⚡ Quick Verdict:
- Pricing: Circle starts at $89/month (Professional plan). Thinkific starts at $36/user/month (Basic plan).
- Best for: Circle suits community builders running memberships and live events. Thinkific suits course creators selling online courses.
- Key difference: Circle is built around community spaces first. Thinkific is built around course creation first.
- Our pick: Circle, for most creators who want an online community platform with integrated course delivery.
Creators compare Circle and Thinkific when their audience outgrows a Facebook group.
They want one home for members, content, and payments.
Both tools promise that. Neither solves it the same way.
Circle starts with the community and adds courses on top.
Thinkific starts with the course and adds a community feature later.
That single choice shapes everything else you will build.
Overview
This Circle vs Thinkific comparison covers pricing, core features, and day to day usability.
We also break down who each tool works best for.
Our sources include published specs, documentation, and G2 reviews.
Our writers also spent hands-on time inside both platforms.
Those notes appear in the “What Our Team Noticed” sections below.
What is Circle?
Circle is an online community platform for creators, brands, and businesses.
It helps online business owners build and grow a thriving online community.
You organise everything into community spaces that hold posts, chats, and courses.
Related spaces roll up into a Space Group built around a theme.
Each space can be public, private, or secret.
That is how you control access for different community members.
Here is a walkthrough of how the platform Circle offers actually works.
🏆 Winner: Circle
Run memberships, live events, and courses in one place. Every plan includes a 14-day free trial.
Circle Pricing
Here is what Circle’s pricing looks like in 2026. Every tier includes unlimited members.
| Plan | Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Professional | $89/month | Individual creators and small teams |
| Business | $199/month | Growing brands needing more advanced features |
| Enterprise | $399/month | Larger organisations with technical needs |
| Plus Branded App | Custom Pricing | Teams wanting their own branded mobile app |
Pricing verified July 2026.
Free trial: Yes. All plans come with a 14-day free trial so you can test the platform first.
Money-back guarantee: Circle does not publish a standard refund window. Use the trial period to decide.
📌 Note: The pricing Circle publishes is only part of the bill. A transaction fee of 0.5% to 4% applies to payments you receive, and it varies by plan.
⚠️ Warning: Those fees sit on top of Stripe’s standard 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. Our data sheet lists Enterprise features instead of a figure, so the $399/month price above comes from Circle’s published pricing page.
Key Benefits of Circle
Here is what makes Circle worth considering:
- Organised community spaces: Public and private spaces, plus secret ones, let you run multiple spaces from one dashboard. Space Groups keep related topics together.
- Native live streaming: Host events without bolting on a webinar tool. You can run small sessions or larger live stream broadcasts.
- Paid memberships: Charge for access to certain spaces through Stripe. Coupon codes and free trials are built into checkout.
- Automation tools: Workflows handle repetitive community management and send a welcome message to new members automatically.
- Rich community posts: Circle’s post editor supports headings, blockquotes, and collapsible sections for longer discussions.
- Mobile app access: Members reach their communities, courses, events, and chats from their phone.
What Our Team Noticed
Our writer set up a Circle community and spent several days building spaces inside it. Here is what stood out from that hands-on time:
Circle Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- Spaces and Space Groups organise community content around clear themes
- Native live streaming lets you host events without a separate webinar tool
- Automation workflows handle repetitive community management tasks
- Clean user interface that feels familiar to Slack and Notion users
❌ Cons
- Transaction fees of 0.5% to 4% apply on top of your plan
- Course functionality is thinner than dedicated learning platforms
- Costs climb quickly once you need more advanced features
What is Thinkific?
Thinkific is an all in one platform for building and selling online courses.
You can create courses, memberships, coaching programs, and digital downloads.
The drag and drop course builder needs no coding skills at all.
That makes it friendly for creators who avoid the technical stuff.
It leans toward online education and revenue, not internal corporate training.
Thinkific helps coaches, educators, and digital creators monetise what they know.
This Thinkific review video walks through the dashboard and course creation flow.
🥈 Runner Up: Thinkific
Build your first course in a few clicks. Zero transaction fees on every plan.
Thinkific Pricing
Here is how the Thinkific pricing plans break down. All three tiers carry zero transaction fees.
| Plan | Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $36/user/month | Solo creators with unlimited courses |
| Start | $74/user/month | Memberships, bundles, and certificates |
| Grow | $149/user/month | Advanced analytics and priority support |
Pricing verified July 2026.
Free trial: Yes. Thinkific offers a 14-day free trial. There is no free plan anymore, since it was retired in 2024.
Money-back guarantee: No published refund window. The trial is the safest way to test all the features.
📌 Note: Zero transaction fees mean you keep what you earn, minus payment processor charges. Thinkific Plus sits above Grow with pricing available on request for enterprise teams.
⚠️ Warning: The rates above are the discounted figures when billed annually. Paying month to month costs more: $49, $99, and $199 for Basic, Start, and Grow.
Key Benefits of Thinkific
Here is what makes Thinkific worth considering:
- Real course building tools: Interactive lessons mix video, audio, PDFs, and quizzes. The Basic plan already allows unlimited courses.
- SCORM support: Upload learning content from Articulate Storyline or Adobe Captivate. That matters for compliance training.
- Built-in email marketing: Send broadcasts and basic automation sequences without a third party tool.
- Sales tools and payment plans: The TCommerce suite handles subscriptions, payment plans, and bundles so students easily pay.
- Thinkific analytics: Track progress, enrollments, and revenue to judge course performance.
- Branded site builder: Customisable themes produce professional looking course pages. Higher tiers let you remove Thinkific branding for complete control.
What Our Team Noticed
Our writer built a test course inside Thinkific and published it to a live course website. Here is what stood out:
The clip below covers the same walkthrough in more detail.
Thinkific Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- Zero transaction fees on every pricing tier
- Drag and drop builder works without coding skills
- SCORM compliance suits corporate and compliance courses
- Email marketing and sales tools are built in
❌ Cons
- Video player has no automatic captioning, so SRT files go up one by one
- The community feature feels detached from the main platform
- Bulk student enrollment is slow for large groups
Feature Comparison
Ready for a closer look at Circle vs Thinkific? We compare the key features across ten areas that decide which platform fits your business.
| Feature | Circle | Thinkific |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $89/month | $36/user/month |
| Free Plan | ❌ | ❌ |
| Community Spaces | ✅ | ✅ (basic) |
| Native Live Streaming | ✅ | ❌ |
| Course Builder | ✅ (basic) | ✅ |
| SCORM Support | ❌ | ✅ |
| Transaction Fees | 0.5% – 4% | None |
| Automation Workflows | ✅ | ✅ (email only) |
| Mobile App | ✅ | ❌ |
| Best For | Community builders | Course creators |
1. Community Spaces and Group Discussions
Circle: Community building and community engagement are the whole point here. Chat spaces support group discussions with organised threads, so a Circle community can stay tidy as it grows. Members see the entire community from one sidebar and jump between spaces quickly.
Thinkific: The community feature covers discussion forums attached to your courses. It helps student engagement, but reviewers say the community aspect feels bolted on rather than native. Students post and reply to other members without the deeper social tools Circle offers.
⚠️ Warning: If daily conversation is your goal, judge this category carefully. A course platform with forums is not the same as a dedicated space to engage members.
2. Course Building and Site Design
Circle: A built-in site builder lets you publish pages and attach a custom domain. You can create online courses inside a space, though the course builder stays light on structure. It works for cohort content, not for large libraries.
Thinkific: The drag and drop builder assembles interactive lessons from video, audio, PDFs, and quizzes. No coding skills are needed to arrange course content or design course pages. This is where Thinkific pulls clearly ahead.
3. Live Streaming and Live Events
Circle: The live streaming feature runs sessions for up to 30 participants or broadcasts to 100 viewers. You can host events and schedule reminders without leaving the Circle platform. Native live streaming is a cool feature that saves a webinar subscription.
Thinkific: Coaching and webinar tools let you sell and schedule live sessions with students. Delivery leans on connected video tools rather than streaming built into the product. That is fine for one-to-one coaching, weaker for large live events.
4. Automation Tools and Workflows
Circle: Workflows cut repetitive community management by triggering actions automatically. You can tag members, move them between spaces, or send a welcome message. G2 reviews note these automation tools stay basic next to dedicated workflow software.
Thinkific: Email automation runs broadcasts and basic sequences from inside the platform. Marketing features cover enrollment triggers and reminders. Reviewers describe the depth as adequate rather than advanced.
5. Member Onboarding and Lead Capture
Circle: Automated check-ins greet new members with tailored invitation emails and post-signup steps. New users land in the right space instead of an empty feed. That first hour matters more than most community features people shop for.
Thinkific: Lead generation tools capture signups through landing pages and free preview lessons. You can create promotions, offer students a discount, and boost sales around a launch. The focus is conversion, not conversation.
6. Analytics and Progress Tracking
Circle: Member activity tracking shows who posts, who lurks, and who has gone quiet. Managers use that to spot their most active people. The reporting answers engagement questions, not revenue questions.
Thinkific: The dashboard reports enrollments, revenue, and completion so you can track progress per student. Student management and course performance data sit in one view. Some reviewers still want deeper insights than the standard reports give.
7. Customization, Branding, and Integrations
Circle: Brand colours, logos, and layout controls give you real customization options. Third party integrations connect tools like Google Forms, Zapier, and email software. G2 reviews say the integrations Circle ships are useful but narrower than rival platforms.
Thinkific: The AI landing page builder drafts pages and copy through the Thinker assistant. Themes look clean, but more control over design needs code, and full control over branding arrives on higher tiers. Custom integrations are possible, though users call out missing features in the affiliate system.
💡 Pro Tip: List the tools you already pay for before you commit. New features arrive on both platforms every quarter, but an integration gap today is a manual export tomorrow.
8. Course Content and Learning Experience
Circle: Gamification adds points and leaderboards to keep people returning. Lessons live beside conversation, so learners discuss as they go. Circle’s features favour momentum over structured curriculum design.
Thinkific: Chapters, drip scheduling, quizzes, and certificates cover the core features most course creators expect, and the content creation tools stay approachable throughout. You can run one course or a full catalogue on the same account. Other platforms match the format list, but few make it this approachable.
9. Email Marketing and Sales Tools
Circle: Broadcasts reach a whole space or the entire membership. Checkout handles paid tiers, coupons, and free trials through Stripe with multiple currencies. It supports a membership sales strategy well, a product launch calendar less so.
Thinkific: TCommerce handles one-time payments, subscriptions, and payment plans, giving buyers flexible payment options. Order bumps and coupons help you sell courses successfully during a launch. For selling online courses at volume, this is the stronger engine for business growth.
10. Pricing & Cost
Let’s compare the pricing options side by side.
| Tier | Circle | Thinkific |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | Professional: $89/month | Basic: $36/user/month |
| Mid | Business: $199/month | Start: $74/user/month |
| Upper | Enterprise: $399/month | Grow: $149/user/month |
| Top | Plus Branded App: Custom Pricing | Thinkific Plus: Custom Pricing |
| Transaction fees | 0.5% – 4% | None |
Circle: The Professional plan opens at $89/month with unlimited members but caps admins, moderators, and spaces. The Business plan at $199/month lifts those limits, and the Enterprise plan at $399/month adds technical controls. A transaction fee of 0.5% to 4% applies on every payment you collect.
Thinkific: The Basic plan runs $36/user/month when billed annually and already includes unlimited courses. Nothing is skimmed off your sales, which changes the maths at higher revenue. Thinkific is not the only platform with zero fees, but it is the cheaper entry point of these two.
💡 Test Result: On $5,000 of monthly sales, Circle’s 4% fee costs $200 before Stripe’s cut. Thinkific charges nothing. Run that number for your own revenue before you pick.
Different Scenarios
| If You Need… | Choose | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The lowest entry price | Thinkific | $36 vs $89 per month |
| Daily member conversation | Circle | Spaces built for discussion |
| Structured curriculum | Thinkific | Chapters, quizzes, certificates |
| Live events in-house | Circle | Native streaming included |
| Zero fees on sales | Thinkific | No cut of your revenue |
| A members’ mobile app | Circle | Apps ship with the plan |
💰 Your Budget
Thinkific costs less upfront and takes no cut of sales. Circle’s higher base price buys community depth you cannot rebuild cheaply elsewhere.
🔌 Your Tech Stack
Check your email tool, CRM, and payment setup against both integration lists. Missing connections usually mean Zapier or a manual export every week.
📝 Your Content Type
Recorded lessons with quizzes point to Thinkific. Ongoing conversation, coaching calls, and events point to Circle.
🎓 Your Experience Level
Both are user friendly for beginners. Circle’s menu sits on the left hand side and feels familiar if you use Slack, while Thinkific wins on setup user friendliness for a first launch.
🆓 Free Trials and Demos
Each platform gives you 14 days free. Load real content and invite five people, because an empty test account teaches you nothing.
🛟 Support Options
Both run email and knowledge base support channels. Thinkific’s Grow tier adds priority support, though some users report the support team sends generic replies.
Switching Guide
Already using one of these? Here is what changes when you move.
🔄 Switching from Circle to Thinkific?
✅ What you’ll gain:
- Zero transaction fees on everything you sell
- A proper course builder with quizzes and certificates
- SCORM uploads for compliance training material
❌ What you’ll lose:
- Native live streaming for events
- Space Groups and secret spaces
- The members’ mobile app
📋 How to switch:
- Export your member list and cancel Stripe subscriptions in Circle
- Rebuild your lessons inside a Thinkific course
- Bulk enroll members, allowing extra time for large groups
🔄 Switching from Thinkific to Circle?
✅ What you’ll gain:
- Spaces, chat, and threaded conversation as the main event
- Live streaming and events without extra software
- Automation workflows for onboarding and check-ins
❌ What you’ll lose:
- Zero-fee checkout on every sale
- Quizzes, certificates, and SCORM support
- The lower $36 starting price
📋 How to switch:
- Export students and course files from Thinkific
- Map each course to a Circle space or Space Group
- Invite members and switch billing to Circle checkout
What Our Review Didn’t Cover
This comparison focused on individual creators and small teams. We did not test enterprise SSO, bulk licensing, or API work, and we did not run a community past a few hundred people. Our notes reflect the July 2026 versions of both products. If you manage thousands of learners or need custom development, your priorities will differ from ours.
Final Verdict
| Category | Winner |
|---|---|
| 💰 Pricing | Thinkific |
| 🏘️ Community Features | Circle |
| 🎓 Course Creation | Thinkific |
| 🎥 Live Events | Circle |
| 🎨 Customization | Circle |
| ⚙️ Automation | Circle |
| 👶 Ease of Use | Circle |
| 🏆 Overall Winner | Circle |
🏆 WINNER: CIRCLE
Circle wins 5 out of 7 categories.
Best for: Paid memberships, coaching communities, live events, and creators who want conversation at the centre.
Circle and Thinkific are not really rivals. They are two answers to different questions.
Circle is a community platform that also sells courses. Thinkific is a course platform that also runs forums.
Thinkific is the better pick if your revenue comes from selling structured lessons. It costs less, takes no fees, and its builder is the stronger one.
Circle takes the overall win because more creators need the thing it does best. Membership retention comes from people talking to each other, and that is the harder half to replace.
More of Circle Compared
Here is how Circle measures up against its closest rivals. Our full Circle review covers each of these in more depth.
Circle vs Skool
Circle wins on: Space Groups for organising topics, deeper branding controls, native live streaming
Skool wins on: One flat monthly price, faster setup for a first community, simpler interface for non-technical owners
Circle vs Mighty Networks
Circle wins on: Cleaner post editor, smoother navigation between spaces, better received onboarding tools
Mighty Networks wins on: Built-in member matchmaking, stronger course structure, longer track record with large networks
Circle vs Kajabi
Circle wins on: Day-to-day discussion tools, lower entry price, chat spaces with threads
Kajabi wins on: Funnels and pipelines, full email marketing suite, course and product delivery depth
Circle vs Bettermode
Circle wins on: Creator-focused checkout, live streaming built in, members’ mobile app
Bettermode wins on: Customisable page structures, stronger developer API, white-label site control
More of Thinkific Compared
Here is how Thinkific stacks up against the other course platforms creators shortlist:
Thinkific wins on: No transaction fees at any tier, SCORM uploads, broader theme customisation
Teachable wins on: Built-in tax handling for global sales, simpler payout setup, tighter affiliate reporting
Thinkific wins on: Much lower starting price, cleaner course-first dashboard, easier learning curve
Kajabi wins on: Marketing automation depth, landing page and funnel library, all-round business tooling
Thinkific vs LearnWorlds
Thinkific wins on: Faster course setup, friendlier pricing at entry level, simpler admin screens
LearnWorlds wins on: Interactive video with in-player quizzes, richer certificates, deeper assessment reporting
Thinkific wins on: Real curriculum tools, quizzes and certificates, flexible checkout and bundles
Skool wins on: Active daily discussion, gamified leaderboards, one predictable monthly bill
Frequently Asked Questions
What is circle so used for?
Circle.so is used to run paid memberships, courses, events, and group chat in one place. Creators pick it when a Facebook group stops working.
Is Circle so worth it?
It is worth it if conversation drives your revenue. At $89 per month plus transaction fees, a course-only business will get better value elsewhere.
What is the transaction fee for Circle so?
Circle charges 0.5% to 4% of each payment you receive, depending on your plan. Stripe’s own 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction applies on top.
How much does Thinkific cost per month?
Plans run $36, $74, and $149 per user monthly when billed annually. Paying month to month raises those figures to $49, $99, and $199.
What are the disadvantages of Thinkific?
The video player lacks automatic captioning, bulk enrollment is slow, and community tools feel separate from courses. Reviewers also want more depth in the affiliate system.
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