sidebar — Video chat for whatever
• Mixaba — Social video platform
• Spacial.chat — Virtual venue
• Hubb — Re-inventing events
• Socio — Virtual, hybrid events
• Welcome — Jaw-dropping virtual events
• Banger — Virtual world + video
• Balloon — Online Events Platform
• Sine Space — Social hub for events
• Meet Butter — Smooth interactive workshops
• Toucan — Cool video events
• Topia — Bring people together
• Gather.town — Better spaces to gather
• Micepad — Enterprise event platform
• Inconf — Flexible virtual events
• 6Connex — Virtual environments
• Rume — Video chat that doesn’t feel like work
• Zoom — Webinars, events
• Vi.to — Community-first online events
• Vfairs — Seamless virtual events
• Cvent — Amazing virtual, hybrid events
• Slides.with — Icebreakers, happy hours
• Brella — Virtual event platform
• Lowdown — Email digests for Slack
• Donut — Slack watercooler
• Watercooler — 👆🏻
• On24 — Personalized events
• TryVirtually — Cohort-based education via Zoom
• Hapen — Shareable reminders
• Klyk — Better online events
• Chapter — Self-hosted for non-profits
• Reach — Host virtual community events

Forums

Forum-centric software still powers many communities. Here are some tools to get started.

• Discourse — Open source discussion platform
• Tribe.so — Community platform
• Vanilla Forums — Cloud-based customer, community
• Reddit — Network of communities
• ForumBee — Knowledge and discussions
• PeerBoard — Plug-n-Play forum
• Khoros — AI-powered customer engagement
• Circle.so — Modern community platform
• Hittly — Customer support forum
• Forem — Open source forum software
• Comradery — Customizable platform
• vBulletin — Classic forum tool
• nodeBB — 👆🏻
• ZenDesk Gather — Forum for customers
• Edition.so — Content and community
• Salesforce Community Cloud — ☁️
• PlushForums — Easy forums
• Tapatalk — Sustainable community
• Flarum — Forums made simple
• Verint Community — Customer engagement
• xenForo — Compelling community platform
• Chaordix — Connect your brand
• HigherLogic — Online engagement
• InvisionCommunity — Customer loyalty
• Haaartland — Togetherness platform
• Mesh Communities — Your community, own it
• Una.io — Design and launch
• Empact — White label platform
• Habitate.io — Discussions, polls, AMAs
• Insided — Customer success
• Playgroup — Modern forum software
• WarmIntro.ai — Hub for your community
• Personify — Maximize engagement
• Crowded — Create, share content
• Influitive — Engaged advocates
• OpenSocial — Online community platform
• Group.app — Creators, brands
• Demio — Effective webinars
• Grip — Smart event matchmaking

Video and Voice

Video and voice tools to help your community feel closer.

• Clubhouse — Voice platform
• Zoom — Needs no introduction
• Chalk — Voice rooms
• Tandem.chat — Voice, virtual teams
• Team.video — Video meeting platform
• Anchor — Make a podcast
• YouTube Live — YouTube… live.
• Twitch — The original.
• Whereby — Easy video meetings
• Skype — Text, video calls
• Join.space — Audio-only convos
• Airtime — Content, video chat in real-time
• Huddle — Small group video calls
• Kumospace — Goodbye boring video calls
• VideoAsk — Get personal with video by Typeform
• VideoForm — … not by Typeform
• Descript — Edit audio like text
• Vodited — Edit audio in 30+ languages
• ZipCan — Video on your site
• Join Salon — Build virtual connections
• SuperNormal — Video messaging for busy people
• Tidze — Your virtual stage
• Wonder.me — Online events that are fun
• Squadcast.fm — Saas remote recording for podcasters
• Kapwing — Online image, video editing platform

Images

Photo and graphic resources to create, edit and publish images for your community platforms.

• Freepik – Free/paid vector graphic and photo resources
• Pexels – Free stock photos and videos
• Canva – Graphic design platform for social & print media
• Inkscape – Open source vector graphics editor
• Gimp – Cross-platform image editor
• Easelly – Design infographics with templates
• Logogarden – Logo maker – DIY & affordable custom

Books

Books for understanding, designing, and sustaining healthy communities.

• Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging
• How to Handle a Crowd: The Art of Creating Healthy and Dynamic Online Communities
• The Wisdom of Crowds
• Building Brand Communities: How Organizations Succeed by Creating Belonging
• Get Together: How to build a community with your people
• Community Building on the Web: Secret Strategies for Successful Online Communities
• The Community Manager’s Playbook: How to Build Brand Awareness and Customer Engagement
• Building Successful Online Communities: Evidence-Based Social Design
• The Indispensable Community: Why Some Brand Communities Thrive When Others Perish
• Buzzing Communities: How to Build Bigger, Better, and More Active Online Communities
• Community: The Structure of Belonging
• Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us
• The Art of Community: Building the New Age of Participation
• The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters
• The Business Value of Developer Relations: How and Why Technical Communities Are Key To Your Success
• Smarter Together: How Communities Are Shaping the Next Revolution in Business
• Belong: Find Your People, Create Community, and Live a More Connected Life
• The Culting of Brands: Turn Your Customers into True Believers
• Crossing the Chasm: Disruptive products, mainstream customers
• The Art of Community: Seven Principles for Belonging
• People Powered: How Communities Can Supercharge Your Business, Brand, and Teams
• Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds
• Badass: Making Users Awesome
• Blueprint for Revolution: How to Use Rice Pudding, Lego Men, and Other Nonviolent Techniques to Galvanize Communities, Overthrow Dictators, or Simply Change the World
• Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success

Podcasts

Trusted community voices over the digital airwaves.

• Get Together — Hosted by Mia Quagliarello, Maggie Zhang, Marjorie Anderson, and Whitney Ogutu
• Masters of Community with David Spinks
• Community Signal
• C2C Podcast
• Create Community Pod
• In Before The Lock: Hosted by Brian Oblinger and Erica Kuhl
• Community Pulse

Newsletters

Time-tested newsletters from Community Thought Leaders.

• Noelle Flowers

Social Media

Tools to manage the social media flood.

• Buffer — Simple social media
• SproutSocial — Strong relationships on social
• Brand24 — Media monitoring

Creator Ops

Tools to manage your world / biz as a creator:

• Stir — Where creators run their biz
• Continuum — Creator OS

Creator Communities

Communities (free and paid) specifically geared towards helping creators build, grow, and manage communities:

• Indie Hackers
• Makerpad
• Community Finder — Discover communities
• Developer Mindset
• @pioneerdotapp
• @startupschool
• @beondeck

Venture Capital

VC firms that invest in community-first / PLC startups.

• Atelier Ventures — @lijin
• The Community Fund — @lolitataub, @srcasm
• Community Club Fund — Created by CommPros
• Weekend Fund — Ryan Hoover
• Spero Venture — Stephen Wemple
• FirstMark — Jack Cohen
• Next10 Ventures
• Indie.vc — Bryce Roberts, Sarah Drinkwater, Bo Ren
• Collaborative Fund
• Chapter One — Jeff Morris
• Shrug Capital
• Earnest Capital — Earnest money for…
• Stride – “easy to approach but tough to get money from”

Workflows and Playbooks

Playbooks for building and managing communities.

• The Definition of “Community” via David Spinks
• Community OS via YEN.FM
• Start with Why via Simon Sinek
• Flybridge Community Playbook
• Lean Community Framework by Noelle Flowers
• Community Canvas
• Building Community around Mission / Brand
• CMX Community Strategy Canvas
• Community Onion, Community Commitment Curve
• The Orbit Model
• Steph Smith: Building Content and Community
• The Community Readiness Canvas
• The Online Community Lifecycle via Feverbee
• Community Engagement Framework
• Purpose Powered Communities
• Building a Highly Engaged Slack Community
• The 7P’s of Community via CMX
• Space Model via CMX
• Community Based Marketing via Guild
• Liberating Structures
• $ Community Builder — Designing Communities
• Arnstein’s Ladder of Citizen Participation
• Community, Building Fire (Stripe Webinar)
• The Trust Triangle via HBR
• Community Planning Templates
• Care of Souls
• How We Gather
• Microsolidarity Model
• Building Community with Citizens via Peter Block
• Community of Inquiry Model
• How to Launch an Online Community via Chaordix
• Community Gardens via Rosieland