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Social Media · head to head

Khoros vs Shapr

Khoros logo

Khoros

Social Media

Enterprise social media management and branded community platform, now owned by IgniteTech

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
S

Shapr

Social Media

Networking made human

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Shapr has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Khoros igniteTech, part of ESW Capital, acquired Khoros in May 2025 and around 116 staff were made redundant within weeks, and ESW has a documented pattern of running acquired software on minimal cost bases, so support responsiveness and roadmap delivery are legitimate contract-negotiation issues rather than theoretical risks.; Shapr the Internet Archive's capture of Shapr's homepage on 1 January 2021 stated 'Sign up for free' with no paid tier mentioned, describing a machine-learning matching algorithm that suggests 15 relevant people to meet each day.
  • They diverge on capability: Khoros covers Branded communities, Shapr covers Swipe-Based Matching.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Khoros and Shapr actually diverge.

Attributes where Khoros and Shapr differ
AttributeKhorosShapr
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquotefreemium
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, APIIos, Android
FoundedUnknown2015

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Social Media).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Khoros

  • Branded communities
  • Community gamification
  • Social publishing
  • Social customer care
  • Moderation tooling
  • Listening and analytics
  • Aurora and Iris AI
  • Knowledge deflection

Only in Shapr

  • Swipe-Based Matching
  • Daily Suggestions
  • Goal-Based Networking
  • Messaging
  • LinkedIn Integration
  • Location-Based
  • LinkedIn
  • Ios support

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Khoros

  • A telecommunications operator that wants a public support community whose accepted answers measurably deflect contact centre volumenot Shapr
  • A consumer brand consolidating a dozen regional social accounts under one publishing approval workflow with regional role permissionsnot Shapr
  • A games publisher running player forums where moderation load and volunteer moderator tooling matter more than publishing featuresnot Shapr
  • A bank that needs social service messages tracked against the same SLA framework as its email and chat queuesnot Shapr

Shapr

No use cases recorded yet. See the Shapr review.

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Khoros

  • IgniteTech, part of ESW Capital, acquired Khoros in May 2025 and around 116 staff were made redundant within weeks, and ESW has a documented pattern of running acquired software on minimal cost bases, so support responsiveness and roadmap delivery are legitimate contract-negotiation issues rather than theoretical risks.
  • Community migration is genuinely hard: moving years of threads, accepted solutions, member reputation and SEO-bearing URLs off Khoros later is a project measured in quarters, which makes the switching cost far higher than the annual licence suggests.
  • Pricing is not published and the platform is sold on annual enterprise contracts with substantial implementation and design services, so the first-year cost is materially higher than the recurring licence and hard to benchmark.
  • The publishing and listening side inherited from Spredfast has been outpaced by dedicated social suites, so social-first teams frequently find themselves keeping a second tool for scheduling and analytics and paying for overlapping capability.
  • The product is the result of merging two large codebases and has now changed private-equity owner twice, and reviewers consistently report that community administration and social management still feel like separate systems sharing a login rather than one product.
  • Khoros Community Classic is being sunset in favour of the new Aurora AI community platform, so existing customers face a forced migration of an already hard-to-move asset, on the acquirer timetable rather than their own.

Shapr

  • The Internet Archive's capture of Shapr's homepage on 1 January 2021 stated 'Sign up for free' with no paid tier mentioned, describing a machine-learning matching algorithm that suggests 15 relevant people to meet each day.

Pricing, plan by plan

Khoros

On request
  • Khoros$undefined/year
    • Branded communities
    • Social publishing and governance
    • Social customer care queue

Shapr

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Daily Profiles
    • Messaging
    • Swipe Matching
  • Premium$19.99/month
    • Unlimited Swipes
    • See Who Viewed
    • Priority Profiles

Which should you pick?

Choose Khoros if

  • You need branded communities.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, API.
  • You also want community gamification.
Khoros review

Choose Shapr if

  • You need swipe-based matching.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Ios, Android.
  • You also want daily suggestions.
Shapr review

Questions people ask

Is Khoros or Shapr better?
Neither clearly leads. Khoros starts at On request and Shapr at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Khoros or Shapr?
Shapr has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Khoros and Free for Shapr.
Does Khoros or Shapr run on more platforms?
Khoros runs on Web, iOS, Android, API. Shapr runs on Ios, Android.
Can I use Shapr for free?
Yes. Shapr has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Khoros starts at On request.
What is Khoros best used for?
Khoros is most often used for a telecommunications operator that wants a public support community whose accepted answers measurably deflect contact centre volume, a consumer brand consolidating a dozen regional social accounts under one publishing approval workflow with regional role permissions, a games publisher running player forums where moderation load and volunteer moderator tooling matter more than publishing features, a bank that needs social service messages tracked against the same sla framework as its email and chat queues. Of those, a telecommunications operator that wants a public support community whose accepted answers measurably deflect contact centre volume and a consumer brand consolidating a dozen regional social accounts under one publishing approval workflow with regional role permissions are not what Shapr is typically brought in for.
What can Khoros do that Shapr cannot?
Khoros covers Branded communities, Community gamification, Social publishing, Social customer care. Shapr covers Swipe-Based Matching, Daily Suggestions, Goal-Based Networking, Messaging.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Khoros: Who owns Khoros now?

IgniteTech, an ESW Capital company, acquired Khoros on 27 May 2025. Vista Equity Partners, which created Khoros by merging Lithium and Spredfast, is no longer the owner.

Khoros: Why does the website say khoros.ai?

The company moved its corporate domain from khoros.com to khoros.ai as part of an AI-first relaunch under IgniteTech, centred on its Aurora and Iris AI capabilities.

Khoros: Is pricing published?

No. Khoros quotes privately on annual enterprise contracts, and implementation services are a significant separate cost.

Khoros: Should the ownership change affect my decision?

It should affect your contract. Ask for written roadmap commitments, named support staffing and exit or data-export terms before signing a multi-year community deal.

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