Community Platforms
Circle vs Mighty Networks: What is the Difference, and Which is Better?
Online community-building platforms are essential to build your business and increase engagement. The biggest platforms on the market now are Mighty Networks and Circle.
Apr 1, 2025
Community building is key when running your own business - especially if it is online. Gaining engagement is difficult, especially when spreading your community through multiple platforms.
If you've done any research on community-building platforms, you've likely encountered companies like Mighty Networks and Circle, prompting the debate: Circle vs. Mighty Networks.
While both are platforms with unique functions that allow businesses to promote and build community, there is one that stands on top. So, which one is the best? How do you find the right community platform? What are the benefits and cons of working with Mighty Networks vs Circle?
Before we compare each community platform, let’s learn a brief history of each, along with a few key features.
What is Mighty Networks?
Gina Bianchini founded Mighty Networks in 2011, and it has come a long way since its first few years. Previously, Bianchini co-founded and worked on the incredibly popular community-building platform Ning. The previous company works with millions of customers.
Using her experience with Ning, Bianchini launches Mighty Networks. The features of Mighty Networks feel endless. The company offers a seamless way to build community on just one application with members, chat options, courses, events, and more.
We will be diving further into each section later on when comparing Mighty Networks Vs. Circle in more detail.
What is Circle?
Like Mighty Networks, Circle is an all-in-one community platform that connects businesses with customers and interested people in one convenient location.
Launched in 2020, it's one of the newer community-building platforms on the market. While the company was only introduced in 2020, it boasts 10 million members.
A few customers that work with Circle to boost their engagement and community are Atlas Alliance, Tom Ross, Fragmer, and the Obama Foundation.
Circle has many of the same features as Mighty Networks like courses, events, discussion boards, payment, chats, and analytics.
Circle vs. Mighty Networks: How Do Their Features Hold Up?
While Mighty Networks is older, does this mean they are a better community-building platform? Let's compare Mighty Networks and Circle membership platform features an, more importantly, pricing.
Courses
One of the biggest highlights of creating an online community using an all-in-one community platform is the possibility of creating easy-to-use courses. Both Mighty Networks and Circle offer this option.
One of the best ways to offer courses is through video.
Swarm is another strong community video platform. Get started today with a free two-week trial!
Circle
Circle's online courses are user-friendly and customizable. Whether you are a small business trying to incorporate live course content or a teacher hoping to foster community online, Circle lets you do this.
Within their online courses, users can update office hours, hold live sessions, and increase student engagement. Apart from this, you can highlight course progress with a leadership board and offer VIP clubs for students excelling.
Building courses on this online community platform is also easy. Circle uses a convenient drag-and-drop builder with options to upload text, video, and audio. Once ready, you can preview your course before publishing it live.
It's even easy for students to use and track their progress, as each lesson is highlighted clearly.
Mighty Networks
Courses on Mighty Networks are also customizable and unique. The platform offers live and asynchronous learning courses that can be uploaded and customized.
Mighty Networks tries to make it as easy as possible and succeeds. It’s a good option if you want a smooth community platform to create online courses.
The company partners with AI and can generate an outline for your courses. All you need to do after is tweak the sections and upload content.
Another excellent feature of the course section is the ability to schedule them in advance. This convenient option allows you to batch content months in advance.
After each course, Mighty Networks also allows you to push your next course.
Audience engagement is easy with the Mighty Networks community platforms. While building online courses, you can include quizzes and polls to engage members.
Live Events
Live events were slightly touched upon in the previous section, but this deserves its own properly compared section. Building and pushing an event online is nerve-wracking - thankfully, there are community-building platforms like Mighty Networks and Circle that take some of this stress away.
Circle
Circle's website boasts that it can assist business owners and teachers in hosting live events for both small groups and large events of 500 people or more.
Not only can you create events and host them through the community platform, but customize them. You can change the settings of events to allow phone users and limit the number of people who enter.
Managing the events with Circle is also super simple. You can either start an event at the moment or schedule one for the future. Scheduled events are posted on the event calendar, which neatly displays each one with the option to RSVP.
As amazing as live events are on Circle, there are a few limitations. For instance, Circle live events cannot be combined with third-party calendars.
Mighty Networks
Events on Mighty Networks aren't too different. They do, however, incorporate Mighty's "Make It Better" AI when completing descriptions and outlines.
Mighty Networks shines in the customization of events. You have a lot of creative freedom and can design event pages to fit the overall aesthetic of your company.
Their livestream capabilities are strong. Events can be private or held publicly for free or a fee.
Chat
Fostering a community isn't easy, but online platforms make it easier by incorporating community chats so members can form ideas and connections. Both Mighty Networks and Circle do this.
Why settle for opening multiple communication platforms when you can chat and create live events and courses in one place?
Circle
Circle offers many different types of chatting to boost a thriving community. Chat spaces and group chats differ slightly.
Chat spaces are often larger and can include anyone who joins a course or is a member.
In this chat space, community members can connect, discuss different aspects of the course, and even flag down concerns or questions.
Group chats are more specific and smaller. They are also sometimes called private spaces. You, as an administrator, can connect members in private group chats to foster community or work on group projects together.
Chatting options are available both on the mobile app and on the website. You can chat with any member, including new members, to welcome them.
The best part of the chat feature is you are in control. You can filter out profanity and spam, creating a safe and clean environment that is easy to use.
Mighty Networks
Mighty Network chats for both professional and vibrant. Within chat spaces, users can use emojis and gifs.
They also offer unlimited chat channels and threads, meaning the conversations can be endless.
If you aren't sure how to start a conversation, Mighty Networks uses helpful AI to break the ice with its 'Suggest a Conversation Starter' option.
Pricing/Plans
Pricing is what everyone wants and needs to know before starting with a new community engagement platform. In this section, we dive into all of the different subscriptions and paid memberships offered by Circle and Mighty Networks.
Circle
Circle offers three (technically four) plans: Professional, Business, Enterprise, and Plus. Circle pricing is on the higher end.
The Professional Plan
While prices are subject to change, the most affordable option Circle has is the Professional plan, which costs about $89 a month. Unlimited members, but you can add up to 3 admins.
Not all the bells and whistles are included in this package. For instance, under workflows, the Professional plan does not have automation, scheduled workflows, or bulk actions.
Live streams are also capped. This membership works best for smaller companies, as you can only invite up to 100 livestream attendees. Live recording storage is also only 50 hours.
The Business Plan
The next Circle community pricing plan is the Business plan at $199 a month. Like with the Professional plan, the number of members you can have is unlimited.
Live streaming capabilities are higher with the Business plan, which includes up to 200 attendees. The live recording storage during this plan is bumped up to 75 hours.
Community AI and admin API access are also included in this plan, although they aren't included in the Professional plan.
The Enterprise Plan
The Enterprise plan is the highest - not including Plus which has custom pricing and add-ons. Currently, it goes for $360 a month.
Within this plan, admins are bumped up to 10. There are also unlimited workflows and a cap of 1,000 livestream attendees.
The Enterprise plan is one of the only plans that use AI Agents and priority email support when anything goes wrong.
Plus
The Circle Plus membership plan is a little confusing and complicated. To get more information and insight on this plan, it's best to call sales as this plan includes custom pricing and add-ons.
Plus is the highest plan offered at Circle. By subscribing to this plan, you get your own iOS and Android apps, a dedicated launch team, and access to Circle’s design studio along with all the other community-building features included under the other plans.
Mighty Networks
Overall, Mighty Networks' pricing is not as expensive as Circle's. However, they do have the same number of plans.
The Community Plan
The lowest plan is the Community Plan, which sells for $41 a month (when billed annually). With each plan, this one included, you get unlimited multiple spaces - including private spaces, members, hosts, and moderators.
However, if you are going to host courses, the Community Plan won't work for you as course creation is not included.
Customization is also limited to just your logo, color, and graphics. Live streaming is also limited to 5 Hours a month.
The Courses Plan
The Courses Plan is perfect if you are looking for a place to create and host courses. When billed annually, the plan only costs $99 a month.
Like with every plan except for the last, the Path-to-Pro Plan, there are limitations. For instance, with this plan, you can't customize banners in each community space.
There are also no attendance-related triggers and actions, meaning you'll need to track this on your own.
With the Courses Plan, you do get more livestreaming hours a month - 20.
The Business Plan
The Business Plan is better for live streaming. With this plan, you can also take advantage of white-labeling.
The plan is about $179 a month. While steep, it's worth it with all of its features. With live streaming, you now get up to 30 hours per month and 1,000 viewers per stream.
Payment transaction fees are also lower than the basic plan at 2%.
The Path-to-Pro Plan
The Path-to-Pro Plan is the most expensive and inclusive plan Mighty Networks offers. It's 360 a month and features space banners and advanced automation.
This plan is best for larger companies with a broad reach. With this plan, both community space hosts and moderators can go live.
Payment transaction fees are also less than the other plans at 1%.
Swarm’s Pricing for Comparison
If pricing is an important factor for you, at Swarm our lowest plan starts at $39, which includes the ability to create one community space (think of this as the home of your membership community) with a cap of 25 members, which works for smaller businesses or coaching services.
You can create voice, video, or text media to share with your community.
The service also includes access to transcription software and AI and the ability to offer a paid membership option to your subscribers.
This means you can process payments from members directly on Swarm, and we do not take any percentage of the payment processed, so there are no transaction fees. The only fee you will pay will be to Stripe- the payment processing company.
As one of our users who has used companies like Circle says, Swarm is in a league of its own because we focus heavily on customer service which alongside aspects like pricing and a good platform, is what makes for a smooth customer experience.
Feed/Overall Layout
The overall layout and the feed of your community engagement platforms matter a lot. There is no point in using one that is confusing and wonky. How do the feeds and overall layout of Mighty Network hold up against Circle? Let's find out.
Circle
Circle is very easy to navigate. The front page of the website, after you've logged in, has everything you need in a clear order.
On the left-hand side of your community page, you have a home, search, and notifications button. From here, you can send messages, check out your online courses and lessons, and interact with your community chat space.
It's nearly impossible to get lost in this easy-to-use platform. Everything is spelled out. If you want to create a new post, the button is on the top right side of the page.
If you aren't sure where any other features are, you can quickly search for them with the search bar at the top.
Your feed and community are also entirely customizable, making your community one-of-a-kind and easy to tell apart. A few things you can change include your brand color, community logo, and community icon.
Mighty Networks
You won't get lost using Mighty Networks either. It's simple, easy, and engaging. Mighty Networks even created a quick YouTube video to showcase the feed and overall layout.
The front page of Mighty Networks and Circle look nearly the same. On the left side, you have members, discovery, events, and feed buttons. Clicking on each takes you to their respective sections.
Underneath these buttons are your multiple spaces, which include your events, courses, chats, community discussions, and more.
So, how do you create content on this page? Well, by clicking the 'create' button on the same left side.
Monetization
Monetizing community platforms is a piece of cake. The platform takes care of the hard work and collects payments - all you need to do is set up your course/membership prices. So, how do these platforms work? Are there any fees charged?
Circle
Collecting payment has never been easier. With Circle, you don't need to use different platforms to collect payment for online courses or membership. Instead, your community members can use the Circle platform to pay.
The possibilities are endless. You can set up annual and monthly paid memberships. Apart from this, you can include one-time payments for courses and live events.
Free trials draw people in, and Circle must know that as they offer this option to customers. You can offer free trials for your community members and weekly, monthly, and annual installments.
Customers can also pay in their local currency, meaning you don't have to deal with the hassle of converting funds. The Circle community platform supports 15 different types of currencies, although the ones you can collect depend on your country.
It is important to note that Circle charges fees. The fees depend on the billing plan you follow. However, they are as follows:
Basic = 4%
Pro = 2%
Business = 1%
Enterprise = 0.5%
Mighty Networks
Mighty Networks offers flexible payment plans and options for members, like Circle. However, finding information on fees and payment options is not as easy.
The membership payment page is stylistic and beautiful. The customizable features allow you to choose how to market and display your courses. You can offer weekly trails, discounts, and monthly or annual plans.
In addition to payment plans, Mighty Networks offers enticing bundles of courses and content, upselling and helping you maximize profits.
Uniquely, Mighty Networks integrates with third-party programs like Rootabl for commissions.
With Mighty Networks, you also aren't limited to their payment service. You can also integrate with external services.
Integrations
Many people put off moving their operations and online courses into a community-building program because of the applications they already use. Starting from scratch is frustrating, but that doesn't have to be the case. Both Mighty Networks and Circle offer effortless integration services.
Circle
Circle allows you to connect and integrate popular apps without needing to code. This is perfect if you already use apps to communicate with community members and students.
A few of the applications you can integrate with Circle include:
Google Sheets
Airtable
WordPress
Memberstack
Facebook
Google Analytics
Slack
Instagram
Loom
Teachable
Mighty Networks
Similarly, Mighty Networks knows how to play nice. As their website states, "Mighty plays well with others." Mighty Networks partners with Zapier to connect to thousands of services.
An excellent feature Mighty Networks runs is Kit integration, which automatically syncs members to the platform.
While the Mighty Networks website doesn't list the exact websites and applications you can embed, there are thousands of options.
Analytics
How can you know where to improve without tracking your analytics? It's a good thing that both Mighty Networks and Circle do this for you. With a touch of a button, you can view statistics like revenue and community members.
Circle
Circle analytics are straightforward to find. You won't spend all day searching for the numbers to better your community. All the data is located and displayed in just one place.
A few things displayed in the analytics section include the number of members you have and the devices used.
The data goes even further than just displaying these two numbers. For instance, not only do you see the number of total members, but also active members and inactive ones.
You can further explore analytics for active members. This data can help you understand how community members engage with community discussions and chats.
For devices, the data breaks down by the type of device - Android vs iOS. You even see the estimated time someone stays on a session device.
Payments, probably the most critical data, are also tracked and divided. On the payment analytics page, Circle customers can see their total transactions, revenue, customer lifetime value, and conversion rate. This is further broken down by the time of payments (one-time, subscription, and installment).
Mighty Networks
Mighty Networks provides users with access to their analytics suite. This easy-to-use platform analyzes and collects data on posts, engagement, revenue, and events.
Taking this data, you can decide and make changes to increase member engagement. If the posts are low, this might mean what you are doing isn't enough to drive members to post and interact with others.
One of the best parts about Mighty Networks' analytics is that you can filter by engagement type. You can see how many comments a post gets along with likes to see what is trending and doing best.
The same goes for members. Mighty Networks tracks member data and lists them in ambassador program leaderboards by engagement or referrals.
Sign-Up/Website
When looking to increase community engagement while using an all-in-one platform, it's not surprising that businesses will surf the web for options. Some of the best online community platforms are Mighty Networks and Circle. But what do their websites tell you about them? Is there enough information for businesses to jump and sign up?
Circle
Hands down, the best platform out of the two, based on its website alone, is Circle. This community platform doesn't leave you guessing. Instead, every service lists out what exactly they do and look like.
Even before playing with the format and signing up, users already get a feel for what the user interface looks like and how it can be used to grow their numbers.
A highlight that Circle has that Mighty Networks doesn't is a Frequently Asked Questions section on nearly every page. In this section, 3 to 4 questions are listed with complete answers.
The website is also easier to navigate as each web page contains a large font pointing you in the right direction of what you are looking for. Signing up couldn't be easier.
At every turn on Circle's website, the page asks for your email and pushes their 14-day free trial. Once you do this and provide basic details like your name, email, and password, you get to create a community and play around with the community-building features before ever paying for a subscription.
Mighty Networks
While Mighty Networks' website isn't terrible, it is harder to navigate. Each service only included basic information and didn't go into much detail.
For instance, when looking for what applications could be integrated, there was no list, just a few examples in text format.
While true, the website is nicely designed and divided into sections based on information like the platform's features. Still, while researching, you might be left with more questions than answers, prompting you to sign up for a free trial.
Like Circle, Mighty Networks offers a free two-week trial. Signing up doesn't take long.
However, it is confusing. While attempting to sign up, the website brings you to a page asking for more information on the community you want to build.
It then pushes AI suggestions on community descriptions - all before even signing up. The 'skip' button is barely noticeable on the top right side of the screen.
Swarm: A Better Alternative to Circle or Mighty Networks
Swarm is a third alternative worth considering if you are looking for features that Circle or Mighty Networks might not be addressing or are looking to start at a lower price point, which is particularly important for small businesses.
Swarm might also work better for your personal needs. If pricing is an issue or you have reached a budget cap, when all three options are compared, Swarm has the lowest starting price point and a 14-day trial, which includes access to all our main features:
The ability to create spaces, add members to those spaces, add transcriptions, host live streams, make videos, and much more to engage with your community.
Which Community Platform Is Right for You?
Circle and Mighty Networks are both solid options for a community platform, and they both work with different business models.
Circle stands out with features like gamified rewards, event spaces, group chat rooms, and automated workflows that allow you to automate specific tasks that might be repetitive.
Might Networks, on the other hand, focuses on AI features like Mighty Co-Host that take an idea from one question and build out a simple landing page and pitch for a basic community.
AI assist for Hosts is another one of their AI-focused features, which includes automated ice breakers you can use to encourage conversation within your community.
Your choice comes down to your priorities- Circle might be a great option if you are looking to build a conventional course that needs monetization and membership management.
Mighty Networks is a great community platform if you like the idea of having AI as a helping hand to guide your community along the path to engagement as it grows.
However, as we move into the future, finding a video-centric platform is becoming more important for community leaders since it allows them to connect with their audience in a much more personal and memorable way.
This is especially true for businesses that run communities where they need to explain new concepts to their audience constantly.
A platform like Swarm allows users to exchange quick, short videos that pack a lot more value and save a lot more time than a long text-based message.
Swarm stands out with its asynchronous approach to video messaging, which is the key focus of the platform alongside other video-centric features like live streaming, screen sharing features, and AI features that can automate transcript creation and video summaries.
As we see previous Circle members come over to Swarm to take advantage of the video tools offered and see the subsequent community growth that follows, the platform is becoming a solid option to consider when building an online community focused on fostering human connection.
