Circle Pricing 2026: $89 a Month, Plus the Fees and Add-ons That Raise It

Some links on this page may earn us a commission. It never changes the numbers or the verdict. How we make money.

Circle pricing starts at $89 a month for the Professional plan, billed yearly. Pay monthly and it is about $99. That price buys unlimited members, courses, events and payments on your own domain.

But three things push the real bill higher: a 2% transaction fee on Professional, a separate charge for email marketing, and automations that only start on Business at $199. I checked Circle’s pricing page on 4 November 2026. Here is what each plan really costs.

Circle plans and prices in 2026

Source: circle.so/pricing, checked 4 Nov 2026 (the page shows yearly prices). *Monthly-billing prices from third-party CartMango (Sep 2026). Circle’s fee is charged on top of Stripe’s card processing (about 2.9% + 30¢).

Every plan includes unlimited members, courses, events, paid memberships and a custom domain. The plans differ in fees, team seats, live-event limits and automation.

The fee you pay on top of Stripe

Circle charges its own transaction fee, and Stripe charges its card fee on top. So on Professional, every sale costs you about 2% + 2.9% + 30¢. Here is what that means in dollars:

*$89 plan (yearly) plus Circle’s fee. Stripe’s card fee comes on top and is the same on any platform.

Business cuts Circle’s fee to 1%, but costs $110 more a month. On fees alone, Business only pays off above $11,000 a month in sales. Most people upgrade for automations, not fees.

Email costs extra below Circle Plus

Circle’s email marketing is an add-on called Email Hub. Circle’s page lists it at $99 a month for 10,000 contacts. A third-party source shows smaller tiers:

• Under 100 contacts: free
• Up to 1,000: $19 a month
• Up to 10,000: $99 a month
• Up to 100,000: $439 a month

So a real Professional setup with 1,000 email contacts costs about $108 a month before fees. Or you can use a separate tool like Kit or MailerLite.

What Circle really costs: three real setups

The plan price is only the start. Here is a full monthly bill for three common communities, using Circle’s own fees and the Email Hub tiers above. Stripe’s card fee comes on top in every case.

Our arithmetic from Circle’s prices on 4 Nov 2026. Email Hub’s $19 tier is from a third-party source.

The middle row is the one most coaches land on. A $168 monthly bill is about $2,016 a year. Plan your membership price with that number in mind, not $89.

The live-event limits

Circle limits live streaming by hours each month, and it is easy to miss. Professional gives you 10 live hours and 100 attendees. Business gives 15 hours and 200. Scale gives 20 hours and 500.

• One 2-hour session a week is about 8.7 hours a month. Professional covers it.
• Three 1-hour sessions a week is about 13 hours. You need Business.
• A live event with 150 people also needs Business, even if it is your only session that month.

If you run events on Zoom and only link to them from Circle, these limits do not apply to you.

Which Circle plan to choose

• Professional if you are starting out, your team is small (3 admins, 10 moderators) and you do not need automations yet.
• Business if you need automated welcomes or tagging, more live hours, or you sell more than about $11,000 a month (the fee drop then covers the higher price).
• Scale if you run a big community with many moderators or long live sessions. It costs $419 a month billed yearly.
• Circle Plus if you need your own branded mobile app. Pricing is by quote.

Monthly vs yearly billing

• Professional: about $99 vs $89. Yearly saves about $120.
• Business: about $219 vs $199. Yearly saves about $240.

Circle offers a 14-day free trial with no card on Professional, Business and Scale. There is no free plan.

Is Circle worth it?

Circle is worth it when the look and feel of your community are part of what members pay for. It is one of the most polished community tools we track. You get unlimited members, courses, events and paid memberships on your own domain from $89 a month billed yearly.

But Circle is rarely the cheap choice. The 2% fee on Professional adds $60 a month at $3,000 in sales. Email is an add-on. And the first automation means a jump to $199. A realistic small paid community on Circle costs about $170 a month, not $89.

Compare that with Skool, where Hobby costs $9 a month and Pro costs $99 with card processing included. Skool is simpler and has fewer design choices, but it is far cheaper for a paid group. My rule: pick Circle if you need branding, structured spaces and live events. Pick Skool if you need a simple paid group at the lowest cost.

How to pay less for Circle

• Pay yearly once you are sure. It saves about $120 a year on Professional.
• Keep email in a tool you already have. If you already pay for Kit or MailerLite, skip Email Hub.
• Do automations outside Circle at first. A welcome sequence in your email tool can replace the one workflow you wanted from Business.
• Use the 14-day trial to build. No card is needed. Set up your spaces and courses before the first bill.
• Count your live hours. Keep a month of events within 10 hours and you can stay on Professional.

Compare with cheaper community tools

How we checked these prices

I checked circle.so/pricing on 4 November 2026. The page shows yearly prices, fees, seat counts, live limits and workflow limits, and those numbers come straight from it. Circle did not show monthly-billing prices as text, so the $99 and $219 figures come from CartMango (September 2026), a dated third-party source. Email Hub’s smaller tiers also come from a third-party source. Circle’s page lists only the 10,000-contact price.

Found a price that has changed? Tell us and we will re-check it. Read how we verify for our full method.

Circle pricing FAQs