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Community platforms · September 2026 Edition

Facebook Groups vs Skool

Zero of twelve models named Facebook Groups first on the direct prompt; zero named Skool. Facebook Groups was named by ten of the twelve models and Skool by six and Facebook Groups carries 11 labels and Skool 10, so the shares are not directly comparable.

Facebook Groups

criticized challenger

By Facebook, Colombia, founded 2004. Named in one category this edition.

Skool

accepted challenger

Named in one category this edition.

First-choice share2%2%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.

Negative rate27%20%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.

Rank in category#7#8A position in a field of 14; printed, not drawn.

Labels1110A count; the two differ.

The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Facebook Groups reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Bettermode was named alongside these two in nine of the twelve direct answers. Higher Logic Vanilla vs Facebook Groups · Higher Logic Vanilla vs Skool · Bettermode vs Facebook Groups

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the community platforms page.

By framing

How many of the twelve models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.

Facebook GroupsFirst choices, of twelve modelsSkool

Direct001 against Skool

Paraphrase00

Comparative00

Budget-constrained111 against Facebook Groups

Scale-constrained00

Negative002 against Facebook Groups · 1 against Skool

Bars are first choices, 0 to 12 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to twelve.

Across every category in the September 2026 Edition, Facebook Groups and Skool were named in the same answer thirteen times, of the 32 answers naming Facebook Groups and the 31 naming Skool. In those answers Skool took the first choice one time and Facebook Groups two.

Every model, every framing

The seventy-two answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Facebook Groups and Skool stood in it.

Model	Direct	Paraphrase	Comparative	Budget-constrained	Scale-constrained	Negative
Claude Haiku 4.5
GPT-5.4 mini
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Perplexity Sonar
Grok 4.1 Fast
Mistral Small
DeepSeek V4 Flash
Llama 4 Maverick
Qwen 3.7 Flash
Kimi K2
GLM 4.7 FlashX
MiniMax M2.5

Facebook Groups

Skool

first choice

named as an alternative

argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Facebook Groups on the left and Skool on the right.

The direct prompt

The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Facebook Groups and Skool stood in it.

Neither was named

12 of 12 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.

Claude Haiku 4.5Bettermode alternatives: Gainsight Customer Communities, Higher Logic Vanilla, Influitive, Zendesk Community

GPT-5.4 miniHigher Logic Vanilla alternatives: Gainsight Customer Communities, Khoros Communities

Gemini 3.5 FlashBettermode alternatives: Discourse, Gainsight Customer Communities, Higher Logic Vanilla

Perplexity SonarBettermode alternatives: Circle, Gainsight Customer Communities

Grok 4.1 FastHigher Logic Vanilla alternatives: Bettermode, Gainsight Customer Communities

Mistral SmallBettermode alternatives: Discourse, Jatra

DeepSeek V4 FlashHigher Logic Vanilla alternatives: Bettermode, Gainsight Customer Communities, Salesforce Experience Cloud, Zendesk Community

Llama 4 Maverickno first choice

Qwen 3.7 FlashCircle alternatives: Discourse, Guru, Microsoft Viva Topics & Teams, Salesforce Communities

Kimi K2Higher Logic Vanilla alternatives: Bettermode, Circle, Salesforce Experience Cloud

GLM 4.7 FlashXHigher Logic Vanilla alternatives: Bettermode, Gainsight Customer Communities, Salesforce Experience Cloud, Zendesk Community

MiniMax M2.5Circle, Higher Logic Vanilla alternatives: Bettermode, Salesforce Experience Cloud

Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.

Small business

Facebook Groups leads by four points.

Facebook Groups#5 of 13

Skool#10 of 13

The full small business standing →

Mid-marketThe figures above

Level: the same share of first choices.

Facebook Groups#7 of 14

Skool#8 of 14

The full mid-market standing →

Enterprise

Level: the same share of first choices.

Facebook Groups#– of 9

Skool#– of 9

The full enterprise standing →

What the models said about Facebook Groups

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of seven in this category shown.

“AVOID for Business Communities... never build a business-critical community here.” Kimi K2 · negative prompt · hard negative

“they come with platform lock-in, limited control over the experience, and weak ownership of member data” Perplexity Sonar · negative prompt · soft negative

“Limitations: No data ownership, limited branding, poor monetization, algorithm-dependent” Qwen 3.7 Flash · budget prompt · soft negative

“Start with Facebook Groups or Discord to test community interest and engagement before investing in a paid platform.” GLM 4.7 FlashX · budget prompt · first choice

“free or near-free option like Discord or Facebook Groups ... weaker for branding, customer support workflows” GPT-5.4 mini · budget prompt · alternative

“Completely free and familiar to most users... though moderation can be more challenging.” Claude Haiku 4.5 · budget prompt · alternative

What the models said about Skool

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Five of six in this category shown.

“Avoid Creator-First Platforms (e.g., Circle, Mighty Networks, Skool)” Gemini 3.5 Flash · direct prompt · hard negative

“Why to be cautious: Feature limitations and poor user experience” Mistral Small · negative prompt · soft negative

“Final Pick: If you can spend even a tiny amount, Skool at $9/month gives you the most features per dollar.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · budget prompt · first choice

“Skool at $99/month is one of the most cost-effective all-in-one options with gamification and payments built in.” GLM 4.7 FlashX · budget prompt · alternative

“Skool is a highly simplified platform that combines discussion threads, a course classroom, and an event calendar.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · budget prompt · alternative

Also compared

Higher Logic Vanilla vs Facebook Groups Higher Logic Vanilla vs Skool Bettermode vs Facebook Groups Bettermode vs Skool Circle vs Facebook Groups Circle vs Skool Discourse vs Facebook Groups Discourse vs Skool Discord vs Facebook Groups Discord vs Skool Gainsight Customer Communities vs Facebook Groups Gainsight Customer Communities vs Skool All twenty-eight head-to-head pages and the full community standing

Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.