Community Platform Fees Explained: Skool vs Circle vs Mighty Networks

Why Platform Fees Matter More Than You Think

You charge your members $49/month. That sounds like $49 in your pocket — but between platform fees, transaction fees, and payment processing, the real number is closer to $42 or $43. Multiply that gap by 100 members and you're leaving $600–$700 on the table every single month.

Most creators pick a community platform based on features or vibes. That's fine at the start, but once your community has 50, 100, or 500 paying members, the fee structure you picked on day one can cost you thousands of dollars a year.

Every platform covered here has two types of fees you need to watch:

• Platform monthly fee — what you pay to use the software, regardless of revenue
• Transaction fee — a percentage the platform takes from each membership payment

On top of both, Stripe (or the platform's own payment processor) charges approximately 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. That one's unavoidable on most platforms.

Skool Fees: Simple, Flat, No Surprises

Skool has one plan: $99/month, flat. You get unlimited members, unlimited courses, and unlimited communities on that single subscription. There is no transaction fee on membership revenue — Skool does not take a percentage of what you earn.

The math is clean. If you charge $49/month and have 50 members, your gross is $2,450. After Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction (roughly $72), you net around $2,279 — then subtract the $99 platform fee and you walk away with about $2,180.

The downside: Skool's $99 platform fee hits hard when you're just starting out. If you have fewer than 3 paying members, you're net negative before Stripe even touches the transaction. But once you have consistent paying members, the flat fee becomes your biggest advantage — no percentage taken out of every dollar you earn.

Best for:

Creators who already have an audience and are confident they can get to 10+ paying members quickly. Skool's discovery features also make it easier to grow organically.

Circle Fees: One Plan Difference That Costs You

Circle has four main plans, and there is one critical split: the Starter plan charges a 1% transaction fee. Every other plan (Basic, Professional, Business) charges 0%.

That 1% doesn't sound like much. But if you have 100 members paying $49/month — $4,900 in gross revenue — Circle is taking an extra $49 from you just because you're on the Starter plan instead of Basic. Over a year, that's $588 in avoidable fees.

Circle's platform is strong on customization and white-labeling. If community features and design flexibility matter to you, the Basic plan at $89/month is usually the entry point that makes financial sense once you have 15+ members.

Best for:

Creators who want a polished, customizable brand experience and are already past 20 paying members — where the $89 Basic plan becomes clearly cheaper than Starter once transaction fees compound.

Mighty Networks Fees: The Hidden 3%

Mighty Networks runs on its own payment processor called Mighty Payments (powered by Stripe). And unlike most platforms, it charges a 3% transaction fee on every paid membership — on both of its main plans.

The 3% can feel invisible until you scale. At $49/month with 100 members, Mighty's cut is $147 before you even count processing fees. Compare that to Skool (0% transaction fee) and that's a significant drag on margin at scale.

Mighty Networks also bundles in courses, live streaming, and native app hosting on higher plans. If you need all of that in one place, the platform cost is easier to justify. But if you primarily need paid community access and want to keep your margins lean, the 3% transaction fee is a meaningful headwind.

Best for:

Creators building a full-featured community + course ecosystem and who need native mobile app hosting. Not the best choice if you're optimizing purely for profit margin on membership revenue.

Kajabi Fees: High Monthly, Zero Transaction

Kajabi is the most expensive platform on a monthly basis — starting at $69/month for the Kickstarter plan, up to $399/month for Pro. But here's the upside: Kajabi charges 0% transaction fees across every plan. What you earn stays yours (minus Stripe processing).

Kajabi makes sense when you're running a multi-product business — courses, memberships, email marketing, landing pages, and checkout all under one roof. At that point, the platform fee often replaces several other SaaS subscriptions you'd be paying anyway.

For a creator who only needs paid community access, Kajabi is usually overkill. The Kickstarter plan is the entry-level, but even at $69/month you'll need roughly 2–3 paying members just to cover the subscription cost before Stripe takes its cut.

Best for:

Established creators running a full creator business — courses, email list, sales pages — who want everything centralized and don't mind a higher platform cost in exchange for that consolidation.

Heartbeat: The Free Plan Trap

Heartbeat offers a free plan, which is genuinely rare in the community platform space. But the free plan comes with a 5% transaction fee — one of the highest of any platform covered here.

The math on Heartbeat's free plan looks great at the surface — no monthly fee! — but at scale, 5% is brutal. If you have 50 members at $49/month ($2,450 gross), Heartbeat takes $122.50 as its transaction cut. Compare that to Skool's flat $99 platform fee with 0% transaction, and Skool is already cheaper at 50 members.

Heartbeat's Scale plan at $59/month drops the transaction fee to 0%, which makes it competitive against the field. But at that price point, Skool ($99) and Circle Basic ($89) are both worth serious comparison.

Best for:

Early-stage creators who want to test paid memberships with zero upfront commitment. Graduate to the Scale plan as soon as you have 10+ paying members to avoid the compounding 5% fee.

Which Platform Is Right for Your Member Count?

There is no single "best" platform — the right answer depends on your membership price and how many paying members you have (or plan to have). Here's a quick mental model:

• 0–5 members: Heartbeat Free or Circle Starter. Avoid platforms with high flat monthly fees until you have consistent revenue.
• 6–20 members: Skool starts to win on simplicity. At $99/mo with 0% transaction fee and a discovery feature to help you grow, the math starts making sense around 5–10 paying members (depending on your price).
• 20–100 members: Skool or Circle Basic are both strong. If your price is above $30/month, Skool's 0% transaction fee usually beats Circle's $89 plan unless you need Circle's design customization.
• 100+ members: Transaction fees dominate. Avoid Mighty Networks (3%) and any plan with a percentage cut. Skool, Kajabi, Circle Basic, and Heartbeat Scale are your 0% options — choose based on features you actually need.

The only way to know for sure is to run the numbers with your actual membership price and current (or projected) member count. That's exactly what the ClubMargin calculator is for.