Community platforms · November 2026 Edition
Circle vs Discord
Two of fourteen models named Circle first on the direct prompt; zero named Discord. Circle was named by fourteen of the fourteen models and Discord by twelve and Circle carries 57 labels and Discord 24, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in two categories this edition.
Named in three categories this edition.
First-choice share14%4%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate12%54%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#4#6A position in a field of 12; printed, not drawn.
Labels5724A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Circle reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Bettermode was named alongside these two in eleven of the fourteen direct answers. Bettermode vs Circle · Bettermode vs Discord · Discourse vs Circle
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the community platforms page.
By framing
How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
CircleFirst choices, of fourteen modelsDiscord
Direct201 against Circle
Paraphrase302 against Circle
Comparative202 against Discord
Budget-constrained222 against Circle
Scale-constrained001 against Discord
Negative102 against Circle · 10 against Discord
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.
Across every category in the November 2026 Edition, Circle and Discord were named in the same answer fifty-five times, of the 153 answers naming Circle and the 82 naming Discord. In those answers Discord took the first choice three times and Circle seventeen.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Circle and Discord stood in it.
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | | | |||
| GPT-5.4 mini | | | ||||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | | ||
| Perplexity Sonar | | | | | ||
| Grok 4.20 | | | | | | |
| Mistral Small | | | | |||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | | ||
| Llama 4 Maverick | | | | | | |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | | | | |
| Kimi K2 | | | | | ||
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | | | | |
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | | | | |
| GPT-6 Luna | | | ||||
| Muse Glimmer 30B | | | | |
Circle Discord first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Circle on the left and Discord on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Circle and Discord stood in it.
Circle first, Discord not the choice
2 of 14 modelsDiscord was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Llama 4 MaverickCircle
Qwen 3.7 FlashBettermode, Circle alternatives: Salesforce Experience Cloud, Zendesk Community
Neither was the first choice, one was named
4 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Grok 4.20Bettermode alternatives: Circle, Discourse, Gainsight Customer Communities
GLM 4.7 FlashXBettermode alternatives: Circle, Higher Logic Vanilla, Influitive
MiniMax M2.5Bettermode alternatives: Circle, Influitive, Salesforce Experience Cloud
Muse Glimmer 30BHigher Logic Vanilla alternatives: Bettermode, Circle, Gainsight Customer Communities, Salesforce Experience Cloud
Neither was named
8 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Claude Haiku 4.5Bettermode alternatives: Gainsight Customer Communities, Higher Logic Vanilla
GPT-5.4 miniGainsight Customer Communities alternatives: Higher Logic Vanilla, Salesforce Experience Cloud
Gemini 3.5 FlashGainsight Customer Communities, Higher Logic Vanilla alternatives: Bettermode, Discourse
Perplexity SonarBettermode alternatives: Gainsight Customer Communities
Mistral SmallBettermode alternatives: Higher Logic Vanilla, Influitive
DeepSeek V4 FlashHigher Logic Vanilla alternatives: Gainsight Customer Communities, Khoros Communities
Kimi K2Bettermode alternatives: Gainsight Customer Communities, Influitive
GPT-6 LunaHigher Logic Vanilla alternatives: Bettermode, Gainsight Customer Communities
Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Circle leads by thirty-seven points.
Circle39%#1 of 12Discord2%#6 of 12Mid-marketThe figures above
Enterprise
What the models said about Circle
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Mighty Networks/Circle (more consumer/SaaS-focused or membership sites)” Grok 4.20 · paraphrase prompt · hard negative
“Avoid Per-Seat Pricing: Platforms like Circle.so or Mighty Networks are popular but often start at $99/mo.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · budget prompt · soft negative
“Circle, Bettermode, or comparable tools will not create engagement by themselves” Perplexity Sonar · negative prompt · soft negative
“Circle — best for branded customer communities that also want courses, events, memberships, and monetization in one modern platform.” GPT-5.4 mini · comparative prompt · first choice
“The best customer community platform for a company with a limited budget is Circle, which is available from $89 a month” Llama 4 Maverick · budget prompt · first choice
“The best customer community platform for a mid-market B2B company is Circle, which is the best all-around choice” Llama 4 Maverick · direct prompt · first choice
What the models said about Discord
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of seven in this category shown.
“Discord is not recommended for business-critical communities due to platform lock-in, limited data ownership, and weak branding controls.” Mistral Small · negative prompt · hard negative
“These are convenient but risky for branded customer communities ... Use only for supplementary engagement.” Grok 4.20 · negative prompt · hard negative
“A platform like Discord or Slack is great for chatting, but terrible for searching historical knowledge.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · scale prompt · hard negative
“Discord is free and has become popular for customer communities. It offers channels, voice chat, and integrations.” Claude Haiku 4.5 · budget prompt · first choice
“or Discord (free tier with optional paid upgrades)” Grok 4.20 · budget prompt · first choice
“Best 100% Free & Zero-Maintenance: Discord ... If you want instantaneous engagement with zero technical setup, start with Discord.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · budget prompt · alternative
Also compared
Bettermode vs CircleBettermode vs DiscordDiscourse vs CircleDiscourse vs DiscordHigher Logic Vanilla vs CircleHigher Logic Vanilla vs DiscordCircle vs Gainsight Customer CommunitiesCircle vs Mighty NetworksCircle vs Facebook GroupsGainsight Customer Communities vs DiscordDiscord vs Mighty NetworksDiscord vs Facebook GroupsAll twenty-eight head-to-head pages and the full community standing
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.