What Circle does

Circle is an AI-powered community platform that enables creators, educators, and businesses to build, monetize, and operate branded online communities, courses, events, and email marketing under a single integrated product. Its core platform unifies discussions, chat, courses, live streaming, gamification, payments (via Stripe), email marketing, and a drag-and-drop website builder, supported by a self-serve onboarding flow with a 14-day free trial and a custom Circle Plus tier with concierge onboarding. The company has progressively layered AI capabilities into the platform: AI Copilot for community management, AI Agents trained via RAG on community content, AI Workflows for moderation and onboarding, and Circle AI (trained on anonymized data from 20,000 communities) for generative course and content creation. The June 2026 Circle Eclipse launch extended the product surface to include Circle Discover (a consumer discovery marketplace), Circle Studios (a revenue-share partnership for top creators), a unified admin inbox, and an overhauled visual course builder.

The business model is a tiered SaaS subscription (Professional at $89/month, Business at $199/month, and Circle Plus on custom multi-year contracts) supplemented by transaction fees (2% / 1% / 0.5% by tier) on payments processed through Stripe, optional add-ons (Email Hub at $99/month), and managed services (branded iOS/Android app builds). Revenue is generated through four overlapping go-to-market motions: product-led self-serve, enterprise field sales for Circle Plus, a channel partner directory, and community-led growth powered by Circle's own 27,000-member operator community and 70,000+ G2 reviews. As of 2025, Circle serves 20,000+ customers and over 10 million end-user members globally on a fully remote operating model spanning more than 30 countries, and has raised $30 million in venture funding led by Tiger Global at a $200 million valuation in December 2021.

Name

Circle

Legal name

Circle

Website

https://circle.so

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Circle is an AI-powered community platform enabling creators, educators, and businesses to build, monetize, and operate branded online communities, courses, events, payments, and email marketing within a single integrated product.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Platform Software

akta.pro primary industry

Student & Alumni Communities (BPAMABAK)

akta.pro secondary industry

Creator Tipping, Donations & Micro-Payments (MPACAFAB)

Keywords

• Community platform software
• Course hosting software
• Creator monetization tools
• Online community management
• Membership site builder

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Subscription Plans: Three-tier subscription model (Professional $89/mo, Business $199/mo, Circle Plus Custom) providing access to community platform features with varying levels of functionality, storage, and support.
2. Transaction Fees: Circle charges transaction fees on payments processed through the platform: 2% for Professional, 1% for Business, and 0.5% for Circle Plus plans, in addition to Stripe processing fees.
3. Email Hub Add-on: Additional paid add-on for email marketing capabilities, priced at $99/month for 10,000+ contacts.
4. Affiliate Program: Circle pays affiliates $100 per referred customer plus recurring commissions (up to 20%) for the lifetime of the customer's subscription.
5. Branded App Services: Circle Plus includes optional branded app services with fully managed app building and dedicated launch team for custom iOS and Android apps.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Circle is an AI-powered all-in-one community platform that enables creators, educators, and businesses to build branded online communities. The platform integrates community management, course hosting, live events, payments, email marketing, AI agents, and website building under a single product, sold via tiered subscription plans with transaction fees on member payments.

Product overview

Circle is an AI-powered all-in-one community platform for creators and businesses. The core Circle platform unifies community (Discussions, Chat), content (Courses, Website Builder), engagement (Events, Gamification), monetization (Payments, Email Hub), and AI capabilities under a single brand. The flagship Circle Eclipse launch (June 2026) introduced five interconnected products: Circle AI (AI partner for business automation), Circle Discover (marketplace for digital businesses), Circle Studios (revenue-share partnership for top creators), overhauled Circle Courses (visual curriculum builder with AI content generation), and Circle Inbox (unified admin workspace). The platform offers three tiers: Professional ($89/mo), Business ($199/mo), and Circle Plus (custom pricing with AI Agents, custom SSO, branded apps, and priority support). Key differentiators include native AI agents with knowledge retrieval, visual course building, branded mobile apps, and comprehensive community analytics.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Circle Eclipse: A major product launch announced June 2026 introducing five new products: Circle AI, Circle Discover, Circle Studios, overhauled course tools, and a unified admin inbox.
• Circle AI
• Circle Courses
• Email Hub
• Circle Plus
• Circle Discover
• Circle Studios
• Website Builder
• AI Copilot
• AI Agents
• AI Workflows

Products and services

• Circle AI-powered all-in-one community platform enabling creators to build and scale community-led businesses with discussions, courses, events, payments, email marketing, and branded apps under a single platform.
• Circle Eclipse Major product initiative introduced in June 2026 launching five interconnected products: Circle AI, Circle Discover marketplace, Circle Studios revenue-share partnership, overhauled Circle Courses, and unified Circle Inbox - representing Circle's most ambitious platform update.
• Circle AI AI partner trained on anonymized data from 20,000 communities that helps creators build live businesses from idea to launch, functioning as an always-on extension for guidance, coaching, and member engagement.
• Circle Discover Consumer discovery marketplace for transformational digital businesses, enabling creators to reach new audiences seeking community-based learning and engagement.
• Circle Studios Full-service partnership program for top creators operating on a revenue-share model where Circle only earns when creator businesses generate six or seven figures.
• Branded Apps Custom branded iOS and Android apps for communities, enabling push notifications, app store presence, and native in-app purchases. Fully managed service with a dedicated launch team available as part of Circle Plus.
• Email Hub Email marketing add-on platform enabling broadcasts, automations, forms, contact CRM, segmentation, and analytics, priced at $99/month for 10,000+ contacts as an add-on to any community plan.
• AI Agents Up to 10 customizable AI agents per community for member support, onboarding, and coaching. Trainable on community content (spaces, courses, posts, custom files) using RAG techniques, with shared AI inbox and full admin control. Available on Circle Plus.
• Circle Courses AI-native course experience featuring a visual curriculum builder, video-first player, learning path organization, and Circle AI-powered planning, building, launching, and analyzing courses for creators and educators.

Quantifiable outcome

• Exit Five achieved 43% revenue growth year-over-year and 6,000+ members after adopting Circle
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers14 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability9 records

Feature10 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• StripecoreTechnology or IntegrationStripe is the payment processing partner powering Circle's checkout, subscriptions, and payment infrastructure. Circle integrates with Stripe for payment processing, supporting over 25 local currencies and all major card brands.
• ZapiercoreTechnology or IntegrationZapier integration allows Circle to connect with thousands of third-party apps and automate workflows without coding. Users can create Zaps to connect Circle with their existing toolstack.

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Kajabi: Kajabi is a direct competitor in the all-in-one creator platform space, combining courses, community, email marketing, payments, and websites. It targets the same premium creator and educator segment and competes head-to-head for Circle Plus customers.
• Podia: Podia is a direct competitor offering courses, downloads, webinars, and community for creators. Its all-in-one positioning for solo creators and small businesses competes head-to-head with Circle's Professional and Business tiers.
• Memberful: Memberful is a direct competitor focused specifically on membership and subscription management for creators. It often integrates alongside other tools, competing for the payments and membership layer of the same creators Circle serves.
• Skool: Skool is a direct competitor combining community, courses, and gamification for creators and educators. Its stripped-down, creator-economy-first positioning and rapid user growth make it a closely comparable community+courses platform to Circle.
• Mighty Networks: Mighty Networks is a direct competitor offering community, courses, and events for creators and brands. It targets the same customer personas (creators, coaches, educators) with a similar all-in-one value proposition, making it the closest pure-play comparable to Circle.
• Teachable: Teachable is a direct competitor in the course platform category and notably the company founded by Circle's three co-founders (Sid Yadav, Rudy Santino, Andrew Guttormsen). Teachable competes with Circle's Courses product and shares the same creator-economy DNA.
• Thinkific: Thinkific is a direct competitor in course creation and community platforms, targeting creators, educators, and businesses. Its recent expansion into community features puts it in direct overlap with Circle's all-in-one offering.

Emerging players

• Substack: Substack is an emerging player in the creator-economy platform space, with a growing focus on newsletters plus community features. It overlaps with Circle on creator monetization and audience ownership but lacks Circle's full course, events, and AI stack.

Broad incumbents

• Discord: Discord is a broad incumbent in real-time community and chat, used heavily by creators, gaming communities, and brands. While it doesn't offer Circle's courses, payments, or email stack, it competes for the underlying community engagement use case and is rapidly adding paid community features.
• Patreon: Patreon is a broad incumbent in creator monetization and membership, serving a much larger creator base with subscription and membership tools. While it lacks Circle's full community/course/event stack, it competes for the same creator wallet share, especially around paid memberships.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/circleapp
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@circleapp
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/circleco
• Instagraminstagram.com/circleapp
• Facebookfacebook.com/circleapp

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds7 records

Investors7 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Circle