9 Best Circle Alternatives in 2026
Asha KumariCircle is a solid platform. Clean design, easy setup, courses and community in one place. If you’re building your first online community, it gets the job done. But here’s the thing (and that always happens with any platform or tool!) The longer you use Circle, the more you notice what’s missing. Transaction fees on every
Read More12 Best Patreon Alternatives for Creators Want Full Control over Data in 2026
Asha KumariPatreon’s new 10% platform fee just went live in August. That means for every $10,000 you earn, $1,000 goes to Patreon before you even factor in payment processing fees. If you’re reading this, you’re probably hitting one of three pain points: fees that scale with your success, zero control over your brand, or limitations that
Read MoreWhat Is a Discussion Forum? Benefits, Examples and Best Platforms
Asha KumariIf you’ve spent any time on the internet, you’ve probably landed on a forum. Maybe it was a Reddit thread answering a question Google couldn’t. Maybe it was a Stack Overflow post that saved your project at 2 a.m. Or maybe it was a niche community where people who share your obscure hobby actually get
Read MoreWhat Is Peer To Peer Learning? Best Platforms and Examples
Asha KumariRemember the first time someone showed you how to use a keyboard shortcut instead of clicking through three menus? You probably learned it from a coworker, not a training manual. That’s peer-to-peer learning in action. And it’s not just happening at your desk. From Reddit threads solving coding bugs to fitness communities sharing workout tips,
Read MoreWhat Is a Cohort-Based Course? A Complete Guide for 2026
Asha KumariHere’s a stat that should make every course creator pause: Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have a 90% dropout rate. Meanwhile, cohort-based courses regularly hit 90% completion rates. Same content. Opposite results. The difference? Learning together vs learning alone. If you’ve ever launched a course only to watch completion rates crater, you know the pain.
Read MoreWhat Is an Open Graph? OG Images Explained for Community Platforms
Asha KumariDid you know that posts with images receive 150% more engagement on social media than those without visuals. Yet most community platforms send shared links out into the world looking like broken previews, missing images, generic text, zero visual appeal. In our previous post, we explained why SEO matters for community growth and why most
Read MoreMedia Storage for Online Communities: The $500/Month Trap
Asha KumariIt starts with a routine check. Just logging into your hosting dashboard like you do every month. Except this time, there’s a number that makes your stomach drop. $547 for media storage. You scroll up to last month’s invoice. $280. Six months ago? $95. Wait. How did this happen? Your community is thriving. 8,000 members.
Read MoreBuddyBoss Activity Sharing: Turn Your Members Into Growth Drivers
Asha KumariYour members can now amplify your community’s best content with a single click. Activity Sharing just launched for BuddyBoss Platform Pro and Plus and it transforms how content spreads in your community. Members can reshare posts across groups, drop them on a friend’s profile, send them via message, or broadcast them to Facebook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp,
Read More7 Community Competition Ideas That Actually Drive Engagement
Asha KumariPoints. Badges. Leaderboards. Ranks. If you run a community, you already know this stuff works. Many platforms using gamified features report up to 48% higher engagement compared with non-gamified ones. But there’s one layer almost no community builder uses and it’s the one that actually changes behavior: competitions. Competitions add what ‘always on’ gamification can’t:
Read MoreIntroducing Competitions: Time-Based Challenges for Your Community
Asha KumariPoints work. Badges work. Leaderboards work. Your members are earning and climbing. But here’s what’s missing: urgency. No urgency means no countdown, no shared push and no reason to act today There’s no reason to engage today instead of next week. No shared moment. No countdown pulling everyone forward at the same time. That changes
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