Circle vs Kartra Comparison 2026
Both cover courses & coaching. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
Community software that looks like yours, not ours
Courses, funnels and email with a cart attached
At a glance
- Kartra starts cheaper, at $59.
- Neither has a free tier.
- Circle takes 2% of what you earn against Kartra's 5%.
Side by side
Circle | Kartra | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $89 | From $59 |
| Pricing model | Paid subscription | Paid subscription |
| Free tier | No | No |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | 14 days | Not stated |
| API | Yes | Yes |
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 community platforms
Kartra
Courses, funnels and email with a cart attached
Kartra sells the whole stack in one subscription: pages, checkout, email, membership and the course itself, with everything wired together on arrival. The trade is stated plainly on the pricing page, because the cheapest plan takes five percent of what you sell. Contact limits are the other constraint and they bind sooner than most people expect. Anybody with an email platform they like is paying twice.
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.