Circle vs Flarum Comparison 2026
Both cover community platforms. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
At a glance
- Only Flarum has a free tier.
Side by side
Circle | Flarum | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $89 | Free |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Paid subscription | Free |
| Free tier (they differ) | No | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Not stated |
| Free trial | 14 days | Not stated |
| API | Yes | Not stated |
| Data export | Some of it | Not stated |
| Their cut | 2% of what you earn | Not stated |
| Runs on | Not stated | Web |
| Covers |
Shaded rows are where the two answers disagree and both listings have answered. A row where one side has not stated a fact is left plain, because silence is not a difference.
Circle
Community software that looks like yours, not ours
Circle gives you spaces, events, courses and live streams under your own branding and domain. It is the more configurable answer to Skool, and the price reflects that. Worth it once a community is paying for itself.
Our note
The right answer when the community has to look like it belongs to you, and an expensive one before that is true. Against Skool it is more money and more control, which is the entire difference between them.
Only on this side
- Covers courses & coaching
Flarum
Forum software you host yourself
Flarum is forum software installed on your own server, so the discussion, the members and the domain belong to whoever runs it rather than to a platform. Extensions add what the core deliberately leaves out. There is no hosted tier and no monthly fee, which trades a bill for the work of running it. Anybody who does not want to think about PHP, a database and backups should buy hosted community software instead.
Our note
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.