
Glue Up, Patreon, Common Room and Invision Community all sell “community.” What they actually sell are different answers to who belongs, who pays and what participation is worth.

Private equity spent a decade buying up the software that runs your professional association. Personify, Higher Logic, Glue Up and a bootstrapped upstart called GroupApp show what is left of the market - and who owns it now.

Kajabi, Discourse, Disciple and a pack of rivals are selling creators and brands the same promise - leave the algorithm behind and own the people who show up. Here is who is actually fighting for the private community, and what they are betting on.

Two platforms, two decades apart in age, are chasing the same prize - the online communities that creators and brands actually own instead of rent from a social feed. Here is what each one is really selling.

IgniteTech, Bevy, Threado, Salesforce, Raklet and Patreon all sell the same promise - a home for your people. Here is how six very different companies are carving up the business of belonging.