In today’s post, I’ll compare Mighty Networks and Skool.
Mighty Networks and Skool cater to different audiences, but both are powerful and feature-rich online community platforms.
I have 5+ years of instructional design experience, running various communities. Having used both of these platforms, I guess this would be the right time for me to compare these tools.
Before diving into the details, let me give you a brief overview of these platforms.
| Features | Skool | Mighty Networks |
| Price | $99/mo (only one plan) | Starting at $39/mo |
| Trial | It provides a 14-day free trial. | It provides a 14-day free trial |
| Any discount available? | No | With the annual purchase, you can save up to $198/year |
| Mobile apps | iOS and Android | iOS and Android with custom branding and DFY services |
Overview
Mighty Networks is a popular online community platform founded in 2017 by Gia Bianchini, who previously worked at Ning.
One standout feature of Mighty Networks is its comprehensive mobile apps, which greatly contribute to maintaining high community engagement.
On the other hand, Skool is a community and course hosting platform founded by Sam Ovens in 2019.
I have been following Sam Ovens for the past three to four years, and his content is truly top-notch.
Through Consulting.com, he has assisted numerous struggling trainers and consultants in scaling their business using a proven system.
He saw there was a market gap in community-centric coaching platforms and decided to fully commit to Skool.
👉 Long story short, I use Skool for my community because I believe in the vision of Sam Ovens, and it is also backed by Alex Hormozi. They have implemented really effective growth flywheels in their business model. I’m sure it will be the best in its class, matter of time.
What do I like about Skool over Mighty Networks?
- Good community search engine: Skool has a feature called Discover, where you can search for any keyword to find and join communities, and switch between them. As a community owner, it can also drive a lot of organic leads, similar to Facebook groups.
- Good UI/UX: Skool has a really good UI and UX (intuitive). On the other hand, Mighty Network’s UI seems very cluttered and confusing. They have made a lot of changes to their products over the years, leading to a great deal of confusion and wasted time for their users.
- Gamification feature: Skool offers gamification features like leaderboards, level hierarchy, a point system, default levels, and the ability to create gamification strategies to unlock products at higher levels. These features enhance community building and engagement, providing a fun and interactive experience for members. Mighty Networks doesn’t offer any!
- Rich member profiles: When it comes to member profiles, you will not only be able to see their biography and basic information, but also the levels and bonds they have earned. You can follow them, see their last active time, and much more.
What do I like about Mighty Networks over Skool?
- Built-in video hosting: With Mighty Networks, you can directly upload videos up to 2GB in size, as it has built-in video hosting. In contrast, Skool requires you to host videos on third-party tools like Vimeo, Wistia, or Bunny.net.
- Native live streaming: Mighty Networks eliminates the need for external integrations like Zoom by offering native live streaming functionality. On the other hand, Skool lacks this feature and requires integration with Zoom or YouTube Live.
- Built-in ambassador program: Unlike Skool, Mighty Networks has a built-in ambassador program with three incentive levels (bronze, silver, and gold). You can share a unique referral link, motivate community members to invite others, and get rewarded for their work.
- “Done for you” service: Mighty Networks offers a “Done for You” service where their development team will design the apps for you if you don’t have time to create them. You just need to provide input to the team.
- Real-time chat feature: Mighty Networks offers a space type called “Chat,” which functions similarly to WhatsApp or Discord groups. However, if it’s open, users tend to flock to this channel, potentially leaving the rest of the community dormant. 😅
Common downsides:
- No community moderation tools: Skool and Mighty Networks lack community moderation tools like keyword blocking, profanity checking, and flagging posts & comments. Having these moderation features would be really helpful, especially for large/public communities.
- Limited specialized course features: Both Skool and Mighty Networks do not offer highly specialized features for course creation and management, such as course compliance, quizzes, and assessments. If you require these features, it would be better to consider tools like Kajabi or Thinkific.
- Lack of automation: Unlike other tools like Circle, neither of these platforms comes with automation capabilities for community engagement using triggers and actions.
- Lack of integrations: Both platforms lack an API, which is surprising. Mighty Networks, being one of the early community platforms, has very few integrations apart from Zapier. On the other hand, Skool supports Webhooks (good!) and Zapier.
Nevertheless, both of these platforms come with really good apps for Android and iOS.
Upfront bottomline:
In summary, Skool is the best choice for creating fun-based communities with strong gamification elements, while Mighty Networks offers a more feature-rich platform.
I chose between Skool over Mighty Networks.
It offers better UI/UX, gamification features, and good iOS and Android apps. All their features are focused around one thing: “increase community engagement”.
That’s the main thing, right?
Also, I have high conviction with Skool because it’s the platform by a person that I admire that is Sam Ovens who is a visionary and also backed my Alex Hormozi.
For more detailed information, you can read my individual Skool review and Mighty Networks review posts.
3 key aspects compared
UI/UX
When comparing the UI and UX of Skool and Mighty Networks, Skool stands out with its well-designed and intuitive interface.
Users feel at home immediately, resulting in higher engagement rates right from the start. I’ve witnessed higher engagement on Skool than on any other platform.
On the other hand, Mighty Networks’ interface often feels cluttered, despite a UI revamp three years ago.
Users might struggle to navigate the platform, potentially hindering engagement.
Also the UI of Mighty Networks needs improvement—UI elements have excessive padding, appearing bloated and less polished. This can negatively impact users’ perception of your community.
In terms of enhanced UI/UX and community engagement, Skool is far superior.
Gamification
When it comes to gamification, as I mentioned earlier, Skool offers numerous features like leaderboards, leveling systems, and point systems.
For example, when people engage in the community, they can earn points.
Whenever someone receives a like on their posts or comments, they get one point.
These points can be used to redeem access to various courses and unlock perks such as direct messaging other community members.
I really appreciate how the point system simplifies community moderation.
On the other hand, Mighty Networks lacks built-in gamification features like points and levels.
However, Mighty Networks has a badges feature where people can be rewarded for completing specific activities like courses or milestones.
If you want to extend these capabilities, you may need to integrate with third-party apps like Pointagram, which somewhat defeats the purpose of an all-in-one platform.
Hosting events
Mighty Networks provides native live streaming abilities.
You can go directly within the platform through their mobile apps as well without need of integrating with any external software.
It also supports integrations with Zoom to let users schedule Zoom meetings or webinars.
On the other hand, Skool has a dedicated calendar feature similar to Mighty Networks.
However, it doesn’t come with built-in live streaming. You need to link it up with external platforms like Zoom or YouTube.
👉 However, in either cases, most people tend to use Zoom because of low latency and real-timeness, so it may not be an issue.
All in all,Skool(affiliate link) wins due to its superior UI/UX and gamification features, all designed to maximize community engagement. Its intuitive design and interactive elements like points systems and leaderboards create a more engaging experience across both web and mobile platforms
