Kourses vs circle
The Circle Alternative With Courses, Community and Checkout Built In
See why creators are switching to Kourses. 0% transaction fees, your own checkout, order bumps and upsells built in, and without Circle's add-on costs.
Rated 5-stars. Cancel anytime. 5-minute setup.
vs.
Lightweight & simple to use
Our focus is on keeping the platform free of bloat. So it's fast and easy to use, saving you time.
All the tools you need
Create online courses, sell digital products, and engage with communities, built into every plan.
Keep more of your profits
With 0% transaction fees and plans from $9/month, more of what you earn stays in your pocket.
Kourses vs. Circle
Let's take a quick look at each platform and how they compare.
Kourses
Kourses is an online course, community, and membership platform built for coaches and creators who want a complete solution without the complexity or cost that usually comes with it.
With plans from $9/month and 0% transaction fees across all plans, it gives you everything you need to build, deliver, and grow your education business from day one.
Circle
Circle is a community platform with strong tools for member spaces, courses, events, and live sessions. However, it is built community-first, which means the sales side is comparatively light.
There are no order bumps or abandoned cart recovery, and email marketing is a separate paid add-on.
Plans start at $89/month, with a 2% transaction fee on every sale, in addition to standard payment processing fees.
Kourses is fast, lightweight and your content looks beautiful.
Ditch bloated platforms and just get the features you need, at a fair and affordable price for your creator or coaching business.
Build courses faster
Create lessons, upload videos, and launch faster with an intuitive, clutter-free builder made for course creators.
Premium Experience
Students enjoy clean layouts and fast video streaming, which keeps them engaged and progressing.
Automate Access & Delivery
Drip lessons, unlock modules automatically, and grant access instantly - everything runs on autopilot.
Bring Members Together
Spark conversations, collaboration, and connection with private, high-quality community spaces.
Boost Engagement
Your members return more often, stay active, and get more value when they can easily interact.
All In One = Reduced Tools
Your courses, groups, messaging, and member feed live in one seamless experience.
Faster, friction-free selling
Customers buy in seconds with a checkout experience designed to minimise friction and maximise conversions.
Increase Revenue
Multiple order bumps and one-click upsells, help you earn more without increasing your traffic or ad spend.
One Tool That Sells More
No plugins, no scripts, no external checkout tools - Kourses handles payments, funnels, member access, and delivery, all in one.
Kourses vs Circle feature comparison
Kourses gives you more for your money, with 0% transaction fees on every plan.
Monthly Price
Affordable monthly pricing
from $49/month
from $89/month
Transaction fees
We don't add fees (you just pay Stripe processing)
0%
2%
Online Course features
Create and sell online courses
Community features
Build and grow customer communities
Digital Products
Sell your digital products & downloads
Built-in Checkout
Sell your products with optimized checkouts
Multiple Order Bumps
Increase average order spend with order bumps
Upsells
Sell more with upsells
Abandon Cart Recovery
Win back lost sales automatically
Video Hosting included
No extra video hosting required.
Automated AI Transcriptions
Automatic transcripts/captions/search for course videos
Custom Domain
Brand your site with your own domain
Priority Support
Faster response times when you need help
Native Integrations
Connect with CRMs and ESPs directly
20
Only through 3rd parties like Zapier
Free Migration Service
Let us migrate your content
Save up to $480/year with Kourses Pro vs Circle Professional, PLUS you keep 2% more on every sale.
*This savings calculation is based on Circle's Professional plan at $89/month versus Kourses Pro at $49/month, a difference of $480/year. Additional savings apply as Circle charges a 2% transaction fee on every sale on the Professional plan.
Greg Smith
Greg Smith Golf Coach
"Kourses completely simplified everything by bringing courses, payments, memberships, and community into one integrated platform."
Karin Heatherly
Becoming Esther
"...I love how clean and organized everything is - it made building my course so fun and easy. I finally launched and brought my vision to life!"
Why switch to Kourses?
We know that as a coach or creator, you have many choices. So why should you consider switching from Circle to Kourses?
A more affordable platform
Circle's Professional plan starts at $89/month and charges a 2% transaction fee on every sale, in addition to that. Kourses Pro is $49/month with 0% transaction fees across the board. That is a $480/year saving on the subscription alone, before you factor in what you keep from every sale you make.
Works with your existing tools
Kourses integrates natively with the most popular CRMs and marketing tools, so there is no need to stitch things together or pay for additional connectors. Everything you need to run your education business is already included. For adding flexibility we also include integration with Zapier on all plans.
All the features you need
With Circle, email marketing requires a separate paid add-on through their Email Hub product. With Kourses, member emails are included as standard. Our pricing is 100% transparent, we never charge transaction fees, and when you do upgrade, it is because your business has grown, not because a feature has been gated.
Built to sell, not just connect
Circle is a strong community platform, but selling is not its primary focus. There are no order bumps, abandoned cart recovery, or one-click upsells. Kourses has a full checkout and sales toolkit built in, designed to help you earn more from every transaction without needing extra tools.
Everything you need to scale your online education business.
Sell courses, build communities, and deliver digital products on one platform.
Create Courses
Create beautiful online courses that make your content look like a million dollars.
Build Communities
Create engaging, interactive communities for members to discuss various topics.
Sell Digital Products
Sell ebooks, workbooks, pdfs or any digital downloadable and provide instant access after purchase.
Create membership tiers
Create unlimited membership tiers to gate access to content to specific audiences.
Drip Course Content
Delay the release of individual lessons or modules to grow retention and engagement.
Member Messaging
Build a more connected community with private member-to-member conversations
Inclusive video & file hosting
Upload your videos and files directly to Kourses for super-fast hosting.
Beautiful learning interface
Simple, easy to use and beautiful interface for your members means better engagement.
Optimized Checkout
Process payments inside Kourses with 0% transaction fees using our Stripe integrated checkout
Sell & take payments
Use the Kourses checkout to take payments and forward buyers straight into your membership.
Multiple Order Bumps
Boost revenue with multiple one-click order bumps
One-click Upsells
Boost revenue with one-click upsells & funnels
Explore all of the Kourses features
Ready to Get Started?
With Kourses, you simplify your tech stack and can focus your time on creating content and delivering value to your customers.
Rated 5-stars. Cancel anytime. 5-minute setup.
The online course, community and membership site platform for coaches & creators that want to create, engage and profit.
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