Circle is a solid community platform. But transaction fees on every plan, email as a $99/month add-on, and AI locked behind higher tiers add up fast. Tenant.so includes everything from day one.
Circle has raised prices multiple times — from $99/month to $129/month, and now $89/month for a stripped-down Professional tier. No gradual rollout, just an email telling you the new price kicks in by a deadline.
Media storage is now a paid add-on at $50/month per 10 hours. Email Hub is $99/month extra. Transaction fees on every plan (2%, 1%, 0.5%). Features that were included start costing more with little warning.
Circle charges 2% on Professional, 1% on Business, and 0.5% on Plus. A community generating $10,000/month loses $1,200–$2,400/year in platform fees alone.
Circle's Email Hub costs $99/month per 10,000 contacts on top of your plan. Your real cost on the Professional plan is $188/month minimum.
AI agents and workflows are only available on Business ($199/mo) or Plus (custom pricing). The entry plan gets basic community features only.
Professional caps you at 3 admins and 10 moderators. Need more? Extra admins are $10/month each, extra moderators $20/month per 10.
Data sourced from Circle's official pricing page as of April 2026.
| Feature | Tenant.so | Circle |
|---|---|---|
| Community Spaces | Feeds, chat, forums, private spaces | Discussions, chat, events, resources |
| Online Courses | Full LMS — video, quizzes, certificates, drip content | Built-in courses |
| Email Marketing | Included — templates, segmentation, scheduling | $99/mo add-on per 10K contacts |
| Events | RSVP, calendar sync, reminders, attendance | Events + live streams (extra cost for attendees) |
| Live Streaming | Third-party integration (Zoom, YouTube, etc.) | Built-in native live streams |
| Gamification | Points, streaks, leagues, badges, leaderboards, 9 levels | Points and badges |
| AI Assistant | Jarvis — RAG-powered, trained on your course content | AI agents + co-pilot (Business plan+) |
| Automation | 14 triggers with conditional logic | Workflows (Business plan+) |
| Transaction Fees | 0% | 2% Pro · 1% Business · 0.5% Plus |
| Access Control | Public/private spaces, group-level permissions, paywalled content | Space-level access + paid groups |
| Customization | Themes, wrappers, custom reactions, upvoting subsystems | Branding + custom CSS |
| Affiliate Program | Built-in | Available |
| White Label | From day one | Plus only (custom pricing) |
| Analytics & Reporting | GA4, Google Search Console, Chart.js throughout | Built-in analytics |
| Custom Dashboards | Liveboards with custom widgets | No |
| Financial Calculators | 60+ built-in | No |
| License Key System | Built-in generation + management | No |
| Migration from Circle | Dedicated Circle.so migration tool | N/A |
| Branded Mobile App | Planned | Plus only (custom pricing) |
Every dollar your members pay goes to you. No 2%, no 1%, no 0.5%. On Circle, a community doing $10K/month in revenue loses $1,200–$2,400/year in platform fees alone.
Full email campaign builder with templates, segmentation, and scheduling baked in. No add-ons, no per-contact pricing. With Circle, email costs $99/month extra.
Jarvis is a RAG-powered AI assistant that learns from your actual course material and answers member questions using your lessons. Circle's AI focuses on community management — Jarvis is a teaching tool.
If you run a finance, real estate, or business community, Tenant.so includes BRRRR analysis, mortgage calculators, net worth trackers, and debt payoff tools out of the box.
Sell software, plugins, or digital products? Built-in license key generation and management. Circle does not support this.
A built-in migration function specifically for Circle communities. Import your members, content, and data without starting from scratch.
Native affiliate system so your members can refer others and earn commissions. Let your community grow itself.
We believe in honest comparisons. Here is where Circle has an edge.
Circle has built-in live streams hosted directly on the platform. Tenant.so supports events but relies on third-party tools like Zoom or YouTube for live video.
Circle Plus offers custom iOS and Android apps. Tenant.so has this planned but it is not available yet.
Circle has a mature ecosystem with Zapier, Google Analytics, and many other tools. Tenant.so's integration library is growing.
Circle has been around longer with a larger user base, more templates, tutorials, and peer support.
Themes, wrappers, liveboards, custom reactions, upvoting subsystems, granular gamification controls. Tenant.so is built for creators who want to go way beyond courses and discussions.
If you are paying for Circle plus a separate email tool, Tenant.so consolidates both into one platform at a lower total cost.
The more your community earns, the more Circle's transaction fees cost you. At 0% fees, Tenant.so saves you thousands per year as you scale.
60+ built-in financial calculators make Tenant.so a natural fit for communities focused on investing, real estate, or entrepreneurship.
Sell digital products alongside your community with built-in license key generation and management. No separate tool needed.
Jarvis answers student questions based on your actual course content — not just moderating discussions. It is a teaching tool, not a chatbot.
Request early access and be among the first to build on a platform that does not charge you fees for making money.
Already on Circle? We have a dedicated Circle.so migration tool ready to go. On another platform? Send us your export file and we will build a custom import function for your data.
“We were paying for Circle at $129/month, ConvertKit at $79/month, Zapier at $49/month, and a separate course host. That is over $3,000 a year before transaction fees. When Circle announced another price increase and started charging extra for media storage, we decided to build the platform we actually wanted. Tenant.so is what happens when you stop stitching tools together and build the whole thing from scratch.”
Jameson Brandon
Founder & Lead Developer, Terminal Blank