Top 5 Customer Community Platforms for B2B SaaS Companies

Operating a customer community platform is an increasingly important strategy for B2B SaaS companies looking to enhance their customer’s experience. These handy platforms offer a wide range of benefits, including enhancing brand loyalty, increasing engagement, and ultimately boosting retention.

After all, the right customer community platform can be used by B2B SaaS companies for a wide range of purposes. They can be used for community support, hosting Q&A forums, providing knowledge bases, and promoting events, all from one convenient, easy-to-use platform that allows customers to self-serve.

Choosing the right platform is vital for unlocking all those benefits. At their best, customer community platforms boast intuitive design, allowing for customization and branding, and integrate with the company’s existing tech stack.

Some platforms do those things better than others. In this post, we’ll take a deep dive into some of the best on the market.

1. Bettermode: Best For Mid-Market B2B SaaS Teams

Bettermode is a B2B SaaS company-focused community platform that unlocks real value. Not only can it be fully branded, but it helps to drive revenue in direct ways. It’s a branded platform that excels at support deflection, customer education, product feedback, and advocacy. It’s a great option for mid-market B2B SaaS teams, typically those with around 50 – 500 employees, helping to replace myriad Slack channels, forums, and support ticket software all in one centralized, branded hub. 

Bettermode also does something that few others in this segment do, and that’s publish its pricing. The starter package costs $399/month and covers up to 10,000 members. From there, pricing scales predictably, with the growth package (25,000 members) costing $1,500/month. A premium package that covers up to 100,000 members is available on request. We also liked that annual billing helps save up to 16% and that there are no transaction fees. 

Whichever plan you choose, you’ll get access to the full community toolkit. That includes member profiles, private spaces, Q&A, events, discussions, polls, built-in analytics and SEO tools, email digests, customization, and much more. The platform also integrates with virtually all the tech your team is already using, including Salesforce, Zendesk, Mixpanel, Hotjar, Mailchimp, and Discord, among others. While it’s a relatively new player on the scene, it’s already trusted by IBM, Lenovo, Webflow, and Deepl, among other big-name customers, and there’s every chance it becomes the all-out leader in the field before too long. 

2. HigherLogic: A Reliable Customer Community Platform for B2B SaaS Companies

HigherLogic has been around for a long time, and has earned a reputation for being a reliable customer community platform. It offers plenty of features, including a big widget catalog and pre-built analytics tools. Big on compliance, it’s mostly aimed at governments and healthcare organizations, but can be adapted for use by B2B SaaS companies. 

While HigherLogic does now feel a little dated, its design and usability are clean and effective. Many organizations consider it a dependable choice rather than a cutting-edge platform. One downside about HigherLogic is that there’s no pricing available, so you’ll need to get in touch directly to learn about the cost. It typically requires more time to implement than many competing customer community platforms. Organizations should plan for a longer setup process before launching. Even so, many leading businesses and organizations continue to trust the platform. Its long-standing reputation and reliable performance make it a dependable choice for companies seeking a proven solution. 

3. Khoros: Best For Large, Big-Budget Businesses

Khoros has been around since 2001, and during that time has powered more than 4000 communities, resulting in more than $500 million in savings on annual support costs. A large platform, its modules include communities, care, and marketing, and include features such as AI-powered moderation and broad analytical tools.

Khoros is not the easiest platform for beginners to learn. It requires in-house development support for effective implementation. Organizations that invest in the platform gain powerful features and advanced capabilities that support large-scale customer communities. As with HigherLogic, you’ll need to get in touch with Khoros to learn about the pricing, and many users do say that prices tend to rise each year. Still, for large companies with a big budget and the tools/resources to undertake the learning curve, Khoros can be an effective way to develop your customer relationships. 

4. Discourse: Best For Companies Happy to DIY

Developers often choose Discourse because its open-source framework offers extensive customization options. Businesses can create a customer community platform that matches their branding and specific needs. Well-known companies, including OpenAI, Asana, and Zoom, trust the platform for their online communities. Discourse also stands out as one of the most affordable options available, making it an attractive choice for organizations with the technical resources to manage their own platform.

Self-hosting options are free, while managed hosting ranges from $100 to $500. Free options come with much less support, and you’ll have to do everything yourself. There’s a free trial for the paid plans available, allowing businesses to test drive the platform for 14 days. 

5. Zapnito: A Good Option for Building B2B Knowledge Bases

Zapnito isn’t as powerful as some of the other names on this list, but it has developed a strong reputation with companies looking to enhance knowledge-sharing with their customers. The platform provides a streamlined brand destination for knowledge, which can be personalized for each user. It’s a place where customers can connect and share knowledge, including through discussions and online events. As with other platforms, this one asks customers to get in touch for pricing. 

Summing Up The Best Customer Community Platforms for B2B SaaS Companies

The leading B2B SaaS companies are investing heavily in customer community platforms, and with good reason. The best customer community platforms replace multiple software tools with one centralized solution. They help brands increase customer engagement, improve customer support, and build stronger relationships. These platforms also create new revenue opportunities by delivering valuable resources, discussions, and self-service experiences.

As we’ve seen, there are plenty of excellent and well-known customer community platforms on the market. Choosing the one that’s right for you will depend on your organization’s goals. Choose Zapnito if your primary goal is sharing knowledge with customers and building a collaborative learning environment. The platform focuses almost entirely on knowledge sharing, discussions, and educational resources. Choose Bettermode if you need a more complete customer community platform. It offers broader features and transparent pricing from the start. That combination makes it an excellent choice for organizations. It also helps teams improve customer engagement while planning their budgets with confidence.