Research comparison based on published pricing and help-center documentation, not hands-on testing · Checked on circle.so, mightynetworks.com, both help centers and stripe.com, October 23, 2026 · All prices in US dollars
Circle vs Mighty Networks is closer on price than either vendor admits: up to about 1,400 paying members the two cost within $4 to $20 a month of each other, and only past that point does Mighty's 0.5% Growth fee pull clearly ahead. On a $29 monthly membership with 1,000 members, our model puts Circle Business at $1,853 a month in plan price plus fees and Mighty Scale at $1,849. At 5,000 members the cheapest Mighty plan saves $519 a month over the cheapest Circle plan. So price should rarely decide this one. Structure, live formats, apps and how you take payments on iPhones should.
Below we price both at 100, 1,000 and 5,000 paid members, show three costs the plan tables leave out, and then compare courses, live sessions, mobile apps, AI, automations and analytics. For the plan-by-plan detail on one side, see Circle's plan prices and fee stack explained; the wider shortlist of course and community tools lives in Saazora's community platforms hub.
Circle vs Mighty Networks side by side
| What you are buying | Circle | Mighty Networks |
|---|---|---|
| Self-serve plans, monthly billing | Professional $99, Business $219, Scale $419 | Launch $95, Scale $215, Growth $425 |
| Same plans, billed yearly (per month) | $89, $199, $419 | $79, $179, $354 |
| Platform fee on member payments | 2%, 1%, 1% (Circle Plus 0.5%) | 2%, 1%, 0.5% (Mighty Pro 0.5%) |
| Card processing | Your own Stripe account, on top of the fee | Your own Stripe account, on top of the fee; Apple's 15% instead on iOS app purchases |
| Spaces | 20, 30, 100 | Unlimited on every plan |
| Admins / moderators | 3/10, 5/15, 10/100 | 3/10, 5/15, 10/100 hosts and moderators |
| Storage | 200 GB, 500 GB, 1 TB | 200 GB, 500 GB, 1 TB (course video counts) |
| Live hours a month | 10, 15, 20 | 20, 30, 40 |
| Own branded app | Circle Plus, custom price | Mighty Pro, custom price |
| Owner trial | 14 days, no card; 30-day money-back guarantee | 14 days on Growth, no card; 5% fee on sales during the trial |
From circle.so/pricing, circle.so/_llms/pricing.md, mightynetworks.com/pricing (rendered with the Monthly and Annual toggles) and docs.mightynetworks.com plan and fee articles, checked October 23, 2026. Circle refund policy checked October 21.
Links to Circle on this page are affiliate links, so Saazora may earn a commission if you subscribe through them, at no extra cost to you; Mighty Networks links carry no tag. If the Circle column suits you, try Circle free for 14 days (affiliate link) and run your own numbers inside it.
The plans mirror each other almost tier for tier
Line the two price lists up and the resemblance is hard to miss. Each vendor sells three self-serve tiers plus a custom branded-app tier. Admin and moderator seats match at every level (3 and 10, then 5 and 15, then 10 and 100), and so does storage (200 GB, 500 GB, 1 TB). The entry and middle tiers even charge the same platform fee: 2% on Circle Professional and Mighty Launch, 1% on Circle Business and Mighty Scale.
The real differences sit in four places. Mighty's monthly prices run $4 below Circle's on the first two tiers, and its yearly prices run $10 to $20 below. Mighty gives unlimited spaces where Circle caps them at 20, 30 and 100. Mighty includes twice Circle's livestream hours at each tier. And the top self-serve tiers split: Circle Scale keeps a 1% fee at $419, while Mighty Growth drops to 0.5% at $425 a month.
Both vendors also publish a head-to-head page, and both pick the same pairing: Circle Business at $199 against Mighty Scale at $179 on yearly billing. Mighty's page calls that a $240 yearly saving, which is right on plan price alone. Circle's FAQ answers "Aren't Circle and Mighty Networks basically the same price?" with "They are." Neither page puts member payments into the sum, and that is where the gap at larger sizes comes from.
Monthly bill at 100, 1,000 and 5,000 paying members
The fairest test is a real bill: plan price plus every fee taken from member payments. We used a $29 monthly membership paid by US cards on the web, monthly billing for the plan, and Stripe's public rates of 2.9% plus 30 cents per card charge plus 0.7% for Stripe Billing on recurring charges. Circle's help center lists that full stack for subscriptions. Mighty's fee article only says Stripe charges "typically between 2.5% and 5%" per transaction, but its plans run as subscriptions in your own Stripe account, so we applied the same Stripe Billing rate to both. Mighty's lead under the alternative assumption is shown below the table.
| Plan (monthly billing) | 100 members ($2,900 gross) | 1,000 members ($29,000 gross) | 5,000 members ($145,000 gross) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Circle Professional ($99, 2%) | $291.40 | $2,023 | $9,719 |
| Circle Business ($219, 1%) | $382.40 | $1,853 | $8,389 |
| Circle Scale ($419, 1%) | $582.40 | $2,053 | $8,589 |
| Mighty Launch ($95, 2%) | $287.40 | $2,019 | $9,715 |
| Mighty Scale ($215, 1%) | $378.40 | $1,849 | $8,385 |
| Mighty Growth ($425, 0.5%) | $573.90 | $1,914 | $7,870 |
| Cheapest Circle minus cheapest Mighty | $4 a month | $4 a month | $519 a month ($6,228 a year) |
| Same gap on yearly plan billing | $10 a month | $20 a month | $570 a month |
Saazora calculation (cheapest plan per size in bold): plan price + platform fee + Stripe 2.9% + 30¢ + Stripe Billing 0.7%, US cards, no tax tools, add-ons or iOS sales. Rates from circle.so/pricing, help.circle.so "Paywall transaction fees", mightynetworks.com/pricing, docs.mightynetworks.com "Does Mighty Networks Charge a Transaction Fee?" and stripe.com/pricing and /billing/pricing, checked October 23, 2026.
Three thresholds come out of the arithmetic. On both platforms, the 1% middle tier beats the 2% entry tier once you pass 414 paying members on monthly billing, because the $120 plan difference is covered by 29 cents saved on each payment. Mighty Growth beats Mighty Scale from 1,449 members. And Mighty Growth becomes cheaper than Circle Business, Circle's best plan at that size, from 1,421 members; on yearly billing that crossover arrives at 1,069. Circle Scale never undercuts Circle Business on cost alone, because it keeps the same 1% fee, so you would only move to it for AI agents, unlimited workflows or the higher limits.
If Stripe Billing turns out not to apply to Mighty's subscriptions, Mighty's lead widens to about $24 a month at 100 members, $207 at 1,000 and $1,534 at 5,000. Foreign cards cost the same extra 1.5% on both, since both run on your Stripe account: about $109 a month if a quarter of 1,000 members pay with non-US cards.
Mighty's help center also describes an Explore plan at $35 a month ($29 yearly) with a 5% fee. It does not appear in the pricing page's plan table. In our model it is cheaper than Launch only below 69 paying members.
Three costs the plan tables leave out
1. iPhone purchases on Mighty go through Apple. Members who buy inside the Mighty Networks iOS app pay through Apple In-App Purchase. Apple takes 15%; Mighty charges no fee of its own and there is no Stripe fee on those sales. On $29 that is $4.35 per payment, against $1.92 for a web payment on Launch. If 200 of 1,000 members buy in the iOS app, Mighty Scale's bill rises by about $543 a month, which is far more than its lead over Circle at that size. Mighty suggests setting a higher iOS price instead; about $32 on iOS leaves you the same as $29 on the web. iOS payouts take 8 to 12 weeks to arrive, and you cannot refund them yourself: members ask Apple. Circle's standard iOS app does not run this route. Its help center says paywall checkout opens in the mobile browser, so the card goes through Stripe.
2. Live hours and capacity add-ons. Mighty sells Engagement Boosts that lift hours, viewers and storage from $35 a month, and its help center says they are not refundable. Circle sells extra live hours at $50 a month per 10 hours and extra spaces at $20 a month per 10. A community that streams weekly is more likely to need Circle's add-on, since Circle starts at 10 hours.
3. Sales tax and email. Mighty collects no tax by default. To collect it you connect Quaderno, which needs its own paid account. Circle's Stripe Tax integration adds a separate Stripe fee per transaction. On email, Circle sells an Email Hub add-on from $19 a month for 100 contacts. Mighty's plan table lists a Kit integration from Scale rather than a broadcast email tool of its own.
Courses, quizzes and certificates
Both platforms build courses inside the community rather than as a separate school. On Circle a course is a type of space, so courses count against the 20, 30 or 100 space limit. Courses can be self-paced, structured or scheduled; drip release works by section, and quizzes are multiple choice. Circle AI can also propose a curriculum and draft lesson text.
Mighty's course feature starts on Launch, with cohort and content course templates. Quizzes allow up to 100 questions with up to five answers each, and lessons can unlock in sequence, on a timer or on a schedule. Mighty's pricing table also ticks automatic badges and certificates, SCORM embeds and an AI course outline on every paid plan. Circle's comparison page says Mighty's course builder "lacks completion certificates", which conflicts with Mighty's own feature table; we could not verify either claim without an account, so check certificates in a trial if you need them.
Live streams, live rooms and events
Circle splits live sessions into two formats. In a live stream only hosts and co-hosts appear on camera, with 100, 200 or 500 attendees by plan. In a live room everyone can turn on camera and microphone, with 15, 20 or 50 participants. Recorded sessions get a searchable transcript and an AI summary.
Mighty runs one livestream format with up to nine people on screen, including the host, and 100, 200 or 1,000 viewers per stream. Each stream is capped at two hours, unused hours do not roll over, and recordings count toward storage. For bigger groups on camera, Mighty connects to Zoom meetings and webinars from inside an event. On Growth, space hosts and moderators can also go live.
So the choice follows the format. Office hours where members talk on camera suit Circle's live rooms. Broadcast-style teaching to a large audience gets more included hours and viewers on Mighty.
Mobile apps and your own branded app
Both include free iOS and Android apps on every plan, and Circle adds Mac and Windows desktop apps. The catches differ. Circle's apps do not let new members sign up, so people join on the web first. Mighty's app does support buying, but through Apple at 15%. Mighty's app is also shared across networks: members sign in and switch between every Mighty Network they belong to.
For an app under your own name in the App Store and Google Play, Circle sells Circle Plus and Mighty sells Mighty Pro, both at custom prices. Mighty says Pro apps go live in four to six weeks. Circle says its team handles design, submission, launch and maintenance. Neither publishes a price, so request quotes from both if a branded app is the main reason you are choosing.
AI, automations and analytics
Circle's AI runs on monthly credits: 2,500 on Professional and Business and 5,000 on Scale, with extra credits at $10 per 1,000. AI Agents trained on your content, which answer members, and AI Workflows are limited to Scale and Circle Plus. Mighty's Cohost assistant helps hosts set up spaces, plans, events and posts from a chat, and Mighty lists AI writing help, AI conversation starters and AI course outlines on paid plans. AI-based automation filters arrive on Growth.
Automation is where the entry tiers differ most. Circle Professional has no workflows; Business allows 20 and Scale is unlimited. Mighty allows unlimited automations on every plan but widens the triggers by tier. Launch covers course progress, quizzes, badges, tags and points; Scale adds joins, plan purchases and RSVPs; Growth adds posting activity and automatic direct messages.
For reporting, Circle includes analytics on every plan and adds activity scores from Business. Mighty Insights comes with every paid plan, but it runs on desktop web only, updates with a 24-hour delay and is not available during the free trial. Zapier is on every Circle plan, while Mighty starts it at Scale. API access starts at Circle Business and Mighty Scale, with 5,000 Admin API requests a month included on each.
Moving paid members in is not equally easy
If you already have a paying audience elsewhere, this may matter more than any fee. Circle's pricing reference says active subscriptions and payment history migrate free, and course content and student data migrate free on yearly Business plans and above. Mighty's help center says you cannot move paying members' memberships across directly. Its suggested method is to create hidden plans with free trials that cover each member's remaining paid time, then invite people to subscribe again. Mighty's pricing page lists migration services from Growth.
Leaving works the same way in reverse. On both platforms the card relationship sits in your own Stripe account, but subscriptions are created by the platform, and Mighty warns that editing plans directly in Stripe can delete them. Plan for members to re-subscribe if you ever switch.
Which one fits your community
- Circle fits a course or coaching business that wants many clearly separated spaces, live rooms where members speak on camera, web-only checkout without an Apple cut, Zapier from day one, and help moving existing subscribers. Watch the space cap: a community with many small groups can outgrow 20 spaces on Professional.
- Mighty Networks fits a membership with many groups or cohorts (unlimited spaces), regular broadcast livestreams (twice the included hours), or more than about 1,400 paying members, where Growth's 0.5% fee saves real money. It also suits hosts who want members inside an app with in-app purchase, as long as they price iOS separately.
- It is a tie on price for most communities between 100 and 1,400 paying members. Choose on structure and live format, not on the $4 to $20 difference.
Our verdict
Mighty Networks is slightly cheaper at every size we modelled, and much cheaper past about 1,400 paying members, so if cost is your main test, Mighty wins. That lead disappears if a meaningful share of members buy through Apple at your web price, and below 1,400 members the difference is too small to decide on. Circle is the better pick when you want structured spaces, on-camera live rooms, Zapier on the entry plan, browser checkout on iPhone and a smoother move for existing subscribers. Mighty is the better pick for unlimited spaces, more livestream hours and the lowest fee at scale.
If Circle's side matches how you run your community, start a free Circle trial (affiliate link) and look at any current deals on our Circle discount page. Our in-depth Circle review covers each plan gate, and our Circle vs Skool cost breakdown runs the same model against Skool. For Mighty's current rates, see Mighty Networks' pricing page.
Questions people ask about Circle and Mighty Networks
Is Mighty Networks cheaper than Circle?
Slightly, at every size. With a $29 membership, Mighty's cheapest plan costs $4 a month less than Circle's at 100 and at 1,000 paying members on monthly billing, and $519 a month less at 5,000, where Mighty Growth's 0.5% fee undercuts Circle Business's 1%. Selling through Mighty's iOS app at the web price can wipe out that lead because Apple takes 15%.
Do both platforms take a cut on top of Stripe's card fee?
Yes. Circle charges 2%, 1% or 1% by plan and Mighty charges 2%, 1% or 0.5%, and both are deducted from payments in your own Stripe account on top of Stripe's card fee. Mighty also charges 5% on sales made during its free trial.
Which has unlimited spaces?
Mighty Networks, on every plan. Circle allows 20, 30 or 100 spaces depending on the plan, with extra spaces at $20 a month per 10, and every Circle course uses one of those spaces.
Can I move my paying members from Mighty Networks to Circle?
Circle says it migrates active subscriptions and payment history free and moves course content on yearly Business plans and above. Confirm with Circle what it can carry over from your Mighty Stripe setup before you switch, and plan for some members to re-enter card details.
Sources and method
This Circle vs Mighty Networks comparison is a research piece. On October 23, 2026 we re-checked circle.so/pricing (unchanged since our October 22 copy), Circle's pricing and comparison reference files, help.circle.so's paywall fee article, mightynetworks.com/pricing (rendered in a browser with both billing toggles), Mighty's comparison page, 37 pages of Mighty's host documentation, and Stripe's card and Billing rates. Circle course, live, app and AI details come from help-center and product pages read on October 21–22. We opened no account on either platform and tested nothing hands-on. Every cost is arithmetic on published rates, and where the two vendors' claims conflict we say so instead of choosing one. Our general method is described on Saazora's research and rating process page.
Sources: circle.so/pricing; circle.so/_llms/pricing.md, compare.md and product.md; circle.so/compare/vs-mighty; circle.so/events; help.circle.so "Paywall transaction fees", "Courses overview", "Utilizing the drip feature", "Circle features: desktop vs mobile apps", "AI agents overview", Stripe Tax article and refund policy; mightynetworks.com/pricing and /mighty-vs-circle; docs.mightynetworks.com articles on transaction fees, getting paid, Stripe, taxes, refunds, currencies, plan contents (Explore, Launch, Scale, Growth, Mighty Pro), custom domains, apps, storage and livestream limits, livestreaming, speakers, Zoom events, courses, quizzes, automations, Zapier, Mighty Insights, Cohost and moving paying members; stripe.com/pricing and /billing/pricing. Checked October 21–23, 2026. Plans change often; confirm on each vendor's site before you commit.
