What is Circle?
Published by CircleWatch on YouTube
Updated Oct 5, 2026
Membership & Community Platforms
Circle
Community platform for paid memberships, courses and live events
From $89/mofree trial
Circle at a glance
from our research
Community platform for creators and brands, with spaces, chat, courses, events and paywalls in one product
Paywalls gate the whole community or chosen spaces and charge subscriptions, installments or one-time fees
Prices are based on annual billing, and Circle's paywall fee comes on top of Stripe's processing fees
Professional: $89 a month on annual billing, with 3 admins, 20 spaces and a 2% fee on paywall payments
Overview
What is Circle?
Circle is a community platform made by CircleCo, Inc., a US company founded in 2019. Its privacy notice describes it as an all-in-one community platform for creators and brands: discussion spaces, chat, courses, live events, payments, a website builder and gamification sit in one product. Circle's platform page lists selling memberships, courses, coaching and ticketed events among its uses. Members reach a community on the web, in a desktop app or through Circle's iOS and Android apps.
An owner builds the community out of spaces and arranges them into space groups. In a public community, the owner decides which spaces appear in the sidebar for visitors who aren't logged in. Access is sold through paywalls. A paywall can cover the whole community or chosen spaces and charge a subscription, installments or a one-time fee, and subscriptions can bill monthly, yearly or at other intervals, with a free or paid trial. Payments run through Stripe. Admins can export members, space members and event attendees as CSV files, which arrive by email, and the Business plan adds Circle's Admin and Headless APIs.
Circle sells four plans, Professional, Business, Scale and Circle Plus, at flat monthly prices based on annual billing. Each plan includes a set number of admins, moderators and spaces, and extra admins are charged one by one. Circle also keeps a percentage of every paywall payment, on top of Stripe's processing fees, and the rate falls on higher plans. Circle Plus, sold through sales, adds custom branded iOS and Android apps with their own app store listings.
Our verdict on Circle
Updated Oct 5, 2026Pricing checked Oct 5, 2026
Circle suits a creator, coach or company that wants to sell memberships, courses and events from one community and is ready to commit to a yearly plan. Its paywalls do most of the commercial work. One paywall can gate the whole site and another a single course space, each charging a subscription, installments or a one-time fee, so a monthly membership and a fixed-price program can run side by side with no separate checkout tool. The data isn't trapped either: the member export carries tags, profile fields, engagement counts and activity scores.
The pricing has more moving parts than the headline. Every plan is priced on annual billing with no month-to-month option on the pricing page, so the 14-day trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee are the low-commitment ways in. Circle's fee comes on top of Stripe's, which Circle's help center says typically starts at 2.9% + $0.30 per card payment. Professional is tight for a team: 3 admins, 10 moderators and 20 spaces, with each extra admin at $10 a month. Custom profile fields cost $49 a month extra on that plan, and apps under your own brand need Circle Plus, which is priced by quote.
Most paid communities will start on Professional at $89 a month, based on annual billing, with a 2% fee on paywall payments. On $2,000 a month in member payments, that fee is $40 before Stripe's share. Business, at $199 a month with a 1% fee, would save $20 on the same revenue, so it only pays for itself through fees once members pay about $11,000 a month. Until then, the reasons to upgrade are its workflows, APIs and the removal of Circle branding. Scale costs $419 a month with a 1% fee and adds webhooks, AI agents and custom single sign-on.
Choose Circle when courses, live events and a paid membership need to live in one branded place and the business can carry a yearly plan. Skool is simpler for a single paid group: its Pro plan costs $99 a month with a fee of 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction, and both of its plans include courses. If paying month to month matters, Mighty Networks' Launch plan costs $95 a month, or $79 a month billed yearly, with a 2% fee.
Written by Lokesh Kapoor
Pros & cons
Circle pros and cons
What it does well
- Paywalls charge subscriptions, installments or one-time fees for the whole site or some spaces
- Member CSV exports include tags, profile fields, engagement counts and activity scores
- Web, desktop, iOS and Android apps for members from the Professional plan up
- 14-day free trial without a card, plus a 30-day money-back guarantee
Where it falls short
- No month-to-month price: the pricing page lists every plan on annual billing
- Professional includes 3 admins and 20 spaces; each extra admin costs $10 a month
- Branded iOS and Android apps need Circle Plus, which is priced by quote
Editor's assessment from vendor documentation and published pricing
Pricing
Circle pricing
Circle's paid plans start at $89/month, above the $59 median across the 5 tools in our Membership & Community Platforms ranking. You can test it on a 14-day free trial.
Professional
$89/mo
per month, plus $10 per extra admin
- Unlimited members
- 3 admins, 10 moderators, 20 spaces
- Courses, live events and payments
- 200 GB storage
- 2,500 Circle AI credits a month
Usage: The listed price is based on annual billing; the page shows no month-to-month price. Circle takes a 2% transaction fee on paywall payments, on top of Stripe's processing fees.
Business
$199/mo
per month, plus $10 per extra admin
- 5 admins, 15 moderators, 30 spaces
- Workflows and custom profile fields
- Circle APIs and MCP
- Remove Circle branding
- 500 GB storage
Usage: The listed price is based on annual billing. Circle takes a 1% transaction fee on paywall payments, on top of Stripe's processing fees.
Scale
$419/mo
per month, plus $10 per extra admin
- 10 admins, 100 moderators, 100 spaces
- AI agents and AI workflows
- Unlimited workflows and webhooks
- Custom single sign-on (SSO)
- 5,000 Circle AI credits a month
Usage: The listed price is based on annual billing. Circle's comparison table shows a 1% transaction fee on paywall payments, on top of Stripe's processing fees.
Circle Plus
Custom
Tailored pricing for larger teams
- Custom branded mobile apps
- Branded push notifications
- Unlimited admins, moderators and spaces
- Email Hub with 10,000 contacts
- Negotiable limits
Usage: Quote only (Talk to sales). The comparison table shows a 0.5% transaction fee on paywall payments.
Checked against Circle.so, Inc.'s pricing page on October 5, 2026 · see the full breakdown
Capabilities
Circle features
Checked against the same feature list as every other tool in its category.
Community Experience
- Included:Branded mobile appYour own iOS and Android app rather than a shared platform app.Circle Plus plan only
- Included:Built-in coursesStructured lessons alongside discussion, without a separate course platform.
- Included:Live events & streamingHost calls, streams or events inside the platform rather than linking out.
- Included:Real-time chat & DMsLive chat channels and direct messages between members.
- Included:Spaces & sub-groupsSeparate areas for topics or member tiers within one community.
Monetisation
- Included:Multiple membership tiersSeveral price points with different access levels.
- Included:Paid membershipsRecurring subscriptions with tiers, trials and coupons.
- Not included:Zero platform feesThe platform takes no percentage of member payments.
Moderation & Growth
- Included:API & integrationsConnect member data to your CRM, email tool or automation platform.Business plan and up
- Included:Engagement analyticsActivity, retention and member health reporting for the owner.
- Included:Gamification & leaderboardsPoints, levels and leaderboards to encourage participation.
- Included:Moderation toolsFlagging, queues, member roles and automated spam handling.
- Included:Public, SEO-visible contentThreads are indexable, so the community also attracts search traffic.
- Not included:Self-hosting optionRun it on your own infrastructure and own the database.
Ecosystem
Circle integrations
- Stripe
- Zapier
- Mailchimp
- Zoom
- Slack
- ConvertKit
Videos
Watch Circle in action
Product walkthroughs from Circle's own YouTube channel.
Circle's Year in Review 2025
Published by CircleWatch on YouTube
Alternatives
Top Circle alternatives
Tools that do the same job, from the same category.
Mighty Networks
Best for course creators and brands whose members will join from iOS and Android phones
From $29/mo
Discourse
Best for open-source projects and companies running a public, searchable discussion forum
Free plan
Fit check
Will Circle fit your team?
Support
- Email support
- Live chat
- Knowledge base
Training
- Webinars
- Documentation
- Video tutorials
Deployment
- Web
- iOS
- Android
Typical users
- Freelancers
- Small businesses
- Mid-size companies
FAQs
Circle FAQs
Written by our editorial team.
Is Circle free?
No. Circle has no free plan, but it offers a 14-day free trial without a credit card; a community can't be made public while it's on the trial. After that, the lowest-priced plan is Professional at $89 a month, based on annual billing, with a 2% fee on paywall payments. Circle's pricing page also offers a 30-day, 100% money-back guarantee. See Circle pricing for all four plans.
How much does Circle cost?
Circle's pricing page lists Professional at $89 a month, Business at $199 and Scale at $419, all based on annual billing, and shows no month-to-month price. Circle Plus is priced by quote. The three priced plans include 3, 5 and 10 admins, and each extra admin costs $10 a month. Circle also keeps a share of paywall payments: 2% on Professional, 1% on Business and Scale, and 0.5% on Circle Plus.
What transaction fees does Circle charge?
Circle keeps 2% of paywall payments on Professional, 1% on Business and Scale, and 0.5% on Circle Plus. The fee shows up as an application fee in Stripe and is deducted from payouts. Stripe's own processing fees apply on top, and Circle's help center says those typically start at 2.9% + $0.30 per card payment. On $2,000 of monthly member payments, Circle's fee is $40 on Professional and $20 on Business or Scale. For a revenue-share comparison, see Circle vs Patreon.
Does Circle have a mobile app?
Yes. Members can use Circle on the web, in a desktop app and in Circle's iOS and Android apps, which are included from the Professional plan up. A custom branded app with its own App Store and Google Play listings, branded push notifications and custom app screens is part of Circle Plus, which is priced by quote through Circle's sales team. For a lower-cost option built around one group, see Circle vs Skool.
Can I export my members from Circle?
Yes. Admins can export members, space members, event attendees and live attendees as CSV files, which Circle sends to the admin's email address. The member file includes name, email, join date, tags, profile fields, engagement counts and activity score. For ongoing syncing, Zapier connects through a Zapier token, and the Admin and Headless APIs start on the Business plan. If you're weighing a move, see Circle alternatives.
Sources & methodology
Product details come from Circle.so, Inc.'s public website and documentation (United States). Every plan and price was checked against the vendor's pricing page on October 5, 2026. We haven't tested this product hands-on; the verdict is a desk assessment. How we research and rank tools
- Founded 2019
- 5 languages supported
- circle.so
Keep researching