Are you looking to improve your online course website’s user engagement and user experience? Set up an online community.
Online communities are a great way to cater to your brand’s audience and loyal customers. They let members connect and your brand in more interactive ways, like messaging in forums, competing with other students, and sharing their unique experiences with other community members. In addition to this, setting up an online community is also a great way to generate extra revenue for your business. You can charge members for accessing paid communities or groups.
A dedicated community platform is the best way to set up your online community.
This article compares the two most popular online community platforms, Mighty Networks vs. Circle. We’ll start with an overview of both platforms and dive deeper into their key features. We’ll also cover their pricing plans and help you decide which one is right for you.
Mighty Networks vs. Circle: Overview
Both online community platforms offer an easy way for businesses to create a sense of community for their members, students, or learners.
Mighty Networks
Mighty Networks is one of the most popular, all-in-one online community platforms that lets you set up online community spaces and comes pre-built with all the functionality you need to create free and paid online courses.
Its “one-off” approach allows businesses to use a single platform for managing everything from creating online courses and accepting payments to setting up interactive online communities and branded mobile apps.
Circle
With over 7,500 users, Circle is a relatively new online community platform that works more like an add-on to your existing online course website or LMS.
Using the intuitive platform, you can create online community spaces or groups for specific use cases, like setting up a space for community discussions online, community events, or for content. However, with recent updates and improvements, it’s now a standalone course and community platform
Mighty Networks vs. Circle: Features
Let’s take a closer look at both online community platforms and see how both offer essential features.
Online community features
Both online community platforms have many features that let you set up professional online communities for your brand.
While Mighty Networks is also a dedicated online course creator that lets you add almost anything to your online courses, it also features a detailed members’ interface that lets you effectively manage an online community.
This not only lets you easily overview each registered user or community member’s account details but is a great way to get in touch with your audience members quickly. You can also create “spaces” that are essentially online community groups that you can create based on membership levels. For instance, you can create multiple spaces on your website and let paid members access the “premium online community.” In contrast, regular users can only access the “Free for all online community.”
A COMPLETE STEP-BY-STEP CHEATSHEET
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On the other hand, Circle lets you create and host community groups for your business. Once you integrate Circle with your online community, it lets your audience members easily interact and engage with each other using an interface that’s similar to social media websites like Facebook or Twitter. The major difference between Mighty Networks and Circle is how both platforms let you set up “spaces” or online communities.
While Mighty Networks lets you set up an all-in-one space and allows you to add just about any element to your online community, Circle requires you to choose what the space will be created for. This also means you cannot create “universal” spaces and add just about anything to them; you will have to choose whether to create an online community for posts, events, chats, or your online course. In addition to this, with Circle’s online communities, members will have to navigate and find the discussion that’s relevant to them. On the other hand, Mighty Networks displays everything in one place, making it easier for users to quickly find what they’re looking for.
Customization options
Regarding customization options for setting up your online community, Mighty Networks is miles ahead of Circle. This is mainly because Mighty Networks lets you create a community that matches your brand’s unique aesthetics.
You can set up different parts of your online community that resonate well with your audience and make it easier for them to interact with other community members. For example, using the intuitive drag-and-drop builder, you can set up chat rooms at the top of your online community so that when members first land on the page, they can quickly see what other members are talking about and join the conversation themselves.
Similarly, members can also personalize their user profiles to represent themselves exactly how they want to in your online community. As a result, it encourages more users to register for your online community and interact with your brand.
Since Circle is a dedicated, hosted online community platform that lets you set up an online community for your online course, it doesn’t offer a wide range of customization features. While you can decide what the “space” or online community you create is about, it doesn’t let you design fully custom all-in-one online communities that have everything from online courses to chat rooms in one place.
Payment integration
The great thing about Mighty Networks is that it’s designed for multiple use cases when it comes to setting up online communities. Thanks to its robust payment integration features, you can charge users a subscription fee for accessing premium online communities or spaces on your membership site. For instance, you can create a “mastermind group” space that users can only access if they pay you $59 per month. This lets you create a sense of exclusivity around your online communities and generate additional revenue.
In addition to this, Mighty Networks comes with some of the most popular payment gateways like PayPal and Stripe, and it also supports up to 135 different currencies. This means you can accept payments from your members globally.
Circle also has many payment integration features that let you create paid online communities. You can create paywalls for your online communities, so users must pay to access a specific premium space. This way, you can charge a premium fee from your community members to access exclusive parts of your online community.
Additionally, Circle lacks the multi-currency features that Mighty Networks comes with and only lets you accept payments in 6 currencies only. This can be detrimental to your brand’s global reach and make it difficult to cater to users from all over the globe in your online community.
Engagement features
Mighty Networks gives you access to a wide range of engagement features that can be used to create more interactive and exciting online community spaces. For starters, you can create polls for your members to vote on, set up quizzes to test members’ learning capabilities, and create surveys to ask your community members essential questions.
With Mighty Networks, you also have the option to set up group messages or send direct messages to communities or your audience members. This makes it easier for brands to send out important messages to communities quickly and is an excellent way for your audience members to stay in touch with the ongoing events in your online community.
Circle also offers some customizability when it comes to setting up online community spaces, which lets you create an engaging and interactive user experience. You can create custom orders for the topics display or pin topics to the top of your online community space so it’s the first thing your audience members see when they first land on the page. It makes it easier to customize the user experience and ultimately makes it more engaging for your community members.
Mobile apps
One of the highlight features of Mighty Networks is its branded community mobile app. Your members can access communities created with Mighty Networks using the Mighty Network app available on Android and iOS. In addition, if you get Mighty Pro or upgrade to the premium plan, you can create and publish your brand’s own app in both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
On the other hand, Circle might not be the best option for creating branded mobile apps. While it features an intuitive and easy-to-use web app that’s responsive on all devices, the iOS app isn’t very optimized, and there’s no support for an official Android app as of now.
Mighty Networks vs. Circle: Pricing
Pricing is also important for brands when considering an online community platform. Let’s review each platform’s pricing table so you can decide on the one that fits your brand’s budget.
Mighty Networks pricing
Mighty Network’s monthly pricing starts at $39 for the Community plan.
Circle pricing
You can get started with Circle for $49 per month with the Basic plan.
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Q: What is the difference between Mighty Networks and Circle?
A: Mighty Networks and Circle are both online community platforms, but they have different approaches. Mighty Networks focuses on providing community-building tools and features, while Circle focuses on creating a community space that can be customized to fit the needs of the community builder.
Q: Which platform is better, Mighty Networks or Circle?
A: The better platform depends on your specific needs and goals. Mighty Networks is great for community building, while Circle offers more customization options. It’s important to evaluate both platforms to determine which one is best for your community.
Q: What are some community features offered by Mighty Networks and Circle?
A: Mighty Networks offers features such as live stream, community management, and iOS and Android apps to help build and manage your community. Circle offers features such as community building and customization tools, all-in-one community management, and the ability to add a community to your existing website.
Q: How do I use Circle or Mighty Networks?
A: Using either platform is easy! You just need to sign up, create your community, and start building! Both Mighty Networks and Circle offer guides and resources to help you get started.
Q: What makes Mighty Networks stand out?
A: Mighty Networks is great for building a thriving community due to its community-building tools and features. It also offers iOS and Android apps and allows for live stream options.
Q: What makes Circle unique?
A: Circle focuses on customization options and enables community builders to add a community to an established website. It also charges no fee to join your community and provides all-in-one community management.
Q: Can I use Circle and Mighty Networks for my community?
A: Yes, you can choose either platform for building your online community. Both Mighty Networks and Circle.so offer community platform for creators.
Q: Which platform supports mobile apps?
A: Both Mighty Networks and Circle have iOS and Android apps available for their users.
Q: How does Circle compare to Mighty Networks?
A: Circle and Mighty Networks have different approaches to community building. Circle focuses more on customization options while Mighty Networks aims to provide a full suite of community-building tools and features, including options for live stream. However, both platforms can be used effectively to build a community online.
Q: What do people like about Mighty Networks and Circle?
A: People like that Mighty Networks offers community-building tools and features while Circle offers customization options. Both platforms are great for building an online community.
Conclusion
When comparing both community platform options, Mighty Networks vs. Circle, Mighty Networks comes out on top. It offers more customizability and robust functionality to set up highly interactive online communities, and its entry-level plan is priced lower than Circle.
That said, deciding between both options will depend entirely on your unique requirements and what you need for an online community platform.
What features do you look for in an online community platform? Let us know in the comments box below.
