8 Best Circle Alternatives for Selling Courses & Community

TL;DR: Best Circle Alternatives (2026)
Circle is one of the best community platforms you can buy, with spaces, courses, live rooms, payments, and AI under your own brand. Creators usually look elsewhere when add-ons and higher plans push the cost up, when they need real course tools like certificates, or when they want email and marketing built in.

Mighty Networks: Best overall Circle alternative for engagement-led paid communities.
Skool: Best for beginners, with built-in discovery that can send you members.
Heartbeat: Best value for cohorts and automation on a small budget.
Kajabi: Best when the community supports a marketing-led course business.
Thinkific: Best for course-first businesses that want a community layer.
Podia: Best budget all-in-one with email built in.
BuddyBoss: Best for owning your community on WordPress.
Whop: Best for selling many digital products with no monthly fee.

My take: Mighty Networks is the best Circle alternative when the community is the product. Pick Thinkific when learning is the product, and Kajabi when your email list drives sales.

Circle is one of the strongest community platforms on the market today. I rank it near the top of my list of online community platforms, and it keeps getting better, with Circle AI, a website builder, and AI agents added in 2026.

Still, Circle doesn’t fit every business.

Many of the features that make it shine sit on higher plans or come as paid add-ons, its course tools stay light, and it expects you to bring your own audience. Creators who hit one of those walls start looking for something that fits better.

In this guide, I compare the eight best Circle alternatives, explain how each one differs from Circle, where Circle still wins, and which type of creator each one fits. My Circle review covers the platform itself in full detail.

Why Creators Look for Circle Alternatives

Most creators leave Circle for one of a handful of reasons. Find yours in the table below to see which alternative fixes it.

Circle limitation	What it means for you	Alternatives that fix it
A transaction fee on every plan	Circle takes 2% of each sale on Professional, on top of Stripe fees	Kajabi, Thinkific, BuddyBoss
No workflows on Professional	Onboarding and follow-ups stay manual until you move to Business	Heartbeat, Kajabi
Email marketing costs extra	Email Hub is a paid add-on on every plan except Circle Plus	Kajabi, Podia
Light course tools	No completion certificates or graded assignments	Thinkific, Mighty Networks, Podia
Space limits	20 spaces on Professional and 30 on Business	Mighty Networks, BuddyBoss
Branded apps only on Circle Plus	Your own app store listing needs custom pricing	Kajabi, BuddyBoss
No way to find new members	Every member has to come from your own marketing	Skool, Whop

Top Circle Alternatives Compared

Use this table to narrow your list to two or three platforms, then read the full breakdowns below.

Platform	Best for	Biggest difference from Circle	Starting price
Mighty Networks	Engagement-led communities	Unlimited spaces, native livestreaming, and certificates	$79/mo billed annually plus 2% per sale (14-day free trial)
Skool	Beginners	A simple fixed layout with discovery and gamification	$9/mo plus 10% + 30¢ per sale, or $99/mo for Pro (14-day free trial)
Heartbeat	Cohorts on a budget	Workflows on the entry plan and imports from Circle	$40/mo billed annually plus 5% per sale (14-day free trial)
Kajabi	Marketing-led creators	Built-in email, funnels, and checkout with no transaction fees	$143/mo billed annually, with no Kajabi transaction fees (14-day free trial)
Thinkific	Course-first businesses	Certificates, assignments, and live lessons inside courses	$82/mo billed annually on Start, the first plan with paid memberships (30-day free trial)
Podia	Budget all-in-one	Email, downloads, and coaching in one simple tool	$42/mo billed annually plus 5% per sale (14-day free trial)
BuddyBoss	WordPress owners	A community you host and own on your own site	$199/yr for Start (First year $99 (intro price)), plus your own WordPress hosting (14-day money-back guarantee)
Whop	Selling many products	A storefront and marketplace with no monthly fee	No monthly fee, with card processing at 2.7% + $0.30 per sale on US cards

The Best Circle Alternatives for Edupreneurs

Each breakdown below covers how the platform differs from Circle, where Circle still wins, the main features, and what it costs. I’ve also added a side-by-side table for each one, so you can see the trade-offs before you move your members.

1. Mighty Networks: Best Overall Circle Alternative

• How it’s different from Circle: Unlimited spaces on every plan, built-in livestreaming, and courses with quizzes and certificates, all designed around daily member engagement.
• Where Circle is better: Workflows, a website builder, and a cleaner admin experience for structured communities with many programs.
• Main features: Flexible Spaces, feeds and chat, courses and paid challenges, quizzes and certificates, livestreams and events, People Magic, AI Cohost, and native payments
• Starting price: $79/mo billed annually plus 2% per sale (14-day free trial)

Mighty Networks is the closest match to Circle and the one I point most Circle users to first. Both platforms put the community at the center, but Mighty puts more of its effort into getting members to show up and talk every day.

Everything lives in Spaces, and every plan includes as many as you want. A premium tier, a cohort, or a topic group can each get its own Space with a feed, chat, course, and events. Polls, streaks, points, and People Magic, which matches members with shared interests, give people reasons to come back. AI Cohost helps you plan the structure and posts conversation starters for quieter members.

Learning works well too. Courses support quizzes, badges, and certificates on every plan, and livestreams run inside the platform without a separate video tool. The trade-off is setup and email. Flexible Spaces take planning, and Mighty has no email marketing tool, so you’ll still need Kit or another platform for sequences.

Mighty Networks vs Circle:

	Mighty Networks	Circle
Spaces	Unlimited on every plan	20 on Professional, 30 on Business
Certificates	Quizzes, badges, and certificates on every plan	No completion certificates
Livestreaming	Built in, Launch includes 20 hours a month	Built in, Professional includes 10 live hours a month
Engagement tools	Polls, streaks, points, People Magic	Spaces, chat, events, member directory
Email marketing	None	Email Hub add-on
Transaction fee on entry plan	2%	2%

Mighty Networks pricing plans:

My Mighty Networks review and Mighty Networks vs Circle comparison go deeper on both platforms.

Try Mighty Networks for free

2. Skool: Best for Beginners and Discovery

• How it’s different from Circle: One simple, fixed layout with a feed, classroom, calendar, and leaderboard, plus a public directory that can send you new members.
• Where Circle is better: Branding, flexible spaces, workflows, course quizzes, and a website builder.
• Main features: Community feed, classroom for courses, events calendar, unlimited live calls, points and levels, discovery directory, and an affiliate program on Pro
• Starting price: $9/mo plus 10% + 30¢ per sale, or $99/mo for Pro (14-day free trial)

Skool is the easiest platform here to launch, and that simplicity is the whole point. Every group has the same layout, with a feed in the center, a classroom for courses, a calendar for events, and a member list, so members who’ve used Skool before already know their way around yours.

Gamification drives participation. Members earn points when others like their posts, climb levels, and show up on a leaderboard, and you can lock courses until someone reaches a set level. Skool’s discovery directory also recommends your group to users interested in your topic, which Circle can’t do for you.

The trade-off is control. Skool’s design stays mostly fixed, the classroom has no quizzes or certificates, and Skool has no email marketing. Skool also takes a share of sales from members its discovery brings in through Growth Boost. Circle is the better home for a branded community with several programs or tiers.

Skool vs Circle:

	Skool	Circle
Setup	Minutes, with a fixed layout	Flexible spaces that take planning
Finding new members	Discovery directory	Your own marketing only
Gamification	Points, levels, and leaderboards built in	Engagement tools through spaces and workflows
Course tools	Videos, text, and files, unlocked by level	Drip, quizzes, and progress tracking
Branding	Skool’s design, with a custom URL on Pro	Your brand and your own domain
Transaction fee	10% + 30¢ on Hobby, 2.9% + 30¢ on Pro	2% on Professional

Skool pricing plans:

My Skool review and Skool vs Circle comparison cover the details, and my Skool pricing breakdown explains Growth Boost.

Try Skool for free

3. Heartbeat: Best Value for Cohorts and Automation

• How it’s different from Circle: A lower entry price than Circle, with automation workflows on the entry plan, Pulse AI, and a built-in import from Circle and Slack.
• Where Circle is better: Built-in livestreaming, unlimited members on every plan, lower transaction fees, and a longer track record.
• Main features: Threaded and chat channels, DMs, voice and video rooms, evergreen, drip, and cohort courses, Zoom events with recordings, automation workflows, cancellation flows, and Pulse AI
• Starting price: $40/mo billed annually plus 5% per sale (14-day free trial)

Heartbeat sits between Skool and Circle. It gives you far more structure than Skool, and it includes automation on the entry plan, which Circle saves for Business.

Discussions run in threaded channels, chat channels, and private groups, with direct messages and voice and video rooms for live conversations. Courses sit right next to the community, and cohort programs work especially well because the course, the channel, and the live sessions stay connected. Heartbeat also sets up the Zoom call for each event and brings the recording back afterward.

Pulse AI builds channels, courses, offers, sign-up pages, and workflows from a chat, and Heartbeat imports communities from Circle, which makes moving easier. The trade-off is scale and live video. The entry plan caps you at 350 members, events run through Zoom, and native video hosting starts on Grow.

Heartbeat vs Circle:

	Heartbeat	Circle
Automation workflows	5 on Build, unlimited on Grow	None on Professional, 20 on Business
Members on entry plan	Up to 350	Unlimited
Livestreaming	None, events run through Zoom	Built-in live streams and live rooms
AI	Pulse AI on every plan	Circle AI on every plan, agents from Scale
Admins and moderators	Unlimited on every plan	3 admins and 10 moderators on Professional
Video hosting	Native from Grow, embeds on Build	Included on every plan

Heartbeat pricing plans:

My guide to building a learning community shows how to run cohorts that keep members talking.

Try Heartbeat for free

4. Kajabi: Best for Community Plus Marketing

• How it’s different from Circle: A full business platform with email marketing, funnels, landing pages, checkout, courses, and coaching, with community as one part of it.
• Where Circle is better: Community depth, with more structure, engagement tools, and layout control for groups where members talk to each other.
• Main features: Community channels, challenges and leaderboards, live meetups, courses and coaching, email marketing and automations, funnels, checkout, Cofounder AI, and the Kajabi MCP
• Starting price: $143/mo billed annually, with no Kajabi transaction fees (14-day free trial)

Kajabi suits Circle users whose community supports a bigger business. Courses, coaching, email, funnels, and checkout all live in one account, so a subscriber can join your list, buy an offer, and land in the community without anything stitched together.

Email is the clearest difference. Kajabi includes email marketing and automations on every plan, while Circle sells Email Hub as an add-on. Kajabi also offers challenges with leaderboards, live meetups, and Cofounder, an AI tool that drafts a product, sales page, and email sequence from one conversation.

The trade-off is the community itself. Kajabi’s community tools are simpler than Circle’s, with fewer engagement features and less control over structure. Kajabi also costs more, so it only pays off when you use the email, funnels, and courses too. If members join mainly to talk to each other, Circle remains the better pick.

Kajabi vs Circle:

	Kajabi	Circle
Email marketing	Built in, with 2,500 contacts on Basic	Email Hub add-on
Funnels and landing pages	Full funnel builder	Website builder and sales pages
Transaction fees	None from Kajabi	2% on Professional
Community depth	Channels, challenges, meetups	Spaces, chat, live rooms, directory
Branded mobile app	Included on Pro	Only on Circle Plus
Starting price (annual)	$143/mo	$89/mo

Kajabi pricing plans:

My Kajabi Communities review covers the community side, and my Kajabi review covers the full platform.

Try Kajabi for free

5. Thinkific: Best for Course-First Businesses

• How it’s different from Circle: A learning platform first, with certificates, assignments, quizzes, and live Zoom lessons inside courses, plus communities tied to each course or tier.
• Where Circle is better: Community depth, workflows, gamification, and built-in livestreaming.
• Main features: Course builder, unlimited courses, quizzes, assignments, and certificates, Zoom lessons in courses, Communities and Spaces, digital downloads, memberships, and a mobile app on every plan
• Starting price: $82/mo billed annually on Start, the first plan with paid memberships (30-day free trial)

Thinkific fits Circle users whose real product is the learning. I run six live courses on Thinkific, and I see it as a course platform with a community layer on top, which is the opposite of Circle.

Course tools are where Thinkific pulls ahead. From Start up, you get certificates, assignments, private courses, and live Zoom lessons inside your courses, none of which Circle offers. Each course, cohort, or membership tier can get its own Space, and learners move from a lesson to the discussion about it without logging in anywhere else.

The trade-off is community depth. Thinkific has little gamification and no way to welcome new members or nudge quiet ones automatically, which becomes real work past a few hundred members. If the conversation is what people pay for, Circle serves them better.

Thinkific vs Circle:

	Thinkific	Circle
Certificates and assignments	Yes, from Start	No
Live lessons	Zoom lessons inside courses	Live streams and live rooms
Community	Spaces tied to courses and tiers	A full community platform
Automation	No member onboarding workflows	Workflows from Business
Digital downloads	Yes	No downloads store
Transaction fees	None	2% on Professional

Thinkific pricing plans:

My Thinkific Communities review and Thinkific review go deeper.

Try Thinkific for free

6. Podia: Best Budget All-in-One With Email

• How it’s different from Circle: A simple all-in-one where community sits at the center, with courses, downloads, coaching, events, and email marketing included.
• Where Circle is better: Community depth, live rooms, workflows, AI agents, and room to grow a large community.
• Main features: Community feed and spaces, group chats and DMs, courses with quizzes and certificates, digital downloads, coaching, events, email marketing, and Podia MCP
• Starting price: $42/mo billed annually plus 5% per sale (14-day free trial)

Podia rebuilt itself around community in 2026, which makes it a real Circle alternative for creators who sell a bit of everything. I’ve been a paid Podia user since 2018, and it still offers one of the best balances of community and learning for a small business.

Every customer lands in a shared home feed with spaces, discussions, and events, and a one-click upgrade button moves free members into paid tiers. Courses support drip content, quizzes, and certificates, and you can sell downloads and coaching from the same account. Email marketing comes built in, with broadcasts, automations, and revenue tracking for each email.

The trade-off is depth. Podia’s community is newer and simpler than Circle’s, its email allowance grows your bill as your list grows, and most features stay close to the basics. Communities that expect to scale past a few hundred active members will feel the limits.

Podia vs Circle:

	Podia	Circle
Email marketing	Built in on every plan	Email Hub add-on
Products	Courses, downloads, coaching, community, events	Community, courses, events
Certificates	Built in	No
Live video	Events with reminders and replays	Built-in live streams and live rooms
Automation	Basic email automations	Workflows from Business
Transaction fees	5% on Mover, none from Shaker	2% on Professional

Podia pricing plans:

My Podia review covers the new Podia in detail.

Try Podia for free

7. BuddyBoss: Best for Owning Your Community on WordPress

• How it’s different from Circle: A set of WordPress plugins and a theme that turn your own site into a community, so you own the members, data, and design.
• Where Circle is better: Ease of use, with hosting, updates, security, and support handled for you.
• Main features: Profiles and activity feeds, groups and forums, private and real-time messaging, BuddyBoss Courses, LearnDash and LifterLMS integrations, points and badges on Scale, and a branded app sold separately
• Starting price: $199/yr for Start (First year $99 (intro price)), plus your own WordPress hosting (14-day money-back guarantee)

BuddyBoss is the only option here that you own outright. It turns a WordPress site into a private social network, with profiles, activity feeds, groups, forums, events, and direct messages, all on your own domain.

Ownership is the main reason to choose it. No platform can change your rules, raise your fees, or shut down your community, and you can publish a branded app under your own name. BuddyBoss also works with LearnDash, LifterLMS, and Tutor LMS, so you can keep the LMS you already use and wrap a community around it. I’ve used LearnDash, and the pairing works well for WordPress course sites.

The trade-off is work. Hosting, plugin updates, conflicts, and backups all fall on you or on someone you pay. If you aren’t already on WordPress, Circle or Mighty Networks will save you a lot of effort.

BuddyBoss vs Circle:

	BuddyBoss	Circle
Ownership	Your site, your data	Hosted by Circle
Maintenance	You handle hosting and updates	Circle handles everything
Courses	BuddyBoss Courses or your WordPress LMS	Built-in course spaces
Branded mobile app	Separate subscription, published under your name	Only on Circle Plus
Transaction fees	2.9% on Start, none from Launch	2% on Professional
Best for	WordPress sites that want full control	Creators who want a hosted platform

BuddyBoss pricing plans:

My BuddyBoss review covers setup, costs, and hosting in detail.

Get BuddyBoss

8. Whop: Best for Selling Many Digital Products

• How it’s different from Circle: A digital product storefront where community is one app beside courses, files, software, and events, with marketplace discovery and no monthly fee.
• Where Circle is better: A structured, branded community experience built for conversation and learning.
• Main features: Storefront for communities, courses, files, software, and events, community chat and forums, courses with quizzes and certificates, marketplace listing, and a built-in affiliate system
• Starting price: No monthly fee, with card processing at 2.7% + $0.30 per sale on US cards

Whop fits Circle users who sell more than a community. It works as a storefront for paid communities, courses, templates, software tools, coaching access, and event tickets, all from one account.

Commerce is Whop’s strength. Every account can list products on the Whop marketplace, which brings in buyers you didn’t find yourself, and the built-in affiliate system lets other people sell your products for a commission. Courses include quizzes and certificates, which Circle’s course spaces don’t offer.

The trade-off is the community experience. Whop’s chat and forums feel closer to Discord than to Circle’s organized spaces, so conversations move fast and older posts get harder to find. Learning-led communities and professional memberships will feel more at home on Circle.

Whop vs Circle:

	Whop	Circle
Monthly fee	None	From $89/mo billed annually
Products	Communities, courses, files, software, events	Community, courses, events
Finding new members	Marketplace listing	Your own marketing only
Community style	Fast chat and forums	Organized spaces and threads
Certificates	Yes	No
Best for	Selling many digital products	A branded community business

Whop pricing plans:

My Skool vs Whop comparison explains how Whop works in more depth.

Start on Whop for free

Platforms I Left Out

Several tools show up on other lists of Circle alternatives, but I don’t recommend them for a paid community or course business. Here’s why.

Platform	Why I left it out
Discord and Slack	Real-time chat buries useful answers, and neither offers built-in paywalls, courses, or member tiers
Facebook Groups	No payments or courses, and Meta controls who sees your posts
Discourse	A strong forum, but it needs technical setup and has no native courses or payments
Bettermode	Built mainly for brand and customer support communities, not paid creator communities

If you want more options beyond this list, my guide to membership site platforms covers tools built around paid access and content.

Which Circle Alternative Is Best for You?

The right Circle alternative depends on why you’re leaving. Find your reason below and start with that platform’s free trial.

If you want	Choose	Why
A deeper engagement-led community	Mighty Networks	Unlimited spaces, livestreams, and certificates
The easiest start, plus discovery	Skool	A simple layout that can bring you members
Automation on a small budget	Heartbeat	Workflows on the entry plan and a Circle import
Community tied to email and funnels	Kajabi	Marketing, checkout, and courses in one account
Stronger course tools	Thinkific	Certificates, assignments, and live lessons
A simple all-in-one with email	Podia	Courses, downloads, coaching, and email included
Full ownership on WordPress	BuddyBoss	Your site, your data, your app
Many products with no monthly fee	Whop	A storefront with marketplace discovery

For most Circle users, I recommend Mighty Networks. It keeps the community at the center while removing space limits and adding certificates and livestreams on every plan. Choose Thinkific when people pay you mainly for the learning, and Kajabi when your email list drives your revenue. Before you switch, run your numbers through my course revenue calculator or browse my other free creator tools to compare the real cost of each platform.

Whichever platform you choose, the tools matter less than how you run the community. My guides on starting an online community and increasing community engagement cover the habits that keep members active, and my list of the best online course platforms covers the wider market.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Here are answers to the questions creators ask me most often when they compare Circle with other platforms.

What is the best alternative to Circle?

Mighty Networks is the best alternative to Circle for most paid communities. It offers unlimited spaces on every plan, built-in livestreaming, and courses with quizzes and certificates. Choose Thinkific when courses are your main product, Kajabi when email marketing drives your sales, and Skool when you want the simplest possible start.

Is Skool better than Circle?

Skool is better for beginners who want a simple community they can launch in minutes, with gamification and a discovery directory that can send new members. Circle is better for branded communities with several programs, tiers, or spaces, thanks to its custom domain, workflows, live rooms, website builder, and Circle AI.

Is Mighty Networks better than Circle?

Mighty Networks is better for communities built on daily engagement, with unlimited spaces, streaks, polls, People Magic, livestreams, and certificates on every plan. Circle is better for structured communities that need workflows, a website builder, and a cleaner admin experience. Neither platform includes full email marketing without extra tools or add-ons.

What is a cheaper alternative to Circle?

Skool and Heartbeat both start below Circle. Skool’s Hobby plan costs little each month but takes a higher fee per sale, and Heartbeat includes automation workflows on its entry plan. Whop charges no monthly fee at all, though card processing costs come out of every sale. Compare transaction fees before you decide.

Does Circle charge transaction fees?

Yes. Circle charges 2% on the Professional plan, 1% on Business and Scale, and 0.5% on Circle Plus, on top of Stripe’s processing fees. Kajabi and Thinkific charge no transaction fees of their own, and BuddyBoss charges none from its Launch plan up, which saves money once your sales grow.

Which Circle alternative has built-in email marketing?

Kajabi and Podia both include email marketing on every plan. Kajabi offers full automations, funnels, and higher contact limits, while Podia covers broadcasts, simple automations, and revenue tracking at a lower price. Circle sells email through its Email Hub add-on, and Mighty Networks and Skool need a separate email tool.

Jeff Cobb, Founder of Learning Revolution

Jeff Cobb is an expert in online education and the business of adult lifelong learning. Over the past 20+ years he has built a thriving career based on that expertise – as an entrepreneur, a consultant, an author, and a speaker. Learning Revolution is a place where Jeff curates tips, insights, and resources to help you build a thriving expertise-based business. Learn more about Jeff Cobb here.