Short answer: yes. For an alumni group, association or customer community, the cheaper route is to run the community on your own WordPress site, and Reign with BuddyNext, Listora, Eventonomy and WP Career Board covers the directory, chapters, events and job board most organisations actually use. The saving is real, but it comes from swapping a vendor-run subscription for software you host, so the honest comparison is cost against who looks after it.
Reign is the WordPress theme for building a complete community site: social network, courses, member directory, marketplace and job board on one install. This guide sets out how Hivebrite, Khoros and the other options charge, which features a typical association really uses, how each one maps to a WordPress build, and who should stay on a managed platform. We make Reign, so we are not neutral. Where a managed platform is the better answer, we say so.
Why do Hivebrite and Khoros feel expensive?
Both are priced for organisations that buy software through procurement. That shape explains most of the sticker shock.
Hivebrite is built for alumni networks, associations and professional communities. It sells annual plans, and the number depends on your size, the modules you need and the services around them. We could not load Hivebrite’s pricing page for this check, so we do not quote a figure here. Ask for a written quote that names the plan, the term and what is excluded.
Khoros builds customer communities for large brands: support forums, ideas portals and social care. It sells by quote, based on the modules, the size of the community and the contract length. If you are an association, check carefully that the product you are quoted covers dues, chapters and events, because the product is designed for a different job.
Both are legitimate products with real support teams. The question for a small or mid-sized group is whether you use enough of the platform to justify the price. Many associations use five things: a member directory, chapters, events, a job board and dues. That shorter list is where WordPress competes.
How do the pricing models compare?
Different tools charge in different ways, and the model matters as much as the amount. This table sets out the model for each option. We describe how each one charges rather than quoting prices, because prices change. Check each vendor’s own pricing page before you decide.
| Option | Pricing model | Published price? | Who runs it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hivebrite | Annual plans, priced by size and modules | Not confirmed in this check | Hivebrite |
| Khoros Communities | Quote based on modules, size and term | No public price list found | Khoros |
| Higher Logic | Quote based on your needs | Check its site for current terms | Higher Logic |
| Mighty Networks | Tiered monthly plans | Yes, on its site | Mighty Networks |
| Circle | Tiered monthly plans plus a transaction fee that falls on higher tiers | Yes | Circle |
| Memberful | Monthly plan plus a transaction fee; it gates a site you bring | Yes | You and Memberful |
| Facebook or LinkedIn groups | Free to start, no ownership of the member list | Free | The platform |
| WordPress with Reign and BuddyNext | One theme licence per site, free community plugins, optional Pro licences | Yes | You, or an agency |
Read the “who runs it” column last, because it is the real cost. A managed vendor sells you the ongoing work. A WordPress build sells you the software and leaves the work to you.
What is the cost of the WordPress route?
Here are the published prices for the pieces an association usually needs. All are from the Reign price list for one site.
| Piece | What it does | Free version | Paid option |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reign theme | Design for the whole site | No, one licence per site, yearly or lifetime | n/a |
| BuddyNext | Profiles, feed, spaces, moderation | Yes | Optional Pro licence |
| Listora | Member and business directory | Yes | Optional Pro licence |
| Eventonomy | Events, RSVPs, calendars | Yes | Optional Pro licence |
| WP Career Board | Job board for members | Yes | Optional Pro licence |
| Jetonomy | Forum and Q&A | Yes | Optional Pro licence |
Put every Pro licence from the first four rows plus the job board on one site and the software is a fixed yearly total, the same whether you have two hundred members or twenty thousand. See the pricing page for current figures. Most associations will not need every Pro upgrade on day one, and each free version is a working product. Add managed WordPress hosting, which you should price with your own quote, and you have a complete yearly cost you can show a board.
Check the pricing page and each plugin page for current prices before you present numbers. Lifetime options exist for the theme too, which moves cost into year one.
The work that is not on this table is set-up and care. Compare the quotes you get for that from an agency against what a managed vendor charges over three years. Do that sum with your own numbers rather than ours.
Which features does an association really use?
When associations list what they need, the list is shorter than a vendor feature matrix. These are the jobs that carry the day.
A member directory people want to be in
The directory is usually why members log in. They look up a classmate, a colleague in their city, someone in their specialty. BuddyNext’s free plugin provides member profiles and a searchable directory, and member types let you separate students, full members, lapsed members and honorary members. If you also want a directory of member-owned businesses, Listora adds listing submission, search, maps and reviews in the free plugin. Our guide to member directory plugins for WordPress compares the options.
Chapters, regions and interest groups
Chapters map to spaces in BuddyNext: one space per chapter or interest group, each with its own owner, rules and discussion. When a chapter president rotates off, the site owner changes the space’s owner instead of rebuilding anything. The association and alumni build guide walks through member types, privacy and chapter structure.
Events, local and national
Eventonomy handles event listings, calendars, RSVPs and daily, weekly or monthly recurring events in its free version. Pro adds paid tickets, door check-in, advanced recurrence rules, calendar sync and organiser payouts. Reign styles the calendar to match your site, so a chapter event looks like the rest of your pages.
A job board
Many associations earn goodwill, and sometimes money, from a job board. WP Career Board’s free plugin includes job listings, search and filters, employer dashboards, company profiles and applications. Pro adds resumes, job alerts, a custom hiring pipeline, paid listings and maps. For a members-only career service, see the alumni job board guide.
Dues, tiers and renewals
This is where managed platforms feel most finished, and where to test most carefully. BuddyNext Pro adds paid plans, gated spaces and Stripe checkout. Before you commit, run your whole dues cycle on a staging site: sign up, renew, lapse, reactivate, refund. If your treasurer needs something we do not cover, say so early.
Moderation and safety
Associations have reputations to protect. BuddyNext includes a report-and-review moderation queue in its free plugin. Pro adds automatic and bulk moderation. The community moderation guide covers roles, reports and auto-hide rules.
A public face and a private space
You need a public website that sells the membership and a private area that rewards it. On WordPress, that is one site with two faces, and Reign lets you set both from the Customizer without code.
What do you give up by leaving a managed platform?
A fair guide lists the losses too.
- Someone else runs it. Managed vendors offer onboarding, migration support and an account manager. On WordPress, that role belongs to you, your agency or a maintenance plan.
- A store-listed mobile app. If your board requires a branded app in the app stores, a WordPress site in a phone browser does not meet that requirement.
- Ready-made mentoring and opportunity modules. You can build mentoring with spaces and plugins, but it is assembly, not a switch.
- Enterprise sign-on and vendor security reviews. WordPress supports SAML and OAuth sign-on through established plugins, and that is configuration work you own. If procurement demands a vendor-answered security questionnaire, a managed platform is easier to fit.
- Uptime as someone else’s problem. On your own site, a bad plugin update is your problem. Staging and backups are the cure.
For a closer look at the Hivebrite comparison, our Reign versus Hivebrite page and Reign versus Khoros page set out what maps to what, and the earlier Hivebrite review is useful background.
What about Almabase and Raklet?
Almabase and Raklet are hosted platforms built for alumni and member organisations, and they are the names that come up next to Hivebrite when schools and associations compare options. Almabase focuses on alumni engagement for schools and universities. Raklet describes itself as a membership and community platform for alumni associations, small colleges and nonprofits, with a directory, events, fundraising, a job board and mentoring.
Both follow the same model as Hivebrite: the vendor hosts the software and you pay a subscription. That is the right call if no one on your team can look after a website. If you want the member list, the design and the domain under your own control, the WordPress route gives you the same building blocks: a directory with Listora, events with Eventonomy, a job board with WP Career Board and the community itself with BuddyNext, all styled by Reign.
Who should stay on Hivebrite or Khoros?
Stay on a managed platform if any of these apply:
- Nobody can look after a website. A platform you cannot maintain is worse than one you overpay for.
- You are very large. An organisation with hundreds of thousands of members and procurement rules that demand a named vendor and a service agreement is not our target.
- Your board wants a store-listed app and will not accept a web app.
- You are happy. If members use it, the price is accepted and renewal is smooth, a move is a cost with no reason attached.
How do you move off a managed platform without losing members?
Do not treat this as a weekend job. A sensible order looks like this.
- Write down what members really use. Pull the last ninety days of activity. Directory searches, event RSVPs and job views matter more than a forum nobody opens.
- Ask for your data in writing. Request exports of members, groups, events and content you own, and confirm the format. We cannot see your contract, so check the terms before you give notice.
- Build on staging. Install Reign and BuddyNext, create member types and a space per chapter, and import a sample of real members.
- Pilot with one chapter. Invite fifty friendly members. Ask them to find a classmate, RSVP to an event and renew a test membership.
- Plan the password moment. Members will need to set a new password or sign in a new way. Send a clear email and make the first screen useful.
- Switch in your quiet month, keeping the old platform live as a fallback for a few weeks.
Our comparison of WordPress with Mighty Networks and Circle covers the same rent-versus-own decision for smaller groups.
What does running it yourself involve?
This is the cost people underestimate, so here it is plainly.
- Updates. The theme, plugins and WordPress need updating. A monthly routine of backup, update on staging and then on live handles most of it.
- Hosting. Choose managed WordPress hosting with daily backups. A community with active members needs more than the cheapest shared plan.
- Moderation. Somebody checks the report queue. BuddyNext administrators and moderators work it from the front end.
- Member support. People email about passwords. A short help page cuts the volume.
If that sounds like a lot, a maintenance plan from the team that builds these products is the managed layer you buy separately, and you pay for the hours you need rather than for a platform you partly use.
Will it handle a large membership?
A fair worry. Thousands of members and a slow directory would sink the project. BuddyNext does not cap members at any tier, so the licence will not stop you, but your host and your content volume still matter. Import a realistic number of members on staging, then test directory search, a busy chapter space and an event with a long RSVP list. Fix slow screens before launch, not after.
What does a first eight weeks look like?
Here is the shape we would start with, assuming a small team and a launch inside two months.
- Week 1, the shell. Install Reign and BuddyNext on staging. Set logo, colours and the public home page. Decide member types before you add a single member.
- Week 2, directory and profile fields. Add the fields that matter, such as graduation year, chapter and profession. Decide which are visible to whom. Privacy defaults matter more than any feature.
- Week 3, chapters. Create one space per chapter and per special interest. Appoint owners and give them a one-page guide.
- Week 4, events. Install Eventonomy, create the annual conference and two chapter events, and test RSVPs from a phone.
- Weeks 5 and 6, dues. Set up paid plans, run the full cycle on a test card, and write the emails members will receive.
- Week 7, the job board. Add WP Career Board only if members asked for it.
- Week 8, pilot and launch. Invite one chapter, fix what they find, then open it to everyone.
Notice what is missing: a launch-week feature checklist. Associations succeed when a member finds one person they care about in the first five minutes, not when every module is on.
Try it before you buy
Look at it before you talk to anyone.
- Live demos: the full gallery of Reign demo sites.
- Reign BuddyPress demo: feed, member directory, groups and profiles.
- Geolocation directory demo: a business directory built on Reign.
- JobMate demo: a job board built on Reign.
- BuddyNext sandbox: a fresh site with the community plugin.
- Listora sandbox: a fresh site with the directory plugin.
- WP Career Board sandbox: a fresh site with the job board.
- Eventonomy sandbox: a fresh site with events.
- Build guide for a BuddyNext community and for a business directory.
- The plugin family: what is free and what is Pro.
An afternoon in a sandbox, with one member type, one chapter space and one test event, tells you more than a sales call.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a cheaper alternative to Hivebrite for an alumni community?
Yes. A self-hosted WordPress build with Reign and BuddyNext has published software prices and free versions of each plugin. The trade is that your team or an agency runs it. Compare your quote for set-up and care with the managed subscription over three years.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Khoros for a customer community?
For many customer communities, yes. BuddyNext and Jetonomy provide profiles, spaces, a forum and Q&A on your own site. Khoros suits large brands with social care needs and enterprise contracts. A smaller company with a support or user community will often use fewer features than it pays for.
What does Hivebrite cost?
Hivebrite sells annual plans priced by size and modules. We could not confirm a current number for this article, so ask for a written quote naming the plan, the term and the exclusions.
Can WordPress handle member dues and renewals?
BuddyNext Pro includes paid plans with Stripe checkout and gated spaces. Test your own dues cycle, including lapse, reactivation and refund, on staging before you launch.
Can we have a mobile app?
Members can use the site in a phone browser, which works well for most communities. A branded app in the app stores is a different thing, and a managed platform that includes one may be the better fit if that is a hard requirement.
What happens to our existing member data?
Ask your current vendor for exports in writing and test an import on staging. Passwords generally cannot travel, so plan a first-login email.
Ask us before you decide
If you are comparing a quote and want an honest view of whether WordPress fits your size, tell us how many members you have and what you use today. We will say so plainly if a managed platform is the better answer. Use the contact page or write to support@wbcomdesigns.com.