Bevy vs Heartbeat

Bevy is a community and events platform built for companies that run networks of local chapters, user groups and meetups. It was spun out of Startup Grind, the global founder community, in 2017 by Derek Andersen and co-founders who needed one system to run hundreds of city chapters consistently. It now powers programs such as Google Developer Groups and Salesforce's Trailblazer Community Groups, plus Snowflake's community.

The base platform is a white-labelled, SEO-friendly community hub with unlimited members, chapter leaders, events and emails. Teams pick a usage type (forum, user groups and events, or all-in-one), then add modules such as a custom domain, Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo or Eloqua sync, SAML SSO, social sign-in, the Bevy Virtual Conference product and AI-powered community search. Chapter pages handle event creation, registration, check-in, newsletters and automations, while central teams see attendance and engagement across every chapter.

Bevy fits enterprise developer relations, customer marketing and community teams that run in-person and virtual events at global scale and want the data in their CRM. It is overkill for a single online community or creator, pricing is quote-only, and its forum features are less rich than Discourse or Circle. Luma is simpler for one-off events, and Hivebrite suits alumni-style networks.

In July 2025 Bevy acquired Intros AI and used it to launch an AI Engagement Hub with agents for member introductions, knowledge answers, content creation, moderation and sentiment.

Heartbeat is an all-in-one community platform that combines discussion threads, real-time chat, events, courses, documents and payments in a single customisable space. It is aimed at community builders, course creators and companies running paid or internal communities who want Slack-like conversation and forum-like structure without stitching together several tools.

Admins organise the community into channels for threads and chat, run events with calendars and reminders, publish courses and documents as part of the same space, and charge for access through payment integrations with subscriptions or one-time fees. Custom branding, member directories, roles and permissions, and automations for onboarding are included, and the platform is available on the web with mobile apps. Pricing is a monthly subscription across Build, Grow and Scale plans that raise member limits, automations and landing pages while lowering the transaction fee, with a discount for annual billing.

Heartbeat fits creators and small organisations who want a flexible, affordable alternative to Circle or Mighty Networks and like a chat-first feel. It has a smaller ecosystem, fewer integrations and less brand recognition than the leaders, and its mobile experience and reporting are still maturing. Circle is the most polished option for creator communities with courses, Skool is simpler and built around gamified learning, Mighty Networks offers branded apps, and Discord is free but harder to monetise and less professional.