Heartbeat App Reviews: Pros & Cons with Best Alternatives in 2025

Looking for a reliable app to build and manage your online community? Our Heartbeat app review will help you decide if this platform meets your needs. This article will cover its key features, pros and cons, and compare it with competitors.

What we will explore together:

• The Heartbeat Community App offers a user-friendly interface with features like cohort-based courses and live event management, making it ideal for educators and community builders.
• The app facilitates community engagement through customizable onboarding, voice rooms, and detailed analytics to track member interactions. While it excels in community-centric features, Heartbeat doesn’t have AI capabilities and limited third-party integrations compared to competitors like Disco.
• Enter Disco, the #1 Heartbeat alternative with its advanced AI tools and comprehensive LMS. While Heartbeat excels in community engagement, Disco offers an AI-powered community platform with an AI content generator and community assistant, as well as extensive third-party integrations and gamification tools. This makes Disco ideal for larger organizations with complex needs, providing a more immersive and personalized learning experience.

What is Heartbeat App?

Heartbeat is more than just a community app; it’s a comprehensive platform designed to host courses, memberships, and community chats. Its features cater to many users, from educators and coaches to solopreneurs and organizations looking to build vibrant online communities. 

The platform combines elements of Slack threads and a Facebook group, allowing for organized and engaging interactions. Users can create a test account to explore and evaluate the app's features before committing to a subscription plan.

Despite these well-rounded features for community engagement, Heartbeat is not without its limitations. These include lacking built-in AI tools, a robust curriculum builder, gamification tools, and advanced automation.

Due to these limitations, it’s advisable to explore alternatives such as Disco, an AI-powered community platform that stands out as Heartbeat’s #1 alternative, supporting various use cases from online communities, virtual academies, and professional associations to learning communities, enterprises, and organizations. Top online communities use Disco for customer enablement, memberships, online courses, internal training, and cohort-based courses.

Before comparing both platforms, let’s dive into the pros and cons of Heartbeat, and explore the key features to consider when looking for the best alternative to Heartbeat.

Heartbeat App reviews: Pros

Superior community engagement

Heartbeat facilitates focused discussions through multiple social channels, much like Slack or Discord, and offers social feeds for updates and interactions. It supports direct and group messaging, enhancing private conversations and collaboration. You can even schedule posts and see indicators of whether the members are online, typing, and their location. This array of features ensures that community engagement is not only streamlined but also dynamic and interactive, helping communities keep their members engaged and satisfied through real-time interaction and a strong sense of community.

Courses and live-streaming events

Heartbeat excels in supporting cohort-based courses and live-streaming events. Educators can create structured learning paths, integrate various content types, and manage student engagement through cohort enrollment. This structured approach keeps students motivated and on track, ensuring a cohesive learning experience.

Heartbeat's features support students by enhancing community engagement and facilitating communication in online courses and workshops.

The platform also offers robust live streaming and event management capabilities, including automated recurring events, event reminders, and seamless Zoom integration. Customizable ticket pricing and interactive features like polls and Q&A sessions further enhance engagement, making Heartbeat ideal for hosting a wide range of events, from intimate workshops to large-scale webinars.

These features ensure that educators and event organizers can deliver high-quality, interactive sessions that keep participants engaged and coming back for more.

Robust communication tools

The community app's voice rooms and communication tools are designed to enhance community interaction. The ability to send private voice notes with autogenerated transcripts enhances communication within the community. These tools promote collaboration and interaction, making members feel more connected and engaged.

Extensive monetization

Heartbeat integrates seamlessly with Stripe, a popular payment processor, to facilitate secure and efficient financial transactions. This integration enhances user trust and ensures that payments are handled smoothly. With Stripe, Heartbeat offers multiple payment options, providing flexibility for users.

The robust payment integration also streamlines the monetization process for content creators. Whether you’re charging for courses, memberships, or events, Heartbeat’s payment integration makes it easy to manage transactions securely and efficiently.

Personalized onboarding

It offers a fantastic onboarding experience with customizable plug-and-play templates that allow for tailored member onboarding processes. This personalization helps new members feel welcomed and informed from the start. Automation features within the app streamline repetitive tasks, reducing the administrative workload for community managers.

Heartbeat App reviews: Cons

Despite its many strengths, Heartbeat does have some limitations. Users have noted that Heartbeat doesn’t have an AI tool which limits its potential for automation. This can be a challenge for those looking for more advanced technological solutions.

Moreover, Heartbeat offers limited third-party integrations, which can hinder users looking to connect with other tools. The basic reporting features may not meet the needs of users requiring in-depth analytics. These limitations can be a drawback for users with more complex needs.

Basic LMS features

Heartbeat lacks advanced LMS features that are essential for comprehensive learning management. Unlike platforms that support SCORM or offer extensive authoring tools, Heartbeat’s capabilities are limited to basic course management. This can be a significant limitation for educators and organizations looking to provide a robust and interactive learning experience.

Without these advanced LMS features, users may find it challenging to create detailed and engaging educational content.

Limited automation and no AI tool

One of the notable limitations of the Heartbeat app is it doesn’t have AI functionality and has limited automation capabilities. This can be a hindrance for users who rely on AI to streamline operations and enhance member engagement. The lack of AI tools means that community managers might have to spend more time on manual tasks, reducing overall efficiency.

Basic reporting and customization options

The platform's reporting and customization options are fairly basic compared to other community management platforms. The app provides standard analytics, but it lacks the depth and detail required for comprehensive insights. This limitation can make it difficult for community managers to fully understand member engagement and tailor their strategies accordingly.

Setting up a community on a custom domain early in the process is crucial to enhance branding and avoid broken links. Since , the customization options are limited, this restricts  the ability to create a unique and personalized community experience.

Lack of gamification tools

Heartbeat doesn't have gamification capabilities for its communities, such as leaderboards and engagement scoring systems and only provides basic progress tracking without detailed learner analytics.

This means there's no gamified leaderboards or scoring systems to spark friendly competition among members. On the bright side, it does support groups and subgroups for organizing members into smaller, more manageable communities. This can still foster a sense of belonging and interaction, even if it doesn't have the same competitive edge.

Fewer integrations

Another area where Heartbeat falls short is in its integration options. The app supports fewer third-party integrations, which can be a drawback for users looking to connect with a wide range of tools and services. A more robust integration ecosystem would significantly improve the platform’s overall functionality and user satisfaction.

Introducing DISCO: The #1 Heartbeat alternative for modern community builders and operators

While Heartbeat excels at community engagement with features like cohort-based courses, live events, and robust payment integrations, it falls short in advanced AI capabilities and extensive third-party integrations.

Disco takes an AI-first approach with Disco AI, offering tools like an AI content generator, an AI community assistant, and trainable AI models to streamline operations and enhance member engagement. Disco also boasts deep learning capabilities with a modern LMS that supports self-paced, cohort-based, and hybrid course formats, making it a more comprehensive solution for larger organizations with sophisticated needs.

Ultimately, Heartbeat is ideal for smaller niche communities focused on engagement, while Disco provides advanced tools and integrations for more complex community management.

Why choose Disco?

AI-first approach

While Heartbeat is a powerful community management tool, Disco takes an AI-first approach, deeply integrating AI to empower operators, which Heartbeat lacks.

Disco's advanced AI automates key tasks, offering tools like an AI content generator, an AI community assistant, and trainable AI models to engage members with intelligent recommendations. This deep integration streamlines operations for community operators, saving time and boosting efficiency and productivity. 

Here's how to re-engage inactive members using Disco:

Robust LMS and learning capabilities

While Heartbeat excels at community engagement, it falls short in the deep learning capabilities that Disco provides. Disco integrates social learning and community management to create an immersive learning experience.

Disco’s modern LMS offers self-paced, cohort-based, and hybrid course formats, enabling educators to track progress and personalize learning paths. This ensures a rich and engaging educational experience that truly sticks. Here's how you can generate content in a matter of seconds:

Intuitive interface and seamless community management

Disco delivers a more comprehensive community management experience with its extensive customizable LMS, powerful automations, and advanced integrations – all purpose-built on a beautiful, modern UI. Whether it’s white-label solutions or a built-in CRM, Disco gives you the flexibility to create unique, engaging environments that grow with your community. 

Flexible and customizable member onboarding

Disco’s member onboarding outshines Heartbeat with its highly customizable onboarding experiences, where you can collect unique data to create personalized learning journeys and targeted content. With features like custom profile fields, groups/subgroups, and automated workflows based on member data, Disco ensures every user feels seen and uniquely catered to.

Leaderboard and engagement reports

Disco takes gamification to the next level within its platform, eliminating the need for additional gamification tools to boost community engagement. With Disco, you can display a powerful leaderboard on the homepage, allowing learners to see their scores and foster friendly competition among members.

The platform also features a customizable engagement system, enabling you to edit the weights of various activities to suit your community's needs. This flexibility ensures that engagement metrics are tailored to your specific goals, making the community experience more dynamic and interactive.

Other Heartbeat App Alternatives

While Heartbeat is a robust community-building platform, there are other alternatives worth considering. Each offers unique features and benefits that might better suit your specific needs:

Mighty Networks is designed for creators and communities to build their own domain-branded spaces online. It focuses on helping users create engaging online spaces with customizable community spaces, integrated courses, and member engagement tools like polls and Q&A. Mighty Networks excels in providing tools for effective community management and engagement, making it a strong choice for online creators.

Kajabi Community offers features like Circles for topic-based discussions, allowing members to post and schedule messages. This structured environment encourages member interactions and collaboration, making it a compelling alternative to traditional Facebook groups. As an alternative, some users consider the Kajabi community product, although there is a desire for improvements in Kajabi's capabilities to facilitate better community engagement compared to other platforms like Heartbeat.

Circle focuses on user-friendly design and integration with existing tools, making it a versatile option for community engagement. It allows the embedding of community spaces directly into external websites, facilitating seamless integration for users, including the use of a community software block.

Create a modern community experience with Disco in this AI-driven era!

In summary, the Heartbeat app is a versatile, community-centric platform designed to support various types of community builders. It excels in fostering engagement through features like cohort-based courses, live events, and robust payment integrations.

The user-friendly interface and focus on community interactions make it an attractive choice for solopreneurs and smaller niche communities. However, it does have some limitations, such as basic AI functionalities and fewer integrations.

Comparing Heartbeat with Disco, we see that while Heartbeat is ideal for community engagement, Disco offers advanced LMS features and AI-driven tools better suited for larger organizations with sophisticated needs. Take this chance to create a modern community experience with Disco's 14-day free trial in this AI-driven era!

Are you serious about accelerating your online community? Experience firsthand how Disco's advanced AI tools and comprehensive features can transform your community engagement and management. Book your demo today!

Frequently Asked Questions for Heartbeat community app review:

What is the Heartbeat app best used for?

The Heartbeat app is perfect for creating and managing online communities while helping you achieve engaged happy members, host courses, and monetize memberships and events. It’s a great way to connect with others and build something awesome!

While there is no current lifetime deal available for Heartbeat, readers should keep an eye out for potential future offers. Additionally, the affordability and value of acquiring a lifetime license for Heartbeat, as seen on platforms like AppSumo's affiliate link, make it a compelling option compared to ongoing monthly subscriptions.

What are the main advantages of using Heartbeat?

Using Heartbeat is great because it has an easy-to-use interface, fosters a strong community vibe, and offers ways to monetize through courses and memberships. It’s a solid platform for anyone looking to connect and earn!

How does Heartbeat compare to Disco?

Heartbeat is all about community engagement and user-friendly features, while Disco brings advanced LMS capabilities and AI tools, making it a better fit for larger organizations. Disco’s AI-first approach, modern LMS, and extensive integrations make it the superior choice for those seeking a comprehensive and intelligent community management solution. So, it really depends on what you're looking for!

Are there any limitations to using Heartbeat?

Absolutely! Heartbeat has its limitations, like basic AI features, fewer third-party integrations, and not-so-detailed reporting tools compared to other options. Keep these in mind before diving in!

What are the best Heartbeat alternatives?

Definitely! Disco, Mighty Networks, Kajabi Community, and Circle are great alternatives to Heartbeat, each bringing its own unique flair for building communities. However, Disco stands out with Disco AI, its robust AI tool, advanced learning management system, and seamless integrations, making it the top choice for modern community builders.