Updated February 23, 2026

Moving your community from Discord isn't just a software swap. It's an upgrade to your business model, and the platform you choose determines whether you own the asset or stay on rented land. This guide compares Passion.io and Mighty Networks across brand control, mobile performance, monetization, and white-glove service. We also cover migration strategy, security, and pricing so you can make a clear decision.

Why high-ticket creators are leaving Discord for owned apps

Gaming companies built Discord for real-time voice chat and server-based communities. It's free, fast, and familiar, but it's fundamentally incompatible with premium coaching brands for three reasons.

Platform risk is real. Every member relationship you build inside Discord lives on Discord's terms, Discord's interface, and Discord's algorithm. A policy change, a server ban, or a feature pivot can disconnect you from your audience overnight. The higher your program ticket price, the more expensive that risk becomes.

Premium clients expect a premium product. Clients paying $2,000 or more for a coaching program have a calibrated sense of value. A Discord server looks identical to the server a teenager uses to discuss video games. A branded app icon on their home screen carries an entirely different signal, and that experience gap affects perceived value, retention, and referrals.

Distraction kills completion. Discord surfaces notifications from every server a user belongs to, which means your content competes with noise. A branded app focuses attention on your content alone, and push notification research in fitness programs consistently shows higher lesson completion rates when reminders arrive from a dedicated, owned channel. Creators using push notifications with in-app challenges report completion lifts of 15–30% within 90 days.

For gaming chat or informal communities, Discord is fine. For paid communities where completion, retention, and brand equity are measured and monetized, an owned app is the correct infrastructure.

Mighty Networks vs. Passion.io: The "white-glove" comparison

White-glove, in this context, means one thing: someone else handles the hard parts so you don't have to. App Store submission, design assets, content migration, and developer account setup are the friction points that stall launches. How each platform handles those steps is the clearest signal of their real service model.

Brand control and audience ownership

Passion.io publishes your app under your own Apple and Google developer accounts. Your brand name appears in the App Store listing, your icon lives on your client's home screen, and your full subscriber list is exportable as a CSV at any time, including names, emails, join dates, and subscription plans. The developer accounts cost $99 per year for Apple and a $25 one-time fee for Google Play, and you hold them in your own entity.

Mighty Networks on standard plans places your community inside the shared Mighty Networks app. Members download the generic Mighty Networks container and find your community within it alongside other creators' communities. There is no standalone branded app listing under your name on standard plans. To get a white-labeled app published under your brand name on the App Store, you must upgrade to Mighty Pro, which is reported to run approximately $28,000 per year based on creator community discussions and public platform reviews.

The difference matters because brand control compounds over time. Your app store reviews, your rating, your listing history, and your subscriber data belong to whoever holds the developer account. On Passion.io, that's always you.

Mobile app quality: Native performance vs. offline access

Native apps use the device's own operating system components, which delivers faster load times, smoother transitions, and access to hardware features like local storage and the camera. Web wrappers load a mobile-formatted website inside an app shell, which typically feels slower and limits offline capabilities.

Passion.io delivers native iOS and Android apps on all plans, with offline content access available on Scale and above. Your clients can download lessons and watch them without a data connection, which matters for fitness programs, meditation series, and content consumed during commutes or travel. Push notifications are fully native, arriving on the lock screen the same way any installed app sends them.

Mighty Networks offers native apps to members on all plans through the shared Mighty Networks container. Mighty Pro delivers a branded native app. However, Mighty does not support offline access on any plan. Members must be connected to Wi-Fi or within cellular data range to access course content. For a creator running a high-ticket program where content accessibility is part of the value proposition, that gap is material.

You can see how a native Passion.io app performs in practice through live examples like STRONGR (fitness) and CirquePlus (aerial arts). These are standalone branded apps on the platform, not demos.

Monetization features: Subscriptions, bundles, and IAP

Margin management is where the platforms diverge most clearly for high-ticket creators.

Passion.io lets you route payments two ways. Web checkout via PassionPayments charges a 3.9% platform fee plus Stripe's standard processing rate. In-app purchases via Apple and Google take 15–30% depending on your annual revenue. Creators earning under $1M annually typically qualify for the Apple Small Business Program, which caps Apple's cut at 15%. On Scale, Expand, and Plus plans, external checkout integrations carry a 0% platform fee.

The practical strategy: price your core high-ticket subscriptions through web checkout to protect margin, and offer IAP for mobile upsells or lower-ticket purchases where convenience matters more than the fee. That routing flexibility is built into the Passion.io platform and requires no additional configuration.

Mighty Networks charges a 3% transaction fee on their Community plan, 2% on Business, 1% on Path-to-Pro, and 1% on Mighty Pro. These fees sit on top of Stripe's standard rates and apply uniformly regardless of how the sale routes. There is no equivalent to Passion.io's 0% external checkout path.

White-glove service: What "done-for-you" actually means

Done-for-you means you hand over the brief and get back a working, submitted app. Both platforms offer this at their premium tiers, but the access point differs substantially.

Passion.io Plus includes a done-for-you app build, content migration, design assets, and full App Store submission handling. A dedicated success manager guides the process from connecting your developer accounts through addressing any reviewer feedback. The team targets a 30-day launch timeline. Pricing ranges from $10,000 to $20,000 depending on scope, and the underlying Expand subscription runs $599 per month billed annually.

"The tech team and the coaches (Tracy, Sheila and Maf especially) are excellent in terms of responsiveness and supporting my efforts. My apps would not have completed so easily without their help." - Anna Uemura on Trustpilot

"Setting up my coaching app on Passion.io has been one of the easiest and most intuitive processes I've experienced... Everything is housed in one place, content, communication, client access, design, and it's all optimized to save time while delivering a high-quality user experience." - Everchanging Butterfly on Trustpilot

Mighty Pro also includes app deployment support, dedicated strategy resources, and custom branding across mobile and web with a 3–4 week deployment target. The annual contract runs approximately $28,000, with two-year terms reported at around $48,000.

The key distinction: Passion.io Plus is a one-time setup investment with a lower annual SaaS cost after launch. Mighty Pro is an ongoing annual commitment at a price point that makes sense primarily if community management tools are your core product.

Platform comparison at a glance

Migration strategy: Moving from Discord without losing members

The concern that members won't follow you to a new platform is consistently overestimated. The transition method matters far more than the platform itself. A structured approach keeps your most engaged members close from day one.

A practical three-step approach:

1. Seed before you open. Build the app with at least 4–6 weeks of exclusive content before announcing the move. Members need a reason to download on day one, and "everything your community has been asking for is now here" is a stronger hook than "we're switching platforms."
2. Run a founding member offer. Offer a grandfathered rate or exclusive bonus to anyone who migrates during the first 30 days. This creates urgency without pressure and rewards your most engaged members first. The 8 must-know tips for program launches we've documented provide a detailed framework for this phase.
3. Set a sunset date. Keep Discord active for 30 days after the app launch, but post only redirects to the app. No new content in Discord. After 30 days, archive the server. This eliminates the need to manage two communities in parallel and makes the new app the single source of truth for all content and discussion.

For Passion.io Plus customers, content migration is handled by the team as part of the setup scope. If you're migrating from a structured course platform, the typical asset transfer (videos, PDFs, lesson sequences) is included in the done-for-you build phase, similar to what you can explore in the live PassionFighters community.

"I recommend using passion.io if you want to build an easy online business to put your community together without lots of noises around you like some other noisy platforms out there." - Kira Lancian on Trustpilot

Security and data protection for enterprise brands

Both platforms allow full data export. On Passion.io, the Users section provides a CSV download of all subscriber data including names, emails, join dates, and subscription plans. Mighty Networks provides similar export functionality through their dashboard as an Excel file. In both cases, you own your member list and can move it at any time.

Passion.io provides direct access to its support team for technical issues and maintains a platform changelog so you can track exactly what changes between versions. You should enable two-factor authentication on your developer accounts at both Apple and Google Play Console and use unique credentials for any admin accounts your ops team accesses. For enterprise-level due diligence, request a Data Processing Agreement before signing any multi-year contract with either platform.

Pricing models: TCO for paid communities

The real comparison isn't monthly subscription cost. It's total cost of ownership over 24 months measured against the alternative of custom development.

Custom app development: Building a comparable native iOS and Android app with course delivery, community, push notifications, and subscription billing from a development agency ranges from $40,000 to $300,000 for an initial build according to industry estimates, with ongoing annual maintenance typically running 15–25% of that figure.

SaaS costs above use Expand at $599/month billed annually. Developer accounts add $99/year (Apple) and $25 one-time (Google). Transaction fees vary by revenue volume and are not included.

Fee routing impact at scale: On $50,000 per month in web subscription revenue, Passion.io's 3.9% PassionPayments fee costs approximately $1,950 per month versus Mighty Pro's 1% at $500 per month, a $1,450 monthly difference. That $17,400 annual gap partially offsets Mighty Pro's higher contract cost, but the total 24-month math still favors Passion.io Plus for most creators starting below mid-six-figure annual MRR.

The LTV, CAC, and payback metrics guide on the Passion.io blog provides a framework for modeling these numbers against your specific program price points and conversion rates.

The verdict: Which platform fits your business model?

Choose Passion.io if you sell premium coaching programs or structured courses, you need a standalone branded iOS and Android app under your own developer account, offline access matters to your clients on Scale and above plans, and you want a partner that handles the App Store submission process without a multi-year enterprise commitment. The Plus tier is the right entry point for anyone who wants a done-for-you path at a lower upfront cost than custom development or Mighty Pro. Try it first with a 30 day money backguarantee!

For the specific use case in this comparison, leaving Discord for an owned paid community app, Passion.io is the more direct path for creators who need mobile-first engagement, push notifications, offline access, and full brand control without the platform dependency risk that comes with building inside another company's app container.

"I knew for my type of work an app would be the best way to serve my people... Incredible support, constant innovation, a step by step guide so you can follow the process." - Lori on Trustpilot

If you want to see the build process in action, the Welcome To Your Passion App walkthrough shows exactly what setup looks like from the creator side.

If you're comparing other platforms in the broader app builder category, the fitness app builder alternatives guide and the Passion vs. Teachable comparison cover adjacent decisions.

Ready to see the Plus scope applied to your specific programs? Book a Passion.io platform demo to get a timeline, scope estimate, and fee model built around your program structure. If you want the broader growth frameworks behind the platform, the Creator MBA provides that strategic context.

Frequently asked questions about Discord alternatives

FAQ: What are the most private Discord alternatives for paid communities?
Owned branded apps published under your own developer account offer the strongest privacy and data control. Platforms like Passion.io give you a CSV export of all subscriber data on any plan, while Discord holds your member list inside their infrastructure with no equivalent portable export.

FAQ: How can I monetize my community after leaving Discord?
On Passion.io, route subscriptions through web checkout (3.9% platform fee plus Stripe) for higher-margin sales, or use in-app purchases (15–30% to Apple/Google) for mobile convenience. The Apple Small Business Program reduces Apple's cut to 15% for creators earning under $1M per year.

FAQ: Are there Discord alternatives that offer a branded app under my own name?
Yes. Passion.io publishes your app under your own Apple Developer Program account ($99/year) and Google Play Console account ($25 one-time), so your brand name and icon appear in both app stores. Mighty Networks requires an upgrade to Mighty Pro (~$28,000/year) for the same result.

FAQ: What about gaming-focused alternatives like TeamSpeak or Guilded?
TeamSpeak and Guilded are built for gaming voice chat, not course delivery or subscription billing. They lack the monetization features and white-glove setup support that premium coaching businesses require.

FAQ: How long does it take to migrate from Discord to a branded app?
With Passion.io Plus, the target launch timeline is 30 days from kickoff to a live web app with App Store submissions underway. Allow a 1–2 week buffer for App Store review if your content or metadata requires clarification.

Key terminology for app builders

White-glove service: A done-for-you engagement where the platform's team handles technical setup, App Store submission, content migration, and design so the creator does not manage those steps directly.

Native app: An application built specifically for iOS or Android using the operating system's own frameworks, resulting in faster performance, offline access on eligible plans, and hardware integration compared to web-based alternatives.

Web wrapper: A mobile app that loads a website inside an app shell rather than using native operating system components. Performance is typically slower and offline access is not available.

IAP (In-App Purchase): A payment processed through Apple's App Store or Google Play. Apple and Google retain 15–30% of the transaction, with creators earning under $1M annually typically qualifying for the 15% Small Business rate from Apple.

PassionPayments: Passion.io's web checkout gateway, which charges a 3.9% platform fee plus Stripe's processing rate. Available on all Passion.io plans for sales routed through a web browser rather than the native app stores.

Push notifications: Alerts delivered by an app to a user's device lock screen or notification center without the user actively opening the app. Native push from a branded app is significantly more visible than email or in-app pings inside a third-party platform.

Churn: The percentage of paying subscribers who cancel within a given period. Monthly churn above 6% typically signals engagement problems at the product or onboarding level. See the in-app community guide for engagement tactics that reduce early churn.

MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue): The predictable monthly income from active subscriptions and the core metric for subscription-based coaching and education businesses.