# Vonza vs Circle: which community platform fits your business?

> Circle is a polished community platform with apps, group chat and an email add-on, priced on annual billing with a fee that falls as plans go up. Vonza runs the community beside your courses, website, funnels, email and SMS in one login. Circle’s figures below come from its own pricing page, read on 2026-10-21.

Vendor figures read on 2026-10-21 from each vendor’s own pages. [See how migration works](https://vonza.com/free-migrations).

## Vonza or Circle: the short answer

Both run spaces, events and courses. Circle goes deeper on the member experience; Vonza on the business around it.

### Choose Vonza if

- You want email and SMS marketing, a website and sales funnels included rather than as add-ons or other tools.
- You want seven ways to charge, from installments to pay what you want, paid through Stripe or Paystack.
- You want to see the month-to-month price up front; Circle’s page shows annual-billing prices only.
- You sell courses and coaching and want them in the same login as the community.

### Choose Circle if

- You want iOS, Android and desktop apps on every plan, and branded apps later on Circle Plus.
- Your members need group chat and chat spaces, not only direct messages.
- You want workflows, an API and AI agents as the community grows.
- You already have the marketing stack and only need the community layer.

## Circle vs Vonza pricing

Circle’s figures as its pricing page stated them on 2026-10-21 (“Prices displayed in USD, based on annual billing”). Vonza’s price is its live price today; its billing, fee and trial lines are the pricing page’s own.

| Pricing | Vonza | Circle |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Lowest monthly price | See vonza.com/pricing | $89/month (Professional, billed annually); the monthly-billing price is not shown |
| Higher plans | Growth and Business; live prices on the pricing page | Business $199/month, Scale $419/month (annual only), Circle Plus custom |
| Annual billing | Pay monthly, or save up to 30% with annual billing. | The prices shown are annual billing |
| Transaction fee | 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. | 2% on Professional; 1% on Business and Scale; 0.5% on Circle Plus |
| Free trial | Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial. | 14-day free trial, no credit card; 30-day money-back guarantee |
| Add-ons | Email and SMS marketing included | Email Hub +$99/month for 10,000 contacts; extra admins $10/month each |

Sources: [circle.so](https://circle.so/pricing) (circle.so/pricing, read on 2026-10-21). A copy of the 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.

## Vonza and Circle feature by feature

Circle’s column quotes its pricing page’s plan table as read on 2026-10-21. “Not listed” means the page did not mention it, not that Circle lacks it.

| Area | Vonza | Circle |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Community | Spaces with rooms inside them; posts with polls, @mentions and hashtags; six community templates and a sales page on your own site | Spaces (20 on Professional, 30 on Business, 100 on Scale), private spaces, member directory, scheduled posts |
| Courses | Vonza Courses in the same login: AI course creation, quizzes and assignments, certificates; link a course to the community or one space | Courses on every plan |
| Payments | 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 | Paid access with a transaction fee by plan; native in-app mobile payments on Circle Plus |
| Events and live | 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 | Events; live streams for 100 attendees and live rooms for 15 participants on Professional, more on higher plans |
| Gamification | Points for posts, comments and reactions; levels you name, each able to carry a reward; ranks by time in the community; a leaderboard | Gamification on every plan; activity scores from Business |
| Moderation | A queue of reported, flagged and pending posts; banned words, approval of first posts, link blocking; warn, mute or ban; members report and block | Basic moderation and 10 moderators on Professional; AI moderation from Scale |
| Chat | 1:1 direct messages with attachments; no group chats | Direct messages, group chat and chat spaces |
| Apps | No native app: the member site works in any phone browser, with email and in-app notifications | iOS, Android and desktop apps on every plan; custom branded apps on Circle Plus |
| Website and funnels | Website builder, landing pages and sales funnels included | Website builder, custom domain and CSS; funnels not listed |
| Email marketing | Email and SMS marketing included, from the same contact list as your members | Email Hub add-on at +$99/month for 10,000 contacts; weekly email digest included |
| AI help | 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 | Circle AI with 2,500 credits a month; AI agents and workflows from Scale |
| Pricing | See vonza.com/pricing | From $89/month, billed annually |

## Where Circle is stronger, and where Vonza is

An honest split, from the same pages as the table.

### Circle is stronger at

- Apps: iOS, Android and desktop apps on every plan, and custom branded apps on Circle Plus. Vonza works in the phone’s browser.
- Chat: group chat and chat spaces as well as direct messages. Vonza chat is one to one.
- Automation at scale: workflows from Business, AI agents and AI moderation from Scale, and an API.
- Polish for large communities: member directory, custom CSS and white labelling from Business.

### Vonza is stronger at

- Marketing included: email and SMS marketing without an add-on, plus a website, landing pages and funnels.
- Ways to charge: seven plan kinds, paid spaces and free trials, paid through your own Stripe or Paystack account.
- Prices in view: Vonza’s pricing page shows the month-to-month price and the annual saving; Circle’s page shows annual-billing prices only.
- Courses with depth: AI course creation, quizzes and assignments and certificates in the same login.

## Move from Circle to Vonza for free

Switch to Vonza effortlessly. We’ll migrate your courses, communities, and calendar for free with any Annual Pro or Business plan. Tell support what you are bringing from Circle and the team handles the move; anything beyond courses, communities and your calendar can be moved for a fee.

1. **Choose Your Plan**: Sign up for an Annual Pro or Business plan to get started.
2. **Request Migration**: Contact Vonza Support and tell us what you want migrated.
3. **We Handle Everything**: Our team manages your migration and keeps you updated.

[See how migration works](https://vonza.com/free-migrations)

## Vonza vs Circle: your questions

### Is Vonza or Circle better for an online community?

Circle is the stronger choice when the community itself is the product and you want apps, group chat and automation at scale. Vonza is the stronger choice when you want the community beside your courses, website, funnels, email and SMS in one login and one bill.

### Is Vonza cheaper than Circle?

Circle’s Professional plan was $89 a month on annual billing when we read its pricing page on 2026-10-21; the page did not show a monthly-billing price. Vonza’s live price is in the table above and can be paid monthly. Circle’s email tool, Email Hub, costs +$99 a month for 10,000 contacts on top, while Vonza includes email and SMS marketing.

### Does Circle charge transaction fees?

Yes: 2% on Professional, 1% on Business and Scale and 0.5% on Circle Plus, per its pricing page on 2026-10-21. Vonza’s fee sentence, from its own pricing page, is in the table above.

### Does Vonza have group chat like Circle?

No. Vonza chat is one-to-one direct messages with attachments; group conversations happen in spaces and their rooms. Circle lists direct messaging, group chat and chat spaces on every plan.

### Does Vonza have a mobile app like Circle?

No. Vonza has no native app: the member site works in any phone browser, with email and in-app notifications. Circle lists iOS, Android and desktop apps on every plan and custom branded apps on Circle Plus.

### Do both have gamification?

Yes. Circle lists gamification on every plan and activity scores from Business. On Vonza members earn points for posts, comments and reactions, climb levels you name that can carry a reward, earn ranks for time in the community and appear on a leaderboard.

### Can I host live events on both?

Yes. Circle lists events, live streams for 100 attendees and live rooms for 15 participants on Professional, with more on higher plans. Vonza has event formats for workshops, webinars, office hours, co-working and meetups, and native live streams with screen share and recordings.

### Can I move my Circle community to Vonza?

Yes. Vonza migrates your courses, communities and calendar for free with any annual Pro or Business plan: choose the plan, tell support what you are bringing from Circle, and the team moves it. Anything else can be moved for a fee. You can keep Circle running until you have checked everything.

## Try Vonza beside your Circle community

Every plan starts with a free trial, so you can build your community on Vonza before you decide.

## Related pages

- [Circle alternatives](https://vonza.com/compare/circle-alternatives): Vonza and other platforms beside Circle, with Circle’s dated prices and fees.
- [Vonza Communities](https://vonza.com/best-community-platform): Spaces, events, live streams, levels and paid plans in one community.
- [Community chat](https://vonza.com/community-chat): One-to-one direct messages inside your community.
- [Community events](https://vonza.com/community-events): Workshops, webinars, office hours and live streams on one calendar.
- [Email marketing](https://vonza.com/email-marketing): Broadcasts and sequences from the same contact list as your members.
- [Vonza pricing](https://vonza.com/pricing): Starter, Growth, Business and School plans, with the live prices.