Most organisations evaluate community platforms the same way: they look at the monthly or annual price, compare features side-by-side, and choose the plan that fits their current budget. It's a reasonable approach, but it misses the most important variable in the decision.
The real question is not what a platform costs this year. It's what you've paid after ten years, and what you own when that period ends.
We've mapped out the full 10-year cost model for the three most common community platforms we see organisations using before they work with us: Hivebrite, Mighty Networks, and Circle.so. Then we compare those numbers to the alternative, a one-time investment in infrastructure you own permanently.
Why the 10-year frame matters
Community platforms are not short-term tools. When an organisation invests in community infrastructure, whether that's a faith community, an alumni network, a professional association, or a nonprofit, they're building for the long term. The platform needs to serve their members for a decade, not a year.
SaaS pricing is designed to obscure this. The monthly number looks small. The annual number feels manageable. It's only when you extend the model out to the timeframe that actually matches your community's lifespan that the economics become clear.
Hivebrite: the enterprise SaaS cost model
Hivebrite targets large alumni networks, professional associations, and nonprofits. Enterprise plans typically range from $25,000 to $50,000+ per year, depending on member count and features required. This pricing is not publicly listed, organisations must request a quote, and it increases as community size grows.
Let's model the conservative scenario: $30,000/year, with a modest 5% annual price increase (not uncommon when SaaS vendors raise enterprise pricing on renewals).
| Year | Annual Cost | Cumulative | You Own |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $30,000 | $30,000 | Nothing |
| Year 2 | $31,500 | $61,500 | Nothing |
| Year 3 | $33,075 | $94,575 | Nothing |
| Year 5 | $36,465 | $163,154 | Nothing |
| Year 7 | $40,262 | $238,923 | Nothing |
| Year 10 | $46,539 | $352,847 | Nothing |
At the 10-year mark: approximately $350,000 spent. Platform still belongs to Hivebrite. Data on Hivebrite's servers. No equity built. If you stop paying, the platform goes dark.
Mighty Networks: the mid-market cost model
Mighty Networks targets creator communities and is significantly cheaper than Hivebrite. Enterprise-adjacent plans run $360–$830/month ($4,320–$9,960/year). However, for larger organisations needing custom domains, advanced analytics, and white-label apps, they quickly move to the top tier or require add-ons.
Model: $700/month ($8,400/year) with a conservative 8% annual increase as features expand and pricing tiers adjust.
| Year | Annual Cost | Cumulative | You Own |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $8,400 | $8,400 | Nothing |
| Year 2 | $9,072 | $17,472 | Nothing |
| Year 3 | $9,798 | $27,270 | Nothing |
| Year 5 | $11,427 | $48,977 | Nothing |
| Year 7 | $13,322 | $73,994 | Nothing |
| Year 10 | $17,089 | $111,290 | Nothing |
Lower than Hivebrite, but still $111,000 over a decade and zero ownership at the end. And that's for an organisation that stayed on Mighty Networks' platform despite growing community needs that the template cannot accommodate.
Circle.so: the affordable SaaS cost model
Circle.so is the most affordable of the major platforms. Professional plans run $89–$399/month. For organisations using the Professional tier at $199/month, modelled with 10% annual increases:
| Year | Annual Cost | Cumulative | You Own |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $2,388 | $2,388 | Nothing |
| Year 2 | $2,627 | $5,015 | Nothing |
| Year 3 | $2,889 | $7,904 | Nothing |
| Year 5 | $3,492 | $13,931 | Nothing |
| Year 7 | $4,222 | $21,743 | Nothing |
| Year 10 | $5,639 | $33,312 | Nothing |
Circle is inexpensive, $33,000 over 10 years at this tier. For a small creator community, this is entirely reasonable. For a large organisation that needs enterprise infrastructure, the question is whether Circle can even serve your needs at year 3, let alone year 10.
The ownership alternative
Socio Connect builds custom community platforms for a one-time investment. A web platform starts from $200,000. A full platform including native iOS and Android apps, analytics infrastructure, and ongoing support starts from $500,000+.
Those numbers look large. But here's the 10-year model assuming a $350,000 build (web + apps) and an optional $50,000/year support plan:
| Year | Annual Cost | Cumulative | You Own |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $350,000 (build) | $350,000 | Full platform |
| Year 2 | $50,000 (support) | $400,000 | Full platform |
| Year 3 | $50,000 | $450,000 | Full platform |
| Year 5 | $50,000 | $550,000 | Full platform |
| Year 7 | $50,000 | $650,000 | Full platform |
| Year 10 | $50,000 | $800,000 | Full platform |
With the optional support plan, the 10-year cost is higher than Hivebrite. But that comparison misses two things:
First: Support is optional. Many organisations run their owned platforms with minimal external support after the first year or two, particularly once they've built internal technical capacity. Strip out support entirely and the 10-year cost is $350,000, directly comparable to Hivebrite, with full ownership at the end.
Second: At year 10, you own an asset. A custom platform that has served 100,000 members for a decade, with 10 years of engagement data, is an organisational asset with real value. The Hivebrite customer at year 10 owns nothing except a data export.
The reframe: per-member lifetime cost
Here's the number that reframes the entire decision:
A $350,000 custom platform serving 100,000 members costs $3.50 per member in lifetime infrastructure. That's not $3.50 per member per year, it's $3.50 per member, total, for the life of the platform.
Hivebrite at $30,000/year costs roughly $0.30 per member per year for the same community. That sounds cheaper, until you multiply it by 10 years and compare: $3.00 per member at year 10, still paying forever, owning nothing, versus $3.50 per member once, owning everything.
What the right answer actually depends on
This analysis isn't an argument that every organisation should build a custom platform. It's an argument that the right decision depends on two variables that most organisations don't model properly:
- Your 10-year trajectory. If your community is small and early-stage, SaaS tools are absolutely the right starting point. Circle.so and Mighty Networks are genuinely great products for communities under 5,000–10,000 members. The economics of custom ownership only make sense at scale.
- How you value ownership. Owning your platform means no vendor dependency, no price increases, no feature constraints, and no platform risk. For organisations whose community infrastructure is mission-critical, faith communities, alumni networks, professional associations, the non-financial value of permanent ownership is significant.
The 10-year cost model shows that for large, mission-driven organisations scaling to 50,000–100,000+ members, the economics of custom ownership and the economics of SaaS converge, and then the owned path pulls ahead, permanently.
Next steps
If you're evaluating community platforms and your organisation is at or approaching 10,000 members, the right move is to model your specific numbers, not rely on general comparisons. We run free strategy calls to help organisations understand whether custom ownership makes sense for their community's trajectory.