Ever felt lost trying to build a thriving online community? It’s tough, right?
You need a platform that’s easy to use, packed with features, and won’t break the bank.
Two popular choices often come up: Circle vs MightyNetworks.
But which one is actually the best for your needs?
This comparison breaks down everything you need to know, from pricing and features to ease of use, helping you make the right decision.
Let’s dive in and find the perfect home for your online tribe.
Overview
We’ve spent considerable time exploring both Circle and Mighty Networks, diving deep into their features, interface, and overall user experience.
Our hands-on testing and user feedback have allowed us to create this comprehensive comparison.
Highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each platform.
They offer a 14-day free trial, and no credit card is required. Click here to explore Circle’s features and see how it can elevate your community!
Pricing: It has a free plan. Paid plan Starts at $89/month
Key Features:
- Memberships
- Events
- Live Streams
Mighty Networks boasts an average of 10x higher member engagement than traditional social media platforms.
Pricing: No free plan is available. Paid plan Starts at $41/month
Key Features:
- Community Spaces
- Course Hosting
- Member Management
What is Circle?
Circle is a platform designed to help you build and manage online communities.
It’s all about creating a dedicated space for your audience to connect, share ideas, and learn. Think of it as your own private social network.
Also, explore our favorite Circle alternatives…
Our Take
Build a powerful community hub with Circle. Get a clean, branded space for your members to connect, with a variety of monetization options, and reduce your transaction fees from 4% to 2% by upgrading to the professional plan.
Key Benefits
Circle prides itself on fostering deeper connections and providing a distraction-free environment. They have a proven track record, powering communities for big names like Adobe, ConvertKit, and Teachable.
- Clean and organized: Easy to navigate and find what you need.
- Spaces for different topics: Keep conversations focused.
- Rich member profiles: Get to know your members better.
- Events and live streams: Host engaging online gatherings.
- Integrations: Connect with your favorite tools.
Pricing
Circle offers a 14-day free trial and three main pricing plans:
- Professional Plan starts at $89 per month: This unlocks more features and integrations.
- Business Plan starts at $199 per month: This unlocks everything in Professional Plus.
- Enterprise Plan starts at $419 per month: This is for large organizations with specific needs.
- Plus Branded App: Custom Pricing.
Pros
Cons
What is MightyNetworks?
Mighty Networks is a platform that lets you build a community and sell courses.
It’s a hybrid approach, combining community features with online learning tools.
This can be a great option if you want to monetize your audience through courses or memberships.
Also, explore our favorite Mighty Networks alternatives…
Our Take
It’s a solid platform with a strong focus on community and branding. The mobile experience is top-notch. However, it can get pricey if you need all the bells and whistles.
Key Benefits
Mighty Networks is known for its mobile-first approach & its ability to create a truly unique community experience. They report that their customers see an average of 40% member engagement each month. That’s impressive!
- Branded app: Get your own community app (on higher plans).
- Customizable spaces: Design your community to match your brand.
- Multiple content types: Host courses, events, and memberships.
- Strong focus on community: Features designed to foster connection.
- Good for mobile: Perfect for communities on the go.
Pricing
Mighty Networks has a few different pricing tiers:
- The Courses Plan: $99/month.
- The Business Plan: $179/month.
- The Growth Plan: $360/month.
- Mighty Pro: Custom Pricing.
Pros
Cons
Feature Comparison
Circle vs Mighty Networks Feature Comparison This comparison assesses two all in one platform leaders, Circle and Mighty Networks, highlighting Circle’s structured, clean design versus Mighty Networks’ flexible, feature-heavy community template for creators.
1. Platform Philosophy and Structure
- Circle: The circle platform is designed for streamlined simplicity, where each space is focused on a single feature (like chat, posts, or a course), favoring structure and ease of use for the entire community.
- Mighty Networks: Mighty Networks delivers a versatile community template, allowing creators to bundle multiple features (like events, courses, and discussions) into a single community platform space, prioritizing flexibility and an all in one platform feel.
2. Customization and Branding
- Circle: Offers strong customization features like a custom domain and full control over branding on its higher tiers, with a focus on a clean user interface.
- Mighty Networks: Excels in customization, with the ability to fully white-label the entire network and offer custom branded apps on its Mighty Pro plan, giving creators total control.
3. Native Mobile Apps
- Circle: Provides native mobile apps (iOS and Android) for the circle community on its paid plans, offering a seamless experience for new members and other members on the go.
- Mighty Networks: Also provides native mobile apps for all members, with the unique features of custom branded apps available on its highest Mighty Pro tier, setting it apart from other platforms.
4. Course Functionality
- Circle: The course builder is simpler, designed as a basic, integrated course component within the community spaces, which is ideal for simple content delivery.
- Mighty Networks: Offers a more robust course creation tool with a stronger focus on structured learning, including quizzes and the ability to combine content types into one space.
5. Live Streaming and Events
- Circle: Features native live streaming and the live streaming feature, allowing creators to host events and small live rooms directly on the platform circle for better community engagement.
- Mighty Networks: Offers superior capabilities for online events and live events, including more advanced features like live session scheduling, integrated email reminders, and higher streaming limits.
6. Pricing Plans and Scalability
- Circle: Pricing plans (pricing circle) are tiered, and while higher plans like the professional plan and business plan cost more, the pricing scales with the number of spaces and admins needed.
- Mighty Networks: Mighty Networks pricing offers plans that include unlimited members and spaces even on its basic community plan, which is a key advantage for rapid community building and managing many users.
7. Monetization and Transaction Fee
- Circle: Allows creators to sell memberships and access to certain spaces with tiered paywalls and charges a transaction fee (which decreases with higher plans).
- Mighty Networks: Also supports paid memberships and the ability to sell online courses, but its transaction fees vary across its pricing plans (transaction fee is 1-3% depending on tier).
8. Automation Tools
- Circle: Offers advanced features like automation tools (workflows) that allow creators to set up actions based on member behavior, such as sending a welcome message or granting access to private spaces.
- Mighty Networks: Features like automations are available, often through a Mighty Co-Host AI or Zapier integration, but Circle’s workflow builder is considered a more powerful cool feature for community management.
9. Community Engagement Tools
- Circle: Excellent for community engagement, featuring organized group discussions, rich content posting (circle’s post editor), and gamification to engage members.
- Mighty Networks: Offers essential features like a public activity feed, polls, and dedicated discussion forums to foster a loyal community and connect with other members.
10. Integrations
- Circle: Boasts a wide range of native integrations (integrations circle) and API access, making it a highly versatile platform that connects easily with other tools, including email marketing software.
- Mighty Networks: Integrations are robust, including Stripe integration and Zapier integration, but the platform is often criticized in a mighty networks review for having more limited integrations than Circle.
11. Custom Branded Apps and Enterprise Features
- Circle: Offers custom branded apps via its top-tier Circle Plus plan, providing advanced features for enterprise organizations needing total branding and control access.
- Mighty Networks: Offers custom branded apps (mighty pro) and is a strong competitor for enterprise clients, often including priority support and advanced security features like SSO for business.
What to Look for When Choosing a Community Platform?
- Look beyond the free plan; check the cost of the annual subscription and whether the platform’s price scales on per-user limits or offers unlimited members.
- Assess the core value: Is it the community platform space for community building and community members to join, or is it an all in one platform to run an online business (like Kajabi)?
- The platform should have key features to drive organic growth, such as a discovery feature or an ambassador program to incentivize other members to refer new users.
- Check for robust monetization features: Does it support membership sites, create online courses, an affiliate program, and integrated payments to make money without relying on too many other platforms?
- Evaluate the integration landscape: Look for reliable third party integrations (like google forms or Zapier), as well as google analytics integration for deep, custom reporting on your online business.
- The user interface should be simple for new users and not suffer from missing features or a steep learning curve (Mighty Networks alternatives).
- Look for a clean content structure with community spaces (space group or multiple spaces) that are easily navigable, preventing content from being buried like in a facebook group.
- The platform should provide advanced features for community management, such as a clear analytics dashboard to track engagement and support channels to address member issues.
- A strong mobile app is an essential feature for community members and new members to access the online community platform and interact with quick posts on the go.
- Creators should have the ability to fully control their brand, from using a custom domain to creating landing pages and web pages for sales funnels.
- Review competitor assessments (circle review, circle.so review) to determine the true strength of the community feature compared to other platforms and avoid settling for limited integrations.
Final Verdict
Choosing between Mighty Networks and Circle really depends on what you need.
If your main goal is selling courses alongside your community, MightyNetworks is likely the better fit.
Its strength lies in seamlessly connecting learning and community.
However, Circle is our top recommendation if you’re laser-focused on building a thriving community with robust management tools and a cleaner interface.
We’ve weighed the pros and cons of both platforms, considering features and customization and how easily you can host your community.
Ultimately, the best choice hinges on your specific priorities.
We hope this breakdown has helped you decide on your online home.
More of Circle
Here is a comparison of Circle with the specified alternatives:
- Circle vs Skool: Circle focuses broadly on community customization, while Skool adds strong gamification and simplified course delivery.
- Circle vs Swarm: Circle offers general community building, while Swarm emphasizes highly structured interest-based groups.
- Circle vs Teachable: Circle is primarily a community platform, whereas Teachable is focused on course creation with an integrated community.
- Circle vs GoHighLevel: Circle specializes in community features, while GoHighLevel is a comprehensive marketing automation suite that includes community tools.
- Circle vs MightyNetworks: Circle offers robust community features, while Mighty Networks integrates community tightly with courses, content, and events.
- Circle vs Bettermode: Circle provides customizable community spaces, while Bettermode focuses on deep branding and white-label community solutions.
- Circle vs Thinkific: Circle is a dedicated community platform, while Thinkific is mainly for online courses with the community as an add-on.
- Circle vs LearnWorlds: Circle builds diverse communities, while LearnWorlds integrates community specifically with interactive online learning.
- Circle vs Disco: Circle is for general community building, while Disco focuses specifically on cohort-based learning communities.
- Circle vs Kajabi: Circle is centered on community, whereas Kajabi is an all-in-one platform for courses, marketing, and community.
- Circle vs Wylo: Circle provides a structured platform for creators, while Wylo connects individuals through interest-driven discovery and communities.
- Circle vs Whop: Circle builds direct communities for creators, while Whop is a marketplace for selling access to digital communities and products.
More of MightyNetworks
Here are brief comparisons of MightyNetworks against the specified alternatives:
- MightyNetworks vs Skool: MightyNetworks offers more extensive course and event features alongside community, while Skool emphasizes community, gamification, and simpler courses.
- MightyNetworks vs Swarm: MightyNetworks provides a broader platform for courses and content within a community, whereas Swarm focuses specifically on structured community engagement around interests.
- MightyNetworks vs Teachable: MightyNetworks integrates community directly into courses and content delivery, while Teachable is primarily a course platform with integrated community options.
- MightyNetworks vs GoHighLevel: MightyNetworks is focused purely on community and course delivery, while GoHighLevel is a wide-ranging marketing automation platform with community features.
- MightyNetworks vs Bettermode: MightyNetworks offers a blend of community, courses, and content; Bettermode provides highly customizable community spaces, often for support or brand engagement.
- MightyNetworks vs Thinkific: MightyNetworks integrates community, courses, and content more tightly; Thinkific excels as a course creation platform with community add-ons.
- MightyNetworks vs LearnWorlds: MightyNetworks combines community, courses, and content; LearnWorlds specializes in interactive online courses with community integrated.
- MightyNetworks vs Circle: MightyNetworks offers built-in courses and content alongside a community, while Circle provides a highly focused, customizable community platform.
- MightyNetworks vs Disco: MightyNetworks supports various community models, including courses; Disco is specifically designed for cohort-based learning and learning communities.
- MightyNetworks vs Wylo: MightyNetworks provides a platform for creators to build communities with courses and content; Wylo connects individuals via interest-based public or private communities.
- MightyNetworks vs Kajabi: MightyNetworks integrates community more deeply with courses and content; Kajabi is a comprehensive marketing, course, and website builder with community features.
- MightyNetworks vs Whop: MightyNetworks is a platform for building and hosting communities and content; Whop is a marketplace and tool for creators to sell access to their communities and digital products.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Mighty Networks better than Circle?
It depends on your needs. Mighty Networks excels at integrating courses with the community. Circle offers a more streamlined community experience. Consider which is more important for your goals.
How much does Circle cost?
Circle’s pricing starts at $39/month for its basic plan, which offers core community features. They have tiered plans that scale with the number of members.
Can I host courses on Circle?
Yes, Circle allows you to host and sell courses. However, its course features aren’t as extensive as Mighty Networks. It is better for smaller course offerings tied to a community.
How many members can I have on Mighty Networks?
Mighty Networks offers different plans, including ones that allow you to host unlimited members. Their pricing scales with features and member count.
Which platform is best for a community with under 100 members?
Both platforms can work well for communities under 100 members. Circle might be a good starting point due to its intuitive interface, while Mighty Networks is a good fit if courses are a key part of the community. Consider the mighty networks vs features in relation to your specific needs.
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