Circle vs Memberful Comparison 2026
Circle hosts a full community, spaces, courses, events and live streams, under your own branding, from $89 a month plus a fee that falls from 2 percent to 0.5 percent as the plan rises. Memberful adds paywalled memberships to a site you already run, one plan at $49 a month plus a flat 4.9 percent of what members pay, with nothing charged until the first payment lands. Circle is a destination people join. Memberful is a lock added to the door you already have.
Community software that looks like yours, not ours
Paid memberships bolted onto a site you own
At a glance
- Memberful starts cheaper, at $49.
- Neither has a free tier.
- Circle takes 2% of what you earn against Memberful's 4.9%.
Side by side
Circle | Memberful | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $89 | From $49 |
| 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 |
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
Memberful
Paid memberships bolted onto a site you own
Memberful sells memberships from a site you already run rather than moving your audience to a platform, and it is the tool most WordPress publishers reach for when they start charging. One price covers everything and the money is charged on top as a percentage. Nothing is billed until a first payment comes in, so a launch that never launches costs nothing.
Why people weigh these two
- Memberful instead of Circle
- Memberful at $49 bolts paid membership onto a site you already own, so the community lives in your pages rather than in a platform.
- Circle instead of Memberful
- Circle builds the community itself and brands it as your own space, a full platform rather than a membership gate placed on a site you already run.
Which one should you pick
Pick Circle if the community needs its own spaces, courses and live streams rather than just a paywall on existing content. Professional is $89 a month plus a 2 percent fee, and the fee drops to 1 percent on the $199 Business plan, so a dearer plan can be partly buying its own discount back. It is the wrong first step before a community has proven anybody wants it.
Pick Memberful if a site already exists, especially on WordPress, and the only thing missing is a way to charge for access to some of it. One plan at $49 a month plus 4.9 percent of member revenue covers everything, with Stripe's own processing fee on top, and nothing bills until the first real payment. Below roughly $1,400 a month in member revenue this is the cheaper of the two; above it, Circle's lower percentage starts winning back its higher base price.
Common questions
- Is Memberful cheaper than Circle?
- At low revenue, yes: $49 a month plus 4.9 percent beats Circle's $89 plus 2 percent while member revenue is modest. The crossover sits around $1,400 a month in member revenue; above that, Circle's lower percentage fee makes up for its higher base price.
- Does Memberful host a community the way Circle does?
- No. Memberful adds paywalled membership accounts to a site already being run, most often WordPress, rather than hosting spaces, courses or live streams itself. Circle is the destination platform, with all of that built in under your own domain.
- How much does Circle's transaction fee change between plans?
- It falls as the plan rises: 2 percent on Professional at $89 a month, 1 percent on Business at $199, and 0.5 percent on the custom tier above that. Memberful's fee is flat at 4.9 percent regardless of plan, since there is only the one plan.
- Does either charge anything before a creator earns money?
- Memberful does not: nothing is billed until the first payment from a member comes in, so a launch that slips costs nothing. Circle charges its monthly subscription, $89 and up, regardless of whether the community has any paying members yet, though the trial runs 14 days with no card first.
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.