Mobieus vs Circle.
Circle is the most polished community platform most creators will try. The interface is clean, live rooms work well, and the automation is mature. The reasons people start shopping for an alternative are usually about the bill, not the product. Here is the honest side-by-side: what each platform charges, what is bundled, and when each one fits.
The full comparison.
Pulled from both pricing pages. No asterisks, no "contact sales" line items.
| Feature | Mobieus | Circle |
|---|---|---|
| Platform fee on member payments | 0% on every tier | 2% on Professional, dropping on Business |
| Published entry price | $19 Starter, $99 Pro | ~$89 Professional (annual billing) |
| Bring your own Stripe | ✓ | ✓ |
| Custom domain on entry plan | Included from Pro ($99) | Paid add-on |
| Members included on entry plan | 250 (Starter), 1,000 (Pro) | No member cap (pay per active) |
| Built-in help desk | ✓ mobieusHelp from Pro | — |
| Built-in LMS with SCORM + certificates | ✓ mobieusLearn from Pro | Courses only, no SCORM |
| Built-in community knowledge base | ✓ mobieusKnow from Pro | — |
| Email tooling included | ✓ | +$99/mo Email Hub add-on |
| Public REST API + signed webhooks | Included from Pro | Business plan only |
| Workflows / automation | Automation engine included from Pro | Business plan only |
| mobieusMarket listings | ✓ from Creator | — |
| AI Community Manager (HITL drafts: welcomes, summaries, re-engagement) | ✓ from Creator | — |
| BYOK Anthropic key + per-tenant model pick | ✓ from Creator | — |
| Sell courses with 0% platform fee | ✓ from Creator | — |
| Course subscriptions + all-access membership | ✓ from Creator | — |
| Free trials, installments, bundles, order bumps, upsells | ✓ from Creator | Partial |
| Affiliate program for your courses | ✓ from Creator | — |
| Video lessons (upload, inline player, resume) | ✓ mobieusLearn | Courses only |
| Live chat widget on your site (every chat becomes a ticket) | ✓ mobieusHelp | — |
| Native mobile app | PWA | iOS / Android |
| Dedicated / Sovereign tier | $2,500 published | Enterprise, not published |
| Full data export | ✓ | ✓ |
Stripe processing (about 2.9% plus 30 cents) applies on both platforms.
When each one wins.
Neither platform wins every comparison. The decision usually comes down to two or three things you actually care about.
Cost, bundle, and ownership.
- 0% platform fee on every tier vs Circle’s 2% on Professional. At $5,000/mo in member payments, that is $1,200/year staying in your account instead of leaving it.
- Help desk, LMS with SCORM, and community knowledge base are bundled in the $99 Pro tier, not bolted on with separate bills.
- Email is included, not a $99/month Email Hub line item.
- Custom domains, API access, and automation are on the entry Pro plan, not gated to the $199 Business tier.
- The full creator monetization stack ships with Mobieus: course subscriptions, all-access membership, free trials, installment plans, bundles, order bumps, one-click upsells, and an affiliate program. All at 0% platform fee.
- One subscription covers community, chat, knowledge base, help desk, LMS, marketplace, and AI. Buying those as separate tools runs most teams $18,000 to $60,000 a year. Creator Plus is $599/mo for 25,000 members with all of it included.
- Sovereign is published at $2,500, not a “contact us” enterprise quote.
Live events, automation maturity, native apps.
- Live rooms and events are polished and battle-tested. If live events are the spine of your community, Circle has a head start.
- The automation / workflow library is mature. Mobieus has an automation engine, but Circle has more pre-built recipes.
- Native iOS and Android apps. Mobieus runs as a PWA with install-to-home-screen. If members must live in a native app, Circle ships one.
- No member cap on the entry plan, billed per active member instead.
Moving from Circle to Mobieus.
Stripe subscriptions can transfer between accounts, so paid members keep their billing intact. The six-step runbook covers spaces to forums, courses, the fee math, and what to communicate to members.
What Circle’s fees cost on real revenue.
The plan price is the first number. The transaction fee is the second one, and it scales with your success. A community doing $5,000/month in member payments pays roughly $100/month, $1,200/year, on Circle Professional’s 2% fee. None of that includes Stripe processing, which you pay on either platform.
Frequently asked.
Can I import members from Circle to Mobieus?
Yes. Members import from a Circle CSV export, and Stripe subscriptions can transfer between accounts so paid members keep billing intact without re-entering payment details. The Circle migration guide walks through the six-step runbook.
Does Mobieus charge a platform fee on community sales?
No. The Mobieus platform fee on course sales, paid forums, mobieusMarket listings, and member subscriptions is 0% on every tier. You connect your own Stripe and your members pay you directly. Stripe’s standard processing (about 2.9% plus 30 cents) is the only cut, and it applies on Circle too.
What does Mobieus include that Circle bills as add-ons?
Mobieus bundles a help desk (mobieusHelp), a full LMS with SCORM and certificates (mobieusLearn), and a community knowledge base (mobieusKnow) in the same Pro plan. Circle sells email as a separate $99/month Email Hub, and gates workflows, API access, and full white-label to the $199/month Business plan.
Do I lose course functionality if I move from Circle to Mobieus?
No. mobieusLearn is a full LMS with SCORM packages, cohorts, certificates, and Stripe Checkout at 0% platform fee on course sales. Circle’s courses are a subset of what mobieusLearn ships, and Mobieus is the more capable side on certifications and SCORM.
Is there a custom domain on the Mobieus entry plan?
Custom domains are included from Mobieus Pro ($99/month) and up. On Circle, custom domains and several branding controls are paid extras even on Professional, which pushes the real entry price up.
When does Circle still make sense over Mobieus?
Circle’s live-events polish and mature automation library are a head start. If those specific features are the spine of your community and the layered cost works for your math, Circle is a strong choice.
The other two head-to-heads.
Compare Mobieus vs Skool.
Skool’s 10% Hobby and 2.9% Pro fees, the gamification tradeoff, and when Skool still wins.
CompareCompare Mobieus vs Mighty Networks.
Mighty’s never-zero fee, native apps, and when its enterprise tier is the right call.
PricingMobieus tier comparison + pricing.
Five tiers from $19 to $2,500. Full feature matrix in the open.
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