B2B communities have evolved from simple discussion forums into strategic customer experience (CX) platforms. Today, enterprises use online communities to scale support, improve onboarding, reduce operational costs, and strengthen long-term customer relationships.
This article answers a high-intent search question enterprise buyers are actively asking: what are the best community platforms for B2B—and how are organisations using them in the real world?
What Is a CX Community?
A CX community is a branded digital environment where customers, partners, or members interact with peers and the organisation itself.
In B2B environments, communities are used to:
- Enable customer self-service and peer-to-peer support
- Share expertise, product knowledge, and best practices
- Improve onboarding and product adoption
- Build trust, loyalty, and long-term advocacy
At their best, B2B communities connect people, streamline processes, and extend the value of enterprise technology investments such as CRM and CX platforms.
The Best B2B Community Platforms
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Khoros Communities
What is Khoros Communities?
Khoros Communities is a dedicated enterprise platform designed for large-scale customer engagement, peer support, and knowledge sharing.
What Is It Used For?
Khoros is widely used by global B2B organisations to reduce support cases, centralise product expertise, and grow customer advocacy at scale.
Top Features
- Customisable community design and branding
- Scalable forums and collaborative knowledge bases
- AI-powered self-service journeys
- Advanced engagement and deflection analytics
B2B Use Case: Qlik
Qlik is a global data analytics and business intelligence provider serving enterprise customers worldwide. Its customer community plays a critical role in helping users troubleshoot, share insights, and adopt complex analytics tools.
After migrating its community to Khoros, Qlik set an initial goal of 20% membership growth. The community quickly exceeded expectations.
Results Included:
- Growth from 58,000 to 85,000 members in year one
- More than 100,000 members today
- 25% year-over-year reduction in support cases
As Suzanne Macaluso, Senior Community Specialist at Qlik, explained:
Partnering with Khoros has helped enhance Qlik Community such that it is now viewed internally and externally as ‘the heartbeat’ of Qlik
Khoros does not publish pricing publicly. User feedback consistently positions it as a premium, enterprise-level investment.
Salesforce Experience Cloud
What is Salesforce Experience Cloud?
Salesforce Experience Cloud is an enterprise community platform built natively on Salesforce. It allows organisations to create secure, branded portals for customers and partners, directly connected to CRM data, cases, and workflows.
What Is It Used For?
Experience Cloud is commonly used for customer self-service, case tracking, and partner enablement, particularly by organisations already operating at enterprise Salesforce scale.
Top Features
- Branded customer and partner portals
- AI-powered self-service and automation
- Personalised experiences driven by CRM data
- Native integration with Service Cloud
B2B Use Case: We Are Group
We Are Group is a UK-based organisation that supports vulnerable individuals by coordinating access to critical services. Interestingly, prior to its Salesforce transformation, teams relied on multiple disconnected legacy systems that slowed delivery and created duplicated work.
Working with Salesforce partner Noltic, the organisation consolidated five legacy CRMs into a single Salesforce platform and launched a customer-facing Experience Cloud portal. This enabled service users to self-register, upload documents, and track case progress online.
Measured Outcomes Included:
- Salesforce user adoption increased from 25% to 75%
- Service delivery timelines reduced from four months to two
According to the project team, the new platform was described as:
Critical to maintaining timely support when it matters most.
Pricing
Salesforce pricing varies by edition and scale. Service Cloud self-service communities typically start at $2 per login or $5 per member, depending on contract structure.
Higher Logic Thrive
What is Higher Logic Thrive?
Higher Logic Thrive is a modern community platform built for B2B organisations and SaaS providers focused on engagement, personalisation, and measurable CX outcomes.
What Is It Used For?
It is commonly used to scale customer success, humanise brands, and deflect support through peer-driven knowledge sharing.
Top Features
- Social-style feeds, discussions, and Q&A
- AI-powered search with conversational answers
- Gamification and engagement scoring
- Automated campaigns and journey analytics
B2B Use Case: Genesys
Genesys is a global SaaS provider of customer experience and contact centre technology. Because its customer base expanded, the company needed a scalable way to support users while maintaining a strong human connection.
Using Higher Logic Thrive, Genesys launched a customer community featuring video content, live Q&A sessions, and regular “Ask Me Anything” discussions hosted by internal experts.
According to the Genesys community team, this approach helped
bring customers closer to the brand while enabling scalable, community-led support.
Pricing
Higher Logic Thrive uses flat annual pricing with unlimited members and administrators, tailored to organisational requirements.
Higher Logic Vanilla
What Is Higher Logic Vanilla?
Vanilla is a flexible, developer-friendly community platform designed to support modern customer and product communities.
What Is It Used For?
Vanilla is often used for crowdsourced support, product feedback, and customer-led innovation.
Top Features
- Drag-and-drop community design
- Q&A forums and searchable knowledge bases
- Product ideation and voting tools
- Detailed engagement and behaviour reporting
B2B Use Case: Smartsheet
Smartsheet is a collaborative work management platform used by enterprises to plan and automate work. Its customer community supports peer-to-peer learning and scalable support.
As Gwyneth Casazza, Senior Manager of Support at Smartsheet, said:
The platform offers great value with the features that we needed to deliver a modern community experience to Smartsheet customers.
Pricing
Vanilla offers Essentials, Corporate, and Enterprise plans, with pricing provided via demo.
Mighty Networks
What Is Mighty Networks?
Mighty Networks is a community-first platform focused on engagement, learning, and relationship-building, with growing adoption among B2B SaaS companies.
What Is It Used For?
It is best suited for peer-led communities, customer education, and cohort-based learning, rather than traditional support forums.
Top Features
- Social-style activity feeds and gamification
- AI Cohost for engagement prompts
- Courses, challenges, and live events
B2B Use Case: Mindbody
Mindbody provides business management software for gyms, spas, and wellness providers. Through Mindbody One, the company uses Mighty Pro to support business owners and managers.
According to Kate Nelson, Global Community Lead for Mindbody One:
The Mindbody One community would not be the safe place for our wellness customers to connect, grow and learn together without Mighty Pro.
Pricing
Mighty Networks plans range from $49 to $360 per month, with custom pricing for branded applications.
Frequently Asked Questions About B2B Community Platforms
What is the best community platform for B2B?
The best platform depends on your goals. Salesforce and Khoros suit large enterprises, Higher Logic and Vanilla balance engagement and support, while Mighty Networks excels in education-led communities.
How do B2B communities improve customer experience?
They provide faster access to knowledge, peer support, and ongoing engagement, reducing friction while increasing satisfaction and loyalty.
Are B2B communities worth the investment?
Simple answer: Yes. Many organisations report measurable benefits such as support deflection, higher product adoption, and stronger retention.
What should I look for in a B2B community platform?
Key factors include scalability, analytics, CX integrations, moderation tools, and features that encourage sustained participation across the customer lifecycle.
For more guidance on community and social CX engagement, read our ultimate guide.
