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CirclevsKartra

Circle runs member communities with spaces, events, courses, and paywalls. Kartra joins checkout, email automation, memberships, and a helpdesk in one system.

How Circle and Kartra compare

Circle is where serious community hosts go when the community is the business. Spaces for discussion and chat, courses and events in the same place, paid memberships with branded checkout, gamification, workflows, Circle AI, and on Circle Plus your own branded iOS and Android apps. It has grown into an all-in-one for membership businesses, and the Website Builder and Email Hub mean many hosts no longer need a second tool for the front door. If your members log in every week to talk to each other, Circle is built for exactly that.

Kartra is the operator's all-in-one. Checkouts with one-time, recurring, or installment pricing, email and SMS campaigns that react to what a lead does, membership portals for courses, calendars with paid bookings, a helpdesk with tickets and a wiki, and split tests on up to four page versions. If you run offers, sequences, and a member area as one machine and want the analytics to match, Kartra was built for exactly that.

Where they are different

Circle

  • Circle's pages are the front door to a members-only space.
  • Circle's Email Hub is an add-on priced per contact on top of the plan.
  • Circle's DMs live between members inside the community.
  • Circle has courses, live streams, paid tiers for users, and gamification.

Kartra

  • Kartra pages are campaign pages first.
  • Kartra has blog page templates and a WordPress push, not a blog engine.
  • Kartra's helpdesk takes tickets from a forwarded support address on Growth and up.

Choose Circle when a paid, private community with courses and events is the product, and you want members in a branded app.

Choose Kartra when you sell through checkouts and sequences, deliver inside memberships, and want a helpdesk, affiliates, SMS, and split testing wired to the same lead record.

Compare features

What's on Circle and Kartra

A check means that capability is available. Circle and Kartra are marked only when the offer is comparable, not the same product.

Site and brand

  • Workspace site
    Circle: Included
    Kartra: Included
  • Custom domain
    Circle: Included
    Kartra: Included
  • Editor Mode
    Circle: Included
    Kartra: Included
  • Theme and fonts
    Circle: Included
    Kartra: Included

Public content

  • Reader engagement
    Circle: Included
    Kartra: Not included
  • Showcase pages
    Circle: Included
    Kartra: Included
  • Shop pages
    Circle: Not included
    Kartra: Included

Reach and quality

  • SEO
    Circle: Included
    Kartra: Included

Audience and email

  • Audience
    Circle: Included
    Kartra: Included
  • Email templates and From addresses
    Circle: Included
    Kartra: Included
  • Email on your domain
    Circle: Not included
    Kartra: Included
  • Marketing emails
    Circle: Included
    Kartra: Included
  • Campaign workflows
    Circle: Included
    Kartra: Included

Messaging

  • Built-in chat
    Circle: Included
    Kartra: Included
  • Messaging Center
    Circle: Not included
    Kartra: Included

Commerce

  • Shop payments
    Circle: Included
    Kartra: Included
  • Scheduling and bookingsLink to external scheduling available on Starter.
    Circle: Not included
    Kartra: Included

Team

  • Admin users
    Circle: Included
    Kartra: Included
  • Per-admin permissions
    Circle: Included
    Kartra: Included
  • AI Assistant
    Circle: Included
    Kartra: Included

* Note: This table does not capture every feature of Circle or Kartra, and is not intended as a comprehensive list. We keep this page current, but Circle or Kartra may add or remove features that are not shown here.

Circle vs Kartra pricing

Compare plans, prices, and what it costs to get started.

  • Circle

    Current plans and prices

    See what Circle charges on their pricing page.

  • Kartra

    Current plans and prices

    See what Kartra charges on their pricing page.

Cardel: An alternative to
Circle and Kartra

You don't pay until you publish.

Cardel provides a home for your craft. Share and sell your work, grow your audience, and bring your community together on a site of your own.

Common questions

  • Is Cardel an alternative to Circle or Kartra?

    Cardel is a home for your craft: a site of your own with a blog, newsletter, shop, community, and one inbox. It can replace Circle or Kartra when you want your work, audience, and sales in one place. The feature list on this page shows where Circle and Kartra are marked.

  • Can I use Cardel with Circle or Kartra?

    Yes. Cardel pages can link out to other products, so you can keep Circle or Kartra for what it does best and bring the rest of your work to Cardel.

  • How much does Cardel cost compared with Circle and Kartra?

    You don't pay for Cardel until you publish. Choose Starter, Pro, or Studio when your site goes live. Circle and Kartra set their own prices, so check their pricing pages on this page for current plans.

  • How do I switch from Circle or Kartra to Cardel?

    Start with Build Your Site, set up your home, and bring your work over at your own pace. You do not have to move everything on day one.