Heartbeat vs Honeycommb Comparison 2026
Heartbeat bundles channels, threads, courses and events for $49 a month plus a transaction fee that falls from 5 percent as the plan rises. Honeycommb prices by how many members have registered, from $24.99 a month for the first hundred, with every feature on every band, but a branded iOS and Android app costs $299 a month plus a $1,499 launch fee on top. Pick Heartbeat for courses and events built into the community itself. Pick Honeycommb only if a branded app under your own name is the actual goal.
A community with courses and events built in
A branded social network for one community
At a glance
- Honeycommb starts cheaper, at $24.99.
- Neither has a free tier.
Side by side
Heartbeat | Honeycommb | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $49 | From $24.99 |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Free trial, then paid | Paid subscription |
| Free tier | No | No |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Not stated |
| Free trial | 14 days | 14 days |
| API |
Heartbeat
A community with courses and events built in
Heartbeat runs channels, threads, events, courses and a member directory in one place, which is the shape most creator communities end up wanting after outgrowing a Discord server. Payments run through it and it takes a cut that falls as the plan rises. There is no free plan, and a community that stops paying is deactivated rather than frozen.
Our note
Work out the transaction fee at your own revenue before comparing headline prices: at $5,000 a month collected, Grow costs less in total than Build. Against Circle and Mighty Networks this is the one with courses and events genuinely built in rather than bolted on.
Only on this side
- Covers courses & coaching
- Works with Discord
Honeycommb
A branded social network for one community
Honeycommb builds a private social network under your name rather than a forum, with a feed, profiles and posts that behave the way members already expect. Pricing is by how many people have registered, not by which features you want, so the whole product is on the cheapest tier. Branded iOS and Android apps are a separate add-on with its own launch fee, and that is the line item most budgets trip over.
Why people weigh these two
- Honeycommb instead of Heartbeat
- Honeycommb gives one community its own branded social network at $24.99 a month, about half Heartbeat's price.
- Heartbeat instead of Honeycommb
- Heartbeat adds courses and events to the community itself from $49 a month with a free trial, more built-in structure than Honeycommb's feed-and-profile format.
Which one should you pick
Pick Heartbeat if courses and scheduled events need to live inside the community rather than as an afterthought. Build is $49 a month plus a 5 percent transaction fee on top of Stripe, falling to 1.25 percent on the $849-a-month Scale plan, after a 14-day trial with no card.
Pick Honeycommb if the real goal is a private social feed with your own app icon on a member's phone. The subscription itself starts at $24.99 a month for the first hundred registered members, with every feature included at every size. The branded iOS and Android apps are the reason most people arrive, and they cost $299 a month plus a $1,499 launch fee, discounted to $499 if paid yearly, on top of the subscription. Without that app add-on, this is doing the same job as cheaper community tools at a similar price.
Common questions
- Is Honeycommb cheaper than Heartbeat?
- The base subscription is: $24.99 a month against Heartbeat's $49. But Honeycommb's real cost is usually the branded app add-on, $299 a month plus a $1,499 launch fee, which most people who choose it actually want.
- Does Heartbeat offer a branded app like Honeycommb's?
- Not in the same way. Heartbeat runs on web, iOS and Android as its own product, not as a white-labelled app under your name. Honeycommb's branded app, with your own listing in both stores, is a separate paid add-on starting at $299 a month.
- Do both take a cut of member payments?
- Yes. Heartbeat's cut falls from 5 percent on Build to 1.25 percent on Scale, on top of Stripe. Honeycommb takes 5 percent of each transaction on its paid subscriptions, with no stated discount for a higher plan.
- Does Honeycommb's price change with features or with size?
- Size. Every band, from $24.99 up to $149 a month, includes every feature; what changes is how many members have registered. Heartbeat's tiers change both the transaction fee and which features are included.
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.