Is Cardel an alternative to Circle or Patreon?

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 Patreon when you want your work, audience, and sales in one place. The feature list on this page shows where Circle and Patreon are marked.

Can I use Cardel with Circle or Patreon?

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

How much does Cardel cost compared with Circle and Patreon?

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

How do I switch from Circle or Patreon 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.

Compare

CirclevsPatreon

Circle runs member communities with spaces, events, courses, and paywalls. Patreon lets fans fund you monthly for members-only posts, chats, and shop items.

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How Circle and Patreon 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.

Patreon turned fans into patrons. Membership tiers, members-only posts, community chats, a shop for one-off items, and native podcast and video delivery give creators steady income from the people who care most. It is the default word for creator memberships, and the tools have grown up with it.

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.

Patreon

Patreon lives at patreon.com/yourname and gates most content.
Patreon takes a percentage of membership revenue.
Patreon messages patrons in-app.

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

Choose Patreon when recurring fan support with tiers and members-only perks is the model.

Compare features

What's on Circle and Patreon

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

Site and brand

Workspace site
Circle: Included
Patreon: Not included
Custom domain
Circle: Included
Patreon: Not included

Public content

Reader engagement
Circle: Included
Patreon: Not included
Shop pages
Circle: Not included
Patreon: Included

Audience and email

Audience
Circle: Included
Patreon: Included
Marketing emails
Circle: Included
Patreon: Included
Bulk email workflows
Circle: Included
Patreon: Not included
Campaign workflows
Circle: Included
Patreon: Not included

Messaging

Built-in chat
Circle: Included
Patreon: Included

Commerce

Shop payments
Circle: Included
Patreon: Included

Team

Admin users
Circle: Included
Patreon: Included
Per-admin permissions
Circle: Included
Patreon: Included
AI Assistant
Circle: Included
Patreon: Not included

Feature comparison for Circle and Patreon
Feature	Circle	Patreon
Site and brand
Workspace site	Included	Not included
Custom domain	Included	Not included
Public content
Reader engagement	Included	Not included
Shop pages	Not included	Included
Audience and email
Audience	Included	Included
Marketing emails	Included	Included
Bulk email workflows	Included	Not included
Campaign workflows	Included	Not included
Messaging
Built-in chat	Included	Included
Commerce
Shop payments	Included	Included
Team
Admin users	Included	Included
Per-admin permissions	Included	Included
AI Assistant	Included	Not included

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