Platform Breakdown

Circle for memberships

A polished community platform with courses, events, and livestreams built in, aimed at creators and businesses who want the space to look like theirs.

VERIFIED 2026-07-28Official pricing page

What Circle is

Circle is a hosted community platform. You get spaces for discussion, direct messages, live rooms, events, courses, and paid memberships under your own domain, without touching code.

Who it’s best for

Creators, coaches, and small businesses whose product is the community itself, and who care that it looks and feels like their brand rather than a generic forum.

Community-first memberships that also sell courses
Creators who want the space to look like their own brand
Memberships large enough to absorb a $89 monthly floor

Who should avoid it

People whose core product is a newsletter or a private podcast, and anyone who needs the total platform cost to stay under about $50 a month.

Anyone whose main product is a newsletter
Private podcast memberships
Testing an idea before you have paying members

Membership models it supports

Not every platform suits every kind of membership. These are the models we consider it a genuine option for.

Pricing and fees

Read from Circle's own pricing page on 2026-07-28. Always check the official page before you buy.

Circle plans, prices, and fees
Plan	Monthly	Annual, per month	Platform fee
Professional3 admins and 10 moderators. Includes Circle AI with 2,500 monthly credits.	$89	Not offered	2.0%
Business5 admins and 15 moderators. Adds headless API access and removes Circle branding.	$199	Not offered	1.0%
Circle PlusCustom pricing. Adds branded mobile apps, custom SSO, and the Email Hub.	Custom	Not offered	0.50%

Payment processing. Circle publishes its own platform fee but not processing rates. Members pay through your connected Stripe account, so Stripe's standard published US card rate applies.

Trial. 14-day free trial

What it costs in practice

Cheapest plan that holds the member count, including the platform's cut and payment processing.

Just starting

25 members at $20 a month

$121 / month

On Professional. About 24% of your revenue.

Established

100 members at $25 a month

$242 / month

On Professional. About 10% of your revenue.

Growing

500 members at $25 a month

$837 / month

On Business. About 7% of your revenue.

Feature support

What is included, what needs a higher plan, and what simply is not there.

Community features
Supported
Spaces, discussions, direct messages, group chat, and a member directory.
Courses
Supported
Included on every paid plan.
Coaching and live events
Supported
Events, live rooms, and live streams on every plan.
Video hosting
Supported
Native video hosting for course and post content.
Livestreaming
Supported
Newsletter and publishing
Partially supported
Posts and a weekly digest, but this is not a newsletter product.
Private podcast support
Not supported
No private RSS feed generation.
Payments and monetization
Supported
Paid memberships on Professional and above.
Branding and customization
Higher plan required
Custom domain and branding on all plans; removing Circle branding needs Business.
Branded mobile app
Higher plan required
Branded apps are a Circle Plus feature at custom pricing. A shared Circle app covers every plan.
Audience discovery
Not supported
No member-facing marketplace. Traffic is yours to bring.
Email and marketing
Add-on required
Email Hub starts at $99/month on top of the plan.
Integrations and API
Higher plan required
Headless API access requires Business.
Migration support
Partially supported
Member and content import tools; concierge migration is a Circle Plus service.
Customer and data ownership
Supported
Member export and your own Stripe account, so the payment relationship stays yours.

Important limitations

Email marketing is a separate paid add-on, so the real all-in cost is higher than the headline plan.
The interface has a lot of surface area and takes configuration before it feels simple to members.
Branded mobile apps sit behind custom Circle Plus pricing.

Data ownership and migration

Payments run through your own Stripe account, so subscribers stay in a processor you control. Member data exports out. Content export is more limited, so plan on rebuilding posts if you leave.

Alternatives worth comparing

Sources

Every fact on this page traces to one of these official pages.