Short answer: for courses and community in one place, Kajabi or Thinkific. For a simple paid community, Skool, from $9/month. For a polished community with events, Circle. The cheapest all-in-one is Podia at $42/month. If you mainly want your own branded app in the stores, look at Disciple, or add an app next to the community you already have.
Mighty Networks starts at $79/month, and its own branded apps sit in Mighty Pro, which is priced on request. Most people searching for an alternative want a different community platform, so that is what most of this list covers. One disclosure first: Choicely publishes this post and appears in it, last, in its own clearly labelled section. Every price below was read on the vendor's own pricing page on October 13, 2026.
| Platform | Best for | Cheapest paid plan | Your own branded native app | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mighty Networks (for reference) | Community, courses and events in one network | $79/mo Launch, billed monthly ($950/year annually) | Mighty Pro only, custom pricing | mightynetworks.com/pricing, read 2026-10-13 |
| Circle | A polished, branded community with events | $89/mo Professional, annual billing | Circle Plus only, custom pricing | circle.so/pricing, read 2026-10-13 |
| Skool | A simple paid group with a classroom | $9/mo Hobby (10% transaction fee); Pro $99/mo (2.9% fee) | Not on the pricing page | skool.com/pricing, read 2026-10-13 |
| Kajabi | Courses, marketing and community in one business tool | $179/mo Basic, billed monthly ($143/mo annually) | Pro only: $499/mo monthly ($399/mo annually) | kajabi.com/pricing, read 2026-10-13 |
| Thinkific | Course-first businesses | €53/mo Basic, billed monthly (€39/mo annually); the page served euros | Add-on at $199/mo; included on select Plus contracts | thinkific.com/pricing, read 2026-10-13 |
| Podia | The lowest all-in-one price for a small creator business | $42/mo Mover ($504/year), plus a 5% Podia fee | Not on the pricing page | podia.com/pricing, read 2026-10-13 |
| Disciple | A community that lives in its own branded app | $599/mo Branded App, billed yearly | Included on every plan | disciple.community/pricing, read 2026-10-13 |
| Bettermode | Brand and product communities embedded in your own site | $149/mo Starter, billed yearly ($199/mo monthly) | Not on the pricing page | bettermode.com/pricing, read 2026-10-13 |
| Choicely (not a community platform) | Your own app in the stores, next to your community | Free to start; publishing from $25/mo Premium, billed monthly | Yes: native iOS and Android under your own developer accounts | choicely.com/pricing, read 2026-10-13 |
All prices are in US dollars unless marked; Thinkific showed euros for our location, so your currency may differ. "Not on the pricing page" means the vendor doesn't list a branded app there, not that one can never be arranged. Apple ($99/year) and Google ($25 once) charge their own developer fees for any app published under your name.
Best for: creators and brands who want a community that looks and feels like their own, with discussions, events and courses in one place. It's the closest like-for-like move from Mighty.
Watch out for: the advertised $89/month is the annual-billing price, and the plans step up quickly ($199 Business, $419 Scale, both on annual billing).
Branded app: "Custom branded iOS and Android apps" are on Circle Plus only, at custom pricing, with store submission and listings handled by Circle. The situation is much like Mighty Pro's.
Best for: a simple paid group with a classroom, at the lowest entry price on this list. The setup is deliberately minimal, which is the point.
Watch out for: transaction fees. Hobby is $9/month with a 10% transaction fee; Pro is $99/month with 2.9%. Run the numbers on your expected revenue before choosing a plan. Customisation is limited by design.
Branded app: none listed on Skool's pricing page.
Best for: a business built around courses that also needs its marketing (pages, email, checkout) in the same tool, with community as part of the package.
Watch out for: price. Basic is $179/month billed monthly ($143/month annually), the highest entry price among the course platforms here.
Branded app: on Pro only, $499/month billed monthly ($399/month annually); Kajabi's table lists it as "Included ($199/mo value)".
Best for: course-first businesses where the community supports the courses. The Basic plan includes one community with a private feed, DMs and weekly digests.
Watch out for: the community is a supporting feature here, not the centre. If your members come for each other rather than for the lessons, Circle or Skool will fit better. Prices may appear in your local currency: we were shown €53/month billed monthly, €39/month annually.
Branded app: a branded iOS and Android app is an add-on at $199/month, and Thinkific says it is included on select Plus contracts.
Best for: a small creator business that wants a storefront, digital products, email and a community for one modest price. Podia's pricing page says community comes with every plan.
Watch out for: the cheapest plan, Mover ($42/month or $504/year), adds a 5% Podia fee on top of payment processing and caps email at 100 subscribers. Shaker ($84/month) removes the Podia fee.
Branded app: none listed on Podia's pricing page.
Best for: organisations and creators whose community should live in its own app, under their own name. This is the platform on the list built most directly around that idea, and if a branded community app is what you want, it belongs on your shortlist.
Watch out for: there is no low entry tier. The Branded App plan is $599/month billed yearly, Branded App Pro is $999/month, and Organisation starts at $3,400/month. The pricing page shows no monthly-billing option for these plans.
Branded app: included on every plan, along with a web version. In Disciple's words, "it'll be your own app in the app stores with you listed as the developer." Of everything here, it's the most direct answer to "I want what Mighty Pro offers without a custom sales quote."
Best for: companies running a brand, customer or product community, especially one that should sit inside their own website. Bettermode pitches itself as a branded community you own "instead of another Slack or Discord group".
Watch out for: it is aimed at businesses more than solo creators, and the jump between tiers is large: Starter is $149/month billed yearly ($199/month monthly), Growth $1,500/month.
Branded app: none listed on Bettermode's pricing page.
Choicely is not a community platform, so it isn't an alternative to Mighty Networks in the same sense as the seven above. It doesn't host courses or run discussion threads. It's on this list for one reason: some people leaving Mighty mainly want their own app in the App Store and Google Play, and on Mighty that is only available in Mighty Pro, at a custom price.
What Choicely does: you build native iOS and Android apps and publish them under your own Apple and Google developer accounts, so the store listing carries your name. The app can send push notifications, carry content feeds, articles and video, keep a members' area behind a login, and run polls, ratings and votes. Web pages open inside the app.
How it sits next to a community platform: link your community from the app; the community stays where it is. You can keep Mighty, or move to any platform above, and have an app of your own either way, with your brand and your push notifications.
Pricing, read on our own site on October 13, 2026: free to start, with publishing to the stores from Premium at $25/month, billed monthly. You submit the app yourself under your own developer accounts; the Publish Assistant guides you through the steps, from the developer accounts to the store listings.
Pick Choicely if: you want an app with your name on it in both stores, and your community, courses or memberships can stay on the platform that already runs them. Don't pick it if you need the community or the courses themselves: choose one of the seven above for that.
Yes, but only in Mighty Pro. Mighty's pricing page lists "Your Own Branded Apps" for Mighty Pro alone; Launch ($79/month), Scale ($179/month) and Growth ($354/month) don't include it. Mighty Pro is priced on request.
Skool's Hobby plan at $9/month is the lowest entry price we found, but it carries a 10% transaction fee. Podia's Mover plan is $42/month with a 5% Podia fee. Which works out cheaper depends on how much you sell.
Thinkific and Kajabi are built around courses. Thinkific starts lower (€53/month billed monthly, as shown to us); Kajabi starts at $179/month but bundles more marketing tools.
Disciple includes one on every plan, from $599/month billed yearly. Kajabi includes one on Pro ($499/month), Thinkific sells one as a $199/month add-on, and Circle offers one on Circle Plus at custom pricing. Skool, Podia and Bettermode don't list one on their pricing pages.
You can publish your own app with a tool like Choicely and link your community from it; the community stays on Mighty. Members still use Mighty for the community itself.
For an app listed under your name, yes. Apple charges $99/year and Google $25 once, whichever platform builds the app.
Choicely publishes this post and appears in it. We've tried to describe every platform fairly, including where another product is the better choice.
Every price and plan detail was read on the vendor's own pricing page on October 13, 2026. Prices change; check the vendor's page before you buy.