Circle Alternatives 2026: 5 Compared on Fees - AXL
5 Circle alternatives in 2026, compared on total cost and AI access
The plan is $89. The bill is the plan, plus the fee, plus the email add-on, plus the tier that unlocks automation.
The short version
- Simpler and cheaper Skool one price and a bigger rake, not four parts
- Smallest sticker Skool Hobby $9, fee permitting
- An agent that finishes AXL included, not gated at $199 and 5,000 tool calls
Why people leave Circle
- The fee never reaches zero. 2% at $89 Professional, 1% at $199 Business, 0.5% on custom-priced Circle Plus. At $20,000 of monthly sales, the fee adds $400 on top of the plan. The page does not say whether card processing sits inside it (circle.so/pricing).
- Email is a separate purchase. Email Hub is +$99 a month for 10,000 contacts, “charged on top of community plan”, and included only on Circle Plus.
- Automation and agent access sit behind $199. Professional caps workflows at 20; unlimited workflows, the API and the agent all start on Business, metered at 5,000 tool calls a month (api.circle.so/mcp).
- The floor moved. The old $39 to $49 Basic tier was retired in 2024, which is what made $89 the entry point (schoolmaker.com).
The five, in one table
| Platform | From | Cut of your sales | Courses | Agent access | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Circle (yours) | $89 | 2% at $89, 1% at $199, 0.5% on Circle Plus | Add-on, +$99/mo for 10,000 contacts | Reviewers describe as thin | Business $199, 5,000 calls/mo |
| AXL | Free; $49 Starter | 0% | Included allowance by plan, then $0.0006 per email | Graded, certificates, cohorts | Included on every plan |
| Skool | $9 | 10% Hobby / 2.9% Pro | None reported | Unlimited, simple | No public API found |
| Kajabi | $179 | 0% on Kajabi Payments; 2% down to 0.5% with an eligible third-party provider | Unlimited | 5 on Basic | Every plan, drafts only |
| Thinkific | $54 | 0% on Thinkific Payments; 5% down to 0.5% with your own provider where applicable | No nurture sequences reported | Unlimited | Plus only, read-only, rolling out |
| ClickFunnels | $97 | 0% | 50,000 sends/mo on Launch | 3 on Launch | Scale $197, technical preview |
What each one is good at
AXL: if an agent should run it
Puts the four line items Circle sells separately (community, email, automation and agent access) on one bill with no cut of your sales. Space permissions are CRM filters, so tiers maintain themselves. Start free; paid plans start at $49/month.
Why AXL: community, checkout, courses, CRM, email, webinars and automation work from one customer record, with 0% of sales taken. AXL vs Circle →
Skool: one price, one feature set
Unlimited members, courses and live calls, engagement mechanics nothing else here matches, and Discover putting your group in front of searchers. $9 Hobby at 10% or $99 Pro at 2.9%, identical apart from the rake (skool.com/pricing).
Limits: no public API, email marketing or member tagging found, and the rake is higher than Circle's; this is a simplicity trade, not a cost one.
Kajabi: a polished paid membership
Memberships, courses, coaching, newsletters and podcasts under one brand, with unlimited marketing email and an agent on every plan. Basic is $179, Growth $249 and Pro $499 a month (kajabi.com/pricing).
Limits: twice Circle's entry price, contacts metered from 2,500, one community below Pro, and agent writes that land as drafts.
Thinkific: if members pay for the curriculum
Unlimited courses on every tier, communities attached, and SCORM on Plus. Basic is $54, Start $109, Grow $219 and Expand $499 a month (thinkific.com/pricing, checked 21 August 2026).
Limits: communities capped by tier, memberships and certificates excluded from Basic, and a Plus-only, read-only agent that is still rolling out.
ClickFunnels: if the membership is an offer
Funnels, checkout, bumps and one-click upsells, with 10,000 contacts and 50,000 emails a month on the entry plan and no cut of your sales. $97 / $197 / $297 (clickfunnels.com/pricing).
Limits: courses capped at 3 on Launch, reviewers report no student-side community, and its MCP server is a $197-tier technical preview.
Your reason for leaving, and where it points
| Leaving because… | Pick |
|---|---|
| The transaction fee | AXL, ClickFunnels, or Kajabi on Kajabi Payments: all 0% |
| Paying $99 a month extra for email | AXL or Kajabi: both include it in the plan |
| Automation and API behind the $199 tier | AXL: included on every account |
| You want simpler and cheaper, not bigger | Skool |
| You need certificates and graded assessment | AXL or Thinkific |
| You want community to drive the rest of the business | AXL: membership, checkout, CRM, courses and follow-up stay connected |
Where AXL fits, and where it does not
It fits the Circle owner whose spreadsheet has four lines on it (plan, fee, email add-on, tier upgrade) and whose members also buy courses and move through a pipeline.
It does not fit a community judged on its own experience. If members pay for the space rather than for what you teach in it, the move is a downgrade dressed as a saving.
Moving off Circle
- Members Imported as contacts, CSV or XLSX
- Space structure Rebuilt; permissions become CRM filters
- Courses Rebuilt by an agent
- Posts, comments, events Do not transfer
What does Circle actually cost per month?
$89 Professional or $199 Business, plus 2% or 1% of sales respectively, plus $99 for Email Hub. That makes an $89 community selling $10,000 a month and sending email cost $388 (circle.so/pricing). Pair each rate with its own tier: 0.5% belongs to custom-priced Circle Plus, never to the $199 plan. Circle's page does not say whether card processing sits inside those percentages, so we model none of them as all-in.
Try the replacement before you cancel anything.
Import the members and rebuild one space while the old community still runs. Start free; paid plans start at $49 a month, with included usage and published overage rates.
Competitor pricing is verified against each vendor's own page. We re-check quarterly. Spot an error? Tell us and we will fix it within a week.