Custom membership app vs community platform: which fits

Hosted community platforms give you a members' space with posts, events, courses and paid tiers, run on the vendor's software for a subscription and sometimes a transaction fee. Some offer a branded mobile app as an add-on. A custom membership app is software built for your organisation, published under your own developer accounts, with its data in a database you control.

Platforms differ a lot, so this guide compares the two approaches by member journey and leaves the vendor-specific details to your own checks. Read each platform's current documentation and terms rather than relying on summaries.

Walk through what a member does from first hearing about you to leaving, and note which option handles each step the way you want.

If most of your rows sit comfortably in the middle column, a platform will serve you. Rows where the middle column says "usually outside its scope" or "as the platform designs them" and that matters to you are the reasons to scope a custom app.

Ownership questions matter most on the day you want to change providers. Four assets are worth checking.

For a custom app built by DFY Games, after full payment you receive the project files and the original assets made for the app; third-party services keep their own licenses, and your developer, hosting and payment accounts stay in your name. Our code and art ownership guide covers what to check in any development contract.

Moving an existing community to a custom app is a project of its own. Plan it in the scope rather than after launch.

1. Export members, tiers, join and expiry dates, and check what is missing.
2. Find out whether active subscriptions can be transferred. Often they cannot, and members have to re-subscribe, so plan an offer and clear messaging.
3. Move content the app will keep, and decide what stays archived on the old platform.
4. Run both for an overlap period, with the old space pointing members to the new app.
5. Switch off the old platform once active members have moved.

A hosted platform costs little to start and grows with you: a subscription, sometimes a fee per transaction, and often a higher plan or a paid add-on for a branded app. A custom app costs more up front and then runs on hosting, store accounts and maintenance. Neither is cheaper in general; it depends on member numbers, how long you run it and how much the platform's limits cost you in workarounds.

Use the platform's published plan prices at the member count you expect in two or three years, and compare that with a custom quote plus running costs over the same period. Our maintenance guide lists what a custom app needs after launch.

• You have not yet proven that people will pay for the membership.
• The membership is mostly conversation, events and courses, which platforms already handle.
• You need to launch in days, not after a discovery, build and store review cycle.
• You do not want to fund maintenance and operating system updates.

A custom app becomes the better option once the membership is proven and the platform keeps getting in the way: members need a door card, bookings or perks the platform does not model; you want your own app listing; or the data needs to connect to other systems. The membership app service page shows what a first custom version usually contains, and the membership app cost guide explains what drives its quote. When the comparison points to custom, ask for a written scope.