Best Community Platform for Enterprise 2026
Enterprise organizations demand community platform with advanced security, compliance certifications, and the ability to scale across thousands of users. Large companies need platforms that integrate with existing identity providers, support complex organizational structures, and provide dedicated support with SLA guarantees. Enterprise solutions must meet strict audit requirements and offer granular control over permissions and policies.
Enterprise-grade solutions must provide comprehensive security features including SSO/SAML integration, role-based access controls, and audit logging for compliance. Look for platforms with SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certifications, dedicated customer success managers, and SLA guarantees of 99.9% or better. The solution should support multi-region deployments, offer extensive API access for custom integrations, and provide volume discounts that make per-user costs reasonable at scale.
The best community platform for enterprise in 2026 is Khoros Communities because it's built for massive scale with AI-powered moderation, comprehensive compliance (SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA), and deep enterprise integrations, though pricing starts at $50K+/year. For mid-market enterprises, Bettermode offers strong enterprise features starting at $599/month with better ROI.
Our Rankings
Khoros Communities
Industry-leading enterprise platform with proven scalability (millions of users), advanced moderation, AI-powered automation, and comprehensive analytics. Pricing typically $50K-250K+/year with custom implementation. SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA compliance. Deep integrations with Salesforce, Adobe, and enterprise martech. Dedicated CSM and 24/7 support.
- Free tier available
- Most comprehensive feature set
- Strong customer support
- Higher learning curve than alternatives
Bettermode
Modern enterprise-grade platform with flexible pricing starting at $599/month (5,000 members) scaling to custom pricing for larger deployments. Strong API, SSO, custom roles, and white-label options. Better price-to-feature ratio than legacy platforms. Good for mid-market to enterprise. SOC 2 Type II certified.
- Free tier available
- Excellent balance of features and price
- Intuitive user interface
- Some advanced features require higher tiers
Hivebrite
Strong for enterprise membership communities, associations, and alumni networks. Custom pricing typically starts around $500-1,000/month. Advanced member management, event ticketing, fundraising, and engagement analytics. SSO, SCIM, and custom integrations available. Better for internal/member communities than customer-facing support.
- Free tier available
- Strong integration ecosystem
- Reliable performance
- Mid-tier pricing may be steep for small teams
Discourse
Powerful open-source option with enterprise hosting ($100-300/month) or on-premise deployment. Highly customizable with full source code access. Strong for developer communities and technical audiences. Lacks some enterprise features like advanced analytics and AI moderation but compensates with flexibility and lower cost. Good for budget-conscious enterprises.
- Free tier available
- Specialized capabilities for specific use cases
- May lack some features of top competitors
- Smaller community compared to leaders
Circle
Best for smaller enterprise teams or internal communities but lacks depth for large-scale customer-facing deployments. Business plan ($219/month) offers API, SSO, and white-label but limited compared to true enterprise platforms. Great UX but may not scale to millions of users or provide required compliance certifications for regulated industries.
- Free tier available
- Specialized capabilities for specific use cases
- May lack some features of top competitors
- Smaller community compared to leaders
Evaluation Criteria
- scalability
- security compliance
- integrations
- customization
- support sla
How We Picked These
We evaluated 5 products (last researched 2026-01-30).
Certifications, SSO, audit logging, data governance
Support for 100-10,000+ users across locations
APIs, pre-built connectors, customization options
Dedicated support, uptime guarantees, response times
Enterprise-specific capabilities and customization
Frequently Asked Questions
01 What enterprise compliance certifications should a community platform have?
Essential certifications include SOC 2 Type II, GDPR compliance, and CCPA compliance. Regulated industries need HIPAA (healthcare) or FedRAMP (government). Khoros and Bettermode have SOC 2 Type II. Look for SSO/SAML support, data residency options, and security audit reports. Most enterprise contracts include annual penetration testing.
02 How much do enterprise community platforms cost?
Enterprise platforms range from $599/month (Bettermode for 5,000 members) to $50K-250K+/year (Khoros for unlimited scale). Hivebrite typically starts at $500-1,000/month. Implementation costs add 20-50% on top. Budget for $75K-300K+ total first-year cost for true enterprise deployments including setup, migration, and training.
03 Which platform scales to millions of community members?
Khoros Communities is proven at multi-million user scale with clients like Microsoft and Sony. Bettermode handles 100K+ members with custom scaling plans. Discourse scales well but requires infrastructure investment for millions of users. Circle and Hivebrite target smaller communities (under 100K members typically).
04 What integrations do enterprise community platforms need?
Critical integrations include SSO/SAML (Okta, Azure AD), CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot), support ticketing (Zendesk, ServiceNow), and analytics (Google Analytics, Segment). Khoros offers 100+ pre-built integrations. Bettermode and Discourse provide robust APIs for custom integrations. All top platforms support webhooks and REST APIs.
05 Do enterprise platforms offer professional services?
Yes. Khoros includes implementation services (typically $50K-150K) with dedicated CSMs. Bettermode offers implementation support and strategic consulting. Hivebrite provides onboarding and training packages. Discourse has certified partners for enterprise deployments. Budget 3-6 months for full enterprise implementation.
06 Which platform is best for customer support communities?
Khoros Communities leads for customer support with AI-powered deflection, knowledge base integration, case escalation to support systems, and advanced analytics showing support cost savings. Bettermode and Discourse work well for peer-to-peer support but lack deep ticketing system integrations. Circle better for internal communities than customer support at scale.
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