Community Platform

Part of the worlds-biggest-software-project initiative.

An AI-native, open-source community platform that unifies forums, groups, events, courses, and paid memberships with intelligent moderation and engagement tools.

Community Platform is an open-source alternative to Circle, Mighty Networks, and Skool for creators, SaaS companies, and professional associations who need an owned-community solution without vendor lock-in or steep per-feature pricing. It combines discussion spaces, live events, course delivery, and membership monetisation in a single self-hostable platform, augmented by AI capabilities that go beyond what any incumbent offers today.

Why Community Platform?

Incumbent pricing gates core features. Circle locks automation and AI behind its $199/month Business tier. Bettermode charges an additional $199/month just for API and webhook access. Heartbeat caps members at 350 on its entry plan. Operators on a budget are forced to choose between features and affordability.
No open-source option covers the full stack. Discourse is the only mature open-source community platform, but it lacks native monetisation, course delivery, live events, and AI moderation. Every other major platform is proprietary SaaS with no self-hosted option.
Data portability is absent. No mainstream commercial platform supports ActivityPub or federated identity. Community operators are locked into vendor-specific data silos with limited export capabilities.
AI moderation is superficial or missing. Skool has no AI features at all. Mighty Networks lacks even basic profanity filters. Where AI exists (Circle, Heartbeat), it is bolted on rather than foundational, and cannot learn community-specific norms.
Engagement intelligence does not exist. No current platform offers churn prediction at the member level or proactive re-engagement automation. Operators discover disengaged members only after they have already left.

Key Features

Community Spaces & Discussion

Member profiles with activity history and role-based access controls
Spaces and channels for topic organisation with public, private, and paid access modes
Threaded discussion posts, direct messaging, and chat-based communication
Advanced search across all community content

Events & Courses

Event scheduling with RSVP, calendar integration, and live event hosting
Native course and LMS module co-located with community content
Certificate and credential issuance for course completion

Membership & Monetisation

Paid and free membership gating via Stripe integration
Multi-currency checkout with support for non-Stripe payment methods (PayPal, SEPA)
Flat-fee pricing model with no per-member charges for self-hosted operators

Gamification & Engagement

Points, levels, leaderboards, and unlockable content
Streaks, challenges, and badges for sustained participation
Automation workflows triggered by member lifecycle events (join, course completion, payment, RSVP)

Developer Platform & Integrations

REST and GraphQL APIs with webhook support for third-party integrations
ActivityPub federation for data portability and cross-instance interaction
SSO via OpenID Connect and OAuth 2.0
Open analytics export -- no data locked inside proprietary dashboards

AI-Native Advantage

Community Platform is built with AI at its foundation, not bolted on as an upsell. AI-powered moderation detects nuanced policy violations and context-specific toxicity that rule-based filters miss, with configurable escalation to human moderators. A personalised recommendation engine surfaces threads, events, and member connections based on each individual's interests and activity history rather than simple recency. Engagement forecasting identifies members at risk of churn and triggers targeted re-engagement campaigns before they go quiet -- a capability absent from every incumbent platform. AI-assisted onboarding sequences adapt introductory content, connection suggestions, and milestone prompts to each new member's profile and stated goals.

Tech Stack & Deployment

Self-hosted, cloud, or hybrid deployment to give operators full control over their data and infrastructure
ActivityPub (W3C) support for federation and data portability across the Fediverse
OpenID Connect / OAuth 2.0 for single sign-on and identity federation
WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility compliance for enterprise and public-sector operators
Stripe Connect integration for membership payments and revenue sharing; additional payment providers on the roadmap

Market Context

The online community platform market is valued at approximately USD 1.4 billion in 2026, growing at over 20% CAGR through 2030, driven by creator economy expansion and enterprise adoption of owned communities. Entry-level plans from incumbents range from USD 19--99/month, with growth-tier plans running USD 100--400/month and enterprise plans reaching USD 5,000+/month. Primary buyers include independent creators converting social media audiences into paid memberships, SaaS companies building customer success communities, professional associations replacing legacy forum software, and brands seeking owned alternatives to Facebook Groups.

Project Status

This project is in the research and specification phase.
Contributions, feedback, and domain expertise are welcome.

Contributing

We welcome contributions from developers, domain experts, and potential users. See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Important: All contributions must be your own original work or clearly attributed open-source material with a compatible licence. Copyright infringement and licence violations will not be tolerated and will result in immediate removal of the offending contribution. If you are unsure whether a piece of code, text, or other material is safe to contribute, open an issue and ask before submitting.

Licence

Licence to be determined. See discussion for context. The features survey recommends adopting a permissive licence (MIT or Apache 2.0) to maximise adoption.