Circle, Skool or a custom community platform: how to choose

We build custom community platforms. We also tell founders to start with a hosted tool when that is what they need. This is how we decide which one fits.

When a hosted tool is the right call

Tools like Circle, Skool and Mighty Networks usually come with a feed, events, courses and payments. If your community needs about that much, use one.

A hosted tool is also a cheap way to test an idea. You can have a community running in days, see who shows up and what they care about, and spend little doing it. Building custom before you know that makes it easy to pay for the wrong features.

When custom starts to make sense

These are the situations where custom tends to be worth it:

• The engagement mechanics are the product, for example matching people or local discovery.
• The brand experience matters, and members should feel they are inside your product rather than a template.
• You need to own your data or connect it to other systems.
• Your workflows are specific. Associations with dues, renewals and approvals are a common case.
• You have run into the same limit on a hosted tool more than once.

What custom costs

It takes longer and costs more up front, and it needs maintenance afterwards. Once you own the product, you also own its bugs and its hosting. If you have no team and no partner who will stay after launch, factor that in.

A middle path

Start on a hosted tool and write down every time you wish it worked differently. After a few months you have a list based on what actually happened in your community.

That list makes a good brief for a custom build. It may also show that the hosted tool was enough.

Questions to ask yourself

• Do we already have members who are active and paying?
• What do they ask for that our current tool cannot do?
• Is that central to why people join, or a nice extra?
• Do we have the time and budget to maintain a product?
• Can we explain what is wrong with the current setup in one sentence?

If you can't answer the last one, wait before building.

Getting an outside view

The free Community Quick Scan gives you one. If you are leaning towards a build, the platform builder on this site gives a ballpark estimate in a few minutes.