Membership & Community Platforms
Free means different things here. Discourse's software is open source and free to run on your own servers, and its hosted Free plan includes 2 staff seats and unlimited members. Patreon charges no monthly fee but keeps 10% of member payments, plus processing. Skool has no free plan for owners, though groups can be free for members: Hobby costs $9 a month, plus 10% + 30 cents per transaction, after a 14-day trial.
Best for open-source projects and companies running a public, searchable discussion forum
Discourse is open-source forum and chat software for companies, startups and open-source projects that want public, searchable discussion. Hosting starts with a free plan, and Pro costs $100 a month for 5 staff seats with unlimited members.
Free plan
paid from $100/mo
Best for podcasters, video creators and artists who want paid memberships with no monthly fee
Patreon is a membership platform for podcasters, video creators, musicians and artists, with tiers, one-time sales, video and chats. It charges no monthly fee: new creators pay 10% of income, plus payment processing, currency conversion and payout fees.
Free plan
starting price
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Membership & Community Platforms by the numbers
$100/mo
Median starting price
50%
Offer a free trial
100%
Have a free plan
2
Products tracked
Computed from the published pricing of the 2 Membership & Community Platforms products in this list. Pricing last checked against vendor pages October 5, 2026.
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