Circle Pricing 2026: Plans, Fees and What You Actually Pay

Prices checked on Circle's pricing page and help center, October 21, 2026 · Research-based guide, not hands-on testing · US dollars, before tax

Circle pricing starts at $89 a month for the Professional plan, but only if you pay for a year upfront, and every member payment also loses 2% to Circle plus about 3.6% and 30 cents to Stripe. Business costs $199 a month and Scale $419 (both on annual billing), and Circle Plus is quoted by sales. Members are unlimited on every plan, so your bill grows with your revenue and your add-ons, not your headcount.

This guide lists every plan limit, shows the fee stack for subscriptions, one-time sales and installments, and prices three real-world communities from launch to 1,000 paying members. If you are still choosing between a community platform and an all-in-one funnel tool, our Kartra plans and deals page covers the closest alternative on Saazora.

Circle pricing by plan in October 2026

Circle's pricing page shows four tiers. The limits that change the bill most are admins, spaces, the transaction fee and live hours; everything else in the comparison is a feature switch.

From circle.so/pricing and its plan comparison, checked October 21, 2026. Monthly-billing prices come from the structured price data on the same page (see the next section).

Courses, events, chat, a website builder, payments, gamification, a custom domain and Circle's iOS, Android and desktop apps are on every tier. Business adds workflows, APIs and Circle's MCP, activity scores, custom profile fields, branded email notifications and removes Circle branding. Scale adds AI agents, AI moderation, webhooks, custom single sign-on and priority support.

Saazora may earn a commission if you sign up through links on this page; it does not change the prices shown. You can compare the plan grid yourself on Circle's pricing page with the 14-day trial (affiliate link).

All current Circle offers in one place, including the 14-day free trial and the 30-day money-back guarantee, are on our Circle deals page.

The $89 figure assumes a year paid upfront

Each price on the plan cards carries an asterisk, and the footnote says prices are "based on annual billing and do not include applicable taxes". The page shows no monthly toggle. Its structured price data, which is what search engines read, lists a month-to-month price of $99 for Professional and $219 for Business. Circle's help center confirms monthly billing exists: the upgrade guide tells you to pick "annual or monthly billing" in the plan summary.

• Professional: $1,068 a year billed annually against $1,188 paid monthly, a $120 difference (about 10%).
• Business: $2,388 against $2,628, a $240 difference (about 9%).
• Scale: the page data lists $419 for both billing options, so there appears to be no annual discount. Scale is sold through "Talk to sales" as well as a trial, so ask for the monthly figure in writing before you commit.

The risk of paying a year upfront is smaller than it looks. Circle's refund policy gives a 30-day money-back guarantee "for both monthly and annual subscriptions", counted from your original start date, and the 14-day trial needs no credit card. After those 30 days there are no refunds for unused time, and a downgrade only takes effect at the end of the billing cycle with no credit. Upgrades take effect immediately, with unused time prorated toward the new plan.

What Circle and Stripe take from each member payment

Circle paywalls run on Stripe, and every payment carries two separate charges: Circle's transaction fee (shown in Stripe as an "application fee") and Stripe's processing fees. Both come out of your payouts. The Stripe side depends on the type of paywall price, because Circle adds Stripe Billing to subscriptions and installments and Stripe Invoicing to one-time fees.

Circle fee rates and Stripe breakdown from Circle's "Paywall transaction fees" article (updated October 2026); Stripe Billing 0.7% and Invoicing 0.4% confirmed on Stripe's pricing pages, October 21, 2026. "You keep" figures are Saazora calculations for a single $100 charge.

Three details change the math for some communities:

• International members cost more. Stripe's US pricing adds 1.5% for international cards and 1% when currency conversion is needed. A community with many members outside its own country should budget for these on top of the table.
• Refund through Circle, not Stripe. When you refund a member from inside your community, Circle's transaction fee comes back in your payout. Refund the same payment from the Stripe dashboard and Circle's fee is not returned.
• Some countries cannot be charged a platform fee. Circle's paywall guide notes that Stripe does not allow platform fees for connected accounts in certain countries, naming Malaysia and India. Check this before you plan paid spaces from those countries.

Three communities priced out, month by month

These are Saazora calculations from the rates above, not Circle quotes. Assumptions: US cards, no refunds, no international surcharges, no add-ons, tax left out, plans on annual billing unless noted.

Two patterns stand out in this Circle pricing comparison. First, Stripe is the largest single cost in every scenario: $240 of the $429 in community A goes to card processing, which no Circle plan removes. Second, the cheapest plan changes with revenue. Professional wins for A and B because its 2% fee costs less than Business's extra $110 a month. Community C, at $39,000 a month in member payments, saves $3,360 a year on Business. Scale never beats Business on fees alone, since both charge 1%; it only pays off if you need its agents, webhooks, custom SSO or higher limits.

When Business becomes cheaper than Professional

Business costs $110 a month more than Professional on annual billing and takes 1% less of every payment, so it breaks even at $11,000 a month in member revenue ($12,000 if you pay monthly, where the gap is $120). Below that, Professional is cheaper on price and fees.

Add-ons move that line a long way. Professional sells two Business features separately: customizable profile fields at $49 a month and branded email notifications at $40 a month. A Professional community that buys both is paying $178 a month, only $21 less than Business, and the break-even drops to $2,100 a month in member payments.

Team size pushes the same way. Here is a growing Professional community that needs five admins and 30 spaces, the limits Business includes:

Add-on prices from the plan comparison on circle.so/pricing, October 21, 2026. Business also includes workflows and the APIs, which Professional cannot buy at all.

Add-ons that raise the monthly bill

The plan price is only the base. These charges sit on top, and most are billed monthly even on an annual plan.

• Email Hub. Circle's email marketing tool is optional and priced by subscribed contacts, from $19 a month for up to 1,000 contacts to $99 at 10,000 and $439 at 100,000. Circle says the first 30 days are free, and its billing article says Email Hub is "billed monthly, regardless of whether your community plan is monthly or annual". Only members who opt in to marketing emails count. Circle Plus includes 10,000 contacts.
• Circle AI credits. Professional and Business include 2,500 credits a month and Scale 5,000; extra credits cost $10 per 1,000. Credits cover Circle AI, workflow tasks, API calls and agent tokens, and Circle started charging for AI usage on July 29, 2026.
• Live hours and attendees. Extra hours cost $50 a month per 10 hours, and extra live attendees $20 a month per 100 on Professional and Business. Hours reset monthly; sessions with recording stop at 8 hours.
• Moderators. $20 a month per 10 extra moderators on every self-serve plan.
• API overage. Business includes 5,000 Admin API requests a month and charges $0.005 per extra request; Scale includes 30,000 at $0.002. Headless API use is billed per monthly active user: 100 MAU included on Business ($0.50 per extra MAU) and 500 on Scale ($0.30).

If you plan to send broadcasts to a list you have not emailed in a while, clean it before importing; our guide to why marketing emails land in spam covers the authentication and list checks worth doing first.

Which Circle plan fits which community

• Professional ($89/mo annual): a solo creator or small team (up to three admins) launching a paid community or course with under about $11,000 a month in member payments. It fits if you do not need workflows, custom profile fields or white-labelling. Pay monthly for the first few months if you are unsure about the fit; the $10 a month premium buys flexibility.
• Business ($199/mo annual): communities past roughly $11,000 a month in revenue, or smaller ones that would otherwise buy profile fields and branded emails on Professional. It is also the entry point for automations (20), the Admin API, Circle's MCP, white-labelling and free course migration on annual plans.
• Scale ($419/mo): teams that need AI agents, AI moderation, unlimited workflows, webhooks or custom SSO, or up to 10 admins and 100 spaces without buying add-ons. Annual Scale plans also get 60 days of concierge onboarding. On fees alone it costs more than Business at every revenue level.
• Circle Plus (custom): brands that want their own iOS and Android apps with in-app purchases, unlimited admins and spaces, Email Hub with 10,000 contacts and the lowest transaction fee (0.5%). Expect a sales process rather than a checkout.

The quickest way to see which tier you would land on is to build your spaces during the 14-day trial and check the plan page's usage section before upgrading. You can start the trial from Circle's plan comparison (affiliate link); no card is needed.

Cheaper or different routes worth pricing first

Circle's strength is a community-first product with courses and events attached. If your business is mainly funnels and email, or you want a lower base price, these options change the cost profile:

• Kartra bundles pages, email, checkout and membership portals. On monthly billing, Essentials is $59 (500 contacts, 5% transaction fees, one membership or course) and Starter is $119 (2,500 contacts, 0% transaction fees, unlimited memberships and courses), per kartra.com/pricing on October 21, 2026. A 200-member community fits Starter, which costs more than Circle Professional before fees but takes no platform cut. The Kartra deals page linked in the introduction lists its yearly rates and trial terms.
• Skool lists two plans on its pricing page: Hobby at $9 a month with a 10% transaction fee and Pro at $99 a month with 2.9%, both with unlimited members and courses. Its page does not say whether that percentage replaces or adds to card processing, so confirm it before comparing it with Circle's fee stack.
• A sales page plus a separate tool. If you only need to sell one product and collect emails, a landing page builder may be enough; our Leadpages plans and refund terms show what that costs.

Circle pricing questions

Does Circle have a free plan?

No. Circle offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card, then a paid plan from $89 a month billed annually. If you let the trial lapse, Circle says it typically deletes community data 90 days after expiry.

Does Circle charge transaction fees on top of Stripe?

Yes. Circle takes 2% on Professional, 1% on Business and Scale and 0.5% on Circle Plus, and Stripe charges its own processing fees on the same payment (3.6% + $0.30 for a US card subscription). Both are deducted from your Stripe payout.

Can I get a refund on an annual Circle plan?

Within 30 days of your original subscription start date, yes: Circle's policy covers both monthly and annual plans. After 30 days, Circle does not refund unused time, and renewals or plan changes do not reset the 30-day window.

Is there a Circle discount or coupon code?

We found no public coupon code on October 21, 2026. The published ways to pay less are annual billing (about $120 a year off Professional and $240 off Business) and choosing the plan whose transaction fee matches your revenue.

How we researched these prices

We read Circle's pricing page, its plan comparison and its structured price data, plus eight Circle help center articles on paywall fees, plan changes, refunds, cancellation, Email Hub billing, AI credits and live limits, all on October 21, 2026. Stripe's Payments, Billing and Invoicing rates were checked on Stripe's own pricing pages the same day. No Circle account was opened and no payments were processed; every cost example is arithmetic on published rates. Where Circle's sources disagree (Scale live hours: 20 on the pricing page, 40 in the help center), both figures are shown. Our general method is on Saazora's review and research process page.

Sources: circle.so/pricing; help.circle.so articles "Paywall transaction fees", "Getting started with Circle paywalls", "Upgrade or downgrade your community plan", "Circle's refund policy", "Canceling your community plan", "Understanding and managing your Email Hub billing", "Understanding your Circle AI billing and credits", "Understanding Circle live limits"; stripe.com/pricing, Stripe Billing and Invoicing pricing; kartra.com/pricing; skool.com/pricing. All checked October 21, 2026. Prices change; confirm on Circle's page before you buy.