All four platforms charge a monthly price plus a cut of every member payment — but the cut works differently on each one, so the cheapest headline price is rarely the cheapest platform. This guide compares the plans, the fee structures, and what each platform actually costs at two realistic community sizes.
Professional, billed annually. Plus a platform fee on payments (see fee structure below).
Launch, billed annually ($95 month-to-month). Plus a platform fee on payments.
Hobby plan. Pro is $99/mo — and at real revenue levels, Pro is usually the cheaper of the two (see the cost math).
No subscription and no plans. You pay per sale: card processing from 2.7% + $0.30 on domestic cards.
| Circle | Mighty Networks | Skool | Whop | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Creators and businesses that want a structured, branded membership | Networks mixing courses, events and chat in one mobile-friendly space | Coaches and creators who want members posting daily, with minimal setup | Sellers who want to charge for access with no fixed monthly bill |
| Plans | Professional / Business / Scale / Circle Plus (custom) | Launch / Scale / Growth / Mighty Pro (custom) | Hobby / Pro — billed per community | No plans — one pay-per-sale model |
| Monthly price | From $89/mo billed annually | From $79/mo billed annually ($95 monthly) | $9/mo (Hobby) or $99/mo (Pro); annual billing lowers both | $0 |
| Fee on member payments | 2% (Professional), 1% (Business & Scale), 0.5% (Plus) — on top of Stripe processing | 2% (Launch), 1% (Scale), 0.5% (Growth & Pro) — on top of Stripe processing | Processing included: 10% + $0.30 (Hobby); 2.9% + $0.30 (Pro, up to $899 per payment; 3.9% + $0.30 at $900+) | Card processing 2.7% + $0.30 domestic (+1.5% international). Current published fees list no separate platform fee on standard sales — see the Whop note below |
| Member limit | Unlimited members on every plan | Unlimited members on every plan | Unlimited members, courses and live calls on both plans | No member tiers; cost scales only with sales |
| What actually forces an upgrade | Workflows, API and removing Circle branding need Business; 20 spaces and 3 admins on Professional | API and integrations need Scale; host seats run 3 / 5 / 10 by plan, moderators 10 / 15 / 100 | Almost nothing by size — the fee break-even (about $1,268/mo in sales) and Pro-only extras like a custom URL | Nothing to upgrade to — features it lacks (custom domain, own app) are not sold at any price |
| Courses | Built in, with structured lessons inside spaces | Built in, can be combined with chat and events in one space | Built in ("Classroom") — video and files, no quizzes or certificates | Basic course app inside each product; less depth for structured programmes |
| Custom domain | Yes, on every plan | Yes | No — your community lives at skool.com/your-group | No — you sell from a Whop storefront |
| Your own branded app | Only on Circle Plus (custom pricing); standard Circle apps otherwise | Only on Mighty Pro (custom pricing); standard Mighty apps otherwise | No — members use Skool's apps | No — members use Whop's apps |
| Discovery | You bring your own audience | You bring your own audience | Public Discovery directory; an optional boost takes 30% on members Skool brings you (not on your own traffic) | Public marketplace (Discover) where buyers browse products and communities |
| Free option | No free plan — 14-day trial | No free plan — 14-day trial (on the Growth plan) | No free plan — 14-day trial | Free to open and list — you only pay when you sell |
Prices are USD, before tax, as published by the vendors in November 2026. Circle's headline prices are annual-billing rates; month-to-month billing costs more. Where a platform fee sits "on top of Stripe", the processing baseline used in this guide is Stripe's standard US rate of 2.9% + $0.30 per payment — your actual Stripe pricing may differ, and extra billing or international charges can apply. Plans change — always confirm the current price and what's included on the vendor's site before you buy.
The monthly price is only part of the bill. The table below adds the plan, the platform fee and card processing together for the same community on every platform — a community of 100 members paying $50/month ($5,000/month in member payments, 100 payments). Circle and Mighty Networks figures use their annual-billing entry plans; Skool and Whop have no annual commitment in this scenario.
| Plan | Monthly plan | Platform fee | Card processing | Total / month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Circle Professional | $89 | 2% = $100 | 2.9% + $0.30 × 100 = $175 | $364 |
| Circle Business | $199 | 1% = $50 | $175 | $424 |
| Mighty Networks Launch | $79 | 2% = $100 | $175 | $354 |
| Mighty Networks Scale | $179 | 1% = $50 | $175 | $404 |
| Skool Hobby | $9 | 10% + $0.30 per payment, processing included = $530 | $539 | |
| Skool Pro | $99 | 2.9% + $0.30 per payment, processing included = $175 | $274 | |
| Whop | $0 | None in the base case | 2.7% + $0.30 × 100 = $165 | $165 |
Two things stand out. First, the cheapest headline plan — Skool Hobby at $9 — is the most expensive option at this size, because its 10% fee costs $500 a month on its own. Hobby only beats Pro below roughly $1,268/month in member payments ($90 of plan difference ÷ 7.1 points of fee difference). Second, Skool Pro's $99 sticker looks higher than Circle's $89, yet Pro costs less overall here because its 2.9% already includes processing, while Circle's 2% is charged before Stripe takes its own cut.
At a smaller size the order changes again. For 30 members paying $30/month ($900/month, 30 payments), the same math gives roughly: Whop $33, Skool Hobby $108, Mighty Launch $132, Skool Pro $134, Circle Professional $142. Early on, fixed plan prices dominate; as revenue grows, the percentage fee takes over. Run your own member count and price through the same formula before you commit to an annual plan.
How to read the Whop row: Whop's current published fee schedule centres on the 2.7% + $0.30 processing rate with no separate platform fee on standard sales. Some third-party sources still describe an additional percentage on products gated through Discord or Telegram; if a 3% charge applied to this scenario, Whop's total would be about $315 instead of $165. Check the live fees page and your own seller dashboard for the rate that applies to your setup. This scenario also excludes payout fees, international-card surcharges and any Stripe billing add-ons, which vary by account.
Circle organises a community into spaces — discussion areas, courses, events and live rooms, each open, private or paid. Professional ($89/mo billed annually) includes unlimited members, courses, events, live streaming, gamification, a website builder and a custom domain, with 20 spaces, 3 admins and a 2% fee on payments, on top of Stripe processing. Business ($199/mo billed annually) raises the limits, drops the fee to 1%, and adds the things growing operators usually end up needing: workflows and automation, API access, and removing Circle's branding. Scale ($419/mo billed annually) raises limits further at the same 1% fee, and Circle Plus is custom-priced — it is the only tier with your own branded mobile apps and a 0.5% fee.
Mighty Networks builds a "network" out of spaces that can combine features — a course with its own chat and events attached, for example — and puts mobile apps at the centre of the member experience. Launch ($79/mo billed annually, $95 month-to-month) covers community, courses, events and basic automations with 3 hosts, 10 moderators and a 2% fee on payments, on top of Stripe. Scale ($179/mo billed annually) drops the fee to 1% and adds API access and more integrations. Growth ($354/mo billed annually) raises host seats to 10 and moderators to 100 at a 0.5% fee. Mighty Pro is custom-priced and is the only route to your own branded iOS and Android apps.
Skool gives every community the same deliberately small layout: a discussion feed, a Classroom for courses, a calendar for events and live calls, and a leaderboard. Members earn points when others like their posts, points raise their level, and levels can unlock courses — engagement mechanics are the product, not an add-on. Pricing is per community: Hobby ($9/mo) and Pro ($99/mo) include the same unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls. What changes is the fee, and it matters more than the plan price: 10% + $0.30 per payment on Hobby versus 2.9% + $0.30 on Pro (3.9% + $0.30 on single payments of $900 or more), with card processing already included in both. Annual billing lowers the plan prices to the equivalent of $7.50 and $82.50 a month. Pro also adds a custom URL and member affiliate tools. A public Discovery directory lists communities, and an optional growth boost takes 30% only on members Skool itself brings you.
Whop started as a checkout and access layer, and that is still its centre of gravity. You create a product — a "whop" — attach apps such as Chat, Forums, Courses, Files and Events, and Whop handles checkout, subscriptions and who gets in. It can also gate something you already run: connect a Discord server or Telegram group and Whop adds paying members and removes lapsed ones automatically. There is no monthly fee and no plan to choose: domestic card sales are charged at 2.7% + $0.30 per transaction, with surcharges for international cards and separate fees for things like payouts. Products can be listed in Whop's public Discover marketplace, which the subscription platforms here do not offer an equivalent of.
Your own domain and brand → Circle or Mighty Networks. Happy to live inside someone else's app in exchange for simplicity or zero fixed cost → Skool or Whop. This choice is hard to reverse later, because your members' bookmarks, apps and habits move with it.
Take your expected members × monthly price, then add plan + platform fee + processing using the formula in the cost section. At low revenue the plan price dominates; at higher revenue the percentage does. The "cheap" plan flips depending on which side of that line you are on.
Members are unlimited almost everywhere here. What forces upgrades is features and seats: workflows and unbranding on Circle, API access and host seats on Mighty Networks, the fee break-even on Skool. List what you need on day one and price the tier that actually includes it.
Circle, Mighty Networks and Skool offer 14-day trials, and Whop is free to open. Invite a handful of real members, run one live session and one payment — even a refundable test charge — through the platform. Checkout friction and the mobile app experience are hard to judge from a pricing page, ours included.
Card processing is what the payment network charges to move the money (Stripe's standard US rate is 2.9% + $0.30). A platform fee is the community platform's own cut, charged on top of that. Circle and Mighty Networks charge both. Skool quotes one all-in rate that already includes processing, and Whop's published rate is its processing charge. Comparing "2%" against "2.9%" without noticing which is which is the most common pricing mistake in this category.
It depends on your revenue, and this guide deliberately does not give a single winner. On the published fees checked in November 2026, Whop has the lowest cost in both scenarios modelled above because it has no monthly plan. Among the dedicated community platforms, Skool Pro modelled cheapest at $5,000/month in member payments, while at $900/month the gap narrows and Skool Hobby's low plan price starts to make sense. Your own member count and price decide it — the formula is in the cost section.
All four are US-based platforms with English-first interfaces and USD pricing, and none of them is a Japan-specific オンラインサロン service. If your members are comfortable in an English-interface app and paying in USD-linked billing, they can work; if you need Japanese-language support, domestic payment expectations and a Japanese admin experience, weigh that friction honestly against the features — it is the main reason Japanese creators often also compare domestic platforms alongside these.
No. All four give members iOS and Android apps — Circle's, Mighty Networks', Skool's or Whop's own apps. A branded app published under your name is a different thing, and only Circle (Circle Plus) and Mighty Networks (Mighty Pro) offer it, both at custom pricing. For most new communities, the vendor's app is enough; the branded app is a later-stage brand decision, not a launch requirement.
Member lists and content export options vary by platform, and your members will need to re-join, re-download an app and often re-enter payment details on the new platform — which is why migrations lose people. That switching cost is exactly why the domain question in Step 1 matters: a community that lived on your own domain keeps its address when the platform underneath it changes.
Because this guide is compiled from the vendors' published pricing, fee schedules and specifications — based on publicly available vendor information, not hands-on testing. We have not operated paid communities on these platforms for this comparison, so we do not present experience we do not have. Every number above can be checked against the vendor's own pages, and where sources disagreed (for example, on Whop's fees for gated products), we said so instead of picking the convenient figure.