Skool vs Circle (2026): Simple Community or Flexible Platform?

Circle's cheapest plan is $89 a month. Skool Pro is $99. On the pricing pages, Circle looks like the cheaper upgrade.

Then I ran the fees. Circle takes 2% of every member payment on that plan, and because it runs on your own Stripe account, Stripe's card fee and its 0.7% subscription fee come on top. At $10,000 a month in member payments, Circle Professional costs about $260 more than Skool Pro.

My verdict: for one focused paid community, Skool is the better deal at every size I calculated. Circle is worth the extra when you need several separate spaces, quizzes, a website on your own domain or email marketing in the same tool.

How I compared them

I've run a Skool group since 2024 for my animal rescue work, and I tested it hands-on for my full Skool review.

Every Circle detail comes from Circle's pricing page, its published pricing reference and its help center, checked on November 9, 2026.

Pricing side by side

Skool's fees come from its payments help article and include card processing. On Pro, payments of $900 or more are charged 3.9% plus 30 cents.

Circle's prices are for annual billing; its pricing reference says monthly billing costs more. Circle collects payments through your own Stripe account, so Stripe's fees come on top of Circle's cut. Stripe lists its Billing fee for subscriptions at 0.7% of billing volume.

Circle also has a Scale plan at $419 a month (1% fee) and a custom-priced Circle Plus (0.5% fee) that adds your own branded mobile app.

At $10,000 a month, Circle costs about $260 more

Here's the monthly total for a membership priced at $50 a month, using US card fees.

These are my own calculations from each platform's published fees. They leave out taxes, refunds, international cards, Skool's Discovery cut and any Circle add-ons.

Two things stand out. Skool Pro is the cheapest option once you pass about $1,270 a month in member payments, and the gap to Circle widens as you grow: about $17 a month at $1,000, $125 at $5,000 and $260 at $10,000 compared with Circle Professional.

And Circle Business only beats Professional at high revenue. It costs $110 more a month and saves 1% of sales, so it pays for itself at about $11,000 a month in member payments, unless you need its features sooner.

If one community is all you need, Skool Pro is the cheaper home for it. You can start a Skool group here (paid link).

Where Circle pulls ahead

You can shape the community

Circle builds a community out of spaces: post spaces for discussions, chat spaces for real-time talk, event spaces and course spaces. Professional allows 20 spaces and Business 30. You can give each program, cohort or tier its own area.

Skool gives you one feed with categories, one classroom and one calendar per group. If you run several distinct programs, you'd typically open several Skool groups, each billed separately.

A website and your own domain

Every Circle plan includes a website builder and a custom domain, according to its pricing page. Skool has no website; Pro lets you claim a custom URL on skool.com.

Quizzes in your courses

Circle's help center describes quizzes with single or multiple correct answers, passing grades that grade automatically, and the option to require a pass. Courses can be self-paced, structured or scheduled.

I didn't find quizzes in Skool's classroom. Neither platform offers native completion certificates: Circle says so on its own comparison page, and I didn't find them in Skool.

Email marketing as an add-on

Circle's Email Hub adds broadcasts, forms, automations and a contact CRM. It's free up to 100 contacts, then priced by list size: $19 a month up to 1,000 contacts and $99 a month up to 10,000. Skool's only email tool is a switch that emails a post to all members.

Automations and branding

Workflows, API access and removing Circle's branding start on Business. A branded mobile app under your own name is Circle Plus only.

Where Skool pulls ahead

Cost, at every size

At $50 a month per member, Skool Pro is cheaper than both Circle plans in every scenario above. Skool's fee includes card processing, while Circle's 2% sits on top of Stripe's fees.

Built to make members show up

Circle has gamification too, but in Skool it's the center of the product. Members level up across nine levels, leaderboards show who's most active, and you can lock a course until someone reaches a level. That gives new members a reason to post from day one.

Nothing to design

There are no spaces to plan and no site to build. You name the group, add a cover and a course, and invite people. For a solo coach, that simplicity is worth something.

A directory that can send you members

Skool runs a directory where people browse and search for groups. You pay for that traffic with a revenue share of 30% to 70% on members it sends you, but it can reach people you wouldn't find yourself.

The GrowthToolGuide verdict

Skool is the better deal for a single, focused paid community. Circle is worth its higher cost when you need several separate spaces, quizzes, a website on your domain and email in one platform.

Skool fits

Coaches, masterminds and creators running one main community, who want members engaging daily and the lowest fees as revenue grows.

Circle fits

Businesses running several programs or cohorts side by side, course creators who need quizzes, and brands that want the community on their own domain with email marketing attached.

Try Skool Paid link: I earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you.

Weighing Kajabi too? I compared it with Skool in Skool vs Kajabi. For everything I found inside Skool, read my Skool review.

Skool vs Circle FAQ

Does your community need one busy room, or several smaller ones with their own purpose?