Platform Comparison
Socio Connect vs Hivebrite:
Own Your Platform vs Rent It
Hivebrite is a SaaS community platform. You pay an annual subscription and your community lives on Hivebrite's servers, infrastructure you will never own. Socio Connect is a custom development agency. We build a community platform that belongs to you permanently, no monthly fees, no vendor lock-in, no feature constraints imposed by someone else's product roadmap.
This page compares both approaches directly, so you can make the right decision for your organisation's scale, budget, and long-term goals.
Choose Hivebrite if…
- • Your community has under 5,000 members
- • You need to launch within weeks
- • You're not ready for a capital investment
- • You want a managed, supported SaaS product
Choose Socio Connect if…
- • Your community is scaling to 10,000–100,000+ members
- • You need infrastructure you permanently own
- • You're paying $25,000+/year and want to stop
- • You need custom native apps under your brand
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | Hivebrite | Socio Connect |
|---|---|---|
| Platform ownership | Rented (SaaS) | Permanently owned |
| Monthly/annual fees | $25,000–$50,000+/year | None after build |
| 10-year total cost (enterprise) | $250,000–$500,000+ | One-time investment |
| Data ownership | Hivebrite's servers | Your servers |
| Custom branding | Limited (white-label) | Fully custom |
| Native mobile apps | White-labeled only | Fully branded native iOS & Android |
| Vendor lock-in | Yes | None |
| Feature customisation | Platform constraints | Built to your specification |
| Time to launch | Weeks | 16–24 weeks |
| Upfront investment | Low | From $200,000 |
| Best for | Under 5,000 members, fast start | 10,000–100,000+ members, long-term scale |
What is Hivebrite?
Hivebrite is a SaaS community platform designed primarily for alumni networks, professional associations, and nonprofit member communities. It offers an out-of-the-box solution with features for member directories, event management, messaging, and community engagement.
Hivebrite operates on a subscription model, typically $25,000 to $50,000+ per year for enterprise plans. Your community lives on Hivebrite's infrastructure, under Hivebrite's domain (or a subdomain of yours), with Hivebrite's branding constraints. You are a tenant in their platform.
The platform is well-suited for organisations that need to launch quickly and don't have the budget or appetite for a custom build. It works reasonably well up to about 5,000–10,000 members before limitations around customisation, mobile experience, and total cost of ownership start to compound.
What is Socio Connect?
Socio Connect is a custom community platform development agency, not a SaaS product. We design and build fully owned digital community infrastructure for large organisations scaling to 100,000+ members.
When you work with Socio Connect, you receive a custom web platform, native iOS and Android apps, engagement infrastructure, and analytics tooling, all built to your exact specification and permanently owned by you. Your data lives on your servers. Your community operates under your domain, your brand, your rules, with no ongoing platform fees to any vendor.
We are the alternative for organisations that have outgrown what SaaS platforms like Hivebrite can offer, and are ready to invest in infrastructure that will serve them for decades, not years.
The 10-Year Cost Comparison
Most organisations evaluate community platforms on monthly cost. The real question is total cost of ownership over 10 years, and what you own at the end of that period.
Hivebrite, 10-Year Cost
$250K–$500K+
- • $25,000–$50,000/year in platform fees
- • Fees increase as your community grows
- • You own nothing at year 10
- • Platform can change pricing, features, or shut down
- • Data export available but platform is gone
Socio Connect, 10-Year Cost
From $200K
- • One-time build investment (no recurring platform fees)
- • Optional support plan: $40,000–$60,000/year
- • You own the platform permanently from day one
- • No vendor can raise prices, change features, or shut down
- • Platform appreciates in value as your community grows
The reframe: $5 per member for life.
A $500,000 custom platform serving 100,000 members equals $5 per member in lifetime infrastructure cost, versus $25–$50 per member per year with Hivebrite compounding forever.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to own your community platform?
Apply for a strategy call. We'll map out what your community needs and whether a custom build is the right next step.
Apply for a Strategy Call