Top 11 Circle.so Alternatives to Power Your Community

If you’re using Circle.so—or actively evaluating it—you’re probably asking one big question:

Is this the best platform to grow, engage, and monetize my community long-term?

Circle.so is a strong community platform. But it’s not built for every business model.

As communities evolve beyond discussions into learning, monetization, automation, and AI-driven engagement, many creators, SaaS teams, and educators start looking for Circle.so alternatives that better fit their goals.

In this guide, we break down the top Circle.so alternatives—what each platform does best, where it falls short, and when it makes sense to choose it over Circle.

How We Evaluated These Circle.so Alternatives

Not all community platforms are built for the same outcome. To keep this comparison practical, we evaluated each platform on:

• Community experience (feeds, discussions, groups)
• Learning & content support (courses, cohorts, knowledge)
• Engagement tools (events, notifications, reactions, gamification)
• Monetization flexibility
• Automation, integrations & APIs
• Scalability (from small communities to large networks)
• Best-fit use case (creator, SaaS, education, enterprise)

No platform wins at everything. The “best” choice depends entirely on what your community is meant to achieve.

Top Circle.so Alternatives

Below is a comparison snapshot of the leading platforms.

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Starting price rarely reflects total cost. Factors like transaction fees, per-user pricing, automation limits, and scalability matter more as your community grows.

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The 11 Best Circle.so Alternatives

1. Edbound AI

Best for: SaaS brands, memberships and community businesses, coaching and knowledge-led businesses

Edbound AI is designed for communities that go beyond conversations. It combines community, courses, live sessions, funnels, and AI-powered automation into a single platform—making it ideal for businesses using education as a growth engine.

What Edbound AI does well

• Courses, Webinars & Digital Downloads: Create and deliver structured learning experiences, live sessions, and gated resources—all from one platform.
  
• Communities & Memberships: Build paid or free communities with controlled access, member tiers, and content visibility tied to subscriptions.
  
• Websites & Landing Pages: Launch conversion-ready pages for lead capture, course sales, and community signups—no external website builder required.
  
• Sales Funnels: Design end-to-end funnels that move users from lead → learner → paying member with automated flows.
  
• Integrations & Payments: Connect payments and essential tools to manage enrollments, access, and transactions seamlessly.
  
• WhatsApp Marketing: Engage leads and members on WhatsApp for reminders, follow-ups, announcements, and conversions—where users already spend their time.
  
• AI-Powered Automation: Use AI to scale engagement, support, and content-driven interactions without adding manual overhead.
  
• All-in-One Infrastructure: Replace fragmented stacks (community + LMS + funnels + courses + Website and landing pages + messaging tools) with a single, scalable system.

Limitations‍

Gamification is on the public roadmap and planned for release soon

Edbound AI Pricing

Edbound AI keeps pricing simple while replacing multiple tools with a single platform.‍

Edbound AI starts at $79/month, which includes courses, webinars, downloads, communities, memberships, landing pages, basic automations, integrations, payments, and WhatsApp marketing.

The Scale Plan ($179/month) adds advanced automations, APIs, integrations, and migration support for growing education and community-led businesses.

The Growth Plan ($354/month) is built for teams scaling revenue and programs, with advanced automations, priority support, expert sessions, and growth-focused tooling.

Note: All Edbound AI’s plans come with a 14-day free trial period. Check our pricing page to properly compare plans.

Choose Edbound AI if you want to run your entire education or community-led business—content, community, funnels, payments, and messaging—from one platform without stitching together multiple tools.

2. Mighty Networks

Best for: Creator-led communities and personal brands

Mighty Networks is one of the most popular Circle alternatives for creators who want branded communities with feeds and events.

Pros

• Strong community UX
• Native mobile apps
• Good event support

Cons

• Limited automation
• Courses feel secondary to community

Mighty Networks Pricing

Mighty Networks starts with the Launch plan ($79/month) for creators starting a community and earning up to ~$500/month. The Scale plan ($179/month) adds more automations, integrations, and spaces, while the Growth plan ($354/month) is designed for creators scaling revenue and support. Also available via custom pricing for branded apps and dedicated services.

Choose Mighty Networks if your community is content-first, not system-driven.

3. Kajabi

Best for: Creator-led communities and personal brands

Kajabi Communities works best when paired with Kajabi’s course and marketing stack.

Pros

• Seamless for Kajabi customers
• Integrated payments and content

Cons

• Community features are basic

Kajabi Pricing

Kajabi starts with the Kickstarter plan ($71/month), which supports one product, one website, and one community for creators getting started. The Basic plan ($143/month) raises product and contact limits, while the Growth plan ($199/month) adds advanced automations and is aimed at revenue-generating businesses.

The Pro plan ($399/month) removes most limits and supports multiple websites and communities for teams operating at scale.

4. Skool

Best for: Simple, gamified communities

Skool’s biggest strength is built-in gamification, which drives engagement through points and leaderboards.

Pros

• Extremely simple UX
• Strong gamification loop

Cons

• Custom branded website not available
• White-labelling of mobile apps not available
• Limited customization
• Not built for complex businesses

Skool Pricing

Skool offers a Hobby plan ($9/month) with all features included but a 10% transaction fee. The Pro plan ($99/month) reduces transaction fees to 2.9% and unlocks advanced analytics and customization.

5. Bettermode

Best for: Brands that want custom-designed community spaces

Bettermode (formerly Tribe) emphasizes flexibility and branding over structured learning.

Key strengths

• Customizable UI
• Strong community design options

Limitations

• Minimal learning tools
• Requires more setup and maintenance

Pricing

• Free and paid plans available

Bettermode Pricing

Bettermode offers a Free plan ($0/month) for basic community setup. The Pro plan ($49/month) adds unlimited members, analytics, custom domains, and integrations. Enterprise plans are available via custom pricing for security, SLAs, and dedicated support.

6. Discord

Best for: Real-time, chat-first communities

Discord is built for fast, live interaction. It works well for communities that prioritize conversations over content structure or long-term knowledge.

Pros

• Excellent real-time chat and voice channels
  
• Large existing user base familiar with the platform
  
• Free to start with optional paid add-ons
  

Cons

• Poor content organization and discoverability
  
• No native learning or course features
  
• Monetization, analytics, and automation are limited

Discord Pricing

Discord is free to use for unlimited servers and real-time chat. Paid upgrades start with Nitro Basic ($2.99 per user), which adds cosmetic and upload features, while higher Nitro tiers add HD streaming and personalization.

Choose Discord if your community thrives on live conversations and informal engagement rather than structured learning, content, or scalable monetization.

7. Slack

Best for: Internal teams and professional groups

Slack is designed for workplace communication, not community building—but it’s often used as a Circle.so alternative for professional or invite-only groups.

Pros

• Familiar interface for most professionals
• Strong integrations with work tools
• Easy to set up and manage

Cons

• Not built for community growth or discovery
• Weak engagement mechanics beyond chat
• Limited monetization and community analytics

Slack Pricing

Slack offers a Free plan ($0/month) with limited message history and basic collaboration features. The Pro plan ($4.38 per user per month) adds unlimited message history, integrations, and standard support for small teams.

The Business+ plan ($9.15 per user per month) includes advanced security, compliance exports, and uptime guarantees, while the Enterprise Grid plan is available via custom pricing for large organizations with complex compliance and administration needs.

Choose Slack if your “community” is actually a team, mastermind, or internal professional group rather than a public or paid community.

8. Facebook Groups

Best for: Audience building with minimal cost

Facebook Groups are accessible but come with major trade-offs.

Key strengths

• Free
• Large built-in audience
• Easy member acquisition via Facebook’s network
• Familiar to most users

Limitations

• Facebook as a platform is losing significant market share
• Less active audience
• No ownership or control
• Algorithm dependency

Cons

• No ownership of your audience
• Poor monetization and data access
• Algorithm-dependent visibility
• Lower engagement observed across groups

Choose Facebook Groups if cost and reach matter more than control, data, or long-term community value.

9. 360Learning

Best for: Corporate and internal learning

360Learning is an enterprise learning platform with collaboration features built in.

Pros

• Strong peer-learning workflows
• Enterprise-ready security and permissions
• Designed for internal enablement

Cons

• Complex for individual creators
• Expensive at scale for small teams
• Community experience feels secondary

360Learning Pricing

360Learning starts at $8 per registered user per month and is designed for collaborative, internal learning teams. The Team plan includes a full LMS for employee enablement, peer learning, and knowledge sharing, with transparent per-user pricing and no setup fees.

Business plans are available via sales and are built for companies looking to scale collaborative learning across employees, customers, or partners, with integrations, automation, and dedicated support.

Choose 360Learning if you’re running structured large enterprise-grade learning programs inside an organization.

10. Hivebrite

Best for: Alumni and private networks

Hivebrite is designed for gated, professional, and alumni communities.

Pros

• Strong access control and permissions
• Custom branding and private networks
• Enterprise-grade infrastructure

Cons

• Engagement tools feel dated
• Limited learning and monetization features
• Pricing can be high for smaller communities

Hivebrite Pricing

Hivebrite is available on custom pricing only, tailored for alumni networks, associations, and private communities.

Choose Hivebrite if you manage alumni or association-style networks where access control matters more than engagement depth.

11. LinkedIn Groups

Best for: Professional discovery and visibility

LinkedIn Groups benefit from LinkedIn’s professional graph but lack depth as a true community platform.

Pros

• Built-in professional audience
• No setup or platform costs
• Strong credibility for B2B niches
  

Cons

• Low engagement compared to dedicated platforms
• Minimal moderation and analytics
• Limited customization and ownership

Choose LinkedIn Groups if discovery and professional visibility are more important than engagement, structure, or monetization.

Which Circle.so Alternative Is Right for You?

Best by use case

• SaaS, product or memberships based communities: Edbound AI
• Creators & personal brands: Mighty Networks, Skool
• Gamified communities: Skool
• Corporate learning: 360Learning
• Free communities: Facebook or LinkedIn Groups

Final Takeaway

Circle.so is a solid starting point—but the best community platforms today are built around outcomes, not just conversations.

If your goal is:

• Educate your audience and community members
• Scalable memberships and communities
• Expertise monetization
• Engagement automation

Then platforms like Edbound AI offer a fundamentally different—and more scalable—approach.

Your community deserves infrastructure that grows with your business.

👉 See how Edbound AI brings communities, courses, and growth together.‍