Best Customer Community Software in 2026
Updated
In short: Sugester is ranked #1 of 37 as of 4 October 2026, ahead of Freshdesk and Discourse. The best-ranked option with a free plan is Freshdesk. The lowest first paid tier on this page is Salesforce Experience Cloud at $2/mo.
Customer community software gives your members a place to connect, while giving your team ways to oversee participation and access. Compared on community analytics, visibility, and moderation tools, these entries also show member limits, custom domains, and single sign-on. Help desk integrations may be relevant if community activity needs to connect with support workflows; free plans and paid-from pricing add cost considerations. Discourse, Zapnito, and Invision Community lead the displayed order, followed by Verint Community and Circle. As you compare them, consider who should be able to join, how you want to manage discussions, and which access and support features are important for your community.
37 customer community software ranked on what their makers publish — plans and prices, free tiers, platforms and the facts on their own pages.
#1 Sugester Top pick · 7.2 Free plan · $12/mo
#2 Freshdesk Runner-up · 6.9 Free plan · $19/mo
#3 Discourse Also great · 6.8 Free plan · $100/mo
- Free planFree trial AndroidapiiOSself-hostedWeb
- Free plan
- Yes
- Community visibility
- mixed
- Custom domain
- Yes
- Moderation tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms$12/mofirst paid tier About SugesterVisit site - Free plan api
- Free plan
- No
- Paid from
- 19 /mo
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms$19/mofirst paid tier About FreshdeskVisit site - Free plan self-hosted
- Free plan
- Yes
- Paid from
- 100 /mo
- Custom domain
- Yes
- Moderation tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms$100/mofirst paid tier About DiscourseVisit site - Free trial AndroidapiiOSmacOSWebWindows
- Free plan
- No
- Paid from
- 89 /mo
- Custom domain
- Yes
- Moderation tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms$89/mofirst paid tier About CircleVisit site - Free plan api
- Free plan
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms₹420/mofirst paid tier About Zoho DeskVisit site - Free trial apiWeb
- Free plan
- Yes
- Custom domain
- Yes
- Moderation tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - AndroidiOSWeb
- Free plan
- No
- Community visibility
- mixed
- Custom domain
- Yes
- Single sign-on
- Yes
- Moderation tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms$49.99/mofirst paid tier About Forums.netVisit site - WebiOSAndroid
- Free plan
- No
- Custom domain
- Yes
- Moderation tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - AndroidapiiOSWeb
- Custom domain
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms$2/mofirst paid tier About Salesforce Experience CloudVisit site - WebiOSAndroid
- Free plan
- No
- Custom domain
- Yes
- Moderation tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - apiWeb
- Free plan
- No
- Paid from
- 149 /mo
- Community visibility
- mixed
- Custom domain
- Yes
- Single sign-on
- Yes
- Moderation tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms$149/mofirst paid tier About AnswerbaseVisit site - WebWindowsmacOSLinux
- Free plan
- Yes
- Community visibility
- mixed
- Moderation tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - Web
- Free plan
- No
- Paid from
- 399 /mo
- Custom domain
- Yes
- Moderation tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms$399/mofirst paid tier About BettermodeVisit site - WebiOSAndroid
- Moderation tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - WebiOSAndroid
- Free plan
- No
- Community visibility
- mixed
- Single sign-on
- Yes
- Moderation tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - Web
- Free plan
- No
- Paid from
- 249 /mo
- Custom domain
- Yes
- Moderation tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms$249/mofirst paid tier About ComBaseVisit site - Web
- Free plan
- No
- Paid from
- 55 /mo
- Custom domain
- Yes
- Single sign-on
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms$55/mofirst paid tier About Zendesk GuideVisit site - Web
- Free plan
- No
- Moderation tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - Web
- Free plan
- Yes
- Paid from
- 5 /mo
- Community visibility
- mixed
- Custom domain
- Yes
- Moderation tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms -
- Free plan
- No
- Custom domain
- Yes
- Moderation tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - Web
- Moderation tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - WebiOSAndroid
- Free plan
- No
- Community visibility
- mixed
- Custom domain
- Yes
- Single sign-on
- Yes
- Moderation tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - Web
- Free plan
- Yes
- Community visibility
- mixed
- Custom domain
- Yes
- Single sign-on
- Yes
- Moderation tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - Web
- Community visibility
- mixed
- Single sign-on
- Yes
- Moderation tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms - api
- Free plan
- Yes
- Paid from
- 19 /mo
RecognisedDocumentedFree planPlatforms$19/mofirst paid tier About UserEchoVisit site
Is your app on this list?
Numbered spots on this list can be sponsored. They are labelled, and the editorial order and scores never change for payment.
Questions about this list
Which customer community software is ranked first on Everything Xiaomi?
Sugester is ranked #1 of 37 with a score of 7.2. Freshdesk is second and Discourse third.
How many of these have a free plan?
4 of the 25 on this page publish a free plan on their own pricing pages.
Which is the cheapest paid option?
On this page, Salesforce Experience Cloud has the lowest first paid tier we found: $2/mo.
How is this list ranked?
Ranked on what each maker publishes: documentation depth, a free tier and the platforms it runs on. Paid placements never change a rank.