7 fantastic alternatives for Facebook Groups
Facebook Groups used to be the most well-known method to engage with your customers build trust in your brand and expand your business. But the problem is that you don't own your group--Facebook does.
Let's see why more and the content creators are searching for other alternatives for Facebook Groups, and which ones made our top seven list.
What are the reasons online creators are looking for alternatives for Facebook Groups?
With 2934 active users per month, and 1,8 billion who are using groups monthly --, Facebook is certainly a fantastic place to connect with your followers.
However, although Facebook Groups used to be an effective way of bringing your company closer to customers, recent scandals concerning user privacy, along with an array of issues have increasingly frustrated and even hurt business owners reliant on the social giant.
The result is that many look for alternatives in Facebook Groups.
What exactly are these problems are you asking?
First, although Facebook Groups are quick to create, the customization options are minimal. Everything from the font to the interface to the how your followers interact with you, is controlled by Facebook You have nothing to say about it.
This takes us to the next part: your Facebook Group isn't controlled or owned by you--it's Facebook's. This means you may not be able to share certain content or communicate with your group members the way you'd like. This also means that you're relying on Facebook to ensure that its platform is operating efficiently, and that's often not the case. May we remind you of the Facebook outage of 2021?
A further drawback that Facebook Groups suffer from is visibility. Facebook Groups is visibility and revenue. If you don't upgrade your advertising budget, posts that are not paid for get approximately 2.2 per cent of viewers. For example, if your Facebook Group has 1,000 followers and only 22, then just 22 will actually see your post!
Facebook's algorithm is also able to prioritize posts from family and friends over businesses, so it's more difficult to connect the people who read your posts amazing as it might be.
Finally, managing the administration of a Facebook Group can be hard to manage. Apart from dealing with unpleasantness from trolls and spam accounts You can't alter your administrative controls, meaning you'll be relying on Facebook's platform to allow people join, publish, and moderate.
Which Facebook Group alternative is best for a creator's needs?
This is a question you need to decide by yourself, as what is effective in other companies might not work for yours. However, we created this article to give you some solid advice to make the right choice for you.
The most important thing to look out for in deciding on an alternative to Facebook Groups:
Features
Can you customize the system? Does it have a simple interface? Are you able to set it up quickly and effectively? Are you satisfied with how it works into the other aspects of your firm?
When choosing a platform, you need to make sure it is able to provide the capabilities for your business. This will be discussed further in the next section as we examine specific platforms in the next section.
Platform interface
Do you feel comfortable with the user interface? Are you comfortable creating it, making changes your preferences, and making use of it? Are you confused or overwhelmed by it? If yes is the case, do you have great solutions for support to assist you in getting on the right track and resolve issues? If you're having trouble understanding a system and you aren't getting assistance you should look into other options.
User experience
The online community is thriving when your audience is engaging in a meaningful way, and it's extremely important to consider the user experience that they will enjoy when using your platform.
What does it look at from a users perspective? Is it simple to use and navigate?
If you find it hard to comprehend, that your neighbors will also.
Check it out from your audience's point of perspective and determine if it's something they're happy engaging with, or could be enhanced.
Budget
Some Facebook Group alternatives are more expensive than others and you should choose an option that's within your budget.
Higher cost doesn't indicate superior quality. Take a look at the following factors prior to deciding on one over another.
What you don't want is to end up with an expensive platform , whose design and user experience are hard to work out.
What are the most effective alternative to online communities to Facebook Groups?
There are numerous options there that allow you to build your own community that isn't on Facebook We bring you the top seven most effective alternatives to Facebook Groups.
Let's dig in!
1. DISCORD
The platform that was initially designed as a place for players has evolved into the most popular social-networking platform.
Discord offers a variety of great tools to nurture your online community outside of Facebook including private and secure public channels, private channels, customizable bots that can interact with your users, direct messaging between admins and members audio and video calls and custom permissions to distinguish between users and admins.
It is also possible to download the software and utilize it no cost, or upgrade to $99.99 a year to unlock more options.
But, creating an Discord community can be a difficult procedure, and you'll be facing a long learning curve, which can hinder your community building process.
Your Discord server is also able to coexist alongside the other communities on the internet that use this service, which means that you'll need to ensure you stand out so the people who visit the content you post instead of competitors.
In terms of branding, Discord has a darker theme. This may or may not fit the aesthetic of your company. It's unfortunate that this cannot be changed.
Finally, you can't charge users to gain access to your Discord server. If you'd like to charge this, then you'll have to set up a paypal page for each user separately.
All in all, Discord is a great alternative to Facebook communities, with more features and functionality. If your objective is to make money from your followers and grow your company, Discord may not give you all the tools you want.
2. Reddit
With over 50 million users who are active on Reddit daily, this platform is a big contender for building an online community that isn't Facebook.
Reddit has a forum-like design, where each topic gets classified into a subreddit or a subreddit.
The best thing about Reddit are that it's cost-free, and you can set up a public or restricted subreddit, and it's straightforward to create and utilize .
Similar to Discord the platform isn't equipped with the ability to customize your branding and monetization options for your members. And similar to Facebook, you don't fully own your own subreddit.
This means your subreddit can be suspended if administrators think you--or any of your users have violated rules through posting or commenting.
The number of subreddits that are on the site is extremely high too, so producing content to connect with the audience could be an uphill struggle.
While the platform is free, you have to pay for an ad-free version.
Reddit is a great way to start a free online community, but similar to Discord isn't the best option if you're looking to monetize your community online.
3. MIGHTY SUPERNETWORKS
Mighty Networks allows you to build an online community and sell your courses in the same location.
On this system, you are able to make free or paid community for your users, employ personalized branding, offer the mobile version of your app as well as create private zones that allow your users to connect with each other.
Mighty Networks also allows for live streams, group and private chat, and an unlimited number of members and moderators.
However, this platform doesn't offer a free service, and transactions are charged in addition to the cost of your monthly subscription.
If you're interested in online-based course capabilities, then you'll need sign up for the Business planfor $119/month, and If you're in need of additional tools--such as payment processing, email marketing, an effective website builder, or a website creator, you may need to pay extra to get the tools you need.
Mighty Networks plans--and the transaction fees attached--are their Free Trial ($0/month and 5% transaction fee), Community Plan ($39/month with 3% transaction fee) and Business Plan ($119/month with 2% transaction fee) along with Mighty Pro (custom pricing).
This platform is a great tool to create an online community. However it's important to take note of the transaction costs since they could quickly add up when your group grows.
4. TRIBE.SO
Tribe is a community-building online tool that can be utilized via websites for businesses or via phone applications.
The benefits of Tribe are that you can make a choice to set up a public or private community, integrate it seamlessly with other software (such like Slack, Google Analytics, or Intercom for instance), to mention a few) as well as modify it according to the style of your business. Plus, you get an array of community management tools.
Tribe lets members post content using different categories tags.
The Tribe app is available for purchase Tribe gratis to the first 100 users.
Then, you'll be able to select between the Plus Plan($59/month) to allow as many as 2,500 members and extend your selection of applications as well as their Premium plan($299/month) and allows you to remove the Tribe logo and grow up to 25,000 members.
A major drawback is that Tribe does not allow instant messaging. This makes it difficult for administrators as well as users to talk with one the other.
And like the above options, Tribe doesn't offer any methods for paid memberships to your community on the internet or for selling digital goods to members.
This means the monetization options Tribe gives you require you to work around these issues and set up payment tools external to Tribe's platform. Yikes! Another tool you can be added to your arsenal of tech tools.
Tribe is an excellent alternative for companies that are already established and want to expand their community online because it's focused on building loyalty to brands.
However, it's not as well suited to reaching out to your target audience and can hamper the process of building a community if you're just starting up.
5. PODIA
Podia can be described as an online marketplace for creators as well as a fantastic alternative to Facebook Groups.
With Podia, you can control your interactions with members, provide free or paid subscriptions, as well as make sales of digital items.
Podia also supports direct messaging as well as website development and email marketing. This makes it simpler to build connections, and connect your company with your online community.
Because Podia incorporates payment methods so you do not have worry about the need to set those up separately. This allows you to make money from your blog and make the most out of your online community.
Because you can develop your website using Podia from the ground up You get a 100 percent customizable platform, which can match the brand's image.
With Podia You can avail their free plan however, you are charged an 8.8% charge for any transactions you make through the platform.
Paying plans aren't charged an amount for transactions. Currently, they comprise plans like the Mover Plan ($39/month), Shaker Plan ($75/month), and Earthquaker Plan ($166/month).
If you'd like to gain access to webinars and affiliate support it is necessary to upgrade to the Shaker Plan.
Another downfall of Podia is that it only offers a basic product template with few customization options, therefore you'll be required to spend a considerable amount of time creating resources from scratch.
Podia doesn't offer an overview of the progress users are making with your courses either--you can check users' progress individually, which is mega time-consuming--making it harder for you to see at a glance whether your audience is engaging with your training.
If you're in need of assistance in gaining the most from Podia Be aware that you'll only get one session of questions and answers every week, which may not be enough to aid you to set up your community online and maximize its full potential.
6. HIVEBRITE
Hivebrite is a platform for community building which allows for a large variety of people to join it.
The platform offers a high level of customization including live feeds, various access rights for your members, paid or free memberships, and the option to turn on additional features as your group expands and evolves.
Over 500 companies currently use Hivebrite as their service provider, and their customer service is rated to be excellent.
However, Hivebrite doesn't display its prices on its website but the company claims that its prices start at $500/month. To get specific pricing information and other key details, it is necessary to sign-up for a demo.
Hivebrite is a good alternative for large-scale enterprises looking to create an online community that they can make money from, however due to the expensive price and the technical complexity the platform may not be the best choice for independent creators and small-scale businesses.
7.
allows you to create secure groups, private or public, customize the platform to match your brand identity, and set up paid subscriptions. With the acquisition of the most popular community-building platform Vibely and Vibely's community platform, the company will soon feature live calls, challenges, leaderboards, accountability tools live chat in real-time, and much more!
Y ou can tie your company to an internet-based communitythanks to's customized domain tool as well as website builder. These allow you to add video backgrounds as well as sales pages or pop-up forms among other features.
integrates all the different integrations you need for the creation, growth and then monetize an effective online community, saving you money while setting you up to easily ramp up the amount of money you earn.
The monthly cost that you pay for covers all the things that is required to run your business and manage your online community, so you won't need to utilize multiple platforms to manage and grow your business.
Three payment options are available:
- The Basic plan($119/month) comes with the possibility of selling up to three products with three pipelines. It comes with an unlimited number of landing pages and marketing emails. Additionally, you are able to have 1,000 members active.
- The Growth Plan($159/month) comes with a website which can sell up to 15 products and pipelines and expands the active user count to 10,000. You can also create 10 administrators and remove the's logo.
- The Pro Plan($319/month) provides three websites with the ability to sell up to 100 products . In addition, with pipelines, you can be able to have at least 20,000 active customers with 25 admin users.
is an excellent alternative to Facebook Groups for community owners or course developers, as well as coaches. It's also a cost-effective method of running your company, since you only have to pay an annual fee of the full set of software for business growth.
What is the most effective alternative to Facebook Groups?
Online communities are great spaces where you can consolidate your brand identity, share relevant content that is geared towards the audience, and demonstrate to prospects and customers you're interested in what they've got to say.
Being aware of your customers' needs and preferences can help you build strategies that work to promote your brand. They're an entry point into the minds of your prospects and customers, which allows you to make sure that your products and content are aligned in a way that appeals to the audience you want effectively.
It is your own personal decision as to what you're looking for and require from an online community-building tool. However, getting acquainted with all the possibilities is a great way to be sure you are making an educated choice.
That said, most online business owners appreciate the fact that they have a complete set of instruments to build and monetize a community all in one place and with zero hidden costs.
offers a full stack of business software together in a neat bundle and a wide range of resources, such as product templates and free webinars for making your experience even easier.
The best thing? You're able to trial it free for 14 days before deciding if it's the perfect option for you.
Try it for free for 14 days
is everything your online business will require. All in one place. Yes! Let's go