Circle
Community platform with courses and events.
Circle hosts branded communities with discussions, courses, live events and paid memberships, on web and mobile apps.
Visit Circle
Is Circle worth it?
Circle is worth it if you run a paid community and want it to look and feel like your own brand, with discussions, events and courses together. It suits creators whose audience is willing to pay. The catch is cost: it is priced above simpler tools like Skool, and its course features are lighter than a full course platform.
The short version
- Best for
- Paid communities with a polished, branded feel.
- Made for
- Course creators, newsletter writers
- Free plan
- Check site
- How it charges
- Monthly or yearly plans. Prices change often; check the current plans on Circle’s site.
Good at
- Clean, customisable community spaces
- Courses, events and paywalls built in
- Mobile apps
Where Nub hesitates
- Costs more than simpler community tools
- Course features lighter than a full LMS
Pick Circle if
- Your community is the main product and you want it branded, not a generic group.
- You want discussions, events, courses and paywalls without stitching tools together.
- Your members expect a mobile app as well as a web version.
Skip it if
- You want the simplest flat-priced setup; Skool is quicker to run.
- Your course needs quizzes, certificates and structured paths; Thinkific or LearnWorlds do more.
- You are still testing whether people will pay; a free group or a newsletter is a cheaper test.
How running a paid community on Circle works
Setting up Circle starts with spaces. You create a community, split it into spaces for discussions, announcements, events and courses, and decide which members can see which space. Paywalls sit on top of that, so you can sell access to the whole community or to specific spaces. Members reach everything on the web or in the mobile apps.
Day to day, the work is posting prompts, answering threads and running live sessions or events in the same place members already visit. Courses live in their own spaces, which keeps lessons close to the conversation about them. That is the main reason creators pick Circle: the community is the product, and the course supports it.
Compared with Skool, Circle gives you much more control over how the community looks and is organised. Skool has one fixed layout (a feed, a classroom and a leaderboard) and a flat price per group; Circle lets you shape spaces, branding and navigation, and costs more for it. Against Mighty Networks the overlap is close on community, events and courses. Mighty Networks puts more weight on a branded app, while Circle is often chosen for its clean, customisable spaces.
In a creator stack, Circle sits after your free channel (YouTube, a podcast or a newsletter) and next to, or instead of, a course platform. If your course needs quizzes, certificates and structured learning paths, a dedicated tool such as Thinkific does more, and some creators run both. If the course is short and the conversation matters more, keeping it inside Circle is simpler. Check the current plans before you commit, since pricing and features change.
Circle vs similar tools
| Tool | Best for | Free plan | How it charges |
|---|---|---|---|
| Circle | Paid communities with a polished, branded feel. | Check site | Monthly or yearly plans |
| Skool | Paid communities where the course is part of membership. | No | Flat monthly fee per group |
| Mighty Networks | Membership businesses that want their own app. | Check site | Monthly or yearly plans |
| Whop | Creators selling memberships to an online audience. | Check site | No monthly fee; percentage per sale |
Circle FAQ
Is Circle free?
Circle’s plans change, so check its pricing page for the current options and any trial. At the time of writing it is sold as monthly or yearly plans, and it costs more than simpler community tools.
Circle vs Skool: which is better?
Skool is simpler: one layout, gamification and a flat monthly fee per group. Circle gives you more control over branding, spaces and structure, and costs more. Pick Skool for a fast, simple community; pick Circle when the look and organisation of the community matter.
Can you sell courses on Circle?
Yes. Courses, events and paywalls are built in, so you can sell a course on its own or include it in a membership. The course features are lighter than a full learning platform, so heavy quiz or certificate needs are better served by Thinkific or LearnWorlds.
Does Circle have a mobile app?
Yes, members can use Circle on the web and in its mobile apps. If you want an app published under your own brand, check the current plans, since that kind of option is usually priced separately.
Is Circle good for newsletter writers?
It can be. Newsletter writers often use Circle as the paid tier: free readers get the newsletter, paying members get the community, events and extra content. It works best once you have enough engaged readers to keep discussions active.
Compare Circle
Alternatives
- Skool · Paid communities where the course is part of membership.
- Mighty Networks · Membership businesses that want their own app.
- Whop · Creators selling memberships to an online audience.
- Kajabi · Established creators who want one platform for the whole business.
- Teachable · Creators selling their first or second course.
- Thinkific · Structured courses with quizzes and certificates.
