7 Circle Alternatives (2026), Ranked by Fees and Fit

Circle suits creators who want a real community around their courses: discussions, events and a membership in one place. For a small or early community, though, the bill can grow faster than the member list. You may end up paying for a higher tier, transaction fees, extra admins or a branded app when you only need a few of those things.

We compared seven Circle alternatives on price, fees and features. A few are simpler to run as a paid community, a few put courses and marketing first, and two include an app under your own brand.

Why people look for a Circle alternative

The tier jump

On Circle, you often move up a plan to get a feature, not because your community has grown. Workflows, APIs and the more advanced AI tools sit on higher tiers. On annual billing, Professional is $89 a month, Business $199 and Scale $419. The first step up adds $110 a month, and the second adds another $220.

In a June 24, 2026 Trustpilot review, a reviewer named Jamie described a restriction on bulk member management that left them having to "manually delete hundreds of members." That was one person's experience at the time, so check the permissions your team needs before you choose a plan.

Fees on lower plans

Circle takes a platform fee on paywall sales: 2% on Professional, 1% on Business and Scale, and 0.5% on Circle Plus. Card processing comes on top, typically from 2.9% plus $0.30 for US cards, and recurring paywalls add Stripe Billing's 0.7%. On Business, a membership payment costs 1% + 2.9% + $0.30 + 0.7% in fees.

In an April 1, 2026 review, Luis Antezana praised Circle's interface but said it "costs more than it should."

Add-ons and seat limits

Circle charges more as the team grows. Each extra admin is $10 a month, extra moderators are $20 a month per 10, and a branded iOS and Android app is only on Circle Plus, which is priced by quote. Extra AI credits are $10 per 1,000 on every self-serve plan.

Setup can take longer than expected

In a May 25, 2026 review, Charlie Coppinger called Circle "near perfect now" but said temporary invitation limits disrupted a class launch. Circle replied that it had adjusted the limit for that community.

If you run the community with one or two people, test inviting members and managing them in bulk during the trial, before you launch.

How we compared them

We compared each platform on five things:

• Fees on a sale: the platform's own percentage, if any, plus payment processing.
• Tier jumps: what the next plan costs and what it adds.
• Branded app: whether you can get an app under your own brand, and on which plan.
• Course depth: whether courses are built in, and how well the platform supports learning.
• Setup effort: how much a small team has to put together itself.

Where a price is the monthly equivalent of an annual plan, we say so.

The alternatives

1. Heartbeat

Circle and Heartbeat both put the community first. Heartbeat is built for communities people pay to join: members talk in channels, meet at live events and take courses together, with memberships and checkout in the same place. It fits a paid membership, a group coaching program or a cohort course where members learn from each other.

Every plan includes unlimited courses, events and documents, and a course can run evergreen or as a cohort. Members use the Heartbeat app on their phones, and the Scale plan adds your own branded app in the App Store and Google Play, with no custom quote. Plans are Build at $49 a month, Grow at $149 and Scale at $849, with transaction fees of 5%, 2.5% and 1.25% plus Stripe processing. Heartbeat has a 14-day free trial, with no card required to start. For a side-by-side, see Heartbeat vs Circle.

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2. Skool

Skool is a good fit for creators who want an active community that's quick to set up. It has a community feed, courses, a calendar and member gamification in one simple layout, so you can run a learning community without building spaces and workflows. The trade-off is flexibility: Skool gives you very little room to customize.

Skool's plan prices are low, and its fees do most of the charging. Hobby is $9 a month but takes 10% plus $0.30 per transaction. Pro is $99 a month and charges 2.9% plus $0.30 on transactions up to $899, and 3.9% plus $0.30 above that. Processing is included in both. For more, see Skool vs Circle and our Skool pricing review.

3. Mighty Networks

If you like Circle's member interaction but want a different structure, Mighty Networks is the closest match. Community, courses and events are designed to work together. If your goal is a smaller bill, though, Mighty won't change much.

The Launch plan is $950 a year and takes a 2% transaction fee, the same rate as Circle Professional. Launch allows three hosts and ten moderators, as Professional allows three admins and ten moderators. A branded app comes through Mighty Pro, priced on request, as Circle's comes through Circle Plus. You'd still pay a percentage on sales, and a branded app is still a sales conversation, so price the plan you'd actually need.

4. Kajabi

Some creators leave Circle because their business is spread across too many tools. Kajabi puts courses, memberships, a website, email and sales funnels in one platform, so you don't pay separately for course hosting and marketing. Its entry plan costs more than Circle's as a result.

Basic is $179 a month ($143 billed annually) with five products, 2,500 contacts, one website, one community and two admin users. Growth is $249 ($199 annually), and Pro is $499 ($399 annually). Kajabi Payments costs 2.9% plus $0.30 on Basic, 2.8% on Growth and 2.7% on Pro. If you use another payment provider, Kajabi adds 2%, 1% or 0.5%. A branded app is included on Pro and is a $199 a month add-on on Basic and Growth. See more Kajabi alternatives.

5. Thinkific

Thinkific suits creators whose business is the course itself. The community is there to support the learning.

Start is $109 a month, or $82 a month billed annually, with one community. Grow is $219 a month, or $164 billed annually, with three communities. A branded mobile app is a $199 a month add-on. If you use Thinkific Payments, Thinkific adds no gateway fee of its own, though processing still applies. See more Thinkific alternatives.

6. Podia

Podia gives you a hosted storefront for courses, digital downloads, email and a community. It suits creators who sell several kinds of products and don't want to run a separate community tool, though the community side is less developed than on platforms built around member interaction.

Billed annually, Mover is $42 a month with a 5% transaction fee and up to 100 email subscribers. Shaker is $84 a month with no transaction fee and 500 subscribers, and Earthquaker is $150 a month with 1,000 subscribers and no transaction fee. Monthly billing costs more ($49, $99 and $179). Podia has no member mobile app.

On monthly billing, Shaker costs $50 more than Mover, which equals Mover's 5% fee at $1,000 a month in sales. Above that, Shaker is cheaper. See more Podia alternatives.

7. LearnDash

LearnDash makes sense as a Circle alternative if you want full control of your own website. It runs on WordPress, so you build courses on your own site instead of moving everything to a hosted platform. You choose the host and extend the site with WordPress plugins. The trade-off is that you manage hosting, updates, plugin compatibility and security yourself.

LearnDash is now sold in a bundle with The Events Calendar, Give and Kadence, at $350 a year for one site. That doesn't cover hosting, payment processing or other website costs. Community features come through integrations such as BuddyBoss, BuddyPress and bbPress. Expect to spend more time on upkeep than on a hosted platform.

Comparison table

Which one to pick, by reason

• The tier jump: Skool keeps every feature on two plans, and Heartbeat includes unlimited courses and events on every plan.
• Fees on lower plans: compare Skool Pro, Podia Shaker and Thinkific on Thinkific Payments, none of which adds a platform percentage. Price the subscription against your monthly sales.
• Course delivery: Thinkific if teaching comes first, Kajabi if you want email, a website and sales funnels on one bill.
• Your own app: Heartbeat Scale and Kajabi Pro include one. On Thinkific it's an add-on, and on Mighty Networks it's a custom quote.
• Fewer setup decisions: test Skool against the discussions, lessons and calls you run each week.
• Another community-led platform: Heartbeat or Mighty Networks.

How to move off Circle

1. List what you use: members, courses, posts, comments, events, payment records and automated messages.
2. Export your members yourself: admins can download a members CSV from the Audience page, and subscriptions and transactions export separately.
3. Request the full export: Circle support can send CSVs of members (without passwords), spaces, posts and comments. Uploaded images and media aren't included.
4. Check what your new platform imports: member records and course files usually move easily, while posts and discussions often don't.
5. Settle subscriptions before you cancel: cancelling your Circle plan doesn't cancel members' paywall subscriptions. Cancel or move them yourself. Your Stripe account stays connected to Circle.
6. Mind the deadline: your plan runs to the end of the billing cycle, and Circle typically deletes the data about 90 days after cancellation.

Frequently asked questions