In this post, I’m excited to share some fantastic alternatives to Circle.so. As we all know, Circle is a top-notch online community platform out there.

But, let’s face it – the Circle’s price tag might feel a bit steep considering the features it offers.

Here are a few things you might want to keep in mind:

• Circle’s Basic plan even at $49/month supports only upto 100 members and also comes with 4% transaction fee.
• To avail support for online courses and live streaming, you need to get their Professional plan at $99/month
• And if you’re looking for automation workflows to supercharge your community engagement with triggers and actions, you’ll need the business plan, which rings in at $199 per month.

If you’re on a budget and looking to keep your community hosting costs within $50, Circle might not be your cup of tea.

So, let’s dive in and explore some fabulous Circle.so alternatives that can help you bypass these drawbacks.

Here’s a handy table for you.

Product name	Pricing (starting price)	Course features
Skool	$97/month (only plan)	Basic course creation with drip functionality
Heartbeat	$49/month	Integrated with Notion for course management
Mighty Networks	$39/month	Comprehensive course hosting and management
Kajabi	$149/month	Advanced course creation and management
Passion.io	$97/month	Mobile-focused course creation for coaches

Skool – Most popular (recommended)

Skool is a really well growing online community and course platform founded by Sam Ovens in 2019.

It’s designed to for creators to build their community and drive real-world results to their members

Recently, Alex Hormozi made a significant investment in Skool, stating it was the biggest investment of his life. This has further boosted the platform’s credibility and potential.

Skool’s user engagement is likely to be higher than Circle’s due to its more cozy and comfortable UI and UX. It’s not only me, many people feel that Circle’s interface feels too “professional” and it takes a lot of time to break the ice.

👍 Pros

• Intuitive UI/UX: Skool’s user-friendly interface promotes higher engagement rates in communities.
• Gamification: Offers engagement-boosting features like points, levels, leaderboards, and streaks.
• Community discovery: Similar to Facebook’s search function, helps users find relevant communities.
• Course creation: Includes features for creating courses with drip functionality. Limited though for now.
• Mobile apps: Feature-rich iOS and Android apps for on-the-go learning and interaction.

👎 Cons

• Limited marketing features: Lacks advanced marketing tools like checkout customization and upsells.
• No built-in live streaming: Relies on external platforms for live events.
• Limited automation: Lacks advanced automation workflows for community management.

Skool comes with only one plan at $97 per month, and they don’t intend to introduce any more plans to maximize on profits according to Alex Hormozi.

I personally have my community in Skool, you can read more here in my standalone review post

👉 Bottomline: Skool stands out for its focus on community engagement and gamification. While it may not have the depth of features found in some competitors, its intuitive design and engagement-centric approach make it a strong contender in the community platform space.

Heartbeat – Closest alternative to Circle

Heartbeat is a relatively newer platform than that of Circle, which is following the footsteps of Circle.

With Heartbeat, you can host communities, events, and content on your own domain, making it a versatile solution for course creators, community managers, and solopreneurs.

👍 Pros

• Customizable block-based community building.
• Voice (like Clubhouse) and video rooms!
• Match-ups (like Tinder for communities).
• Integrated with Notion for course resources management.
• Native iOS and Android apps for good student engagement.
• Automation Workflows and Bulk Actions that are too similar to Circle!

👎 Cons

• Relatively newer platform and not so popular.
• Better value for money than Circle.
• The app’s icon is in heart shape. Your wife may mistake it as a dating app.

Their Starter plan at $49 per month only supports up to 1000 members, which is better than Circle’s 100-member limitation.

If you exceed the 1000 member mark, you need to go with their Growth plan at $129 per month for unlimited members.

It offers almost all the features in all their plans, except for email, white labeling, priority support, and full API access.

👉 Bottomline: In my opinion, Heartbeat is just as impressive as Circle in terms of user interface, integrations, and automation workflows. Although it’s not as popular, its rapid implementation of features is commendable. If you’re seeking a reliable yet affordable alternative to Circle, I recommend keeping an eye on this platform.

Mighty Networks – Most popular alternative

Mighty Networks is a tough contender to Circle.

It is one of the earliest community platforms available.

However, it’s quite cumbersome compared to other platforms and has experienced numerous issues when attempting to emulate Circle’s user experience (UX) during a total revamp.

Along with regular features like Community Spaces, Courses, Branded Mobile apps, etc.

Some unique features of Mighty Networks include:

• Provides a customizable welcome checklist for new community members.
• Supports unlimited hosts, moderators, and members in all plans.
• Includes a built-in ambassador program for member referrals.

It also the most comprehensive mobile app experience out there.

It is very simple, straightforward, and easy to access courses, memberships, communities, and live streaming all at your fingertips.

And also one of the most unique features that I like about Mighty Networks is their “Online Now” feature and also “Location-based” matchmaking functionality.

Along with this, one of the greatest strengths of Mighty Networks is its custom-branded mobile apps. It calls them Mighty Pro similar to Circle Plus. The apps are truly white-labeled, and you can feel like you are building your own apps.

Mighty Pro provides a done-for-you service if you don’t want to spend time creating apps. The team will handle everything for you, including the launch, design, customization, and VIP technical support.

Mighty Networks offers two main plans: the Community Plan and the Business Plan.

If you already have a course hosting platform, the Community Plan would be ideal for you. It costs $39 per month and provides community functionalities.

The Business Plan offers advanced analytics, Zapier workflows, and more, is ideal for hosting training courses.

The basic Community Plan lacks Zapier integration, a significant drawback due to Mighty Networks’ limited integrations, particularly with email marketing software.

👍 Pros

• Wide variety of space templates for flexible community and course structure
• Location-based matchmaking functionality
• Built-in live-streaming functionality for webinars and events
• Native Calendar feature for easy program overview
• Feature-rich mobile apps for iOS and Android
• Zero transaction fees for monetization

👎 Cons

• Clunky user interface
• No gamification features
• Lack of weekly digest option
• Only Stripe integration
• Limited integrations and lack of API

To get a clear idea whether Mighty Networks is right for you or not, you can refer my dedicated review on Mighty Networks.

Or you can even consider referring this blog post where I compare Mighty Networks with Circle.

👉 Bottomline: Although Mighty Networks has many unique features compared to Circle, they have failed to properly emphasize good UI and UX. Additionally, it lacks API integrations and automation workflows.

Explore Mighty Networks

Kajabi Communities – All-in-one

Kajabi is one of the most advanced online course creation platforms available today.

Along with courses, it even supports digital products, memberships, communities, email marketing, coaching, events (webinars) and podcasts.

I appreciate the fact that Kajabi is an all-in-one platform, eliminating the need for multiple separate apps and the complexities of integrating them.

Previously, Kajabi had a basic community component.

However, they recently acquired a platform called Vibely, which has allowed them to enhance their community functionality. They can now implement gamification without relying on a specialized community management platform.

Kajabi communities offer unique features such as challenges, as well as the ability to schedule meetings directly within the community through tight integration with Kajabi Events for webinars.

It also comes with additional features like:

• Newsfeed, chats, and DMs
• Live video calls
• Accountability tools and progress tracking
• Challenges
• Resources
• Events and RSVPs
• Admins
• Member directory and leaderboard
• Etc.

Kajabi also comes with gamification features. Here are some Kajabi community examples to inspire you.

As you can see in the above screenshot, you can assign points for your community members based on the actions that they take in the community. This feature is not even present in specialist community platforms like Circle or Mighty.

For most people, the Growth plan at $199 per month would be ideal.

Although all the features of Kajabi are available in all the plans, the 3-product limit that it imposes, even in their Basic plan at $149 per month, is a major downside.

You can read my detailed Kajabi review for more information on my personal experience with it. Or this post on Kajabi communities if you want to dive deep into their communities feature.

👉 Bottomline: Kajabi’s community feature is robust, but may be an overkill for those only seeking a community platform. It excels as an all-in-one solution, offering a comprehensive range of features with significant depth for those willing to consolidate their digital products and community on one platform.

Also Read: Circle.so vs Kajabi 2.0: My Views Using Both 2024

Passion.io – LMS app builder for coaches

Passion is an interesting mobile-first LMS platform that allows result-oriented coaches, including fitness trainers, to create custom mobile apps that can be hosted on app stores.

The apps created with Passion offer features like challenges, progress tracking, and motion-based exercises, making it ideal for coaches who prioritize student transformation.

Passion has carved a unique market segment targeting coaches focused on student transformations.

With Passion’s app builder, you can create different types of apps such as audio, fitness, travel, or coaching apps. Alternatively, you can start from scratch using its various building blocks.

Passion’s app builder offers drag-and-drop modules for creating mobile apps, enabling student engagement and content access on-the-go.

The course builder includes various widgets for lessons, with native integrations like Typeform for mandatory submissions and Calendly for consultations.

However, as a micro-niche app, Passion lacks some advanced course and community features, including user member profiles.

The pricing is on the premium side, with plans starting at $97 per month. Even the beginner plan only allows serving 100 subscribers. To serve an unlimited number of subscribers, the ultimate plan at $239 per month is required.

Passion is an interesting platform specifically catered to a sub-segment of course creators and their audience.

👉 Bottomline: Overall, if you are a transformation coach in need of your own mobile-centric app to track the progress of your students, especially in fitness, and hold them accountable, Passion would be the right platform for you. If you are interested in learning more about this platform, do refer this hands on review that I have published earlier on Passion!

Podia

Podia is an all-in-one digital selling platform similar to Kajabi. It allows you to host courses and communities, perform email marketing, and sell digital products.

However, compared to Circle, Podia’s community feature is quite basic.

You can create different Topics (spaces).

And within each space, community members can create posts to interact with each other.

Unfortunately, there is a lack of advanced community management features compared to other dedicated tools reviewed in this blog post.

If you’re solely looking for a community platform, Podia may not be the best option available.

However, the price point of Podia is attractive, as even its Mover plan at $39 per month offers fully-fledged community features and the ability to create unlimited courses.

It can be considered an affordable alternative to Kajabi, but it does lack depth in features and may feel like a jack of all trades but master of none.

I’ve been using this platform from last two years. If you’re interested in learning more about the platform, do refer my complete review on Podia.

Thinkific

Thinkific supports courses, memberships, and communities, similar to Kajabi.

Its communities are nothing but individual pages where students and instructors can interact through written posts and comments.

You can sell communities within your courses, memberships, and bundles. Or sell them as an order bump or as an upsell.

Unlike tools like Circle, Thinkific communities are not so feature-rich. It lacks feed customization, community moderation, gamification, etc.

BuddyBoss – WordPress-based community solution

If you are already familiar with WordPress and want a community plus course platform, BuddyBoss is the best option for you.

As a WordPress plugin, it seamlessly integrates with a variety of other popular WordPress plugins like WooCommerce, LearnDash, MemberPress, and many others.

Some notable integrations are:

• It integrates with a popular WordPress gamification plugin called Gamipress to gamify community activities with badges, assigning points, leaderboards, and more.
• It integrates well with Uncanny Automator, allowing you to save money on Zapier.

However, similar to any WordPress-based solution, you need to have some technical expertise and the ability to troubleshoot issues. Especially when multiple plugins are involved, there may be issues with plugin conflicts that can consume a significant amount of your time.

In fact, when I was using LearnDash with several other plugins and Elementor, I used to hold my breathe while updating my plugins out of fear that something would break.

Its pricing starts at $228/year for 1 site. If you have an agency and want more site usage, go with its higher plans

StoryPrompt – Video-first community platform

StoryPrompt is a video-based community platform helpful for collecting video testimonials, reviews & feedback, offering coaching, and much more.

It eliminates the need for apps like Zoom for meetings. Whenever you wish, you can just share the links for joining the calls. No app downloads and logins are needed.

Its features include:

• Built-in transcriptions.
• Built-in video editor with features like trim clips, adding music & b-rolls, and change aspect ratios.
• Spaces, recaps, threads, direct messages, polls, rich posts, etc.

Discord

Discord is an online chat platform that was exclusively developed for gamers. It is now extended to other niches like tech, bitcoin, education, businesses, etc.

It has servers (similar to channels or spaces in other tools), direct messages, group chats, private channels, and much more.

If you need more features, you can go with Discord Nitro.

Despite its numerous features and high engagement levels, I don’t recommend using Discord.

In Discord communities, the signal-to-noise ratio tends to be quite low. People often chat incessantly, sometimes without adding any meaningful value. After all, ‘discord’ does means mess.

Slack

Slack is an instant messaging app, similar to Microsoft Teams, often used by new-age startups.

While intended for team collaboration, it’s also used to manage course communities due to features like threads, instant messaging, and member directories.

However, for building larger communities, I wouldn’t recommend Slack. It lacks features like community engagement, gamification, and the ability to host events and webinars.

Hivebrite

Hivebrite is a block-based community-building tool best suited for building communities in nonprofit, professional networking, education, and corporate sectors.

For communication, it has features like email campaigns, automatic newsletters, in-app notifications, and mobile push campaigns.

As this tool is developed keeping job sectors in mind, it has good collaboration tools. You have a job board, startups & projects, and forum features. These support job postings, sharing opportunities and resumes, connecting with partners, investors & co-founders, etc.

Hivebrite also has branded mobile apps.

Discourse

Discourse is free, open-source software you can use to host your communications. You can use it as a channel, chat room, group, space, or forum.

Discourse has hosted over 30,000+ online communities, including those of major brands like Atlassian, Asana, and Zoom.

It offers unlimited member hosting and robust spam prevention with two-factor authentication and Akismet integration.

Discourse’s plugin ecosystem enhances its functionality. For instance, the Patreon integration allows for customer rewards and online payment collection.

If you want more control, you can go with Discourse premium. Its lowest pricing starts at $100/mo. Refer to the screenshot above for more details.

PeerBoard

PeerBoard is a plug-and-play community tool best suited for LMS, eLearning, SaaS, non-profits, etc. You can turn your app or website into a forum by just embedding where needed.

It is completely white-labeled. This means you can add custom colors, logos, spaces, and topics to deliver a fully branded experience for every user.

The best thing is PeerBoard provides native integrations with Thinkific, WordPress, and Shopify. You can embed your customizable community pages anywhere on these platforms.

Vanilla Forums

Vanilla Forums is a fully featured community software that you can use as a forum, to create support communities or spaces for internal collaboration.

Vanilla allows you to customize your website theme fully. Customize the URL, upload a favicon, add your CSS, custom header & footer HTML, and much more.

Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups is a free platform for hosting communities, widely accessible due to Facebook’s popularity. However, it has significant drawbacks compared to dedicated tools like Circle.so:

1. User distraction from newsfeed, ads, and notifications, leading to poor engagement
2. Limited customization options for community appearance and features
3. Lack of built-in email and notification tools
4. Absence of advanced features like member tagging, targeting, and gamification

InSided

It is a customer-centric community software you can use to host product support communities, knowledgebase, product ideation & feedback spaces, and all the product conversations in one place.

For community engagement, it has gamification features like points, badges, rankings, likes, and leaderboards.

If you are hosting product ideation or customer feedback spaces, inSided gives you a handful of features.

Teachfloor

Teachfloor is an all-in-one online community and LMS platform for creators and coaches. If you want to host course-specific communities, this would be the ideal solution.

Similar to LMS platforms like LearnWorlds, it is completely white-labeled and is SCORM compliant. For the community, it has spaces, one-to-one chat, embeds (embed spaces directly within courses), live streaming, integration with Stripe to collect payments, etc.

Amity

Amity is a social networking platform that helps you turn your apps or website into a community platform by adding interactive widgets. For example, to connect with your visitors in real time, you can enable feeds, profiles, and groups in your apps. To help your customers, you can add chatbots or live chat widgets.

Amity’s community features:

1. Comments, reactions, posts, and user profiles.
2. Private chat, group chat, broadcast chat.
3. Newsfeed, personal timelines, instant interactions, live stream.

Conclusion

Our top Circle.so alternatives are – Heartbeat, and Kajabi.

If you’re seeking a close alternative to Circle that shares the same design principles and supports up to 1000 members even in their beginner plan, Heartbeat may be the best choice. Their rapid implementation of new features and user-friendly experience demonstrate their dedication to the app.

Alternatively, if you desire an all-in-one platform with the capability to host feature-rich online courses, marketing automation abilities, integrated email marketing, and in-depth community features (like feed, chats, challenges, and meetups), then Kajabi may be more suitable.

However, Kajabi’s beginner plan only supports up to three products if you host the products within Kajabi. Even their mid-tier plan, priced at $197 per month, allows you to host only 15 products. This could be a downside if you have multiple micro products for marketing.