
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.

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.

Personify, ToucanTech, Discourse and Forumbee all promise to gather your people in one place - but they pick very different people. Here is how the community-software field splits, and how to read it before you sign anything.