Heartbeat is an all-in-one community platform for brands and businesses who want to host conversations, courses, events and more as an alternative to Facebook and other social media community offers.
With the help of built-in features and third-party integrations, Heartbeat provides all the features needed for you to grow a thriving community on your own domain.
The abundance of features available on Heartbeat seems to put this platform a step above a lot of the other community offerings I’ve tried.
The fact that they have apps for not only iOS and Android but also a desktop app, voice rooms and member matchups give them an edge over platforms that lack these features.
The all-in-one nature of Heartbeat means that you can replace a lot of other creator tools. You can create courses on Heartbeat which makes it a viable alternative to Kajabi and Teachable, voice and video rooms mean you don’t need Zoom or Google Meet, and you can replace Notion and Google Drive since document uploads and more are allowed.
You can start using Heartbeat with a 14-day free trial to see if it’s the platform that your business or brand needs. You wouldn’t need a credit card to get started to register and start playing with Heartbeat.
How To Sign Up For A Heartbeat Free Trial
Many community platforms allow you to sign up and try out what they have to offer without having to pay first. Heartbeat is one of them. They offer a standard 14-day free trial without the requirement of a credit card.
Registration is fast and easy with just a couple of steps and a short onboarding process to help you get your community set up fast.
Below, I go over the registration process to show you just how easy it is. Once you hit the “try for free” button, you can follow the steps outlined below.
1. Fill in the sign-up form
To get started, enter your first and last name, your email address, and the answer to the question in the form fields provided on the registration form.
Click on the “Create My Community” button to continue.
2. Choose a login method
After submitting your registration details, you’ll be taken to this page where you can choose a login method. Personally, I like using these authentication services because it means I don’t have to remember or store a password.
You can also choose to login with email by asking Heartbeat to “send a magic link”. You’ll need to check your email for the link that will take you to the next step in the signup process.
3. Create your community
After signing in using your preferred method, you’ll be asked to create your community by entering the name, uploading a logo and choosing your brand color. The logo and color options are optional and can be done later in the settings.
4. Preview the onboarding experience
Next, Heartbeat will give you a preview of the onboarding experience that your community members will go through when they sign up.
You’ll need to upload your photo and then you can skip the rest or fill in your bio to complete the onboarding.
5. Choose the type of community you’ll have
Next, you’ll choose the type of community you’re going to have. There are 6 options.
- Freemium – if you’re going to have both free and paying members
- Paid – for only paying members
- Cohort-based Course – if you’re teaching a live course with a thriving community
- Interest-based – for a community centered around an interest
- Product – for a community centered around a product
- Start from scratch – if you just want to build your own from scratch
Clicking on each of these options will reveal the default threads where your community content will be posted.
Choose one and then click on “next” to continue.
6. Explore your dashboard
Congrats, your Heartbeat community is now set up and you’re in your dashboard where you can now manage everything.
You’ll see how much time you have remaining on your free trial right at the top and you can finish completing your community setup by doing the steps in the box. These steps include connecting Stripe to manage payments and setting up your pricing as well as selecting experiences and inviting members.
What’s Offered on a Heartbeat Free Trial
Heartbeat is packed with features to help you build your online community. On your free trial, you’ll have a premium experience which is probably the same as the Starter plan.
On the Starter plan, which costs $49/month, you have access to all the core features of Heartbeat and can build a community of up to 1000 members. The other plans do not add any features but instead removes limits on how many members you can have and you get additional benefits like priority customer support and full API access depending on the plan.
Your 14-day free trial allows you to set up your community, customize it and more by adding branding, sending invites, or even adding a custom domain name.
Also, you’ll be able to use all of the core Heartbeat features like creating courses, creating events, starting threads and conversations, creating voice rooms, uploading files and much more.
You can potentially have your community completely set up the way you want it and generating revenue by the time your trial expires.
Should You Use Heartbeat for Your Community?
I love Heartbeat’s community platform and would definitely recommend it if you’re looking for a way to host your followers.
All-in-one platforms where every aspect is built equally in terms of quality can be rare but Heartbeat seems to be that type of platform.
Their community has all the features you’ll need including messaging, profiles, voice rooms, online indicators and more. Courses have native video and can be cohort-based. There are apps for iOS, Android and desktop that have push notifications and more.
Integrations and API access means that you can customize your community infinitely the way you want it to be.
Heartbeat is one of the best options you have for an online community platform. There is also no risk in trying it out because you can get a 14-day free trial without using your credit card. Try it today and see if it’s the community platform your brand has been looking for.
