Circle vs Discourse
On the evidence we track, Circle leads this comparison with a composite score of 69/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.
Capabilities
Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for community platforms. “-” means undocumented, not absent.
What each one is
The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.
Circle
LeaderAll-in-one community platform for building and managing branded spaces with member engagement, live events, courses, and integrated payment processing
Discourse
A free, open-source platform for building online communities that can be self-hosted on your own infrastructure or run on official Discourse hosting, with built-in real-time chat and customizable themes.
Pricing
List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.
Circle
LeaderSubscription plans for Pro, Business, and Plus tiers with monthly billing. Free 14-day trial; 30-day money-back guarantee. Email Hub priced per contacts (first 30 days free, charges on top of community plan).
- Pro-
- Private spaces
- Bulk import/export
- In-app notifications
- Member profiles & directory
- Basic moderation
- +22 more
- Business-
- PlusContact sales
Discourse
From $100/month. Free tier available.
- FreeFree
- Unlimited members and chat
- 2 staff seats
- Public and private categories
- Community support
- Pro$100/month, 5 staff seats
- Unlimited members and chat
- Unlimited public and private categories
- Unlimited tags
- Custom groups
- 5 staff seats
- +5 more
- Business$500/month, 15 staff seats
- All Pro features plus:
- Advanced reporting and analytics
- Automation
- Events
- Gamification
- +5 more
- EnterpriseContact sales
- All Business features plus:
- Unlimited staff seats
- Expert design and development services
- 99.9% uptime SLA
- 50+ plugins
- +5 more
Platform & deployment
Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.
Integrations
What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.
Circle
Leader- Zapier
- Make
- Memberstack
- MemberSpace
- Memberful
- Integrately
- Auth0
- WordPress
- Outseta
- Bubble
Discourse
- Slack
- Telegram
- Discord
- Mattermost
- Matrix
- Zulip
- Rocket.Chat
- Gitter
- Stride
- Microsoft Teams
- Basecamp
- IRC Cloud
- Flock
- Webex
- GitHub
- Google Adsense
- Google Ad Manager
- Amazon Affiliates
- Patreon
- X
- Apple
- Mastodon
- Amazon
- +5 more
Circle or Discourse: which one depends on you
A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.
Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works
Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.