Community platforms
Asked as “customer community platform”, and as “online community software for customers”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B software company. 62 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, six models each.
Standing · first-choice share
29%
Contested · Discourse 18%
29Bettermode18Discourse16Higher Logic Vanilla37others
29% of first choices, contested.
Since September 2026↗new leaderNew leader since September 2026: Bettermode (29%) replaces Higher Logic Vanilla (23% then, 13% now), 16 points clear, past the 12-point floor.Bettermode leads at 29%, replacing Higher Logic Vanilla, which led at 23% and stands at 13% now: 16 points clear, past the floor.
The standing
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all six models, for a mid-market B2B software company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrantSince September 2026
01
Bettermode29%10%48accepted challenger▲+6Since September 2026: 23% → 29%, +6 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.23% → 29%
Bettermode29%10%48accepted challenger▲+6Since September 2026: 23% → 29%, +6 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.23% → 29%02
Discourse18%6%49accepted challenger▲+4Since September 2026: 13% → 16%, +4 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.13% → 16%
Discourse18%6%49accepted challenger▲+4Since September 2026: 13% → 16%, +4 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.13% → 16%03
Higher Logic Vanilla16%13%38accepted challenger▼−11Since September 2026: 23% → 13%, −11 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.23% → 13%
Higher Logic Vanilla16%13%38accepted challenger▼−11Since September 2026: 23% → 13%, −11 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.23% → 13%04
Circle11%13%53accepted challenger▼−2Since September 2026: 15% → 13%, −2 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.15% → 13%
Circle11%13%53accepted challenger▼−2Since September 2026: 15% → 13%, −2 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.15% → 13%05
Gainsight Customer Communities3%8%36accepted challenger▼−3Since September 2026: 6% → 4%, −3 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.6% → 4%
Gainsight Customer Communities3%8%36accepted challenger▼−3Since September 2026: 6% → 4%, −3 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.6% → 4%06
Mighty Networks3%23%31accepted challenger▲+2Since September 2026: 2% → 4%, +2 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 4%
Mighty Networks3%23%31accepted challenger▲+2Since September 2026: 2% → 4%, +2 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 4%07
Discord3%46%13criticized challenger▼−7Since September 2026: 11% → 4%, −7 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.11% → 4%
Discord3%46%13criticized challenger▼−7Since September 2026: 11% → 4%, −7 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.11% → 4%08
Higher Logic2%25%12criticized challenger▲+2Since September 2026: 0% → 2%, +2 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 2%
Higher Logic2%25%12criticized challenger▲+2Since September 2026: 0% → 2%, +2 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 2%Show the three products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
11
Khoros Communities0%52%33criticized challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%
Khoros Communities0%52%33criticized challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%10
Salesforce Experience Cloud0%41%27criticized challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%
Salesforce Experience Cloud0%41%27criticized challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%09
Zendesk Community0%13%15accepted challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%
Zendesk Community0%13%15accepted challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%The floor is 12 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one is noise, and both are shown. How the floor is measured
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.
Head to head
All six head-to-head pages: the top four products, each against each
Recommended versus criticized
Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.
Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
0102030405060708091011Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative40%
Key
01Bettermode29%
Bettermode29%02Discourse18%
Discourse18%03Higher Logic Vanilla16%
Higher Logic Vanilla16%04Circle11%
Circle11%05Gainsight Customer Communities3%
Gainsight Customer Communities3%06Mighty Networks3%
Mighty Networks3%07Discord3%
Discord3%08Higher Logic2%
Higher Logic2%09Zendesk Community0%
Zendesk Community0%10Salesforce Experience Cloud0%
Salesforce Experience Cloud0%11Khoros Communities0%
Khoros Communities0%What they warned about
A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
Khoros Communities52%
17 of 33 labels negative · 10 of 6 models · 4 hard negative
“**Verdict:** Avoid unless you're a large enterprise with the budget and team to manage a complex, potentially buggy platform.” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt
Salesforce Experience Cloud41%
11 of 27 labels negative · 8 of 6 models · 2 hard negative
“**When to avoid**: Unless you're already all-in on Salesforce stack. Often criticized as bloated for pure community use.” Grok 4.20, negative prompt
Mighty Networks23%
7 of 31 labels negative · 5 of 6 models · 4 hard negative
““Platforms to Avoid (Unsuitable for most large enterprises): Circle, Mighty Networks, Bettermode (formerly Tribe)”” Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt
Circle13%
7 of 53 labels negative · 5 of 6 models · 3 hard negative
““Platforms to Avoid (Unsuitable for most large enterprises): Circle, Mighty Networks, Bettermode (formerly Tribe)”” Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt
What they cite
Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: fourteen of the six in this edition.
Sites the answers cite
75 of 84 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 14 of 6 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 1033 links across 223 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page. None of the 36 answers across every segment cited this index's own page for the category.
vendor site · Bettermode42 answers · 67 citations · 14 models
vendor site · Guideflow38 answers · 50 citations · 12 models
34 answers · 34 citations · 11 models
vendor site · LearnWorlds32 answers · 37 citations · 10 models
27 answers · 28 citations · 11 models
24 answers · 38 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Spotsaas24 answers · 25 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Higher Logic23 answers · 33 citations · 11 models
20 answers · 44 citations · 9 models
vendor site · WorkRamp19 answers · 19 citations · 9 models
17 answers · 18 citations · 8 models
16 answers · 17 citations · 10 models
Pages the answers cite
The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.
35 answers · 12 models
34 answers · 11 models
29 answers · 12 models
27 answers · 9 models
26 answers · 11 models
23 answers · 10 models
19 answers · 9 models
18 answers · 10 models
17 answers · 9 models
16 answers · 7 models
Search against answers
Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “best customer community platform”, “customer community platform”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
| Company and products | Share | Own site cited | Name searches, Google | AI search demand, est. | Organic visits | Paid search a month, est. | Google ads, last 30 days | Best Google position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bettermode bettermode.com | 29% | 134 | 880 | 16 | 13,780 | 7 | ||
| Discourse discourse.org | 18% | 116 | 49,500 | 3,505 | 134,346 | 3 | ||
| Higher Logic higherlogic.com Higher Logic Vanilla 16%, Higher Logic 2% | 18% | 99 | 1,900 | 79 | 12,921 | $10,173 | 23 | 4 |
| Circle circle.so | 11% | 128 | 301,000 | 242,528 | 215,494 | $1,570 | 55 | 8 |
| Gainsight Customer Communities gainsight.com | 3% | 99 | 50 | 0 | 59,569 | 58 | 2 | |
| Mighty Networks mightynetworks.com | 3% | 73 | 12,100 | 255 | 53,793 | 2 | ||
| Discord discord.com | 3% | 52 | 6,120,000 | 159,421 | 8,388,839 | 9 | ||
| Zapnito zapnito.com | 2% | 8 | ||||||
| LearnWorlds learnworlds.com | 2% | 80 | 5,400 | 67 | 27,442 | $51 | 69 | |
| Zoho parent site Zoho CommunitySpaces 2% | 2% | 18 | 10 | 0 |
Google's top ten for the two searches hold 16 sites; 1 of them are among the sites the models cited here (higherlogic.com). The first result for “best customer community platform” is uscreen.tv.
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.ShowHide
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ShowHideModelDirect“What is the best customer community platform for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which online community software for customers would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top customer community platforms and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best customer community platform for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a customer community platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which customer community platforms should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Opus 5no first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choicenothing named
Claude Opus 4.8no first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choicenothing named
GPT-6 Astrano first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choicenothing named
GPT-5.6 Solno first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.1 Prono first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choicenothing named
Perplexity Sonar Prono first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choicenothing named
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against
The record
One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record
Zero rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
| Prompt | Model | Version string | Time (UTC) | Searched | Sources | Latency |
|---|
Normalization in this category
Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.
ShowHide
Category-scoped readings
Gainsight read as Gainsight Customer Communities
Gainsight (Community) read as Gainsight Customer Communities
Gainsight CC (formerly inSided) read as Gainsight Customer Communities
Gainsight Communities read as Gainsight Customer Communities
Gainsight inSided read as Gainsight Customer Communities
Khoros read as Khoros Communities
Khoros (formerly Lithium) read as Khoros Communities
Unresolved, counted raw
Answerbase
Chatter
CommonLit
ConnectBy
EzyCourse
Forumcat
Frappe Helpdesk / FreeScout / osTicket
Gainsight Spaces
GetSatisfaction
Guild
HipChat
HubSpot Community
IBM Connections
Inbound Community (formerly Comm100 Community)
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Communities
SMF
Salesforce Experience Cloud Customer Community
Social+
Talkyard
Telligent (now part of Verint)
Tribul/Rocket.Chat
TruInsight
WordPress with BuddyPress/Members
Yammer/Slack Communities
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.