Discourse Alternatives

Circle

Free trial

9.3 /10

Circle is the SMB community platform category leader. Professional at $89/month: unlimited members + 3 admins + 10 moderators + 20 spaces + 200 GB + 2% transaction fees + courses + discussions + events + live streams. Business at $199/month adds 5/15/30 with 500 GB + 1% fees + workflows + Headless Member API + remove branding. Circle Plus custom pricing with AI Agents + SSO + branded apps + 0.5% fees.

• Most feature-complete SMB community platform — courses + discussions + events + live streams
• Transaction fee structure (2% → 1% → 0.5%) rewards high-revenue communities at scale
• Plus tier branded mobile apps available as optional add-on (not forced purchase)

Full Review Visit Circle

Skool

Free trial

9.2 /10

Skool is the simplest community + course platform. Two tiers only: Hobby at $9/month ($7.50 annual with 2 months free) — 10% transaction fee. Pro at $99/month ($82.50 annual with 2 months free) — 2.9% transaction fee. Both tiers unlimited members + courses + videos + live calls + custom URL + affiliate program. Primary differentiator is transaction fee percentage.

• Radical simplicity — two tiers differentiated primarily by transaction fee
• Pro tier's 2.9% transaction fee matches Stripe's base rate (no platform markup)
• Built-in affiliate program across both tiers

Full Review Visit Skool

Mighty Networks

Free trial

8.9 /10

Mighty Networks is the community + course platform with 'host' metric and streaming focus. Launch at $79/month: 3 hosts + 10 moderators + 200 GB + 20 streaming hours/100 viewers + 2% fee. Scale at $179/month: 5/15 + 500 GB + 30 hours/200 viewers + 1% fee + Kit + event charging. Growth at $354/month: 10/100 + 1 TB + 40 hours/1,000 + 0.5% fee + member video + migration. Mighty Pro custom with white-label apps.

• 'Host' metric recognizes multi-creator community businesses vs pure admin models
• Streaming hours + viewer limits are budgeted per-tier (clarity vs hidden caps)
• Kit (ConvertKit) integration at Scale tier ($179/mo) saves email workflow integration

Full Review Visit Mighty Networks

Heartbeat

Free trial

8.6 /10

Heartbeat is the community platform with member-capped tiers + transaction fee differentiation. Build at $40/month annual ($490/year): 350 members + 5% transaction fee + 5 automations. Grow at $124/month annual ($1,490/year): 5,000 members + 2.5% fee + unlimited workflows + native video 50 hrs + white-label emails + API. Scale at $766/month annual ($9,200/year): unlimited members + 1.25% fee + branded mobile app + 200 hrs video.

• Scale tier's branded mobile app at $766/month annual is cheapest white-label app in category
• Native video hosting 50-200 hours included at Grow/Scale tiers (saves Vimeo/Wistia costs)
• White-label emails at Grow tier ($124/mo annual) for brand consistency in transactional emails

Full Review Visit Heartbeat