7 Best Circle.so Alternatives in 2026: Pricing & Features Compared

Circle is a powerful platform for building online communities, but it isn’t the best fit for everyone.

Higher pricing, transaction fees, and the need to upgrade for more advanced features mean it’s worth comparing the alternatives before committing.

We’ve compared 7 of the best Circle.so alternatives for 2026, looking at community features, courses, pricing, monetization, customization, and ease of use.

The best Circle.so alternatives in 2026 are:

Kourses — Best for courses, communities and selling digital products
Mighty Networks — Best for community-first businesses
Skool — Best for simple, gamified communities
Bettermode — Best for customizable and branded communities
Kajabi — Best for marketing, courses and communities in one platform
Discord — Best free option for real-time communities
Facebook Groups — Best for building a free community around an existing Facebook audience

If you want a platform that combines courses, community and powerful selling tools, Kourses is our top choice.

Circle is the brainchild of former Teachable employees. They built their community platform as a place to host the online audience of Teachable’s courses. 

Circle has evolved since its initial August 2020 launch, and it’s now a viable platform for any content creator who wants to build a community in an environment free of distractions like ads, spam, and censorship.

Circle is a premium community platform, with plans starting at $89 per month:

Professional — $89/month
Business — $199/month
Circle Plus — Custom pricing

Circle also charges transaction fees on payments processed through the platform:

Professional: 2%
Business: 1%
Circle Plus: 0.5%

That means a community generating $5,000 per month on the Professional plan would pay around $100 in Circle transaction fees, in addition to the $89 subscription and standard Stripe fees.

As your community and revenue grow, Circle can therefore become relatively expensive. This is one of the main reasons to compare Circle.so alternatives, particularly if lower fees or better value at scale are important.

Best for: Courses, communities and selling digital products

Kourses is an all-in-one platform for creators and coaches who want to build online courses, communities and memberships while also selling digital products from the same platform.

Where Circle is primarily built around community, Kourses puts more emphasis on the course and sales experience. It includes optimized checkout pages, order bumps, one-click upsells and abandoned cart recovery alongside community and course functionality. Kourses also charges 0% transaction fees on every plan.

Kourses currently offers three plans:

Starter — $15/month: 100 members and one published product.
Pro — $59/month: 1,000 members and up to 10 published products.
Unlimited — $99/month: Unlimited members and unlimited products.

Every plan includes 0% transaction fees, courses, communities or digital products, checkout with order bumps and one-click upsells, custom-domain support and a 14-day free trial.

Kourses is a strong Circle alternative for creators who want to sell courses, memberships and digital products as well as build a community.

Its biggest advantages over Circle are its lower starting price, 0% platform transaction fees, and built-in sales features such as order bumps, upsells and abandoned cart recovery.

Circle remains the stronger choice if your primary focus is building a highly advanced community with deeper community workflows, live functionality and customization. But if courses and monetization are just as important as community, Kourses offers a simpler and more affordable alternative.

Best for: White labelled communities

An all-in-one community platform like Circle that works a bit differently. 

When you create a Space (online channel) on Mighty, it includes the whole gamut of community discussion, group chat, live streaming, event management, and course creation features, unlike Circle, which separates them. 

Mighty is an excellent platform for creators and brands looking to build recognition. It lets you create branded communities on the web, iOS, and Android.

Pricing starts at $33/month with a 14-day free trial period. If you sign up for the annual subscription plan, the free period is extended to two months.

It is superior to Circle, with more tools and monetization options. Many essential features used to create and moderate content (spaces, courses, hosts, admins, moderators) are unlimited. 

In contrast, Circle.so costs more, and still limits such features. You must pay add-on fees to get more.

Best for: Custom native apps

The core of this highly flexible platform is a block-based builder that lets you create online channels that fit your unique requirements using customizable, pre-made templates. 

There is also the Developer portal. It provides programmers the tools to build custom apps that add new functionalities to the community-building platform. Apps can be published on the Bettermode app store and sold to other users.

Pricing starts at $599/month, the most expensive starter plan on this list, and the option of a free trial period is subject to the discretion of the company’s sales staff.

It is a good choice for people looking to build dynamic, brand-led communities with features that aren’t available on Circle, which is a more closed-off platform. The app store, integrations, and custom native apps equip you to build a community that meets your needs.

Best for: Informal chat groups

A platform optimized for a non-commercial audience. Discord is primarily designed for people with similar interests who want to make new friends and hang out together. 

It was originally built for gamers as a place to interact with each other via voice and video messaging. Members also use it to stream games and share media files. Both gamers and non-gamers can create Servers (discussion forum) around topics on the platform.

It is free to use, and if you want more advanced features, you can subscribe to Discord Nitro for $9.99/month.

It is a perfect option for content creators and small businesses who want to build an intimate community without spending much on setup costs. 

The basic platform is free, unlike Circle which has an $89/month Pro plan, which is the subscription you must pay for if you want features readily available on Discord.

Best for: Online courses

This advanced course creation platform sets itself apart with in-built marketing features that let users aggressively promote and sell their course product. 

Kajabi will provide a sales funnel package that includes landing pages, email marketing tools, optimized checkout pages, and features for upselling to your audience. It is still a membership site like the others on this list, but it lacks robust community-building features. 

Also, the platform is not limited to courses; you can create Podcasts and coaching programs.

Pricing starts at $119/month (billed annually), with a 14-day free trial period.

When deciding on Kajabi vs Circle, Kajabi is best for individuals and businesses looking for a course creation platform that prioritizes the marketing and sales of digital products. 

It is not for people who want to build a fully engaged online community, though its community-building features are adequate for a basic membership site.

Best for: Networking and social communities

Facebook Groups is a good free option for creators and businesses looking to take the easiest route to set up an online community. 

Facebook lets you create Private and Public groups. New members must be invited to a Private group, while anyone can join a Public group. 

The definitive advantage of using Facebook Groups as a communications tool is access to Facebook’s 3 billion monthly active users. 

The platform’s algorithm ensures fellow Facebook users with relevant interests can find your page via the search bar, and you won’t have to expend too many resources promoting your community.

Facebook Groups are free to use - you only require a Facebook account.

It is the perfect option for beginners looking to test their community-building chops on a free platform before migrating to a paid alternative like Circle when they scale up.

Best for: Simple, gamified communities

Skool is a community and course platform built around simplicity and engagement. It combines a Facebook-style community feed with courses, live events, member profiles, leaderboards, and gamification in one easy-to-use platform.

Unlike Circle, which gives you more customization and advanced community management options, Skool deliberately keeps things simple. Its points, levels, leaderboards, and community discovery features make it particularly well suited to coaches and creators who want members to actively participate rather than simply consume content.

Skool has two straightforward plans:

Hobby — $9/month with a 10% transaction fee
Pro — $99/month with a 2.9% transaction fee

Both plans include unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls, as well as a custom URL and affiliate functionality. Skool also offers a 14-day free trial.

Skool is a strong Circle alternative if you value simplicity, engagement and gamification over advanced customization.

Its community feed, points system, leaderboards and built-in discovery make it particularly appealing for coaches and creators running community-led memberships. Circle offers more flexibility, branding control and automation, but Skool is easier to set up and has fewer moving parts.

One drawback is pricing for paid communities. Skool’s $9 Hobby plan charges a 10% transaction fee, so creators generating meaningful revenue will usually need the $99 Pro plan.

Circle.so and the 7 alternatives covered in this guide are all robust community-building platforms. Each has its strengths, and the best option for you is the tool with all the features needed to build the type of community you envision.

For example, if you want to build an integrated course and membership site, Kajabi would be the ideal solution. 

In contrast, if you're a brand looking to create a thriving and fully engaged online community, you're more likely to be focusing on Mighty Networks or Circle.