Skool vs Circle: Community Platforms Compared

Skool vs Circle is a choice between simple and flexible. Both are community platforms with courses, events and payments built in. Skool gives you one fixed layout, low prices, and payments it runs for you. Circle gives you spaces, chat, your own domain, your own Stripe account and far more control over the look, for a higher monthly bill. Below we compare them on price, fees, design, courses, events, engagement, payments, apps and ease of use. Every fact comes from each company's own pages, checked on 29 September 2026.

We run our own Skool community, so we know Skool from the owner's side. We have not run a community on Circle, so every Circle fact below comes from Circle's own pricing, payments and feature pages, not from our own use.

Skool vs Circle at a glance

Price per month

Skool has two plans. Hobby is $9 a month and Pro is $99 a month. Skool's pricing page lists unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls on both, and marks a custom URL and affiliates as Pro only. Skool's help centre reserves more for Pro, including changing your group URL and plugins such as Zapier, AutoDM and the cancellation video. Yearly billing gets "2 months free", and Skool's help centre says both plans start with a 14-day free trial. The plan is billed per group. Our Skool pricing guide covers the two plans in more detail.

Circle has four plans. Circle's pricing page shows yearly prices by default, with the note "Prices displayed in USD, based on annual billing". On monthly billing, Professional is $99, Business is $219 and Scale is $419. On yearly billing, Professional drops to $89 a month and Business to $199. Scale is $419 either way, and Circle Plus is custom pricing through sales. Circle lists no free plan. It offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

What each Circle plan includes

Circle's add-ons can push the real bill above the plan price. Extra admins cost $10 a month each. Extra moderators and extra spaces cost $20 a month per 10. Extra AI credits cost $10 per 1,000. On Professional, custom profile fields are $49 a month and sender email customization is $40 a month. Circle's email tool, Email Hub, is $99 a month for 10,000 contacts on top of your plan, with the first 30 days free. So a Professional community that wants Circle's email pays $198 a month on monthly billing before it sells anything.

If Skool's two-plan setup sounds closer to what you need, you can try Skool free for 14 days (affiliate link).

Transaction fees and who handles payments

Skool runs payments itself. Skool's payments FAQ says "All payment processing happens on the Skools merchant" and "Skool is a 'merchant of record'". You cannot use your own Stripe account. Skool creates a Stripe Express account only to send your payouts, which go to your bank every Wednesday in your local currency. Hobby is "10% + 30c /transaction for all transactions". Pro is "2.9% + 30c /transaction for transactions up to $899 USD" and "3.9% + 30c /transaction for transactions above $900 USD". There is no separate card fee listed on top.

Circle uses your Stripe account. Circle's payments page says "Circle paywalls are powered by Stripe" and that you "connect your existing Stripe account". Circle's fee is 2% on Professional, 1% on Business and Scale, and 0.5% on Plus. Then Stripe charges too: "Circle's transaction fees are in addition to Stripe's standard processing fees, which vary by country." Stripe's standard US rate is 2.9% + 30c per card payment, plus 1.5% for international cards and 1% if currency conversion is needed. Circle supports one-time purchases, subscriptions, trials, installment plans and coupons, in over 25 local currencies.

Skool's 2.9% + 30c is the whole fee. Circle's 2% sits on top of Stripe's own 2.9% + 30c.

A worked example

Say you charge $50 a month for your community. We worked out the total monthly cost from each company's listed rates. This assumes US cards, monthly billing, no refunds and no sales tax.

Skool Pro is the cheapest in both cases. Skool Hobby only makes sense while you are small: its 10% fee costs more than Pro's extra $90 a month once you sell about $1,270 a month, and it lacks the Pro-only features. On Circle, Business becomes cheaper than Professional once you sell more than $12,000 a month, because its fee is 1% lower and it costs $120 more.

Skool has one cost Circle does not. If Skool finds you a paying member through its Discovery search or its own ads, Skool's Growth Boost takes 30% of that member's payments, plus fees, for as long as they stay. It is on by default, and you can turn it off in Settings, then Discovery.

Sales tax and VAT

Skool's payments FAQ says Skool handles "all sales tax collection, filing, and payments", and "Skool handles EU VAT for you. We add the VAT rate on top of the price." Circle's payments page does not say Circle collects or files tax for you. Circle's help centre has a section on using Stripe Tax with Circle paywalls. Check it before you launch if you sell into the EU or UK.

Design control and your own domain

Circle wins this one clearly.

On Skool, every group uses the same layout: a feed, a Classroom, a Calendar and a leaderboard. Your custom URL is your group's address on skool.com, like our own skool.com/consulting. Skool's help article on changing it says it is a Pro feature and does not mention connecting a domain you own. The first change is free, and each change after that costs $100. Your sales page is your group's About page, which Skool calls "essentially a landing/checkout page for your group", and links in its description do not work.

On Circle, every plan includes a custom domain, color themes, custom CSS and JavaScript snippets, and a website. You mix spaces for posts, chat, events and courses to shape the community the way you want. Circle's customization page says the code snippets let you add services like Google Analytics and your Facebook Pixel. Business and up let you remove Circle branding. Circle Plus adds your own branded iOS and Android apps.

Courses

Skool's courses live in the Classroom tab. You add pages, turn them into lessons with video, attach files and links, add transcripts so videos are searchable, and group pages into folders. You can drip a page so it opens a set number of days after someone joins, and you can lock a course until a member reaches a certain level. Skool's help article on Classroom does not mention quizzes, certificates or assignments.

Circle lists courses on every plan. Its courses page describes a visual course builder, visual learning paths, a video player, and assessments. Circle's courses page says Circle AI can draft a curriculum and lesson copy and show completion and drop-off, but check your plan: the pricing table does not include the AI content writer on Professional. For a community where courses are a big part of the value, Circle has the richer course builder. For a group where the course is a bonus, Skool's Classroom covers the basics.

Events and live calls

Skool has a Calendar tab for events, which can repeat daily, weekly, monthly or yearly. Events default to a Skool Call, and you can use Zoom, Meet or a real address instead. Skool says you can go live "natively in the app or on the browser without needing any third-party streaming platforms". Skool's pricing page lists unlimited live calls.

Circle's events come with event pages, RSVPs, calendar invites, reminder emails, push notifications and replays with searchable transcripts. Its live tools have plan caps. Live streams hold 100, 200 or 500 attendees on Professional, Business and Scale. Live rooms hold 15, 20 or 50 people. Included hours are 10, 15 and 20. Extra attendees cost $20 a month per 100, and extra hours cost $50 a month per 10 hours.

Engagement: leaderboards, levels and points

This is the feature Skool is known for. On Skool, one like on a post, comment or reply is one point for the author. Members climb nine levels, from 0 points at level 1 to 33,015 points at level 9, and a leaderboard shows who is ahead. You can lock courses until a member reaches a level. Levels are per group, so a member starts at level 1 in each new group.

Circle now has much the same system. Circle's gamification page says "One point is equivalent to a like received on a post or comment", and it offers levels, leaderboards and badges on all plans. You can open special spaces or content to members as they level up. Custom rewards with automated workflows need Business or higher.

The difference is emphasis. On Skool, points and levels are part of the core layout. On Circle, they are one feature among many, and Circle says you can turn gamification off or make the leaderboard private.

Apps

Skool has an app, and you can go live from it. Circle includes iOS, Android and desktop apps on every plan. If you want an app with your own name and logo in the app stores, Circle offers that only on Circle Plus, which is custom priced. Native in-app mobile payments are also a Plus feature.

Ease of use

Skool is easier to start because there are fewer choices. One feature set, two prices, one layout. You pick a price, write your About page, add a course and invite people.

Circle asks you to make more decisions: which spaces to create, who can see what, which plan fits your admin and space limits, and which add-ons you need. In return, Circle offers help moving over. Its pricing page lists a free payment migration service for eligible communities, which moves active subscriptions from your old platform.

Pick Skool if, pick Circle if

Pick Skool if

• You want the lowest monthly bill: $99 on Pro, or $9 while you test.
• You would rather Skool handle payments, sales tax and EU VAT.
• You like one simple layout and do not want to design your community.
• You want points, levels and level-locked courses at the center of your group.
• You want members to find you through Skool's Discovery, and accept the 30% Growth Boost cut on those members.

Pick Circle if

• You want your own domain and a community that looks like your brand.
• You want payments in your own Stripe account.
• You need separate spaces, chat channels and larger admin teams.
• You want email marketing inside the same tool, through Email Hub.
• You want a branded app in the app stores and can afford Circle Plus.

If you need email, funnels and a full website as well, read our Skool vs Kajabi comparison. For more options, see our Skool alternatives guide.

For most owners weighing Skool vs Circle, it comes down to control against simplicity. If you want a paid community running this week with the least setup and the lowest bill, start a Skool community here (affiliate link) on the 14-day free trial.

FAQ

Is Circle more expensive than Skool?

Yes. Circle's cheapest plan is $99 a month on monthly billing, or $89 a month billed yearly, against Skool's $9 and $99 plans. Circle also adds a 2% fee on Professional, on top of Stripe's card fees. In our example of 100 members paying $50, Skool Pro costs $274 a month and Circle Professional costs $374.

Does Circle take a cut of sales?

Yes. Circle charges 2% on Professional, 1% on Business and Scale, and 0.5% on Circle Plus. Circle's payments page says this is in addition to Stripe's own processing fees, which are 2.9% + 30c for a standard US card. Skool's fee already includes card processing, because Skool processes the payment itself.

Does Circle have leaderboards and levels like Skool?

Yes. Circle's gamification includes points, levels, leaderboards and badges on all plans, with one point per like received, the same rule Skool uses. Circle lets you switch gamification off or make the leaderboard private. On Skool, points and levels are part of the core layout, and courses can be locked until a member reaches a level.

Can I use my own domain on Skool or Circle?

On Circle, yes. Circle lists a custom domain on every plan. On Skool, the custom URL is your group's address on skool.com, and Skool's help article on it does not mention connecting a domain you own. Changing the Skool URL needs Pro: the first change is free, and each change after that costs $100.

Does Circle have a free plan?

No. Circle's pricing page lists no free plan. It offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card needed, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Skool also has no free plan for owners, but both of its plans start with a 14-day free trial, and its Hobby plan costs $9 a month.

Who handles sales tax on Skool and Circle?

Skool does it for you. Skool is the merchant of record and says it handles all sales tax collection, filing and payments, including EU VAT. Circle runs payments through your own Stripe account, and its payments page does not say it collects or files tax. Circle's help centre covers setting up Stripe Tax with its paywalls.

We may earn a commission if you start a Skool community through a link on this page. It costs you nothing extra, and it does not change what we write.