How to create your own social network

How to create your own social network: code it, host it, or rent it

You can create your own social network three ways: have developers write one, run open source software on a server of your own, or rent a hosted community platform that already has profiles, a feed, chat and groups.

Renting suits a group, club or cause that wants a network under its own name and has no developers. A founder building a public app for strangers needs developers instead.

Mighty Networks gives one Network unlimited members and unlimited Spaces on the Launch Plan, $95 a month, billed monthly, as read on 4 October 2026. A Network is one community run on Mighty Networks, with its own web address, members and Spaces. A Space is a section of it with its own members, privacy setting and features.

The parts of a social network, and where they sit on one hosted plan

Each part of a social network is a feature of one Network, and the right-hand column gives the Launch Plan limit.

Five steps to open your own social network on a hosted platform

1. Open a Network. Start the free trial and answer the one setup question, "who do you want to bring together?" A landing page, which is the one public page that tells visitors what the community is and lets them join, plus branding and a template are generated in about a minute.
2. Add Spaces. Make one Space for each group, topic or job, and switch on a feature in each: Feed, Chat, Events or Course.
3. Choose who gets in. A new Network starts as Invite-Only, which is the answer to how to create a private social network: access by invite, with no payment, approval or screening questions. The other two ways in are Accessible Through Plans and Anyone Can Join, which the help center advises against for most Networks because anyone on the internet can join.
4. Connect a custom domain. It can be set up during the trial.
5. Invite members. Share an invite link or upload a CSV file of your own email list, then choose a Mighty Networks plan before day 14.

How to build an online community covers the small pilot to run first and the invitation waves after it.

What you do not get: your own code and your own app

With a hosted platform the software stays with Mighty Networks and you run a Network on it, so you do not get the code. An app-store listing under your own name comes only with Mighty Pro, which is sold by quote. On Launch, Scale and Growth, members use the shared app, and does Mighty Networks have an app covers how they find your Network in it. Mighty Networks also has no free plan on its pricing page.

Pick Discourse to run the software yourself. It is open source and can be self-hosted on your own infrastructure, which its vendor says takes familiarity with Linux server administration and Docker. Its hosted plans start free (unlimited members, 2 staff seats, 10 categories, 5 GB), with Pro at $100 a month. Mighty Networks alternatives compares eight rivals by entry price.

The whole build fits inside the 14-day free trial, which runs on the Growth Plan and asks for no credit card, and what is built in it is kept. What is Mighty Networks explains the platform before you start.