Ning for Businesses
Social network platforms
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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$12.50 per month
Free Trial
Free version unavailable
Small
Medium
Large
- Education and training
- Public sector and nonprofit organizations
- Information technology and software
What is Ning for Businesses
Ning for Businesses is a hosted community platform used to create and manage private or public social networks for organizations. It supports member profiles, groups, discussion forums, events, and content feeds for use cases such as customer communities, professional associations, and internal interest groups. The product focuses on providing a branded, standalone community experience that the organization administers, rather than relying on a general-purpose public social network.
Branded standalone community sites
Ning for Businesses lets organizations run a dedicated community under their own branding and domain context rather than directing members to a third-party public network. This can help with consistent member experience and clearer community governance. It is suited to groups that want a persistent home for discussions, resources, and member interaction.
Core community engagement features
The platform includes common community building blocks such as member profiles, groups, forums/discussions, and event-style interactions. These features support ongoing engagement patterns beyond one-off meetups or broadcast-only posting. Administrators can structure the community into subgroups to match programs, chapters, or topics.
Administrative controls for membership
Ning for Businesses supports managed membership models (e.g., private communities and approvals) that fit business and association use cases. This is useful when participation needs to be limited to customers, partners, employees, or paid members. It provides a clearer separation between community access and the broader public internet.
Less reach than public networks
A standalone community typically does not provide the built-in discovery and viral distribution available on large public social platforms. Organizations often need to drive acquisition through their own marketing channels and member invitations. This can increase the effort required to grow and sustain participation.
Customization and extensibility limits
As a hosted platform, Ning for Businesses may not offer the same depth of code-level customization as self-hosted social networking software. Organizations with highly specific workflows, data models, or UI requirements may encounter constraints. Integration options can also be more limited than platforms designed primarily as extensible enterprise systems.
Not a governance board portal
While it supports community discussions and groups, it is not purpose-built for formal board governance tasks such as secure board books, meeting packs, resolutions, and compliance workflows. Organizations needing those controls typically require a dedicated board management system. Using a community platform for governance can create gaps in auditability and document controls.
Plan & Pricing
| Plan | Price | Key features & notes |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $12.50 per month (based on annual billing) | Members: up to 10; Storage: 2 GB; 14-day free trial on all plans; entry-level paid tier shown on official pricing page. |
| Basic | $27.95 per month (based on annual billing) | Members: up to 1,000; Storage: 15 GB; 14-day free trial. |
| Performance | $54.95 per month (based on annual billing) | Members: up to 10,000; Storage: 50 GB; 14-day free trial; more customization and control. |
| Ultimate | $107.95 per month (based on annual billing) | Members: up to 100,000; Storage: 150 GB; 14-day free trial; premium add-ons and faster support (12-hour response). |
Notes: Prices and plan details taken directly from Ning's official pricing page (ning.com/pricing). The site indicates these amounts are "based on annual billing" and that choosing annual subscription saves 20%.
Seller details
Ning, Inc.
Menlo Park, CA, USA
2004
Private
https://www.ning.com/
https://x.com/ning
https://www.linkedin.com/company/ning/
