Decision matrix

Prices are USD publication snapshots under the billing conditions shown, not purchase quotes. Confirm monthly pricing, taxes, payment processing, platform or gateway fees, add-ons, annual commitments, country eligibility, and exact plan limits before buying.

Decision dimensionCircleMighty Networks
Published plans and pricingVERIFIED FACT

In Circle's annual-billing view, Professional is $89/month equivalent, Business is $199/month equivalent, and Circle Plus uses custom pricing.

Scope: Published USD annual-billing equivalents; month-to-month prices, payment processing, platform fees, add-ons, and taxes are separate.

VERIFIED FACT

Mighty Networks lists Explore at $35/month or $350/year. Its annual-billing views show Launch at $79/month, Scale at $179/month, and Growth at $354/month; Mighty Pro is custom priced.

Scope: Published USD prices and annual-billing equivalents; taxes, payment processing, platform fees, boosts, and optional services are separate.

Published web-payment platform feesVERIFIED FACT

Circle publishes platform transaction fees of 2% on Professional, 1% on Business, and 0.5% on Circle Plus, in addition to Stripe processing fees.

Scope: Circle web-paywall platform fees; processor, regional payment-method, currency-conversion, and tax costs are separate.

VERIFIED FACT

Mighty Networks publishes web-payment platform transaction fees of 5% on Explore, 2% on Launch, 1% on Scale, and 0.5% on Growth, in addition to Stripe processing fees.

Scope: Web payments through Mighty Networks; Apple in-app purchases use a separate fee model, and taxes or currency costs may also apply.

Published community, course, and engagement capabilitiesVERIFIED FACT

Professional includes discussions, events, live rooms, paid memberships, and courses; Circle's course model supports sections, lessons, quizzes, progress monitoring, comments, and self-paced, structured, or scheduled delivery.

Scope: Published Professional-and-higher feature set.

VERIFIED FACT

Explore is the entry core-community tier. Launch adds course and event creation, gamification, and basic automations. Scale adds more automation plus API and MCP access. Growth adds higher operating limits, advanced automations, Admin and Headless API access, and optional SSO; branded apps are a Mighty Pro capability.

Scope: Published plan comparison; plan limits and optional services can change.

Documented export evidenceVERIFIED FACT

Circle says it can provide a support-requested CSV export covering members, spaces, posts without images, and comments.

Scope: Published support-assisted export scope; not a complete portable reconstruction of a Circle community.

VERIFIED FACT

Network Hosts on Launch and higher plans can download member data for the network, hosted spaces, and paid plans; course-space exports include completion and recent-lesson fields.

Scope: Documented member and progress data; not a claim of one-click export for every content asset or configuration.

Documented cancellation behaviorVERIFIED FACT

Circle says plan cancellation does not cancel member paywall subscriptions and that it typically removes community data after 90 days.

Scope: Published cancellation and retention workflow; operators must separately manage member subscriptions and export requests.

VERIFIED FACT

Canceling downgrades the network after the billing period; deactivation can preserve it for return, while deletion requires paid-plan cleanup and permanently removes content, data, and activity.

Scope: Published cancellation workflow, not legal advice.

Where the choice turns

INFERENCE

Choose an information architecture, not a feature count

Circle is the clearer starting point for teams that deliberately organize spaces, discussions, events, live rooms, streams, courses, and member access. Mighty Networks is the clearer starting point when community, learning, events, gamification, and paid access should behave as one guided member journey.

Scope: Pairwise information-architecture inference under the published comparison conditions; not a claim that either product lacks the other model's individual features.

INFERENCE

Automation requirements can change the price comparison

Circle Professional is not its documented API tier: Business adds workflows and Admin or Headless APIs, while Plus adds custom SSO. Mighty Explore is a core-community tier, Launch adds courses, events, gamification, and basic automations, Scale adds API and MCP access, and Growth adds higher limits, advanced automation, Admin and Headless APIs, and optional SSO. Price the first tier that meets the actual integration requirement.

Scope: Requirements-to-tier inference from current public plan records; negotiated terms, exact API limits, overages, taxes, and optional services require separate confirmation.

INFERENCE

Both exits require preparation

Neither documented export proves complete reconstruction elsewhere. Circle's support-assisted export excludes images from posts, member paywall subscriptions continue after cancellation, and the published workflow typically removes community data after 90 days. Mighty Networks documents member and course-progress downloads on Launch and higher, while deactivation and deletion have different consequences. Test representative exports before purchase.

Scope: Operational exit inference from published export and cancellation records; not a claim that either vendor cannot provide additional migration assistance.

A six-question trial plan

A feature checklist cannot establish operational fit. Use internal test accounts and one representative workflow to answer these questions before purchase.

  1. Does the real member journey fit organized spaces or a more guided all-in-one membership model?
  2. Which automations, APIs, SSO controls, limits, and overage rules are actually required?
  3. What is the total cost after platform fees, Stripe processing, add-ons, and annual commitment?
  4. Can moderators, course operators, analysts, and support staff receive appropriately limited roles?
  5. What data and media are missing from a real export sample?
  6. What happens to member subscriptions, access, content, and data after cancellation?
Circle research briefMighty Networks research briefCompare all three operating modelsCourse-first vs community-first selection guide

Verify the shortlist on official sites

These are ordinary official links. ChoiceMosaic is not currently approved as an affiliate for either product, and no tracking or sponsored link semantics are used.

Visit Circle

Official link · no current affiliate relationship.

Visit Mighty Networks

Official link · no current affiliate relationship.

Change log

— Initial review candidate.

— First publication.

Sources and access notes

Source extracts are recorded in the repository with capture dates and deterministic hashes. Links below open the current publisher page, which may have changed since capture.

  1. Circle Pricing — Circle
    official pricingCaptured 2026-08-20

    Plan prices, transaction fees, capabilities, limits, API, and SSO boundaries

    Open source page
  2. Circle Courses Overview — Circle
    official helpCaptured 2026-08-20

    Course structure, progress tracking, quizzes, and course types

    Open source page
  3. Circle Developer Platform Overview — Circle
    official productCaptured 2026-08-20

    Admin API, Headless Member API, and Data API plan availability

    Open source page
  4. Canceling Your Community Plan — Circle
    official helpCaptured 2026-08-20

    Cancellation, member subscriptions, data retention, and export scope

    Open source page
  5. Mighty Networks Pricing — Mighty Networks
    official pricingCaptured 2026-08-20

    Annual-billing equivalent Launch and Scale prices, capabilities, and plan boundaries

    Open source page
  6. Explore Plan Pricing — Mighty Networks
    official pricingCaptured 2026-08-20

    Current Explore plan availability, annual price, and entry-level positioning

    Open source page
  7. What's Included in the Mighty Networks Growth Plan? — Mighty Networks
    official helpCaptured 2026-08-20

    Growth price, higher limits, API access, SSO option, and boundary below Mighty Pro

    Open source page
  8. Does Mighty Networks Charge a Transaction Fee? — Mighty Networks
    official helpCaptured 2026-08-20

    Web-payment platform transaction fees and separate Stripe processing fees

    Open source page
  9. Which Mighty Network Plan Is Right for You? — Mighty Networks
    official helpCaptured 2026-08-20

    Current Explore, Launch, Scale, and Growth hierarchy and capability boundaries

    Open source page
  10. Can I Download My Member Data? — Mighty Networks
    official helpCaptured 2026-08-20

    Member, space, plan, and course-progress export availability

    Open source page
  11. How Do I Downgrade or Cancel My Plan? — Mighty Networks
    official helpCaptured 2026-08-20

    Downgrade, cancellation, deactivation, and deletion behavior

    Open source page
  12. Wave A requirements-to-fit matrix v1 — ChoiceMosaic
    calculationCaptured 2026-08-20

    Conditional fit synthesis for course-first, community-first, and blended membership operating models

    Internal reproducible calculation