Circle pricing explained: what you actually pay each month

Circle has three plans for creators selling memberships and courses (prices verified June 2, 2026). Professional is $89 a month and takes a 2% transaction fee on sales. Business is $199 a month and takes 1%. Plus is priced on a custom quote and takes 0.5%.

The transaction fee is Circle's own platform fee. Payment processing is a separate cost from your processor, so your total cost of a sale is processing plus Circle's percentage. When you compare Circle with another platform, compare like with like: platform fee against platform fee, processing against processing.

What you get for the money is real. Circle has a polished member experience, flexible spaces, events and live streams, and mature admin tooling. Many creators pick it because it looks and feels professional from the first day, and that is a fair reason.

A cap is a ceiling on how much a percentage fee can take in a month. Circle does not have one. Its transaction fee is the same percentage on your first $1,000 of sales and on your hundredth $1,000. As your community grows, your Circle bill grows in a straight line with it.

That is not unusual in this market, and at small volumes it barely matters: 2% of $2,000 is $40. It starts to matter at scale. At $30,000 a month in sales, 2% is $600 a month and 1% is $300 a month, every month. Math example, not a customer outcome.

At $2,000 a month in sales: Professional costs $89 + $40 = $129. Business costs $199 + $20 = $219. Professional wins by $90 a month. Math example, not a customer outcome.

At $10,000 a month: Professional costs $89 + $200 = $289. Business costs $199 + $100 = $299. They are almost level, with Professional still $10 ahead. Math example, not a customer outcome.

At $30,000 a month: Professional costs $89 + $600 = $689. Business costs $199 + $300 = $499. Business saves $190 a month, about $2,280 a year. Math example, not a customer outcome.

Add payment processing on top of every figure above. It is the same on either plan, so it does not change which one is cheaper.

Business costs $110 a month more than Professional and saves 1 percentage point on every sale. Divide $110 by 1% and the break-even is $11,000 a month in sales. Below that, stay on Professional. Above it, Business is cheaper on fees alone. Math example, not a customer outcome.

The rule worth keeping: upgrade when your average monthly sales over the last three months are above $11,000, not when you have one big launch month. A single spike can make Business look cheaper for one month and dearer for the next five.

Seasonal businesses should run the test both ways. If you sell $25,000 in each of two launch months and $4,000 in each of the other ten, your yearly sales are $90,000, an average of $7,500 a month. On that pattern Professional is the cheaper plan across the year, even though Business wins in each launch month. Math example, not a customer outcome.

Fees are not the only reason to upgrade. Circle's plans also differ in features, so check its plan comparison for anything you rely on. If a feature you need sits only on Business, the break-even is irrelevant: you are paying for the feature.

Plus has no public price, so the only way to judge it is to work out what its lower fee is worth to you and compare that with the quote. Plus takes 0.5% instead of Business's 1%, a saving of half a point on every sale.

At $50,000 a month in sales, half a point is $250 a month. At $100,000 it is $500 a month. If Plus costs more than Business by less than that saving, it is cheaper for you on fees. Math example, not a customer outcome.

Take that number into the sales call. Knowing exactly what the lower percentage is worth gives you a concrete anchor when you negotiate.

Circle's courses are solid for delivering lessons, but its quizzes are basic and it has no native verifiable certificate. If your program depends on assessments that count or certificates that employers can check, you will likely add a separate tool, with its own bill and its own login for members.

So the honest monthly cost is Circle plus anything you bolt on. Write the full stack down before you compare it with an all-in-one platform. If Circle already covers everything you use, its price is the whole price, and that is a good outcome.

HiveLearn puts courses, community, events and payments in one place, with quizzes in six question types graded on the server, question banks, and certificates with a public verification page. Its fee structure differs from Circle's in one way that matters at scale: the revenue share on paid plans stops at a monthly cap.

Starter is $0 a month with a 6% rev share and no cap, so there is no monthly fee until you monetize. Growth is $39 a month at 4%, rev share capped at $2,000/month. Pro is $99 a month at 2%, rev share capped at $3,000/month. Scale is $249 a month at 1%, rev share capped at $4,000/month. Enterprise is $499 a month at 0.25%, rev share capped at $5,000/month. Stripe processing (2.9% + $0.30) is charged on top. Annual billing saves 17%, and Growth, Pro and Scale come with a 14-day free trial, no credit card.

When to stay on Circle: if its member experience is what keeps your community active and you do not need graded assessments or certificates, the fee difference alone is rarely worth a migration. Compare the full numbers in the calculator first.