Meetup alternatives for running a community in 2026
Six Meetup alternatives for community organisers, from Fizvizz and Luma to Eventbrite, Circle, Mighty Networks and Discord: features and published prices.
The Fizvizz team
· 4 min read
Meetup is where many communities start. As a group grows, organisers often want more: their own space for members to talk between events, check-in and badges at the door, chapters in several cities, and members who help each other rather than just RSVP.
Here are six alternatives, and what each is built for, so you can pick the one that fits how your community works.
Details for each product come from its own website as it read in November 2026, with links. Fizvizz is our app.
First, what Meetup offers
Meetup is built for people with shared interests to find groups and events: "Start a group to host events". With Meetup Pro, organisations "can create an unlimited number of groups around the world". Meetup's biggest strength is discovery: people who don't know you yet can find your group.
The quick comparison
| Product | Meetups inside your group | QR check-in | Badges printed at check-in | Posts and polls | Chapters under one community | Join approval with your questions | Published price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fizvizz | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Free app; plans quoted |
| Luma | Yes, in a calendar | Yes | Enterprise plan | Event chat | Enterprise plan | For event registration | Free; Luma Plus $59/month billed annually |
| Eventbrite | — | Yes | — | — | — | — | Free for free tickets |
| Circle | Yes | — | — | Posts | — | — | Not found on its site |
| Mighty Networks | Yes | — | — | Yes | — | — | From $79/month |
| Discord | — | — | — | Chat | — | — | No server price stated |
Yes: stated on the product's own website. —: not stated there.
1. Fizvizz
Fizvizz is an event and community networking app for iPhone and Android, built for communities that meet in person.
- One home for members: a group where members post, run polls, and ask each other for help with Looking For, where others recommend the right person.
- Joining on your terms: share a join link or a join QR that refreshes itself, accept or decline join requests, and ask new members for the details your community needs.
- Meetups from the group: create each meetup from inside your group and it's posted to the group's feed. Members share that they're attending, with a picture made for each meetup, so their friends see it too.
- The door: a QR check-in for each meetup, a personal check-in QR in every invitation email, members found by name at the desk or checking themselves in at a kiosk, and name badges printed at check-in on a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi label printer.
- Meeting people: digital and NFC cards swapped with where you met, meetings scheduled from a profile straight into Apple, Google or Outlook calendar, and a meetup that can stay open after it ends so the conversation carries on.
- Chapters: bring chapters or city groups together under one community, where members see the groups and join the ones they want. A hidden group keeps your organising team's planning private.
- Pricing: free on the App Store and Google Play; organiser plans are quoted.
Best for: communities that meet in person and want members, meetups, check-in and badges in one place. See Fizvizz for communities and meetups.
2. Luma
Luma aims to make "every event feel effortless", with event pages, registration approval or token gating, ticket types and coupons, and check-in through the Luma app. "Every event on Luma is part of a Calendar", and guests can talk in event chat.
- Pricing: per its pricing page, Luma is "Free, forever", with a 5% platform fee on paid events. Luma Plus is $59 a month billed annually, with no platform fee. Onsite badge printing and grouping calendars under one organisation are on Luma Enterprise.
Best for: communities that run on great-looking event pages and RSVPs.
3. Eventbrite
Eventbrite is "the all-in-one platform to create an event for free, sell tickets, and grow your audience", with an event page builder, custom registration, collections of related events and an organiser check-in app.
- Pricing: its pricing page says it's "always free for events with free tickets". Paid tickets carry a service fee of 3.7% plus $1.79 per ticket and a 2.9% processing fee per order.
Best for: communities that sell tickets.
4. Circle
Circle helps you "build a home for your community, events, and courses, all under your own brand", with spaces, posts and comments, live events, paid memberships and branded apps.
- Pricing: we didn't find prices on the pages we read; Circle offers a free trial.
Best for: creators and brands running an online community with courses.
5. Mighty Networks
Mighty Networks is "the community platform that delivers: community, courses, events", with spaces, an activity feed of "posts, polls, questions, and discussion", and online and in-person events.
- Pricing: its pricing page lists Launch at $79 a month, Scale at $179 and Growth at $354, with a 14-day free trial.
Best for: paid online communities that combine courses and events.
6. Discord
Discord is "great for playing games and chilling with friends, or even building a worldwide community", with servers and voice and text chat you can hop in and out of.
- Pricing: the pages we read state no price for running a server.
Best for: communities that live in real-time chat.
How to choose
- You meet in person, regularly, and want members, meetups, check-in and badges in one app: Fizvizz.
- You rely on strangers discovering you: keep your Meetup listing, and give members Fizvizz as their home between meetups.
- You sell memberships or courses online: Circle or Mighty Networks.
- Your members live in chat: Discord.
Whichever you choose, the habits matter more than the tool. Our guide on how to run a meetup community covers the rest.
Product details were checked on each product's website in November 2026 and can change. Please check the linked pages for the latest.
