Skool vs Circle
Skool vs Circle: pricing, fees and features compared
Skool is the simple, low-cost start: one feed, a classroom, calls and levels, with a fee on every sale. Circle is the deeper community platform: spaces, apps, group chat and automation, priced on annual billing. Both columns come from each vendor’s own pages; Vonza appears as a labelled third option, not the subject.
Vendor figures read on 2026-11-02 and 2026-10-21 from each vendor’s own pages.
Skool or Circle: the short answer
Pick by how much community you need and how you want to pay for it.
Choose Skool if
- You want the lowest entry price, $9 a month on Hobby, and accept 10% + 30¢ of each sale.
- You want one simple feed with a classroom, calls and levels, and little to set up.
- You want Skool’s search and Growth Boost ads to bring members to you.
Choose Circle if
- You want many spaces, group chat and chat spaces, and apps for iOS, Android and desktop.
- You expect to grow into workflows, an API, AI agents or branded apps.
- Your sales are large enough that a 2% fee, falling to 1% on Business, beats a higher percentage.
Consider Vonza if
- You want the community beside courses, a website, funnels, email and SMS marketing in one login.
- You want more ways to charge, paid through your own Stripe or Paystack account.
- You can do without a native app: Vonza works in the phone’s browser.
Skool vs Circle pricing
Skool’s figures as its pricing page and help center stated them on 2026-11-02; Circle’s as its pricing page stated them on 2026-10-21 (annual billing). Vonza’s price is its live price today.
| Pricing | Skool | Circle | Vonza (third option) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lowest monthly price | $9/month (Hobby) | $89/month (Professional, billed annually) | $99/mo |
| Higher plans | $99/month (Pro) | Business $199/month, Scale $419/month (annual only), Circle Plus custom | Growth and Business; live prices on the pricing page |
| Annual billing | “2 months free!” on yearly billing; the yearly figure is not shown | The prices shown are annual billing | Pay monthly, or save up to 30% with annual billing. |
| Transaction fee | 10% + 30¢ on Hobby; 2.9% + 30¢ on Pro (3.9% + 30¢ above $900); 30% on customers Growth Boost brings | 2% on Professional; 1% on Business and Scale; 0.5% on Circle Plus | In addition to Stripe's standard 2.9% + $0.30 payment processing fee, Vonza charges an additional platform fee per transaction — 20% during your free trial, 1% on any paid plan. |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial; no free plan | 14-day free trial, no credit card; 30-day money-back guarantee | Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial. |
| Email marketing | Not listed on the pages we read | Email Hub +$99/month for 10,000 contacts | Included, with SMS |
Sources: skool.com (skool.com/pricing and help.skool.com, read on 2026-11-02); circle.so (circle.so/pricing, read on 2026-10-21). A copy of each page as read is kept so the figures can be checked. Vonza’s price is its live price on the day you read this page.
Skool and Circle feature by feature
Each column quotes that vendor’s own pages on the dates above. “Not listed” means the pages we read did not mention it, not that the platform lacks it.
| Area | Skool | Circle | Vonza (third option) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Community | One community feed sorted into up to 10 categories; unlimited members on both plans; membership questions | Spaces (20 on Professional, 30 on Business, 100 on Scale), private spaces, member directory, scheduled posts | Spaces with rooms inside them; posts with polls, @mentions and hashtags; six community templates and a sales page on your own site |
| Courses | Classroom with video lessons, folders, files and drip by days; courses can be locked to a level or sold with Buy Now | Courses on every plan | Vonza Courses in the same login: AI course creation, quizzes and assignments, certificates; link a course to the community or one space |
| Payments | Free, subscription, freemium, tiered and one-time pricing; Skool processes payments as merchant of record, handles EU VAT and charges in USD | Paid access with a transaction fee by plan; native in-app mobile payments on Circle Plus | Seven plan kinds (free, one-time, subscription, recurring, installment, flexible, pay what you want), free trials and paid spaces; members pay with Stripe or Paystack |
| Events and live | Calendar with recurring events; Skool Call group calls with screen share and recording; webinars on Pro; Zoom, Meet or in-person locations | Events; live streams for 100 attendees and live rooms for 15 participants on Professional, more on higher plans | Event formats for workshops, webinars, office hours, co-working, Q&A, meetups and live streams; recurring events, RSVPs and reminder emails; native live streams with screen share and recordings |
| Gamification | Points from likes (1 like = 1 point), levels 1 to 9, leaderboards, courses unlocked by level | Gamification on every plan; activity scores from Business | Points for posts, comments and reactions; levels you name, each able to carry a reward; ranks by time in the community; a leaderboard |
| Moderation | AutoMod flags high-risk users; manual approval and membership questions; posting or chat unlocked by level; ban and remove the last 7 days of posts | Basic moderation and 10 moderators on Professional; AI moderation from Scale | A queue of reported, flagged and pending posts; banned words, approval of first posts, link blocking; warn, mute or ban; members report and block |
| Chat | Skool Chat direct messages; members can block; chat can be limited to a level | Direct messages, group chat and chat spaces | 1:1 direct messages with attachments; no group chats |
| Apps | A Skool app as well as the browser | iOS, Android and desktop apps on every plan; custom branded apps on Circle Plus | No native app: the member site works in any phone browser, with email and in-app notifications |
| Website and funnels | A group About page and a custom URL; no website builder or funnels listed | Website builder, custom domain and CSS; funnels not listed | Website builder, landing pages and sales funnels included |
| Email marketing | Not listed on the pages we read | Email Hub add-on at +$99/month for 10,000 contacts; weekly email digest included | Email and SMS marketing included, from the same contact list as your members |
| AI help | Not listed on the pages we read | Circle AI with 2,500 credits a month; AI agents and workflows from Scale | Vonza AI drafts a community’s spaces, welcome posts and images, and writes posts and descriptions; AI credits included on every plan, top-ups available |
| Pricing | Hobby $9/month, Pro $99/month | From $89/month, billed annually | $99/mo |
Where Skool is stronger, and where Circle is
From the same pages as the tables.
Skool is stronger at
- Price to start: $9 a month on Hobby against Circle’s $89 a month billed annually.
- Simplicity: one feed with categories, a classroom and a calendar.
- Being found: Skool’s own search and Growth Boost ads, for a 30% commission on the customers they bring.
- Payments handled for you: Skool is the merchant of record and handles EU VAT.
Circle is stronger at
- Structure: up to 20 spaces on Professional and 100 on Scale, with private spaces and a member directory.
- Chat: direct messages, group chat and chat spaces.
- Apps: iOS, Android and desktop on every plan, branded apps on Circle Plus.
- Lower fees as you grow: 2% on Professional, 1% on Business and Scale.
A third option: Vonza
Vonza is our product, so it is labelled here rather than ranked. It fits creators who want the community and the business around it in one place.
- Community spaces with rooms, events, native live streams, levels and a leaderboard.
- Courses, a website, landing pages, sales funnels, email and SMS marketing in the same login.
- Seven plan kinds for paid communities, paid through Stripe or Paystack, with a flat platform fee on paid plans.
- Free migration of courses, communities and calendar with any annual Pro or Business plan.
Skool vs Circle: your questions
Answered from each vendor’s own pages, with the date we read them.
Skool is better for a simple, low-cost start: a feed, a classroom, calls and levels from $9 a month. Circle is better when you need many spaces, group chat, apps and room to grow into automation. The right one depends on how much community structure you need and how you want fees to work.
On the monthly price, yes: Skool’s Hobby plan was $9 a month (read 2026-11-02) and Circle’s Professional $89 a month billed annually (read 2026-10-21). On fees it can flip: Skool takes 10% + 30¢ per sale on Hobby and 2.9% + 30¢ on Pro, while Circle takes 2% on Professional and 1% on Business.
Skool: 10% + 30¢ per transaction on Hobby, 2.9% + 30¢ on Pro up to $899 and 3.9% + 30¢ above $900, plus a 30% commission on customers its Growth Boost brings (on by default, can be turned off). Circle: 2% on Professional, 1% on Business and Scale and 0.5% on Circle Plus.
Yes. Circle lists iOS, Android and desktop apps on every plan and custom branded apps on Circle Plus. Skool’s help center says you can go live “natively in the app or on the browser”.
Skool’s is central to the product: points from likes, nine levels, leaderboards and courses unlocked by level. Circle lists gamification on every plan and activity scores from Business. Vonza, the third option here, gives points for posts, comments and reactions, levels with rewards and ranks by time in the community.
Yes. Skool’s Classroom holds video lessons with drip by days, level locks and one-time Buy Now purchases. Circle lists courses on every plan and offers free course migration on annual Business plans and above.
Skool does not list email marketing or a website builder, and Circle sells email as the Email Hub add-on. Vonza, our own product, includes email and SMS marketing, a website builder and sales funnels beside the community, and migrates courses, communities and calendar for free on annual Pro and Business plans.
Want to see the third option?
Every Vonza plan starts with a free trial, so you can try it beside Skool or Circle before you decide.
