Okay, let’s dive into the world of online community platforms!
Ever wished you could easily connect with others who share your interests?
Or maybe you want to build a thriving community around your passion?
Choosing the right platform can be challenging. Two popular options often come up: Circle vs Thinkific. Which one is the best?
That’s precisely what we’re going to explore in this post.
Overview
We’ve spent considerable time exploring Circle and Thinkific, examining their functionalities, user experience, and community engagement tools.
Our hands-on testing and analysis of user reviews and real-world applications have allowed us to create this comprehensive comparison.
We’re here to give you the inside scoop.
They offer a 14-day free trial, and no credit card is required. Click here to explore Circle’s features and see how it can elevate your community!
Pricing: It has a free plan. Paid plan Starts at $89/month
Key Features:
- Memberships
- Events
- Live Streams
Ready to build a thriving community? BetterMode offers customizable features and flexible pricing plans to fit your needs.
Pricing: No free plan is available. Paid plan Starts at $36/month
Key Features:
- Course Creation
- Marketing Tools
- Community Features
What is a Circle?
Okay, let’s talk about Circle. It’s a platform built to create online communities.
Think of it as a modern forum, which is way more engaging.
It’s designed to help you connect with your audience, foster discussions, and build a loyal following.
It’s all about bringing people together.
Also, explore our favorite Circle alternatives…
Our Take
Build a powerful community hub with Circle. Get a clean, branded space for your members to connect, with a variety of monetization options, and reduce your transaction fees from 4% to 2% by upgrading to the professional plan.
Key Benefits
Circle prides itself on fostering deeper connections and providing a distraction-free environment. They have a proven track record, powering communities for big names like Adobe, ConvertKit, and Teachable.
- Clean and organized: Easy to navigate and find what you need.
- Spaces for different topics: Keep conversations focused.
- Rich member profiles: Get to know your members better.
- Events and live streams: Host engaging online gatherings.
- Integrations: Connect with your favorite tools.
Pricing
Circle offers a 14-day free trial and three main pricing plans:
- Professional Plan starts at $89 per month: This unlocks more features and integrations.
- Business Plan starts at $199 per month: This unlocks everything in Professional Plus.
- Enterprise Plan starts at $419 per month: This is for large organizations with specific needs.
- Plus Branded App: Custom Pricing.
Pros
Cons
What is Thinkific?
Now, let’s shift gears and talk about Thinkific. Thinkific is primarily a platform for creating and selling online courses.
It’s designed to help you share your expertise with the world.
However, it also offers some community features, making it a potential option if your primary focus is online courses with a community aspect.
Also, explore our favorite Thinkific alternatives…
Our Take
Unlock your expertise with Thinkific and create unlimited courses for an unlimited number of students. Build a professional, branded online school and keep 100% of your revenue with zero transaction fees.
Key Benefits
- Powerful Course Builder: You can create high-quality, professional courses easily. It uses a simple drag-and-drop builder to organize videos, quizzes, and text.
- Zero Transaction Fees: On their paid plans, Thinkific doesn’t take a cut of your sales. You keep all the money you earn, minus standard payment processing fees.
- Complete Customization: You can fully brand your online school to match your business. This helps you build a strong, professional presence.
Pricing
- Basic: $36/month.
- Start: $74/month.
- Grow: $149/month.
Pros
Cons
Feature Comparison
Now, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty and compare Circle and Thinkific head-to-head.
This breakdown will help you see exactly how these online course platform options stack against each other.
We’ll explore key features to help you choose.
1. Core Functionality
Circle: Focuses on building and nurturing online communities. It excels at fostering discussions, connections, and engagement among members.
Thinkific: Primarily an LMS and online learning platform. Its strength lies in creating, hosting, and selling online courses. Community features are secondary.
2. Course Creation and Delivery
Circle offers limited course creation tools. It is not designed to be a full-fledged course builder like Thinkific.
Thinkific provides robust tools for creating and delivering engaging courses. It offers video hosting, quizzes, assignments, and more—a better online course platform than Circle.
3. Community Features
Circle: Shines in this area. It offers dedicated spaces, direct messaging, event hosting, and other features to facilitate community interaction.
Thinkific: It has some community features, but they’re less comprehensive than Circles. It’s more about supporting course-related discussions.
4. Marketing and Sales
Circle: Offers some marketing tools, but they’re not as robust as Thinkific’s.
Thinkific provides various marketing features to help course creators promote and sell their courses. These include landing page builders, cart integrations, and more. They are helpful for any course business.
5. Integrations
Circle: Offers a growing number of integrations with other platforms. Check their app store for the latest additions.
Thinkific Integrates with many tools, including email marketing platforms, payment gateways, and more. It is helpful if you want to connect your online course platform to other services.
6. Pricing and Plans
Circle: Offers tiered pricing plans based on the size of your community and the features you need. Consider your subscription model.
Thinkific: Has different pricing plans for course creators, with increasing features and capabilities.
7. Profile Customization and Notifications
Circle: Offers customizable member profiles and robust notification settings, enabling personalized engagement.
Thinkific: Provides profile features and notifications, but they are less extensive than Circle’s.
What Should You Look For When Choosing a Community Platform?
- Ease of Use: Is the platform intuitive for both admins and members?
- Customization: Can you brand the community to match your style?
- Engagement Tools: Does it offer features like forums, direct messaging, and events?
- Moderation: Can you easily manage and moderate your community?
- Integrations: Does it connect with the tools you already use?
- Pricing: Does the pricing fit your budget and scale with your needs?
- Support: Is there adequate support and documentation available?
- Mobile Experience: Is the platform mobile-friendly, or does it offer a mobile app?
- Analytics: Can you track key metrics about your community’s growth and engagement?
- Security: Does the platform offer robust security features to protect your community?
Final Verdict
So, which platform wins? It depends on your needs. Circle is the winner if building a thriving community is your top priority.
Its focus on engagement and member experience makes it a powerful tool.
However, Thinkific is better if your main goal is to create and sell online courses, with community as a secondary feature.
It’s a solid online course platform. Remember, platforms like Kajabi and Teachable are also great options.
We’ve explored these platforms extensively, so we know what works.
Consider your goals, budget, and the features that matter most.
We hope this comparison has helped you compare Thinkific and make the right choice.
Now, you can download our free guide for more tips!
More of Circle
Here is a comparison of Circle with the specified alternatives:
- Circle vs Skool: Circle focuses broadly on community customization, while Skool adds strong gamification and simplified course delivery.
- Circle vs Swarm: Circle offers general community building, while Swarm emphasizes highly structured interest-based groups.
- Circle vs Teachable: Circle is primarily a community platform, whereas Teachable is focused on course creation with an integrated community.
- Circle vs GoHighLevel: Circle specializes in community features, while GoHighLevel is a comprehensive marketing automation suite that includes community tools.
- Circle vs MightyNetworks: Circle offers robust community features, while Mighty Networks integrates community tightly with courses, content, and events.
- Circle vs Bettermode: Circle provides customizable community spaces, while Bettermode focuses on deep branding and white-label community solutions.
- Circle vs Thinkific: Circle is a dedicated community platform, while Thinkific is mainly for online courses with the community as an add-on.
- Circle vs LearnWorlds: Circle builds diverse communities, while LearnWorlds integrates community specifically with interactive online learning.
- Circle vs Disco: Circle is for general community building, while Disco focuses specifically on cohort-based learning communities.
- Circle vs Kajabi: Circle is centered on community, whereas Kajabi is an all-in-one platform for courses, marketing, and community.
- Circle vs Wylo: Circle provides a structured platform for creators, while Wylo connects individuals through interest-driven discovery and communities.
- Circle vs Whop: Circle builds direct communities for creators, while Whop is a marketplace for selling access to digital communities and products.
More of Thinkific
Here are brief comparisons of Thinkific against the specified alternatives:
- Thinkific vs Skool: Thinkific is a core course platform; Skool combines community, courses, and gamification.
- Thinkific vs Swarm: Thinkific is a course platform with a community; Swarm focuses on structured community engagement.
- Thinkific vs Kajabi: Thinkific is primarily a course platform; Kajabi is an all-in-one marketing, course, and website builder.
- Thinkific vs Teachable: Thinkific and Teachable are both leading platforms focused on creating and selling online courses.
- Thinkific vs GoHighLevel: Thinkific is a course platform, while GoHighLevel is a broad marketing automation platform that includes courses and a community.
- Thinkific vs MightyNetworks: Thinkific is a course platform with a community; MightyNetworks integrates community, courses, and content more deeply.
- Thinkific vs Bettermode: Thinkific is a course platform; Bettermode focuses on building highly customizable community spaces.
- Thinkific vs LearnWorlds: Thinkific is a course platform; LearnWorlds specializes in interactive courses and learning communities.
- Thinkific vs Circle: Thinkific is a course platform with a community; Circle focuses purely on building standalone communities.
- Thinkific vs Disco: Thinkific is a general course platform; Disco is tailored for cohort-based learning communities.
- Thinkific vs Wylo: Thinkific is a course platform; Wylo connects individuals via interest-based groups/communities.
- Thinkific vs Whop: Thinkific is a course platform with a community; Whop sells access to communities and digital products via a marketplace.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which platform is better for selling online courses?
Thinkific is the stronger choice for selling courses. It has more robust course creation, marketing, and sales features. Circle is better if community building around your courses is your main focus, but it lacks some of Thinkific’s sales tools.
Can I use Circle to host my podcast?
Circle isn’t designed specifically for podcast hosting. You could potentially integrate with a podcast hosting platform, but it’s not a built-in feature. Thinkific can host audio within a course, though it is not a podcast platform either.
Which platform is more affordable?
It depends. Circle’s starting price is lower, but Thinkific’s pricing might make more sense if your business is centered around course sales. Consider what features you actually need before making a decision.
Can I use these platforms to run surveys?
Thinkific offers some basic survey functionality. The circle does not have built-in survey features. You would likely need to integrate with a third-party survey tool for Circle.
I’m a coach planning a launch. Which platform should I choose?
If your launch is primarily focused on selling a course, Thinkific is probably the better choice. Circle might be better if the launch is centered around community building. Consider the main goal of your launch as a coach or entrepreneur.
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