ChatGPT answers, unedited

Yes. For a business that combines paid 1:1 coaching + a recurring paid community + multiple membership tiers, I’d focus on platforms that can handle all three natively rather than stitching together Calendly + Stripe + Discord + a membership tool.

Here are the main options I’d consider:

1. Kajabi — best if you want an entire coaching business in one place

kajabi.com supports coaching, communities, memberships, courses, offers, payments and marketing in the same ecosystem. Its Communities product specifically supports private/paid/tiered communities, with access tied to different offers. Kajabi Kajabi

A structure like this is possible:

• Community — $49/mo

• Community access
• Content library
• Group calls
• Pro — $149/mo

• Everything above
• Weekly group coaching
• Premium resources
• 1:1 — $500–$1,500/mo

• Everything above
• Private coaching
• Personalized plan/accountability

The big advantage is that you can sell the membership, coaching and digital products through one customer/account system.

Choose Kajabi if: you're building a serious coaching business where marketing, email, funnels, courses and offers matter as much as the community itself.

2. Circle — probably the strongest community-first option

circle.so is particularly compelling if the community is the heart of the product. Its current Professional plan is $89/month and includes paid memberships, courses, discussions, events, live streams/live rooms, a website builder and analytics. Circle

You could structure the community into spaces such as:

• General community
• Member-only resources
• Group coaching
• Premium/mastermind
• Private 1:1 client areas

Circle also has a useful model for tiering: different paid memberships can unlock different spaces/content. Its own recent guidance recommends making tiers meaningfully different in terms of the problem solved or level of support, rather than simply putting more content in higher tiers. Circle

Choose Circle if: you already have an audience and want a polished, branded community experience around your coaching.

3. Mighty Networks — strong for a membership business

mightynetworks.com is particularly oriented around communities, memberships, courses, events and live experiences. Its current Launch plan starts at $79/month, with higher plans adding more automation/integration capabilities. Mighty Networks

It's also designed to let you combine recurring memberships with things like courses, events and coaching/mastermind-style offers. Mighty Networks

For example:

• $39/mo: community
• $99/mo: community + group coaching
• $299/mo: community + mastermind
• $1,000/mo: private coaching

Choose Mighty if: you envision the community itself becoming a substantial standalone membership business.

4. Heartbeat — worth a serious look for coaching

heartbeat.chat is built specifically around communities and creators/coaches. It supports paid access and different access groups, and its current positioning is strongly focused on paid communities. Heartbeat Help Center Mighty Networks

I'd put it on your shortlist if you want something more community-centric than Kajabi without necessarily needing all of Kajabi's broader marketing machinery.

5. Skool — simplest model

skool.com is attractive if you want community + content + coaching without a lot of complexity. It's particularly known for its simple community/gamification model. Kajabi's recent comparison describes Skool as community-first, with points, levels and leaderboards as major parts of the experience. Kajabi

The tradeoff is that if you eventually want sophisticated funnels, multiple differentiated membership products, advanced automation, etc., you may outgrow it.

What I'd narrow it down to

For your particular model, I'd evaluate these three first:

Circle → if community is the product.

Kajabi → if coaching/business infrastructure is the product.

Mighty Networks → if you want to build a larger membership ecosystem.

One important distinction: don't make your tiers simply "more content" vs. "less content." A much cleaner model is to make the tiers correspond to increasing levels of access to you:

• Tier 1: community + resources
• Tier 2: community + group coaching
• Tier 3: community + direct/private coaching

That makes the recurring membership and your premium 1:1 offer complement each other rather than compete with each other. Circle's 2026 research on paid communities gives examples of exactly this kind of progression, where higher tiers correspond to increasing depth of guidance and personalization. Circle

If you tell me your niche, approximate price for 1:1 coaching, expected number of members, and whether you already have an audience, I can narrow these down to 2–3 platforms and compare the actual costs/features for your setup.

5. Skool — simplest model

skool.com is attractive if you want community + content + coaching without a lot of complexity. It's particularly known for its simple community/gamification model. Kajabi's recent comparison describes Skool as community-first, with points, levels and leaderboards as major parts of the experience. Kajabi

The tradeoff is that if you eventually want sophisticated funnels, multiple differentiated membership products, advanced automation, etc., you may outgrow it.

What I'd narrow it down to

For your particular model, I'd evaluate these three first:

Circle → if community is the product.

Kajabi → if coaching/business infrastructure is the product.

Mighty Networks → if you want to build a larger membership ecosystem.

One important distinction: don't make your tiers simply "more content" vs. "less content." A much cleaner model is to make the tiers correspond to increasing levels of access to you:

• Tier 1: community + resources
• Tier 2: community + group coaching
• Tier 3: community + direct/private coaching

That makes the recurring membership and your premium 1:1 offer complement each other rather than compete with each other. Circle's 2026 research on paid communities gives examples of exactly this kind of progression, where higher tiers correspond to increasing depth of guidance and personalization.

Yes. If you want one business with both recurring community revenue and higher-ticket 1:1 coaching, I’d shortlist these four:

My practical take

Circle is worth considering if you want the experience to feel like a professional membership business rather than primarily a social community. Its Professional plan is currently $89/month and includes paid memberships, courses, events, live streams, website building, analytics, custom branding, and unlimited members. Circle

Mighty Networks is particularly interesting if the community itself is the product. It supports multiple tiers/offers, subscriptions, one-time payments, courses, events, and private spaces. Its current Launch plan is $79/month, with higher plans at $179 and $354/month. Mighty Networks

Skool is probably the simplest model to understand operationally: community + content + calls, with tiered pricing built in. Its current plans are $9/month Hobby and $99/month Pro, with transaction fees of 10% and 2.9% respectively. Skool Its own help documentation confirms that you can create multiple paid tiers with different benefits. Skool Help Center

And importantly, the exact business model you're describing is already supported by Skool. For example, communities on the platform currently offer structures like a lower-priced membership, a premium tier with several private coaching sessions, and a VIP tier with recurring 1:1 coaching. Skool

Kajabi makes more sense if you're building a broader creator/coaching business around the community. It combines community with websites, products, marketing, and customer management. Current pricing starts at $179/month monthly ($143/month equivalent annually) for Basic, with one community and five products; higher plans expand those limits. Kajabi

A structure I'd consider

Rather than treating "community" and "coaching" as two separate businesses, you could make them an ascending product ladder:

• Tier 1 — Community: $29–49/month

Community, resources, group calls, basic content.

• Tier 2 — Premium: $99–199/month

Everything above + more training, priority Q&A, group coaching, office hours.

• Tier 3 — 1:1: $500–1,500+/month

Everything above + a defined number of private coaching sessions and/or async support.

This is a particularly natural fit for Skool, Circle, or Mighty Networks, because the member can upgrade without leaving your ecosystem.

If 1:1 coaching is the primary revenue source and the community is the recurring/scale layer, I'd look hardest at Circle or Kajabi. If the community is the primary product and coaching is the premium upsell, I'd look hardest at Skool or Mighty Networks.

If you tell me roughly how many members you expect (e.g. 50, 500, 5,000) and whether you need built-in scheduling/video calls, I can narrow this to 2–3 options and compare the actual economics.

And importantly, the exact business model you're describing is already supported by Skool. For example, communities on the platform currently offer structures like a lower-priced membership, a premium tier with several private coaching sessions, and a VIP tier with recurring 1:1 coaching. Skool

Kajabi makes more sense if you're building a broader creator/coaching business around the community. It combines community with websites, products, marketing, and customer management. Current pricing starts at $179/month monthly ($143/month equivalent annually) for Basic, with one community and five products; higher plans expand those limits.

A structure I'd consider

Rather than treating "community" and "coaching" as two separate businesses, you could make them an ascending product ladder:

Yes. For a business that combines paid 1:1 coaching + a recurring community + multiple membership tiers, I’d put these on the shortlist:

1. Circle — probably the first one I'd investigate

circle.so is particularly aligned with the model you described.

You can create paid membership tiers and paywalls, controlling access to the entire community or specific spaces. It supports subscriptions, one-time payments and installments. Circle Circle

For example, you could structure:

• Community — $49/mo: discussions, resources, group events
• Pro — $149/mo: everything above + group coaching/Q&A
• VIP — $499/mo: everything above + one 1:1 session/month
• Private Coaching — $1,500/mo: dedicated 1:1 coaching, with community included

Circle currently lists Professional at $89/month and Business at $199/month, with different transaction fees and automation capabilities. Circle

The big advantage is that your community and coaching offers can live in the same ecosystem, rather than making clients jump between a community platform, course platform, scheduler, etc. Circle specifically positions its platform around coaching businesses combining 1:1 coaching with scalable community offerings. Circle

2. Kajabi — consider this if marketing/sales funnels matter

kajabi.com is worth considering if your business is going to be more of a digital education + coaching business than a pure community.

It's particularly attractive if you want things like:

• courses
• coaching programs
• landing pages
• email marketing
• sales funnels
• memberships
• payments
• digital products

The tradeoff is that Kajabi can make more sense when you're building a broader marketing/content business, whereas Circle is more community-centric.

3. Mighty Networks — if the community itself is the product

mightynetworks.com is another strong candidate. It combines community spaces, memberships, courses and apps, and is designed around building a network rather than simply putting a course behind a paywall. Mighty Networks Circle

I'd investigate it particularly if member-to-member interaction is going to be a major part of what people pay for.

4. Skool — if you want maximum simplicity

skool.com is worth looking at if your priority is essentially:

community + content + coaching + simple recurring payment.

It's intentionally simpler than platforms such as Kajabi. That can be an advantage if you don't want to spend a lot of time configuring your tech stack.

The potential downside for your specific model is that complex membership segmentation and sophisticated offer structures aren't its strongest area.

How I'd think about the decision

The most important question isn't really "Which platform has a community?"

It's:

How complicated do I want my monetization model to become?

If you're envisioning something like:

Free audience → $30–100/mo community → $200–500/mo group coaching → $1,000–3,000+/mo 1:1 coaching

then I'd lean toward Circle or Kajabi.

If it's:

$50–150/mo community + occasional coaching

I'd look at Circle, Mighty Networks, and Skool.

If it's:

Course → community → coaching → high-ticket upsell, I'd put Kajabi and Circle at the top of the evaluation.

One particularly useful model is to make 1:1 coaching a premium tier of the community rather than a completely separate product. Circle explicitly supports this kind of tiered access, and its current guidance recommends two or three clearly differentiated tiers rather than creating a large number of tiers. Circle Circle

My practical shortlist

I'd demo Circle + Kajabi + Mighty Networks first, and use Skool as the "what if I made this dramatically simpler?" comparison.

If you tell me (1) your expected monthly price for 1:1, (2) community price, (3) approximate number of members, and (4) whether you need built-in Zoom/calendar/scheduling, I can narrow this down to the platforms that fit your exact business model and show you the likely monthly cost.

If you want both paid 1:1 coaching and a paid community with member tiers, you’ll want a platform that can handle:

• recurring memberships (multiple tiers)
• gated content/spaces
• payments
• scheduling or coaching workflows
• member profiles/community interaction
• calls/events
• ideally CRM/email automation

The best options depend on whether your business is more coaching-led, community-led, or content/course-led. Mighty Networks Mighty Networks

Best platforms to consider

Mighty Networks Saaspare## My shortlist by business model

1. You sell high-ticket coaching ($500–$5,000+ programs)

Consider:

• Kajabi — best if you need sales pages, email sequences, lead nurturing, and multiple offers.
• Mighty Networks — better if the community itself is part of the transformation (peer support, cohorts, masterminds).

Example structure:

• Free community → audience building
• $49/month → community membership
• $500/month → group coaching tier
• $2,000/month → 1:1 coaching tier

2. You want the community to be the product

Consider:

• Circle
• Mighty Networks

These are strong if members are paying for:

• networking
• accountability
• weekly calls
• expert access
• member-only resources

3. You want the simplest possible setup

Consider:

• Skool

Good for:

• “join my coaching community”
• weekly Q&A calls
• lessons/resources
• discussions

Less ideal if you want a polished brand ecosystem.

A setup I’d consider for many coaches

Starter stack

• Community: Circle or Mighty Networks
• Scheduling: calendly.com
• Payments: Stripe (via your chosen platform or integration)
• Calls: zoom.us

All-in-one stack

• Kajabi for website + email + offers + memberships + coaching

Community-first stack

• Mighty Networks or Circle + scheduling tool

Questions that would narrow this down:

1. What kind of coaching is it (business, fitness, career, relationships, executive, etc.)?
2. What price range do you expect for 1:1 coaching?
3. Do you want the community to be mostly your content + access to you, or members networking with each other?
4. Do you already have an email list/website, or are you starting from zero?

Yes. For paid 1:1 coaching + a paid community with multiple membership tiers, I’d narrow the field to Kajabi, Circle, Mighty Networks, and Skool. The best choice depends on whether your business is primarily coaching, community, or an all-in-one creator business.

1. Kajabi — best all-in-one

This would be my first option if coaching is a major revenue stream.

Kajabi combines communities, memberships, offers, checkout, email marketing, funnels, courses, and coaching. Its Community product specifically supports free, paid, and tiered access, with different access groups tied to different offers. Kajabi Kajabi

You could structure it like:

• Free — newsletter/content
• Community — $49/mo
• Premium Community — $149/mo + group calls
• 1:1 Coaching — $500–$2,000+/mo
• VIP — community + coaching + additional access

Why I'd consider it: You don't have to stitch together a community platform, checkout system, email platform, landing pages, and coaching products.

Downside: It can be overkill if all you want is a community and coaching.

kajabi.com

2. Circle — best premium community experience

I'd choose Circle if the community itself is the centerpiece and you want sophisticated organization.

Circle is particularly strong for creating different spaces, private groups, courses, events, and paid access. It also supports tiered paywalls; for example, you can have a basic membership and a higher-priced membership that includes coaching. Circle

A model could be:

• Basic — $39/mo: community
• Pro — $99/mo: community + workshops
• Inner Circle — $199/mo: community + group coaching
• 1:1 — $750/mo: private coaching

This is probably my favorite architecture for a serious coaching brand where you want the community to feel premium rather than like a Facebook group.

circle.so

3. Mighty Networks — best if a mobile app matters

Mighty Networks is particularly community-oriented, with memberships, courses, events, livestreaming, discussions, and branded-app options. Mighty Networks

I'd look at it if your selling proposition is something like:

"Join my network of people pursuing X, get access to the community, events and resources, and upgrade for direct coaching."

It's especially attractive if you eventually want a branded mobile community experience.

mightynetworks.com

4. Skool — best for simplicity

Skool is the one I'd consider if you want to launch quickly and don't need a sophisticated business-management system.

It's deliberately simple, with community discussions, courses, events, payments and gamification. Current comparisons consistently position it as the simpler, engagement-focused option for coaches and course/community creators. Mateflow Creator Economy

The tradeoff is that you'll eventually want other tools if your business develops sophisticated funnels, email automation, multiple products, or complex coaching workflows.

skool.com

What I'd choose

If your core business is 1:1 coaching and you're adding a community:

Kajabi → strongest overall

If your core business is a premium community and coaching is an upsell:

Circle → strongest overall

If the community/network is the product and you want a mobile-first experience:

Mighty Networks

If you want to get something live quickly with minimal complexity:

Skool

One particularly attractive model is Circle + Stripe + your existing calendar/video stack: keep the community as the recurring membership engine, then make 1:1 coaching a premium upgrade. Circle even documents examples of communities using separate paywalls for community-only versus community-plus-coaching memberships. Circle

If you tell me roughly what you'd charge for the community, what you'd charge for 1:1, and whether you need courses/email marketing, I can narrow this to the best 2 options and map out exactly how I'd structure your tiers.

Yes. If your model is “paid 1:1 coaching + a recurring community with multiple membership tiers”, I’d shortlist Podia, Circle, Kajabi, and Thinkific. They differ quite a bit in whether they’re coaching-first, community-first, or all-in-one business platforms.

My shortlist

*Prices can vary by billing cycle and region.

1. Podia — my pick for most solo coaches

Podia is probably the closest match to what you're describing without paying for a lot of complexity.

It now has community built in, and you can create multiple paid community plans/tiers with different spaces and content. It also supports selling coaching sessions as products, alongside courses, events, downloads, etc. Podia Help Center Podia Help Center Podia

For example:

• Free — community announcements
• £29/mo — community + resources
• £79/mo — community + weekly group call
• £199/mo — community + one 1:1 call/month
• £500 — standalone 1:1 coaching package

One limitation: a member can only belong to one community plan at a time, so its tier structure isn't quite as sophisticated as some competitors. Podia Help Center

Current annual pricing starts at $42/mo for Mover, $84/mo for Shaker, and $150/mo for Earthquaker. Mover has a 5% transaction fee; the higher plans don't charge Podia transaction fees. Podia

I'd choose Podia if: you're a solo coach and want everything relatively simple.

podia.com

2. Circle — best if the community is the product

Circle is particularly compelling if you want the community itself to feel like a premium destination.

It supports paid memberships, membership tiers, subscriptions, courses, events, coaching, paywalls and different spaces. Circle Circle Circle

You could structure something like:

• Community — $39/mo
• Pro — $99/mo → community + group coaching
• VIP — $299/mo → community + 1:1 coaching
• 1:1 Intensive — $1,500 → standalone coaching

Circle's current Professional plan is $89/month, with paid memberships, courses, events, live streams, discussions and unlimited members. Business is $199/month and adds more sophisticated workflows and customization. Circle

The big advantage over Podia is the community experience. If you're envisioning something that feels like a private professional network rather than a membership attached to your coaching website, I'd lean Circle.

I'd choose Circle if: member interaction, discussion, networking, live sessions and community engagement are central to your offer.

circle.so

3. Kajabi — best premium all-in-one

Kajabi is the heavyweight option.

It supports 1:1 coaching programs, communities, memberships, courses, funnels, email marketing, landing pages and payments in one ecosystem. Its community product supports multiple paid/free access groups within a community. Kajabi Kajabi

This makes it particularly interesting if your business is going to look like:

Free content → email list → low-ticket membership → group coaching → premium 1:1 coaching

Kajabi is designed around that entire customer journey rather than just hosting the community.

The downside is price. Current annual pricing starts at $143/month for Basic, $199/month for Growth and $399/month for Pro. Kajabi

I'd choose Kajabi if: you expect coaching to become a substantial business and want sophisticated marketing/sales automation around it.

kajabi.com

4. Thinkific — best if courses are important too

Thinkific is worth considering if your coaching/community business will also have a substantial course/education component.

Its Membership Builder lets you create multiple subscription memberships, and Thinkific explicitly gives the example of a Gold tier including private community + courses + 1:1 coaching. Thinkific Support

Its current plans put paid memberships on the Start plan and above; following its August 2026 pricing update, Start is $109/month monthly or $876/year (~$73/month), while Basic is $54/month. Thinkific Support Thinkific

I'd choose Thinkific if: your business is fundamentally an education/coaching program and community is an important layer around it.

thinkific.com

What I'd pick for your model

I'd narrow it to three:

🥇 Podia — if you want to launch quickly and keep costs/tech manageable.

🥈 Circle — if your vision is primarily a paid community with coaching as a premium upsell.

🥉 Kajabi — if your vision is a high-ticket coaching business with memberships, funnels, email marketing and multiple offers.

The key question is actually which direction your business flows:

Community → coaching upsell → Circle
Coaching → community membership → Podia
Audience → funnel → membership → courses → coaching → Kajabi

If you tell me roughly what you'd charge for the community, what you'd charge for 1:1 coaching, and whether you need courses/content, I can narrow this down to one platform and show you exactly how I'd structure the tiers and offers on it.

Yes. If you want both paid 1:1 coaching and a paid community with multiple membership tiers, I’d focus on platforms that treat coaching, memberships, payments, and community as one system rather than bolting several tools together.

My shortlist

1. kajabi.com — best all-around fit

This is probably where I'd start for your particular model.

Kajabi supports 1:1 and group coaching, scheduling, payments, memberships, and communities in the same platform. Its community product can have paid/free access groups and tiered access, while coaching offers can be sold separately or bundled with community access. Kajabi Kajabi

You could structure it like:

• Free — newsletter/content
• $49/mo Community — community + resources
• $149/mo Pro — community + group calls + premium resources
• $500–1,500/mo Coaching — 1:1 coaching + everything above

The big advantage is that you can have someone start in the $49 community and upgrade into higher-ticket coaching without changing platforms.

The downside is price: current listed pricing starts at $179/month monthly ($143/month equivalent when billed annually) for Basic, with higher tiers at $249/$499 monthly. Kajabi

My pick if: you're building an actual coaching business rather than just a community.

2. circle.so — best community experience

I'd seriously consider Circle if the community itself is the heart of the business.

It's particularly attractive if your model is:

Community → group coaching → premium 1:1 coaching

Circle gives you a much more community-centric experience than an all-in-one marketing platform. You'd want to look carefully at exactly how you want to handle scheduling and 1:1 delivery, though, because Kajabi is more purpose-built around the coaching-business workflow.

My pick if: community engagement and member experience matter more than having everything under one roof.

3. mightynetworks.com — best for a branded network

Mighty is compelling if you're envisioning something that feels like your own private social network, rather than a coaching portal.

It's particularly good if members interacting with each other is a major part of the value.

My pick if: you're building a network, mastermind, professional community, or membership brand where peer-to-peer interaction is central.

4. skool.com — best for simplicity

Skool is worth considering if you want to keep things extremely simple: community + content + coaching, with gamification and engagement built into the experience.

It's less attractive if you need sophisticated membership architecture, marketing automation, funnels, or a highly customized business model.

My pick if: you want to launch quickly and don't want to spend weeks configuring software.

5. heartbeat.chat — worth looking at for a lean operation

Heartbeat is another community-centric option that makes sense for coaches and membership businesses, particularly if you want something lighter-weight than Kajabi.

I'd put it on the shortlist rather than automatically choosing it, because your tiering + 1:1 coaching workflow is important enough that I'd test the exact customer journey before committing.

What I'd choose

For your specific combination, I'd narrow it to:

Kajabi vs. Circle vs. Mighty Networks.

And I'd make the decision based on what you're actually selling:

• Mostly 1:1 coaching + community as an additional benefit → Kajabi
• Mostly paid community + occasional coaching → Circle
• Community/network is the product → Mighty Networks
• You want maximum simplicity → Skool

One particularly attractive Kajabi setup is having separate offers for each tier, then bundling community access into the higher tiers. Kajabi explicitly supports tiered pricing, standalone paid communities, bundled access, and recurring subscriptions. Kajabi Kajabi

If you tell me roughly (1) your expected monthly price for the community, (2) your 1:1 coaching price, and (3) whether you need courses/content too, I can narrow this to the best 2–3 platforms and show you exactly how I'd structure the tiers on each.

It's particularly attractive if your model is:

Community → group coaching → premium 1:1 coaching

Circle gives you a much more community-centric experience than an all-in-one marketing platform. You'd want to look carefully at exactly how you want to handle scheduling and 1:1 delivery, though, because Kajabi is more purpose-built around the coaching-business workflow.

My pick if: community engagement and member experience matter more than having everything under one roof.

3. mightynetworks.com — best for a branded network

Mighty is compelling if you're envisioning something that feels like your own private social network, rather than a coaching portal.

It's particularly good if members interacting with each other is a major part of the value.

My pick if: you're building a network, mastermind, professional community, or membership brand where peer-to-peer interaction is central.

4. skool.com — best for simplicity

Skool is worth considering if you want to keep things extremely simple: community + content + coaching, with gamification and engagement built into the experience.

It's less attractive if you need sophisticated membership architecture, marketing automation, funnels, or a highly customized business model.

My pick if: you want to launch quickly and don't want to spend weeks configuring software.

5. heartbeat.chat — worth looking at for a lean operation

Heartbeat is another community-centric option that makes sense for coaches and membership businesses, particularly if you want something lighter-weight than Kajabi.

I'd put it on the shortlist rather than automatically choosing it, because your tiering + 1:1 coaching workflow is important enough that I'd test the exact customer journey before committing.

What I'd choose

For your specific combination, I'd narrow it to:

Kajabi vs. Circle vs. Mighty Networks.

And I'd make the decision based on what you're actually selling:

• Mostly 1:1 coaching + community as an additional benefit → Kajabi
• Mostly paid community + occasional coaching → Circle
• Community/network is the product → Mighty Networks
• You want maximum simplicity → Skool

One particularly attractive Kajabi setup is having separate offers for each tier, then bundling community access into the higher tiers. Kajabi explicitly supports tiered pricing, standalone paid communities, bundled access, and recurring subscriptions.

For a business model with paid 1:1 coaching + a paid community with member tiers, you’ll want a platform that can handle:

• Recurring memberships
• Multiple pricing tiers (e.g., Basic / Premium / VIP)
• Private member areas
• Coaching calls or booking workflows
• Payments
• Courses/resources/content
• Member communication
• Ideally CRM/email automation

The best choice depends on whether your coaching or your community is the main product.

Strong options to consider

SaaSpare Mighty Networks## My shortlist by business model

1. High-ticket coach ($500–$5,000+ clients)

Consider:

• Kajabi + Calendly + Zoom
• Circle + Stripe + scheduling tool

Example setup:

• Free community → attracts leads
• $49/month membership → group resources + community
• $199/month tier → group coaching calls
• $2,000/month VIP → 1:1 coaching

Kajabi shines when your business needs marketing funnels, email sequences, landing pages, and selling programs. Digital Course Freelancer

2. Community is the main product

Consider:

• Circle
• Mighty Networks
• Skool

Circle is often chosen when the community itself is the premium experience: organized spaces, events, discussions, and member interaction. Mighty Networks is strong when you want a more social-network feel or eventually a branded app experience. Jean-Marie Cordaro Mighty Networks

3. You want to launch quickly and validate

Consider:

• Skool
• Circle

Skool is attractive if you want a very simple “members join → consume content → interact → attend calls” workflow without much setup. Mateflow

A practical stack I’d consider

For a serious coaching business:

Option A: Premium brand

• Kajabi (sales pages, email, payments, content)
• Circle (community)
• Calendly (1:1 scheduling)
• Zoom (calls)

Option B: Lean creator setup

• Circle or Skool
• Stripe
• Calendly
• Zoom
• ConvertKit/MailerLite for email

Option C: All-in-one

• Kajabi alone

Questions that would narrow it down:

1. What type of coaching is this (fitness, business, career, relationships, etc.)?
2. Are you expecting under 100 members, 100–1,000, or 1,000+?
3. Do you want the community to feel like a premium private club or more like a course with a discussion area?
4. What price tiers are you imagining (e.g., $29/$99/$499 per month)?

Yes. If you want both paid 1:1 coaching and a paid community with multiple membership tiers, I’d focus on platforms that treat coaching, memberships, payments, and community as one system rather than stitching together several tools.

My shortlist

1. Kajabi — my pick if coaching is the core business

Kajabi is particularly strong if your business looks something like:

Free content → paid community → premium membership → 1:1 coaching

It supports separate 1:1 and group coaching programs, scheduling, live video, and additional paid coaching sessions. Kajabi Kajabi Kajabi

Its Communities product also supports paid and tiered access, with different access groups tied to different offers. Kajabi

The big advantage is that your website, email marketing, checkout, memberships, courses, community, and coaching can live together.

I'd choose Kajabi if: you're building a serious coaching/education business and expect to sell higher-ticket offers.

kajabi.com

2. Circle — best if the community is the product

Circle is excellent if you want a polished, modern community where coaching is one layer of the business.

It supports memberships, paywalled tiers, courses, events, group sessions, discussions, and coaching-oriented workflows. Circle

For example, you could structure:

• Free — newsletter/content
• $49/mo Community — community + weekly group call
• $149/mo Pro — community + workshops + monthly group coaching
• $500/mo VIP — everything + one 1:1 session/month

Circle's current Professional plan is $89/month and Business is $199/month. Circle

I'd choose Circle if: you want the community/member experience to feel premium and central to your brand.

circle.so

3. Mighty Networks — best for a community-first membership business

Mighty is particularly good at multiple paid tiers and selectively granting access to different spaces. It supports recurring and one-time payments, multiple tiers/offers, courses, events, and community spaces. Mighty Networks Mighty Networks Developer

Its current Launch plan starts at $79/month, with Scale at $179/month and Growth at $354/month. Mighty Networks

One interesting feature is that you can have different paid experiences without giving everyone access to the entire network—for example, a lower-tier member gets the community while a premium tier gets a private coaching space. Mighty Networks Developer

I'd choose Mighty if: your long-term vision is a large, highly engaged membership community with different levels of access.

mightynetworks.com

4. Skool — best if you want extremely simple

Skool is worth considering if you don't need a sophisticated marketing/CRM system and primarily want:

community + content + recurring membership + coaching.

It's intentionally much simpler than Kajabi, Circle, or Mighty. That can actually be an advantage if you don't want to spend weeks configuring your platform.

The tradeoff is that its membership/tiering and business-automation capabilities aren't as flexible as the platforms above. Mighty Networks

skool.com

What I'd choose for your model

If you're starting from scratch, I'd narrow it to Kajabi vs. Circle.

Choose Kajabi if:

• 1:1 coaching is your highest-value offer
• You want courses/programs alongside coaching
• You need strong email/marketing funnels
• You expect to sell higher-ticket packages
• You want one system handling most of the business

Choose Circle if:

• The community is the centerpiece
• Member interaction is a major part of the value
• You want several membership levels
• You want a premium community experience
• Your coaching is an upsell/add-on to membership

Choose Mighty Networks instead if you expect the community itself to become a substantial membership business with lots of spaces, events, cohorts, and member interaction.

One model I'd seriously consider

Rather than making 1:1 coaching a completely separate product, I'd structure your offers like:

Tier 1 — Community — $29–59/mo
Community + resources + regular group events

Tier 2 — Pro — $99–199/mo
Everything above + group coaching/Q&A + premium content

Tier 3 — VIP — $300–750+/mo
Everything above + 1–2 private coaching sessions/month

That gives you a natural ascension path from community → group coaching → 1:1, while keeping your calendar from getting overwhelmed.

If you tell me roughly what you coach, your expected monthly price for the community, and your 1:1 coaching price, I can narrow this to the best 2–3 platforms and map out exactly how I'd structure the tiers.

The tradeoff is that its membership/tiering and business-automation capabilities aren't as flexible as the platforms above.

If you want both premium 1:1 coaching and a paid community with member tiers, you’ll want a platform that can handle:

• recurring memberships (multiple tiers)
• gated content/spaces
• payments + subscriptions
• coaching packages
• scheduling or integrations for calls
• onboarding and email automation
• a good member experience

The best options to compare are:

Mighty Networks Mighty Networks## My shortlist by business model

1. Premium coach ($500–$10k+ clients) + membership community

Consider:

• Kajabi
• Circle + a scheduling tool

Example structure:

• Free tier: newsletter/resources
• $49/mo: community membership
• $199/mo: group coaching tier
• $2,000/mo: private 1:1 coaching

Kajabi is especially strong if your business depends on funnels, email sequences, selling programs, and upsells. Kajabi

2. Community is the main product (mastermind/network model)

Consider:

• Circle
• Mighty Networks

Example:

• Bronze: community access
• Silver: monthly group calls
• Gold: small-group mentoring
• Platinum: limited 1:1 access

Circle and Mighty Networks are built around spaces, member interaction, events, and paid access models. Mighty Networks Mighty Networks

3. You want the fastest MVP

Consider:

• Skool

Good if you want to validate:

• “Will people pay for this community?”
• “Will members engage?”
• “Can I convert members into coaching clients?”

You can always migrate later.

A stack I’d consider for a serious coaching business

Option A: all-in-one

• Kajabi → website + payments + email + community + coaching offers
• Zoom → calls
• Calendly → scheduling

Option B: community-first

• Circle or Mighty Networks → community
• Stripe → payments
• Calendly → coaching bookings
• ConvertKit/Mailchimp → email

Option C: lean MVP

• Skool → community + courses
• Stripe → payments
• Calendly → 1:1 calls

What I’d choose based on your goal

• If you are building a personal brand and selling high-ticket coaching → Kajabi
• If you are building a membership ecosystem where members connect with each other → Circle or Mighty Networks
• If you are testing the idea and want simplicity → Skool

A few questions would narrow it down:

1. What price range is your 1:1 coaching (e.g., $100/session, $1k/month, $10k package)?
2. Do you want the community to be mostly you teaching or members networking with each other?
3. Roughly how many members do you expect in year one (50, 500, 5,000+)?

Yes. If you want both premium 1:1 coaching and a paid community with multiple membership tiers, I’d focus on platforms that treat coaching and community as parts of the same business rather than bolting a community onto a coaching tool.

My shortlist

1. Kajabi — best if coaching is a major revenue stream

kajabi.com

This would be my first choice if you're building a serious coaching business.

Kajabi combines coaching, courses, memberships, community, payments, email marketing, landing pages, and automations. Its Communities product supports free, paid, and tiered access, and those access groups can be connected to specific offers. Kajabi Kajabi

You could structure it like:

• Free — newsletter/community preview
• $49/mo Community — group discussions + weekly calls
• $149/mo Premium — community + workshops + additional access
• $500–$1,500/mo Coaching — private 1:1 coaching
• $2,000+ package — coaching + premium community + courses

The big advantage is that you can move someone from community → premium tier → 1:1 coaching without having to stitch together several systems.

Choose Kajabi if: you're trying to build an expertise/coaching business rather than merely a community.

2. Circle — my pick if the community experience is the centerpiece

circle.so

Circle is particularly attractive if you want your members to feel like they're joining a professional membership community, rather than buying a course.

It supports discussions, courses, events, live rooms, paid memberships, multiple access levels, and segmentation. Circle explicitly positions itself for coaching businesses and supports memberships, paywalled tiers, cohorts, Q&As, and group sessions. Circle

Current listed pricing starts at $89/month for Professional and $199/month for Business. Circle

A particularly nice setup would be:

Community → Premium Community → VIP/1:1

For example:

• $39/mo — community
• $99/mo — community + group coaching
• $299/mo — community + intensive group program
• $1,000/mo — private coaching

Choose Circle if: the community itself is your product and coaching is layered on top.

3. Mighty Networks — excellent for a membership/community business

mightynetworks.com

Mighty is especially strong if you want lots of member interaction, events, groups, courses, and mobile participation.

It supports multiple tiers/offers, subscriptions, installments, free trials, one-time payments, and access to specific spaces. Mighty Networks Mighty Networks

Its current plans include Launch at $79/month, Scale at $179/month, and Growth at $354/month when billed monthly. Mighty Networks

The interesting thing for your model is that Mighty isn't limited to a $20–$50 community. It gives examples of businesses selling substantially higher-priced memberships and coaching programs inside the same ecosystem. Mighty Networks

Choose Mighty if: you expect the community to become a substantial standalone business with lots of events, member interaction, and potentially a mobile app.

4. Skool — worth considering for simplicity

skool.com

Skool is appealing if you want very little operational complexity: community + content + memberships + gamification.

I'd put it behind Kajabi/Circle/Mighty for your particular use case, though, because you're specifically talking about both 1:1 coaching and multiple membership tiers. If your model is primarily:

"Join my community for $X/month, and occasionally buy coaching from me"

Skool can make sense.

If it's:

"I have a coaching business with several levels of access, and community is part of my overall client journey"

I'd choose Kajabi or Circle instead.

What I'd choose for your model

I'd narrow it to three:

🥇 Kajabi

Best if you want an all-in-one coaching business.

1:1 coaching + courses + community + multiple tiers + funnels + email + payments

🥈 Circle

Best if you want a premium community brand with coaching attached.

Community + memberships + group coaching + events + courses + 1:1

🥉 Mighty Networks

Best if you want to build a large, highly interactive membership community.

Community + multiple paid tiers + events + courses + mobile experience

One important distinction

Before picking a platform, I'd decide whether your business is fundamentally:

A. Coaching business with a community

1:1 coaching is the premium product; community is the scalable layer.

→ Kajabi

B. Community business with coaching

Membership is the core recurring revenue; 1:1 is the premium upsell.

→ Circle or Mighty

C. Community-first creator business

Simple membership, content, accountability, and occasional coaching.

→ Skool

If you tell me roughly what you'd charge for 1:1 coaching, your expected community price (e.g. $30/$100/$300 tiers), and whether you need courses/email marketing, I can narrow this down to the best 2 platforms and show you exactly how I'd structure the tiers on each.

If you want both paid 1:1 coaching and a paid community with member tiers, you’ll want a platform that can handle:

• Recurring memberships (multiple tiers)
• Private member areas
• Coaching products/packages
• Payments and subscriptions
• Scheduling or integrations for 1:1 calls
• Content delivery (courses, resources, recordings)
• Community engagement

The best fit depends on whether your business is coaching-first, community-first, or content/course-first. Mighty Networks Digital Course Freelancer

Best options to consider

Mighty Networks Mighty Networks## My shortlist by business model

1. You are a coach selling high-ticket 1:1 + a membership

Consider:

Kajabi + scheduling tool

• Tier examples: - Free newsletter
• $49/mo community
• $199/mo group coaching tier
• $2,000+ private coaching package
• Strong if you want funnels, email campaigns, lead magnets, and upsells.

Digital Course Freelancer### 2. Your community is the main product

Consider:

Circle

• Tier examples: - Basic: community access
• Pro: monthly workshops + resources
• VIP: monthly 1:1 call + private group
• Better if members are paying mainly for connection, accountability, and access.

Mighty Networks### 3. You want a “membership + mastermind” feel

Consider:

Mighty Networks

• Good for: - Cohorts
• Challenges
• Member networking
• Events
• Courses attached to community

Mighty Networks### 4. You want to launch quickly and validate

Consider:

Skool

• Good for testing: - “$99/month accountability group”
• Fitness coaching
• Business masterminds
• Creator communities

It is intentionally simpler than the others. Jean-Marie Cordaro

A common stack for serious coaches

A lot of coaches eventually separate functions:

• Community: Circle or Mighty Networks
• Scheduling: Calendly or similar
• Payments: Stripe
• Video calls: Zoom
• Email/CRM: ConvertKit, ActiveCampaign, HubSpot, or Kajabi

This gives you more flexibility but adds complexity.

What I would choose in your situation

If you are starting from scratch:

1. Circle — best balance if the paid community is the core offer.
2. Kajabi — best if you want a full marketing machine and expect to sell courses/coaching funnels.
3. Mighty Networks — best if your value proposition is “join this network and grow with others.”
4. Skool — best if you want to launch fast with minimal setup.

A key question: Is your community meant to be the main recurring revenue product, or is it mainly a lower-priced entry point that feeds people into your 1:1 coaching? The answer changes the best platform.

Yes. If you want both paid 1:1 coaching and a paid community with multiple membership tiers, I’d focus on platforms that can handle the two offers in the same customer/account system rather than stitching together a coaching app + community app.

Here are the ones I’d seriously consider in 2026:

*Skool is more community/coaching-program oriented than a sophisticated dedicated 1:1 coaching CRM.

1. Circle — my first choice

circle.so

This is probably the closest match to what you're describing.

You could structure it something like:

• Free — newsletter / preview community
• Community — $29/mo
• Pro — $99/mo, includes group coaching/events
• VIP — $299/mo, includes community + monthly 1:1
• Private 1:1 — $500–$2,000+/mo, with community included

Circle specifically positions its platform around combining 1:1 coaching with a separate community/group-program tier, and supports using the community as an upsell from coaching. Circle

Its big advantage is segmentation: you can create different spaces and control which members get access to them. That's useful if, for example, VIP members get access to a private mastermind area while everyone gets the main community.

Current third-party comparisons put Circle Professional around $89/mo with transaction fees, with higher tiers adding more capabilities. Pricing has changed enough that I'd verify the exact current plan before buying. Saaspare Kazokus

I'd choose Circle if: your business is fundamentally coaching + membership, and you want a polished, professional experience.

2. Kajabi — best if marketing/sales are important

kajabi.com

Kajabi makes more sense if you envision the business becoming:

content + courses + community + coaching + email marketing + sales funnels.

Its Communities product supports standalone paid memberships, bundled access, and tiered pricing. Kajabi

For example:

• $49/mo — community
• $149/mo — community + group coaching
• $499/mo — community + monthly 1:1
• $2,000 package — intensive 1:1 coaching

The downside is that Kajabi is considerably more expensive than a community-first platform. You're paying for the broader business/marketing ecosystem.

I'd choose Kajabi if: you also want landing pages, email marketing, courses, funnels, payments, etc., and don't want to assemble those separately.

3. Skool — best if you want dead-simple

skool.com

Skool is attractive if your philosophy is:

"I want my clients to log in, see the community, consume the material, attend calls, and interact. I don't need 500 configuration options."

It's particularly strong for coaching/accountability communities, with community, courses, gamification and live calls in one environment. Saaspare StackScored

I'd be less inclined to use it if complex membership segmentation and sophisticated 1:1 client management are central to your business.

I'd choose Skool if: you're selling something like a $50–$300/month coaching membership and want the least operational complexity.

4. Mighty Networks — best for a community-centric brand

mightynetworks.com

Mighty is worth a serious look if you want the community itself to become a major asset.

It supports paid memberships, tiered memberships, courses, events and increasingly sophisticated community experiences. Mighty Networks

It's especially interesting if you eventually want a branded/mobile-app-style community experience.

I'd choose Mighty if: you're building a larger membership/network rather than primarily selling coaching.

5. Heartbeat — underrated for coaching

Heartbeat is worth putting on your shortlist if you want something more structured around cohorts, groups, events and coaching.

It's less of an obvious household name than Circle/Kajabi/Skool, but current comparisons put it in the same general category, with plans ranging from roughly $49/mo upward depending on scale. ItHub

I'd choose Heartbeat if: your business has a lot of group programs, cohorts, events and ongoing member interaction.

What I'd pick for your model

If I were setting this up from scratch, my shortlist would be:

🥇 Circle — if the core business is premium coaching + paid membership

🥈 Kajabi — if the core business is coaching + courses + marketing/sales

🥉 Skool — if the core business is simple recurring coaching/community

The important question isn't really "which has communities?"—all of these do. It's how you want your offers to interact.

For example, if your intended model is:

$49/mo community → $149/mo premium tier → $500/mo group coaching → $1,500/mo 1:1 coaching

then I'd lean Circle because you can make the community the base product and progressively unlock spaces/services as someone moves up the value ladder. Circle itself recommends this kind of distinct community tier alongside 1:1 coaching. Circle

If you tell me (1) your expected monthly price for 1:1, (2) your community price(s), (3) whether you need courses/content, and (4) roughly how many members you expect in year 1, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 platforms and show you exactly how I'd structure the tiers on each.

If you want both paid 1:1 coaching and a paid community with member tiers, you’ll want a platform that can handle:

• Recurring memberships (multiple tiers)
• Private member areas
• Payments/subscriptions
• Coaching calls or appointments
• Courses/resources (optional but common)
• Community discussions/events
• Automations (onboarding, upsells, reminders)

The best options to consider:

Mighty Networks Mighty Networks## My shortlist by business model

1. High-ticket coach (few clients paying $500–$5,000+)

Consider:

• Kajabi + scheduling tool (for example, Calendly)
• Circle + CRM/payment stack

Example structure:

• Free community → lead generation
• $49/mo membership → group resources + Q&A
• $299/mo tier → weekly group coaching
• $2,000 package → private 1:1 coaching

Kajabi is especially attractive if you need marketing funnels, email campaigns, and sales pages in the same system. Mighty Networks

2. Community is the main product

Consider:

• Circle
• Mighty Networks

Example:

• Bronze: community access
• Silver: community + monthly group calls
• Gold: community + small-group coaching
• VIP: private coaching

Circle and Mighty Networks are built more around member interaction and paid spaces than traditional course platforms. Mighty Networks

3. You want the fastest, simplest launch

Consider:

• Skool

Good if your offer is:

• Weekly calls
• Community accountability
• Challenges
• Coaching conversations

Less ideal if you want a polished branded ecosystem with advanced marketing.

Features I would prioritize for your use case

Make sure your platform supports:

• Tier-based permissions: different members see different rooms/content
• Private coaching spaces: VIP clients get separate access
• Events/live calls: recurring coaching sessions
• Member directory: helps community networking
• Automated onboarding: welcome emails, forms, agreements
• Stripe integration: recurring billing and upgrades
• Client notes/CRM integration: important once you have many 1:1 clients

A practical recommendation

For most coaches building this model today, I’d narrow it to:

1. Kajabi — if you want to build a full business engine (website + funnels + email + products).
2. Circle — if the community experience is your differentiator.
3. Mighty Networks — if you want a social-network-style membership with strong engagement.
4. Skool — if you want to validate the offer quickly before investing heavily.

A key question: Is your community the main product (members pay to belong), or is the community mainly a feeder/retention layer for your 1:1 coaching? That changes the best choice quite a bit.

Yes. If you want both paid 1:1 coaching and a paid community with multiple membership tiers, I’d narrow the field to Circle, Kajabi, Mighty Networks, and Skool. The best choice depends heavily on whether coaching or community is the center of the business.

My top 3

1. Circle — my default recommendation

circle.so

I'd look at Circle first if your vision is something like:

• Basic: $49/month — community access
• Pro: $149/month — community + group coaching
• VIP: $500/month — community + 1:1 coaching

Circle is particularly good when you want lots of distinct spaces, private groups, events, courses/content, member profiles, and different access levels. Current comparisons put its paid plans around $89–$199+ depending on tier, with transaction fees varying by plan. Saaspare CASRAI

Why I like it for your model: you can make the community the base product and layer coaching on top rather than treating coaching and community as two separate businesses.

2. Kajabi — best if coaching is the bigger business

kajabi.com

Kajabi is especially compelling if you also want landing pages, email marketing, funnels, courses, digital products, payments, memberships, and coaching in the same ecosystem.

Its Communities product explicitly supports private, paid, and tiered communities, and access can be tied to different Offers. Kajabi

For example:

• Community: $29/month
• Community + monthly group call: $99/month
• Community + 1:1 coaching: $499/month
• Executive coaching: $1,500/month

That kind of product ladder is very natural in Kajabi.

The downside: you're paying for a much larger business platform, so it can be overkill if all you really need is community + coaching.

3. Mighty Networks — best if the community itself is the product

mightynetworks.com

Mighty is worth considering if you're building something that feels more like a membership network than a coaching program. It has strong community functionality, courses, events, membership monetization and branded-app capabilities. Mighty Networks

I'd choose it over Kajabi if your main value proposition is:

"Join this community of people like you."

rather than:

"Buy my coaching program."

And Skool?

skool.com

Skool is excellent if you want dead-simple community + content + coaching and don't care much about sophisticated customization. It's particularly popular for coaching/cohort communities and uses gamification to encourage participation. Saaspare Kajabi

But I'd put it behind Circle for your specific requirement because member-tier architecture and a sophisticated premium/VIP structure are more important in your use case.

What I'd choose

If you told me:

"I want to build a coaching business where someone can join my community for $50/month, upgrade to $150/month for group coaching, or pay $500–$1,000/month for private coaching."

I'd choose Circle.

If you said:

"I'm building a personal brand/business with courses, email funnels, digital products, memberships and coaching."

I'd choose Kajabi.

If you said:

"The community/network is the main product, and coaching is an additional revenue stream."

I'd choose Mighty Networks.

If you said:

"I want the simplest possible setup and don't need a lot of customization."

I'd choose Skool.

One important distinction: don't just compare whether a platform technically supports "tiers." You want to verify that it can handle the access logic you actually want—for example, Tier 1 gets Community A; Tier 2 gets A+B; VIP gets A+B+private coaching, with upgrades/downgrades happening automatically.

If you tell me your rough pricing for the 1:1 coaching and community tiers + whether you already use something like Stripe, Kajabi, Zoom, or an email platform, I can narrow this to the best 2 options and show you exactly how I'd structure the offers.

Yes. If your business model is “high-ticket 1:1 coaching + recurring paid community + multiple membership tiers,” I’d narrow the field considerably.

My shortlist

1. Circle — probably my first choice

Circle is particularly well suited to the model you're describing.

You can have, for example:

• Free community
• $49/mo Core membership
• $149/mo Pro membership
• $500/mo VIP membership
• $2,000+ 1:1 coaching package

Circle supports paid memberships, courses, discussions, events, live rooms/streams, website building, and access control. Its coaching offering specifically emphasizes combining 1:1 coaching with memberships, cohorts, group sessions, and paywalled tiers. Circle Circle

Current Professional pricing is $89/month, with Business at $199/month; transaction fees are listed at 2% and 1% respectively. Circle

Why I'd lean Circle: it gives you a polished community experience without forcing your business to become primarily a course business.

2. Kajabi — best if coaching is the core business

Kajabi makes more sense if you want the platform to be your entire business operating system: website → email → funnel → offer → payment → coaching → community.

Kajabi Communities supports multiple access groups, meaning you can have free and paid tiers within the same community, with each group connected to its own offer. Kajabi

Its current Basic plan starts at $179/month monthly ($143/month when billed annually) and includes one community, while higher plans increase capacity and functionality. Kajabi

Pick Kajabi over Circle if: you're going to sell lots of courses, digital products, email funnels and coaching packages alongside the community.

3. Mighty Networks — best if the community itself is the product

Mighty Networks is very strong for a membership business where you want people interacting with each other, rather than simply consuming your content.

It supports paid memberships, courses, events, livestreaming, recurring payments, installment plans and multiple currencies. Mighty also explicitly supports multiple membership levels and upsells such as coaching and events. Mighty Networks Mighty Networks

Its current Launch plan is $79/month, with Scale at $179/month. Mighty Networks

Pick Mighty if: your vision is closer to “I'm building a network/mastermind/community” than “I'm building a coaching business with a community attached.”

4. Skool — great if you want dead-simple

Skool is worth considering if you don't need elaborate marketing automation.

Its strength is essentially:

community + courses + gamification + payment

It's particularly attractive for coaches who want members to show up, interact and progress without a complicated platform.

The tradeoff is that it's less flexible than Circle/Kajabi for a sophisticated multi-tier business.

What I'd actually build

If your goal is to combine 1:1 + community, I'd structure it something like:

Tier 1 — Community

• $49–99/month
• Community access
• Weekly group call
• Resource library
• Member networking

Tier 2 — Pro

• $149–299/month
• Everything above
• Smaller group/coaching calls
• Accountability
• More direct access to you

Tier 3 — VIP

• $500–1,000+/month
• Everything above
• 1:1 calls
• Private messaging/access
• Personalized plan/reviews

Separate premium coaching

• $2,000–10,000+ packages
• Dedicated 1:1 engagement
• Could include community membership as a bonus

That structure is important because you don't necessarily want your 1:1 coaching and community to be two separate businesses. Ideally, someone can move naturally from community → group coaching → 1:1.

My recommendation

I'd rank them:

1. Circle — best balance for your exact model
2. Kajabi — best if you also want a serious marketing/course/email business
3. Mighty Networks — best if community/network effects are the main product
4. Skool — best if simplicity matters more than flexibility

If you tell me your expected price for the 1:1 coaching, your intended community price(s), and roughly how many members you expect, I can narrow this down to the best 1–2 platforms and show you exactly how I'd structure the tiers and payments on them.

Pick Mighty if: your vision is closer to “I'm building a network/mastermind/community” than “I'm building a coaching business with a community attached.”

4. Skool — great if you want dead-simple

Skool is worth considering if you don't need elaborate marketing automation.

Its strength is essentially:

community + courses + gamification + payment

It's particularly attractive for coaches who want members to show up, interact and progress without a complicated platform.

The tradeoff is that it's less flexible than Circle/Kajabi for a sophisticated multi-tier business.

What I'd actually build

If your goal is to combine 1:1 + community, I'd structure it something like:

Tier 1 — Community

• $49–99/month
• Community access
• Weekly group call
• Resource library
• Member networking

Tier 2 — Pro

Yes. For your model—paid 1:1 coaching + a paid community + multiple membership tiers—I’d focus on platforms that can handle both high-touch coaching and recurring memberships, rather than a community-only tool.

My shortlist

1. Circle — probably my first choice

circle.so

This is the one I'd investigate first for your exact model. Circle supports memberships, subscriptions, paywalled tiers, courses, events, group sessions, discussions and coaching in the same ecosystem. It also has access controls and automations based on member behavior. Circle

You could structure it like:

• Free — newsletter / preview community
• Community — $49/mo — full community + weekly group call
• Pro — $149/mo — community + additional resources + monthly group coaching
• 1:1 Coaching — $500–$2,000+/mo — private coaching + access to the Pro community

The big advantage is that your 1:1 clients can live inside the same ecosystem as your lower-priced members, rather than maintaining separate software.

I'd choose Circle if: the community experience and member segmentation are central to your business.

2. Kajabi — best if you're building a larger coaching business

kajabi.com

Kajabi is more of a business operating system than simply a community platform. Its Communities product supports standalone paid memberships, bundled access and tiered pricing, with access tied to different offers. Kajabi

This becomes particularly attractive if you also want:

• Landing pages
• Email marketing
• Courses
• Coaching programs
• Sales funnels
• Memberships
• Payments
• Upsells

For example:

$29/mo → Community
$99/mo → Community + group coaching
$1,000/mo → 1:1 coaching + everything above

The downside is that Kajabi can be more platform than you need if you're primarily selling coaching and community.

I'd choose Kajabi if: you expect coaching to grow into courses, digital products, funnels and a larger online education business.

3. Mighty Networks — best if community is the product

mightynetworks.com

Mighty is particularly strong around community, member interaction, spaces and branded experiences. It supports paid/tiered memberships and is designed around bringing content, community and commerce together. Mighty Networks

I'd consider it if your business is more:

"Join my network of people pursuing X"

than:

"Hire me as a coach, and community is an additional benefit."

It can work very well for memberships with multiple groups, cohorts or sub-communities.

4. Skool — best for simplicity

skool.com

Skool is appealing if you want very little technical overhead. Community, courses, discussions, calendar/live calls and gamification are tightly integrated.

It's particularly good for a model like:

One community → one monthly membership → coaching calls inside the community.

The limitation for your use case is that if you eventually want complex membership architecture, sophisticated segmentation, marketing automation and multiple offers, you'll probably outgrow its simplicity sooner than Circle or Kajabi.

What I'd pick for you

If I were choosing based purely on your description:

🥇 Circle — best overall
🥈 Kajabi — best if you're building a broader coaching/product business
🥉 Mighty Networks — best if community/network effects are the main product
4. Skool — best if you want extremely simple and community-first

One important distinction: don't optimize for "does it have a community?" Almost all of these do. I'd optimize for whether you can cleanly create a ladder like:

Free audience → paid community → premium community/group coaching → 1:1 coaching

and let someone upgrade without creating a new account or moving to another platform.

For your particular model, Circle and Kajabi are the two I'd demo first. Current 2026 comparisons also generally place Circle among the strongest options for structured paid communities, while Kajabi makes more sense when community is part of a broader coaching/course business. Jean-Marie Cordaro Kajabi

If you tell me your rough price points for the 1:1 coaching and community tiers (e.g. "$50/mo community + $1,000/mo coaching"), I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 and compare the actual monthly cost, payment fees, tiering, scheduling, CRM/email, and client experience for your business.

Yes. If your model is paid 1:1 coaching + a recurring paid community + multiple membership tiers, I’d focus on platforms that can handle both the high-touch and scalable sides of the business without forcing you to stitch together lots of tools.

My shortlist

1. Circle — probably my first choice

circle.so is particularly well suited to the model you're describing.

You can have, for example:

• Free — newsletter/community preview
• Community — $49/mo
• Pro — $149/mo with group coaching/office hours
• VIP — $500–$2,000+/mo with 1:1 coaching

Circle supports paid memberships, paywalled tiers, courses, events, live sessions, discussions, and 1:1 connections. Its coaching offering is explicitly designed around moving beyond 1:1 into scalable community memberships. Circle Circle Community

The current Professional plan is $89/month, with a Business plan at $199/month for additional workflows and customization. Circle

I'd pick Circle if: the community itself is going to be a major part of your brand and customer experience.

2. Kajabi — best if you want the entire business under one roof

kajabi.com is stronger if you're thinking beyond community and want a complete coaching business platform.

It combines:

• 1:1 and group coaching
• paid communities
• membership subscriptions
• multiple membership tiers
• courses
• landing pages
• email marketing
• checkout/payments
• automations
• analytics

Kajabi specifically supports multiple Community Access Groups, each connected to an Offer, so you can create different levels of access and pricing. Kajabi Kajabi It also supports 1:1 coaching alongside group coaching. Kajabi

I'd pick Kajabi if: your business is going to be coaching + courses + funnels + email + memberships, rather than primarily a community.

3. Mighty Networks — best for a community-centric business

mightynetworks.com is excellent if your vision is more like "my members belong to a network" rather than simply "my clients have access to my coaching portal."

It supports paid memberships, courses, events, bundles and multiple pricing structures. Mighty also has native mobile apps, which is a meaningful advantage if you want members interacting with the community frequently from their phones. Mighty Networks Mighty Networks

You can also use limited memberships and individual spaces to create different access levels. Mighty Networks Developer

I'd pick Mighty if: community engagement, networking and mobile usage are central to the product.

4. Skool — best for simplicity

skool.com is worth considering if you want something extremely straightforward: community + content + coaching calls without a huge amount of infrastructure.

The tradeoff is that it's less of an all-in-one business operating system than Kajabi or Circle. If sophisticated tiering, marketing automation and different customer journeys are important, I'd look at Circle/Kajabi first.

What I'd recommend for your particular model

I'd structure the business something like this:

Tier 1 — Community

$30–75/month
Community + resources + group discussions

Tier 2 — Coaching Community

$100–300/month
Everything above + weekly group coaching + office hours

Tier 3 — Private Coaching

$750–2,500+/month
Everything above + scheduled 1:1 sessions + private access

Then you can create natural upgrade paths:

Free audience → Community → Group Coaching → 1:1 Coaching

That model is especially well suited to Circle or Kajabi.

My ranking

If community is the heart of the business:
🥇 Circle → 🥈 Mighty Networks → 🥉 Skool

If coaching + courses + marketing are the heart:
🥇 Kajabi → 🥈 Circle → 🥉 Podia

If I were starting this business today: I'd probably choose Circle if I already had an audience, and Kajabi if I wanted the platform to handle the entire sales/marketing/coaching operation.

If you tell me your rough monthly price for the community, number of members you expect, 1:1 coaching price, and whether you need courses/email marketing, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 options and compare their actual costs/features for your setup.

If you want paid 1:1 coaching + a paid community with multiple member tiers, you’ll want a platform that can handle:

• recurring subscriptions
• tiered access (e.g., Basic / Pro / VIP)
• private spaces for different tiers
• coaching bookings or integrations
• payments
• member management
• live calls/events
• content delivery (optional)

The best options depend on whether your business is more coaching-first, community-first, or all-in-one creator business. Jean-Marie Cordaro

Best platforms to consider

LearnShare CustomerHub## My shortlist by business model

1. You sell premium coaching ($500–$5,000+) and want a community as a bonus

Consider:

Kajabi

• 1:1 coaching offers
• group programs
• courses
• email funnels
• landing pages
• payments

Good if your goal is eventually building a full coaching company.

Circle

• Better if the community experience itself is part of the value
• Example tiers: - $49/mo Community
• $199/mo Pro Group Coaching
• $1,000/mo VIP + 1:1 access

2. You want a membership community with some coaching upsells

Consider:

Circle

• Probably the strongest fit.
• You can create: - public/free area
• paid member area
• VIP mastermind area
• private coaching spaces

Mighty Networks

• Similar direction, especially if you want a more branded “network” feel. Jean-Marie Cordaro

3. You want the fastest, simplest launch

Consider:

Skool

• Good if your model is: - weekly calls
• accountability
• lessons
• discussions
• challenges

It is intentionally simple, which can be an advantage if you don’t want to spend weeks building. LearnShare

4. You already have an audience and mainly need paid tiers

Consider:

Patreon

• Great for: - creators
• newsletters
• podcasts
• exclusive content

Less ideal if your members are paying for transformation, coaching, or structured outcomes. Arythmatic Connect

A stack I’d consider for different stages

Starting (0–100 members)

• Circle or Skool
• Stripe for payments
• Calendly for 1:1 booking
• Zoom for coaching calls

Growing (100–1,000 members)

• Circle or Kajabi
• automated onboarding
• tier-specific content
• CRM/email automation

Premium coaching brand

• Kajabi + Circle
• or Kajabi alone if you want everything under one roof

My recommendation based on your description

Since you specifically want both paid 1:1 coaching and a paid community with member tiers, I would start by comparing:

1. Circle — best overall fit for a tiered coaching community
2. Kajabi — best if you want to build a larger education/coaching business
3. Skool — best if you want to launch quickly and keep it simple

A key question: Are your members primarily paying for access to you (coaching), access to each other (community), or access to content/programs (courses)? The answer changes the best choice.

Yes. If you want both premium 1:1 coaching and a paid community with multiple membership tiers, I’d shortlist these:

1. Kajabi — my first choice

Kajabi is probably the closest match to what you're describing. It supports 1:1 coaching, paid communities, memberships, courses, offers, payments, email marketing and automation in one system. Kajabi Kajabi

Most importantly for your model, Kajabi lets you create different paid/free tiers within a Community, with each tier controlling access to different spaces/content. Kajabi

You could structure it like:

• Free — newsletter/community preview
• $49/mo Community — group discussions + weekly Q&A
• $149/mo Pro — community + workshops + additional resources
• $500/mo VIP — Pro + one 1:1 session/month
• $2,000+ Coaching — intensive 1:1 program

The downside is price. Current plans start around $143/month when billed annually for the Basic plan, with higher tiers at $199 and $399/month. Kajabi

I'd choose Kajabi if: your goal is to build a serious coaching business rather than simply a community.

2. Circle — best if community is the centerpiece

circle.so is particularly attractive if you want the community itself to feel like the product.

It has paid memberships, courses, events, live rooms/streams, member profiles, discussions, website building and payments. Its Professional plan is currently listed at $89/month. Circle

I'd envision:

Community
→ Bronze
→ Silver
→ Gold

Then use the higher tiers to unlock things like private spaces, group calls, office hours, and coaching.

The main reason I'd put Circle behind Kajabi for you is that Kajabi is more explicitly built around selling expertise/coaching as a business, whereas Circle feels more community-native.

3. Mighty Networks — strongest community/membership orientation

mightynetworks.com is another strong option if you expect the community to become a major part of the business.

Mighty supports paid memberships, courses, events, bundles and multiple payment intervals. It also allows you to gate individual spaces or combinations of spaces behind different plans. Mighty Networks Mighty Networks Developer

Its current Launch plan is $79/month when billed annually, with Scale at $179/month. Mighty Networks

I'd favor Mighty over Kajabi if your business is fundamentally:

"I run a membership community, and coaching is one of the things members can buy."

I'd favor Kajabi if it's:

"I'm a coach, and the community is one component of my coaching business."

That's an important distinction.

4. Skool — worth considering if you want extremely simple

skool.com is worth looking at if you don't need sophisticated marketing/automation.

It's particularly good for the classic:

Community + content + group coaching + occasional 1:1 upsell

model.

But I wouldn't make it my first choice if multiple sophisticated membership tiers and premium 1:1 offers are central to your business. The other three give you more room to build a complex offer ladder.

What I'd choose

For the business model you're describing, I'd rank them:

1. Kajabi — if you want one platform to run the whole business
2. Circle — if the community experience is your competitive advantage
3. Mighty Networks — if you're building a large membership/community business
4. Skool — if you value simplicity above customization

One important thing I'd decide before choosing

Think about whether your 1:1 coaching and community are separate products or levels of the same product.

For example:

Community

• $39/mo — Community
• $99/mo — Community + group coaching
• $299/mo — Community + weekly small-group coaching

Private coaching

• $750/mo — 1:1 coaching
• $1,500/mo — VIP 1:1
• $3,000/mo — intensive/private program

If that's the model you have in mind, Kajabi or Circle would be my first two platforms to test.

If you tell me your approximate community price, 1:1 coaching price, expected number of members, and whether you need courses/content, I can narrow this to the best 2 platforms and show you exactly how I'd structure the tiers on each.

Then use the higher tiers to unlock things like private spaces, group calls, office hours, and coaching.

The main reason I'd put Circle behind Kajabi for you is that Kajabi is more explicitly built around selling expertise/coaching as a business, whereas Circle feels more community-native.

3. Mighty Networks — strongest community/membership orientation

mightynetworks.com is another strong option if you expect the community to become a major part of the business.

Mighty supports paid memberships, courses, events, bundles and multiple payment intervals. It also allows you to gate individual spaces or combinations of spaces behind different plans. Mighty Networks Mighty Networks Developer

Its current Launch plan is $79/month when billed annually, with Scale at $179/month. Mighty Networks

I'd favor Mighty over Kajabi if your business is fundamentally:

"I run a membership community, and coaching is one of the things members can buy."

I'd favor Kajabi if it's:

"I'm a coach, and the community is one component of my coaching business."

That's an important distinction.

4. Skool — worth considering if you want extremely simple

skool.com is worth looking at if you don't need sophisticated marketing/automation.

It's particularly good for the classic:

Community + content + group coaching + occasional 1:1 upsell

model.

But I wouldn't make it my first choice if multiple sophisticated membership tiers and premium 1:1 offers are central to your business. The other three give you more room to build a complex offer ladder.

What I'd choose

For the business model you're describing, I'd rank them:

1. Kajabi — if you want one platform to run the whole business
2. Circle — if the community experience is your competitive advantage
3. Mighty Networks — if you're building a large membership/community business
4. Skool — if you value simplicity above customization

One important thing I'd decide before choosing

Think about whether your 1:1 coaching and community are separate products or levels of the same product.

For example:

Community

• $39/mo — Community
• $99/mo — Community + group coaching
• $299/mo — Community + weekly small-group coaching

Private coaching

• $750/mo — 1:1 coaching
• $1,500/mo — VIP 1:1
• $3,000/mo — intensive/private program

If that's the model you have in mind, Kajabi or Circle would be my first two platforms to test.

If you tell me your approximate community price, 1:1 coaching price, expected number of members, and whether you need courses/content, I can narrow this to the best 2 platforms and show you exactly how I'd structure the tiers on each.

Yes. For your model, I’d focus on platforms where 1:1 coaching, recurring memberships, community access, and tiered offers can live under the same customer account. That avoids stitching together Calendly + Stripe + Slack/Circle + a course platform.

My shortlist

1. Kajabi — my pick if coaching is the core business

kajabi.com

Kajabi is probably the closest match to your entire business model in one system. It supports structured 1:1 coaching programs, payments, memberships, communities, courses, email marketing and tiered offers. Kajabi Kajabi

You could structure it like:

• Free — newsletter/content
• Community — $49/mo — group community + resources
• Pro Community — $149/mo — community + group calls + additional content
• 1:1 Coaching — $1,000–$3,000+/mo — private coaching + premium community access
• VIP — $X/mo — 1:1 + everything else

Kajabi specifically supports paid/tiered community access and can connect access to different offers. Kajabi Kajabi

Why I'd choose it: You can make the community an extension of your coaching business rather than having a separate "community product."

2. Circle — best if the community experience is the star

circle.so

Circle is especially compelling if you envision a high-touch membership community with discussions, events, courses, live sessions and coaching.

It supports paid memberships, paywalled tiers, subscriptions, courses, events, live rooms and segmentation. Circle

Its subscription groups explicitly let you create different tiers and allow members to upgrade/downgrade between them. Circle

I'd consider:

• Community: $39–79/mo
• Premium: $99–199/mo
• Coaching: $500–2,000+/mo
• Coaching clients automatically receive premium community access.

Why choose it over Kajabi: If the community itself is the product and coaching is an upsell, I'd lean Circle.

3. Mighty Networks — best for a highly interactive membership

mightynetworks.com

Mighty is very community-oriented, with memberships, courses, events, live experiences and native mobile apps. It also supports multiple payment intervals, installment plans, bundles and automated access based on purchases. Mighty Networks Mighty Networks

Its payment system is particularly relevant to your model: Mighty explicitly supports memberships, courses, events and bundles, and gives you tools for upgrading members into higher-value offers. Mighty Networks

I'd pick Mighty if: you expect the community to become a substantial standalone business with lots of group interaction/events.

4. Skool — worth considering for simplicity

skool.com

Skool is attractive if you want "community + content + simple paid membership" without a lot of complexity.

I'd put it behind the other three for your particular use case, though. Your requirement for multiple membership tiers + a serious 1:1 coaching operation pushes me toward Kajabi/Circle/Mighty.

What I'd choose for your model

If you told me nothing else about the business, I'd rank them:

🥇 Kajabi — best all-in-one coaching + membership business
🥈 Circle — best premium community + coaching combination
🥉 Mighty Networks — best community-centric business with events/mobile
4. Skool — best if simplicity matters more than sophistication

The key question is which direction you're building:

Coaching business → community as a recurring product: Kajabi
Community business → 1:1 coaching as a premium upsell: Circle or Mighty

One other thing I'd pay close attention to is how you want the tiers to work. For example, there's a big difference between:

Tier 1: Community only
Tier 2: Community + group coaching
Tier 3: Community + 1:1 coaching

versus:

Membership: $99/month
1:1 coaching: $1,500/month
1:1 clients automatically get the $99 membership included

The second model is often much cleaner operationally, and Kajabi/Circle/Mighty can all support versions of that structure. Kajabi Circle Mighty Networks

If you tell me your expected monthly price for the community, your 1:1 coaching price, and whether you need courses/content too, I can narrow this down to the best 2 platforms and show you exactly how I'd structure the tiers on each.

If you want both paid 1:1 coaching and a paid community with member tiers, I’d focus less on “community platforms” alone and more on platforms that can handle:

• recurring memberships
• tier-based access (e.g., Basic / Pro / VIP)
• private groups or spaces
• scheduling + payments for 1:1 coaching
• courses/resources/content libraries
• email marketing and sales funnels

The strongest options to consider:

Mighty Networks Mighty Networks## My shortlist by business model

1. “I’m a coach building a premium personal brand”

Consider:

• Kajabi

Example structure:

• Free newsletter → lead generation
• $49/mo community tier
• $199/mo group coaching tier
• $1,500+ private coaching package

Why it fits:

• You can sell coaching packages, memberships, courses, and upsells in one ecosystem.
• Strong if your growth depends on marketing funnels. Digital Course Freelancer

2. “The community itself is the product”

Consider:

• Circle
• Mighty Networks

Example tiers:

• Starter: community access
• Pro: weekly group calls + resources
• VIP: monthly 1:1 call + private space

These platforms are built around spaces, member interaction, events, and paid access controls. Mighty Networks Mighty Networks

3. “I want something simple and fast”

Consider:

• Skool

Good for:

• accountability groups
• cohort programs
• mastermind-style communities

Less ideal if you need:

• complex funnels
• multiple products
• advanced CRM workflows

Mighty Networks## A stack I’d consider

Lean setup

• Community: Circle or Mighty Networks
• Scheduling: calendly.com
• Payments: stripe.com
• Video calls: zoom.us

All-in-one setup

• Kajabi

Community-first premium brand

• Mighty Networks

Questions that would narrow this down:

1. Are you mainly selling your expertise (coaching) or building a community where members help each other?
2. Do you want 1:1 coaching booked through the platform, or are you okay connecting a scheduler?
3. Roughly what pricing are you imagining? - <$50/month membership
4. $50–$500/month
5. $500+/month premium coaching

The answer changes the best choice quite a bit.

If you want to sell both premium 1:1 coaching and a paid community with member tiers, I’d focus less on “community platforms” alone and more on platforms that can handle:

• recurring memberships
• tiered access (Basic / Premium / VIP)
• payments and subscriptions
• coaching packages
• scheduling or integrations for calls
• content delivery
• email/CRM automation
• member management

Here are the strongest options to consider:

Mighty Networks Mighty Networks## My shortlist by business model

1. High-ticket coach ($500–$5,000+ clients)

Consider:

• Kajabi
• Circle + a coaching scheduler/CRM

Typical structure:

• Free community → leads
• $49–$199/month membership → group support
• $1,000+/month VIP tier → 1:1 coaching

Kajabi is especially strong if you want landing pages, email sequences, payments, and coaching offers connected in one system. Kajabi

2. Community is the main product

Consider:

• Mighty Networks
• Circle

Example tiers:

• Starter: community access
• Pro: weekly calls + resources
• Elite: mastermind + private coaching

Both are designed around spaces/groups and paid access models. Mighty Networks Mighty Networks

3. You want the simplest setup possible

Consider:

• Skool
• Podia

Good if you are validating the offer and don’t want to spend weeks building infrastructure.

A setup I’d commonly recommend

For a solo coach starting out:

Option A: All-in-one

• Kajabi
• Stripe payments
• Calendly (or similar) for calls
• Zoom for coaching sessions

Option B: Best community experience

• Circle or Mighty Networks
• Stripe
• Calendly
• Email platform (if needed)

Option C: Premium coaching ecosystem

• Kajabi for marketing + sales
• Circle/Mighty for community
• CRM for higher-volume coaching

Features I’d make sure your platform supports

Before choosing, verify it can do:

• Multiple paid tiers with different access rules
• Monthly and annual subscriptions
• Private VIP areas
• Group coaching calls/events
• Member profiles and networking
• Automated onboarding emails
• Coupons/affiliate tracking
• Exportable member data
• Integrations with calendar + video tools

If you tell me your approximate model (e.g., $50/month community + $1,000/month coaching, or $20/month membership with lots of members, etc.), I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 choices.

• Multiple paid tiers with different access rules
• Monthly and annual subscriptions
• Private VIP areas
• Group coaching calls/events
• Member profiles and networking
• Automated onboarding emails
• Coupons/affiliate tracking
• Exportable member data
• Integrations with calendar + video tools

If you tell me your approximate model (e.g., $50/month community + $1,000/month coaching, or $20/month membership with lots of members, etc.), I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 choices.

Yes. For your model, I’d focus on platforms that can handle both recurring community memberships and higher-ticket 1:1 coaching without forcing you to stitch together a bunch of tools.

My shortlist

1. Circle — probably the best fit

If your vision is something like:

• Free/low-cost community
• $50–150/mo membership tier
• $200–500/mo premium tier
• $1,000+ 1:1 coaching package
• Courses, group calls, Q&As, events, etc.

I'd start with Circle.

It supports paid memberships, subscriptions, paywalled spaces, multiple membership tiers, courses, events, live rooms, and built-in payments. Its subscription groups specifically let you create tiers that members can upgrade/downgrade between. Circle Circle Circle

It also explicitly positions itself around combining 1:1 coaching with a scalable community, rather than treating them as separate products. Circle

Current pricing is $89/mo for Professional and $199/mo for Business, with 2% and 1% transaction fees respectively. Circle

Why I'd pick it: You can make the community itself the hub and then sell increasingly personalized access around it.

2. Kajabi — best if you're building a broader coaching business

kajabi.com makes more sense if you also want:

• Courses
• Email marketing
• Landing pages
• Funnels
• Coaching programs
• Digital products
• Community
• Memberships

It's more of a business/marketing platform than a pure community platform.

So if your business is ultimately:

Content → free audience → paid membership → course → group coaching → 1:1 coaching

I'd seriously consider Kajabi.

The downside is that it can be more expensive and more complex than you need if community is the heart of the business.

3. Mighty Networks — best if the community itself is the product

mightynetworks.com is particularly interesting if you're envisioning a substantial member network rather than simply a coaching program with a community attached.

It's strong for:

• Memberships
• Multiple groups
• Events
• Courses
• Member profiles
• Community interaction
• Mobile experience

I'd choose it over Circle if "people joining and interacting with each other" is more important than having a highly polished coaching-business operating system.

4. Skool — best if you want extremely simple

skool.com is attractive if you don't want to spend weeks configuring your platform.

It's particularly good for the classic:

Paid community + course/content + group calls + coaching

model.

The tradeoff is customization. Compared with Circle, you have less ability to create a sophisticated branded membership architecture.

So I'd choose Skool if your philosophy is "keep the software invisible and focus on selling coaching."

5. Heartbeat — interesting middle ground

heartbeat.chat is worth investigating if you want something more community-centric than Kajabi but oriented toward structured coaching/programs.

It's particularly interesting for:

• Coaching groups
• Cohorts
• Community
• Events
• Member communication
• Structured programs

I'd put it on the shortlist, but I'd personally demo Circle and Heartbeat side-by-side before committing.

What I'd choose for your model

If I were setting this up today, I'd probably structure it like:

Tier 1 — Community
$29–79/mo
Community + content + discussions + occasional group calls

Tier 2 — Coaching Community
$149–299/mo
Everything above + weekly group coaching/Q&A + more direct access

Tier 3 — 1:1 Coaching
$500–2,000+/mo
Everything above + private coaching sessions + personalized support

The nice thing about Circle is that its paywalls can support subscriptions, one-time payments, installments, trials, and multiple pricing options, so you don't necessarily need separate software for each offer. Circle

My ranking for you

1. Circle — best overall for a premium coaching + tiered community model
2. Kajabi — best if courses, funnels and email marketing are equally important
3. Mighty Networks — best if community/network effects are the main product
4. Heartbeat — strong coaching/community alternative
5. Skool — best if you prioritize simplicity over customization

One important distinction: if you tell me roughly what you coach, your expected price points, and whether you want the 1:1 clients to automatically get community access, I can narrow this down considerably. The ideal platform is different for, say, a $3,000 business-coaching offer versus a $100/month fitness or career membership.

mightynetworks.com is particularly interesting if you're envisioning a substantial member network rather than simply a coaching program with a community attached.

It's strong for:

• Memberships
• Multiple groups
• Events
• Courses
• Member profiles
• Community interaction
• Mobile experience

I'd choose it over Circle if "people joining and interacting with each other" is more important than having a highly polished coaching-business operating system.

4. Skool — best if you want extremely simple

skool.com is attractive if you don't want to spend weeks configuring your platform.

It's particularly good for the classic:

Paid community + course/content + group calls + coaching

model.

The tradeoff is customization. Compared with Circle, you have less ability to create a sophisticated branded membership architecture.

So I'd choose Skool if your philosophy is "keep the software invisible and focus on selling coaching."

5. Heartbeat — interesting middle ground

heartbeat.chat is worth investigating if you want something more community-centric than Kajabi but oriented toward structured coaching/programs.

It's particularly interesting for:

• Coaching groups
• Cohorts
• Community
• Events
• Member communication
• Structured programs

I'd put it on the shortlist, but I'd personally demo Circle and Heartbeat side-by-side before committing.

What I'd choose for your model

If I were setting this up today, I'd probably structure it like:

Tier 1 — Community
$29–79/mo
Community + content + discussions + occasional group calls

Tier 2 — Coaching Community
$149–299/mo
Everything above + weekly group coaching/Q&A + more direct access

Tier 3 — 1:1 Coaching
$500–2,000+/mo
Everything above + private coaching sessions + personalized support

The nice thing about Circle is that its paywalls can support subscriptions, one-time payments, installments, trials, and multiple pricing options, so you don't necessarily need separate software for each offer.

My ranking for you

If you want paid 1:1 coaching + a paid community with multiple membership tiers, I’d focus less on “community apps” and more on platforms that can handle payments, gated access, scheduling, client management, and recurring memberships. The best fit depends on whether coaching is your main product or the community is.

Here are the strongest options to consider:

LearnShare Mighty Networks## My shortlist by business model

1. “I sell expensive 1:1 coaching and want a community upsell”

Consider:

• Kajabi + scheduling tool
• Circle + scheduling/payment tools

Example structure:

• Free: newsletter/community preview
• $49/mo: member community
• $199/mo: group coaching tier
• $1,500+/month: 1:1 coaching package

Circle is particularly strong if your community itself is part of the premium experience. Jean-Marie Cordaro

2. “I want a coaching community where members interact and stay accountable”

Consider:

• Skool
• Circle

Skool is popular for coaching-style communities because the experience is intentionally simple and engagement-driven. LearnShare

3. “I want a full creator business: content + coaching + memberships + marketing”

Consider:

• Kajabi

This is the “all-in-one business” approach:

• landing pages
• email campaigns
• offers
• payments
• courses
• memberships
• coaching products

4. “I want a premium branded community”

Consider:

• Mighty Networks
• Circle

Better if you want members to feel like they’re joining a professional network rather than a Facebook group replacement. Mighty Networks

A stack I’d avoid initially

I would be cautious about combining:

• Discord + separate payment system + separate course host + separate scheduler

It can work, but members often end up juggling too many places.

A practical recommendation

For most solo coaches:

• Starting out (<100 members): Skool or Circle
• Selling premium coaching ($1k+ clients): Kajabi or Circle + coaching tools
• Building a long-term membership brand: Circle or Mighty Networks
• Want the fewest tools: Kajabi

A few questions would narrow this down:

1. What type of coaching is it (fitness, business, career, relationships, etc.)?
2. Do you want the community to be the main recurring revenue, or mainly a funnel into 1:1 coaching?
3. Roughly what price tiers are you imagining (e.g., $20/mo community, $200/mo group coaching, $2k 1:1)?

Yes. For that particular business model, I’d focus on platforms that can handle both sides of the value ladder:

• 1:1 coaching → high-ticket, personalized
• Paid community → recurring revenue, scalable
• Multiple member tiers → different access/benefits/pricing
• Ideally, one login/payment system so you aren't stitching together 4–5 tools.

My shortlist

1. Kajabi — probably the strongest fit

I'd put Kajabi at #1 if you're building a serious coaching business rather than just a community.

It supports 1:1 and group coaching, scheduling, payments, courses, memberships, email/automations, and community in one ecosystem. www.kajabi.com

More importantly for your model, Kajabi Communities has Access Groups that can be tied to different paid Offers. That means you can construct something like:

Free

• Public content
• Occasional events

Community — $49/mo

• Main community
• Group calls
• Resources

Pro — $149/mo

• Everything above
• Small-group sessions
• Premium content

VIP — $500/mo

• Everything above
• 1 private 1:1 call/month

Each tier can control which community spaces/content someone can access. help.kajabi.com

That last tier is particularly interesting because you can essentially make 1:1 coaching an upgrade to your community, rather than operating two completely separate businesses.

Kajabi

2. Circle — best if the community experience is central

Circle is the one I'd investigate if your business is fundamentally a community with coaching attached.

It supports memberships, paywalled tiers, courses, events, live rooms, discussions, and coaching-oriented experiences. Its payment system can create different access levels for different memberships. circle.so

Current pricing starts at $89/month for Professional and $199/month for Business. circle.so

The big advantage is the community UX. If you want members to spend a lot of time interacting with each other, I'd favor Circle over Kajabi.

Circle

3. Mighty Networks — worth considering for a community-first model

Mighty Networks is particularly compelling if your vision is:

"I want to build a membership community that happens to include coaching."

rather than:

"I'm a coach who also has a community."

It's strong around member interaction, branded community experiences, events and memberships.

I'd put it behind Circle for your use case if sophisticated coaching delivery is important, but ahead of simpler platforms if community/network effects are the core product.

Mighty Networks

4. Skool — simplicity over flexibility

Skool is interesting if you want something extremely straightforward:

Join → pay → enter community → consume content → attend calls.

It's particularly popular for coaching/community businesses because the product is intentionally simple.

The tradeoff is that I'd be less enthusiastic if you already know you want complex tiering, sophisticated automations, funnels, multiple products, or a highly customized member experience.

What I'd choose based on your business model

If you're selling high-ticket coaching + building recurring community revenue:
→ Kajabi

If the community itself is the main product:
→ Circle

If you want a social/network/community-centric brand:
→ Mighty Networks

If you want the simplest possible setup:
→ Skool

The interesting choice is really Kajabi vs. Circle.

A model I'd seriously consider

Instead of making your products completely separate:

Tier 1 — Community
$39–79/month
→ community + resources + group calls

Tier 2 — Premium
$149–249/month
→ community + courses + smaller group sessions + office hours

Tier 3 — Private Coaching
$500–2,000+/month
→ everything in Premium + 1:1 coaching

That creates a natural ladder where people can enter at a low price and graduate into higher-value coaching, while your 1:1 clients still remain connected to the community.

If you tell me what kind of coaching you offer, your approximate monthly price for 1:1, and how you envision the community tiers, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 best platforms and show you exactly how I'd structure the offers on each.

Yes. For your model—paid 1:1 coaching + a paid community + multiple membership tiers—I’d focus on platforms that treat coaching and community as parts of the same customer/account system rather than stitching together Calendly + Stripe + Slack/Discord.

My shortlist

1. Circle — probably the best fit

circle.so

Circle is particularly compelling if you want the experience to feel like a premium coaching membership, rather than just a Facebook-group replacement.

It supports:

• Paid memberships and multiple tiers
• Gated spaces/content
• Courses
• Events and live rooms
• Coaching sessions and office hours
• Member messaging
• Automations and segmentation
• Subscriptions and payments

Circle explicitly supports selling memberships, coaching, courses and events together. Circle Circle

Current published pricing starts at $89/month for Professional and $199/month for Business. Circle

Example structure I'd build:

• Community — $49/mo

• Community access
• Weekly group Q&A
• Resource library
• Pro — $149/mo

• Everything above
• Small-group coaching
• Monthly strategy session
• Private Coaching — $750/mo

• Everything above
• 2 × 1:1 sessions/month
• Private coaching space

That kind of tiering maps very naturally onto Circle.

2. Kajabi — best if marketing/sales are important

kajabi.com

Kajabi is the one I'd look at if you're thinking beyond the community itself and want a complete coaching business platform.

It combines:

• 1:1 coaching
• Community
• Memberships
• Courses
• Landing pages
• Email marketing
• Offers/checkout
• Subscriptions
• Automations

Kajabi specifically supports paid and tiered communities, with access groups connected to different offers. Kajabi Kajabi

The big advantage is that you can have someone enter through a free lead magnet, buy a community membership, upgrade to a higher tier, and eventually purchase 1:1 coaching without maintaining separate systems.

I'd choose Kajabi over Circle if: your business is primarily a sales/marketing funnel with community attached.

I'd choose Circle over Kajabi if: the community/member experience itself is the core product.

3. Mighty Networks — if community is the product

mightynetworks.com

Mighty is worth serious consideration if you want your business to feel like a membership network rather than a course/coaching website.

It's particularly attractive if having a strong mobile/community experience is important.

I'd put it behind Circle for your particular use case because I'd rather have Circle's combination of spaces, coaching, courses and monetization—but Mighty can be excellent when community interaction is the main value proposition.

4. Skool — simplest option

skool.com

Skool is worth considering if you want to get something live quickly and don't need a highly customized experience.

Its strength is essentially:

community + content + coaching + gamification + payments

with relatively little configuration.

The tradeoff is that it's considerably less flexible than Circle or Kajabi. If you envision sophisticated tiers, different member experiences, automations and a highly branded environment, I'd lean Circle.

What I'd pick for you

If I were choosing today, I'd narrow it to:

🥇 Circle — best overall for your exact model
🥈 Kajabi — best if you want marketing, funnels, email and sales automation in the same system
🥉 Mighty Networks — best if the community/network itself is the centerpiece
Skool — best if you want dead-simple setup and don't care as much about customization

One particularly important distinction: don't choose based just on whether a platform says "coaching." Look at whether it can handle the relationship between your tiers and your 1:1 clients. For example, you may eventually want:

Community member → Premium member → 1:1 coaching client

with upgrades/downgrades automatically changing what that person can access.

Circle and Kajabi are especially strong for that type of architecture. Circle supports gating specific spaces or combinations of spaces, while Kajabi lets you connect different access groups to different offers. Circle Kajabi

If you tell me roughly how you want to price the tiers (e.g. $30/$100/$500+) and whether you need courses/content as well, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 and show you exactly how I'd structure the offers.

Yes. If your model is paid 1:1 coaching + a paid community with multiple membership tiers, I’d focus on platforms that can handle payments/access control, community, calls, content, and client management in one place.

My shortlist

1. Circle — my first choice

For your particular model, Circle is probably where I'd start.

It supports paid memberships, subscriptions, multiple tiers, access to specific spaces, courses, events, live rooms, live streams, and community discussions. Its coaching offering specifically talks about combining 1:1 coaching with courses, cohorts, Q&As and group sessions. Circle Circle

You could structure it like:

• Free → public content / lead generation
• Community — $49/mo → community + content
• Pro — $99/mo → community + group calls + deeper resources
• VIP — $199/mo → everything + some coaching access
• 1:1 Coaching — $500–$2,000+/mo → private coaching

The important part is that you can gate different spaces/content based on the membership someone purchased, rather than having to create completely separate communities. Circle

Circle's current Professional plan is listed at $89/month, with Business at $199/month; Professional includes unlimited members, courses, discussions, events, live rooms, paid memberships and a website builder. Circle

I'd choose Circle if: you want your community to feel polished and premium and expect the business to become a substantial coaching/membership operation.

2. Kajabi — best if marketing/sales is equally important

kajabi.com is worth serious consideration if you don't just want a community—you want the entire customer acquisition and digital-product business under one roof.

It's particularly attractive if you'll have:

content → email → sales funnel → membership → course → coaching

rather than simply:

community → coaching

The tradeoff is that Kajabi tends to make more sense financially when you're actually using its broader marketing/course capabilities. If you're primarily building a community, I'd rather use Circle.

3. Mighty Networks — best if community is the core product

mightynetworks.com is another strong option.

I'd look at it if your differentiator is the network of members themselves—networking, events, discussions, groups, challenges, etc.—rather than primarily your coaching content.

It's particularly compelling if a branded/mobile community experience matters to you. Current comparisons put it in roughly the same category as Circle and Skool, but with a stronger emphasis on the community/network experience. Mateflow Paperbell

4. Skool — simplest option

skool.com is attractive if you want to get something running quickly without building a complicated membership architecture.

It's especially good for:

• coaching groups
• accountability
• courses + community
• challenges
• gamification
• relatively simple membership models

The downside is less customization. If your vision is a sophisticated business with several distinct tiers and different combinations of coaching/content/community access, I'd lean Circle instead.

5. Heartbeat — worth testing

heartbeat.chat is an interesting option if you're starting smaller and want something built around coaching/community rather than a huge marketing suite.

I'd put it on your shortlist if price matters and you don't need all the bells and whistles of Circle/Kajabi.

What I'd choose for your model

If I were setting this up today, I'd rank them:

🥇 Circle — best balance of premium community + tiers + coaching + content
🥈 Kajabi — best if you also need serious funnels/email/course marketing
🥉 Mighty Networks — best if the community/network itself is the main value
4. Skool — best if you want extremely simple
5. Heartbeat — best budget-oriented alternative

One thing I'd be careful about: don't choose based purely on the monthly software price. Your transaction fees, payment processing, member limits, automation, email, video, and scheduling requirements can make the true cost quite different. Current 2026 comparisons show substantial differences between these platforms. GitHub Mateflow

The bigger question

The ideal platform actually depends heavily on how you want the tiers to work.

For example, if your intended model is something like:

$49/mo community
$149/mo community + weekly group coaching
$499/mo community + 1:1 coaching
$1,500/mo VIP 1:1

then I'd evaluate the platforms differently than if you mean:

$99/mo community and separately sell $300 coaching sessions.

If you tell me your rough pricing, number of members you expect, and whether coaching is monthly or one-off, I can narrow this to the best 2–3 platforms and show exactly how I'd structure the tiers on each.

Yes. If you want both paid 1:1 coaching and a paid community with multiple membership tiers, I’d narrow the field to Circle, Kajabi, Mighty Networks, Skool, and Heartbeat.

My shortlist:

1. Circle — my first choice

Circle is probably the closest match to what you're describing.

You can have, for example:

• Free — newsletter/content
• Community — $49/mo
• Premium — $149/mo + group coaching
• VIP — $500/mo + 1:1 coaching

Circle lets you create subscription tiers and control access to specific spaces, so you can make the higher tiers unlock additional content, calls, courses, or coaching. It also supports one-time payments and installments. help.circle.so

The current Professional plan is $89/month, with paid memberships, courses, discussions, events, live rooms, website building, etc.; Business is $199/month and adds more automation/customization. circle.so

Why I'd pick it: It doesn't force you to choose between "coaching platform" and "community platform." You can build the business around the community and layer higher-priced coaching on top.

2. Kajabi — best all-in-one business system

I'd look at Kajabi if you also want:

• Landing pages
• Email marketing
• Sales funnels
• Courses
• Coaching
• Memberships
• Payments

It's more of a business/marketing platform that happens to have community, whereas Circle is more of a community platform that supports monetization and coaching.

So if your primary challenge is selling and marketing your coaching business, Kajabi becomes more attractive.

3. Mighty Networks — best community experience

Mighty is worth considering if the community itself is the product.

It's particularly compelling if you want members interacting heavily with each other rather than simply consuming your coaching/content.

I'd choose it over Kajabi if your business is essentially:

"Join my community, meet other people like you, attend events, access my content, and optionally upgrade for more access to me."

4. Skool — simplest option

Skool is attractive if you want something very straightforward:

Community + content + memberships + gamification.

It's popular with coaches/creators precisely because there's relatively little to configure.

The tradeoff is that I'd consider it less flexible than Circle if you're envisioning a sophisticated tier structure where each level gets a different combination of community spaces, courses, group sessions, and 1:1 coaching.

5. Heartbeat — worth a serious look

Heartbeat is particularly interesting for coaching programs and paid communities.

I'd put it on your shortlist if your model is more like:

"I'm running a structured coaching program with a community attached."

rather than:

"I'm building a large standalone membership community."

What I'd choose for your model

If I were setting this up today, I'd probably structure it like:

Tier 1 — Community

• $29–79/mo
• Community access
• Weekly discussion/Q&A
• Resource library

Tier 2 — Group Coaching

• $149–299/mo
• Everything above
• Weekly group coaching call
• Accountability
• Specialized content

Tier 3 — VIP

• $500–1,500+/mo
• Everything above
• 1:1 coaching
• Private messaging/check-ins
• Personalized plan

Circle is particularly well suited to this structure because its paywalls/subscription groups can control which spaces different tiers can access, and you can have members upgrade/downgrade between tiers. help.circle.so

My ranking for you

🥇 Circle — if you want flexibility and a premium-looking coaching business
🥈 Kajabi — if sales funnels/email/courses are equally important
🥉 Heartbeat — if you're primarily running coaching programs
4. Mighty Networks — if community/networking is the core product
5. Skool — if you want the simplest possible setup

One important distinction: don't choose based solely on whether a platform technically supports "1:1 coaching." The real question is how elegantly it handles different combinations of community access + coaching access + recurring payments.

If you tell me your rough pricing (e.g. community $50/mo, VIP $500/mo, 1:1 $1,500/mo) and whether you need appointment scheduling, DMs, courses, live calls, and email marketing, I can narrow this to the best 2–3 platforms and show exactly how I'd structure the tiers on each.

If you want both paid 1:1 coaching and a paid community with member tiers, you’ll want to look beyond simple community apps. The key question is whether you want your platform to be primarily:

1. A coaching business system (sales → scheduling → payments → client management), or
2. A membership/community hub (tiers → discussions → content → events → engagement).

Here are the strongest options to consider:

ithub.global.ssl.fastly.netwww.mightynetworks.com

My shortlist by business model

1. High-ticket coach ($500–$10k coaching packages + community)

Consider: Kajabi

Typical setup:

• Free lead magnet/email list
• Paid community membership ($49–$199/mo)
• Premium coaching tier ($1k+/month)
• Courses/resources included
• Automated onboarding and email sequences

Why it fits:

• Strong sales funnels
• Email marketing built in
• Handles products, memberships, coaching offers in one place

www.digitalcoursefreelancer.com

2. Premium membership community ($20–$500/mo tiers)

Consider: Circle or Mighty Networks

Example tiers:

• Free: newsletter + announcements
• Starter: $49/mo community access
• Pro: $199/mo + monthly group calls
• VIP: $1,000/mo + 1:1 coaching

Circle is especially strong if you want organized spaces:

• "Beginner Hub"
• "Advanced Members"
• "Office Hours"
• "Resources"
• "Mastermind"

Mighty Networks is attractive if you want a more social-network feel and potentially a branded app experience. www.mightynetworks.com

3. Coaching accountability community

Consider: Skool

Good for:

• Fitness coaching
• Business coaching
• Career coaching
• Creator communities
• Cohort programs

Strengths:

• Simple member experience
• Gamification
• Leaderboards
• Community + lessons together

Weakness:

• Less flexibility for complex tier structures and sophisticated marketing. creatoreconomy.org

A stack I’d consider for a serious coaching business

Option A: All-in-one

Kajabi + Zoom + Calendly

• Kajabi: payments, email, memberships
• Zoom: coaching calls
• Calendly: scheduling

Best if you want fewer moving parts.

Option B: Best community experience

Circle + Stripe + Calendly + Zoom

• Circle: community/tier access
• Stripe: payments
• Calendly: booking
• Zoom: coaching

Best if community retention is the core.

Option C: Simple and fast launch

Skool

• Create one paid community
• Add coaching as an upsell
• Start selling quickly

Best if you want to validate demand before building a bigger ecosystem.

A few questions would narrow this down a lot:

1. What type of coaching is it (business, fitness, career, relationships, executive, etc.)?
2. What price points are you imagining?
   • Community: <$50/mo, $50–200/mo, $200+/mo?
   • 1:1 coaching: <$500/mo, $500–2k/mo, $2k+/mo?
3. Do you need courses/content inside the platform, or mainly community + calls?
4. Do you already have an email list/audience?

Yes. For your model—paid 1:1 coaching + a paid community + multiple member tiers—I’d focus on platforms that can handle both high-touch coaching and recurring memberships without forcing you to stitch together too many tools.

My shortlist

1. Mighty Networks — my pick if the community is the product

Mighty is particularly well suited to your structure because you can charge for different plans and gate access to different Spaces. It supports recurring and one-time payments, courses, events, and bundles. www.mightynetworks.com

You could structure it like:

• Community — $49/mo: community + group events
• Pro — $149/mo: community + workshops + additional resources
• VIP — $500/mo: everything above + 1:1 coaching
• 1:1 Intensive — $1,500: standalone coaching package

Its current Launch plan is $79/month when billed annually ($95 monthly), with courses, events, community features and payments. www.mightynetworks.com

Why I'd consider it: very strong if you want members to spend a lot of time interacting with each other, rather than simply consuming your content.

Mighty Networks

2. Kajabi — best if you are building a coaching business around your expertise

Kajabi is arguably the strongest choice if your business is more:

You → content → community → coaching → upsells

rather than purely community-driven.

Its Communities product supports paid memberships, bundled access, and tiered pricing structures, while Kajabi also has the marketing, email, checkout, automation and product infrastructure around it. www.kajabi.com

This makes a funnel like this very natural:

Free content → $49/mo community → $199/mo premium membership → $1,000+ coaching

The downside is cost. Current annual-billing pricing starts at $71/mo for Starter and $143/mo for Basic, with Growth at $199/mo and Pro at $399/mo. www.kajabi.com

I'd choose Kajabi if: you're serious about turning this into a broader education/coaching business with email marketing, courses, funnels and automated sales.

Kajabi

3. Circle — probably the best premium community experience

Circle is worth putting on your shortlist if you care a lot about the community feeling polished and professional.

I'd particularly consider it if your members are professionals, executives, entrepreneurs, or other higher-ticket clients and you want the community itself to feel like a premium product.

Its big advantage is that you can make the community experience very structured—different spaces for different tiers, coaching groups, events, resources, etc.

I'd choose Circle over Mighty if the aesthetic/UX and organization of the community are especially important.

Circle

4. Skool — best if you want ridiculously simple

Skool is appealing if you don't want to spend weeks configuring a platform.

It combines community, courses, live calls and memberships, and its pricing is unusually straightforward: currently $9/mo for Hobby with a 10% transaction fee, or $99/mo for Pro with a 2.9% transaction fee. www.skool.com

It's especially compelling for a coaching/accountability model where the core experience is:

community + lessons + weekly calls + access to coach

The tradeoff is that you get less flexibility than with Kajabi, Circle or Mighty.

Skool

What I'd pick for your specific model

If you told me nothing else about your business, I'd rank them:

🥇 Mighty Networks — if community is central
🥈 Kajabi — if coaching/content/marketing is central
🥉 Circle — if you want a premium, sophisticated community
4. Skool — if simplicity and speed matter most

One important distinction: don't choose based solely on whether a platform technically supports "tiers." The more important question is whether you can create the customer journey you want.

For example, I would strongly consider designing your business as:

Tier 1 — Community
$30–75/mo
→ community + content + group calls

Tier 2 — Group Coaching
$100–300/mo
→ everything above + smaller coaching sessions

Tier 3 — VIP
$500–1,500+/mo
→ everything above + 1:1 access

Standalone 1:1
→ premium coaching package sold separately

That gives you a natural path from lower-priced recurring revenue to high-ticket coaching rather than treating the community and coaching as two unrelated products.

If you tell me your expected monthly price for the community, number of tiers, and whether you already have a website/email/payment system, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 platforms and show you exactly how I'd structure the offers on each.

Yes. If you want both paid 1:1 coaching and a paid community with multiple membership tiers, I’d focus on platforms that can handle recurring memberships + gated content + coaching/payment workflows without forcing you into a bunch of integrations.

My shortlist

1. Kajabi — best "business in a box"

Kajabi

Kajabi is probably the strongest choice if you're envisioning something like:

• Free content / audience
• $X/month community
• $Y/month premium community
• $Z/month 1:1 coaching
• Courses/programs
• Landing pages
• Email marketing
• Payments
• Scheduling/coaching workflows

Kajabi explicitly supports courses, coaching, communities, memberships and payments on the same platform. www.kajabi.com

Choose it if: your coaching business is the core business and community is one component of it.

Downside: you're paying for a much broader business platform, so it can be overkill if all you really need is community + coaching.

2. Circle — my overall pick for a premium community

Circle

Circle is especially attractive if your model is:

Community is the product → 1:1 coaching is the premium upsell.

You can have different paid memberships, courses, discussions, events, live rooms, live streams, member profiles, and a searchable member directory. Circle's Professional plan is currently listed at $89/month, with Business at $199/month. circle.so

For example:

Community — $49/mo

• Community access
• Weekly group call
• Resource library

Pro Community — $149/mo

• Everything above
• Smaller mastermind group
• Monthly hot seat
• Additional content

Private Coaching — $750/mo

• Everything above
• Two 1:1 calls/month
• Private coaching space
• Personalized feedback

That structure is very natural in Circle.

Choose it if: you care a lot about the experience and organization of the community and want your coaching offer to sit alongside it.

3. Mighty Networks — best if community engagement is the priority

Mighty Networks

Mighty is particularly good if you're building something that feels more like a membership network than a course website. It supports community, courses, memberships, events and different monetization models. www.mightynetworks.com

I'd look closely at this if you expect your members to interact heavily with each other, rather than primarily consuming your content.

Choose it if: you want a community/network feel and potentially want to grow into a branded mobile-app experience.

4. Skool — best if you want dead-simple

Skool

Skool is compelling for a coaching business because it combines community, courses and engagement/gamification in a very simple interface. Current comparisons put its Pro offering around $99/month, though pricing/features can change. ithub.global.ssl.fastly.net

The appeal is basically:

Put your community + training + calls in one place and don't overthink the tech.

I'd pick Skool over Circle if you value simplicity and engagement/gamification more than customization.

The downside is that it gives you less control over the overall customer experience than something like Circle or Kajabi.

What I'd choose for your particular model

I'd narrow it to three:

🥇 Circle

If your business is primarily:

Community → group coaching → optional 1:1

This gives you the most polished community experience.

🥈 Kajabi

If your business is primarily:

1:1 coaching → programs/courses → community as recurring revenue

This gives you the most complete business infrastructure.

🥉 Skool

If your philosophy is:

"I just want one simple place where my clients learn, interact and get coached."

It's hard to beat for simplicity.

One important distinction

I'd decide how your tiers work before choosing the platform.

For example, there's a big difference between:

Model A — access tiers

• $29/mo → Community
• $99/mo → Community + group coaching
• $499/mo → Community + 1:1 coaching

versus:

Model B — separate products

• $49/mo → Community
• $1,500 → 8-week coaching program
• $750/mo → Private coaching

If you tell me what you're coaching people on, roughly what you want to charge, and whether the community is the main product or an add-on to 1:1, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 platforms I'd actually recommend for your business, including the exact tier structure I'd use.

Yes. If your model is paid 1:1 coaching + a recurring paid community + multiple membership tiers, I’d focus on platforms that can handle all three without forcing you into a messy stack.

My shortlist

1. Circle — probably where I'd start

Circle

Circle is particularly well suited to the model you're describing. You can create membership tiers, subscriptions, free trials and one-time purchases, and control access to the whole community or individual spaces. circle.so

You could structure it something like:

• Community — $49/mo: community + resources
• Pro — $149/mo: community + group calls + workshops
• VIP — $299/mo: community + monthly 1:1 session
• Private Coaching — $1,000+/mo: separate 1:1 coaching package

The big advantage is that your community can remain the center of the business, while 1:1 coaching becomes an upsell rather than a separate product ecosystem.

Circle's current Professional plan is reported around $89/month, with higher tiers for more advanced functionality. circle.sowww.stackscored.comwww.kajabi.comhelp.heartbeat.chatcircle.so

I'd pick Circle if your brand is going to feel premium and community is an important part of the value.

2. Kajabi — best if you're building a larger coaching business

Kajabi

Kajabi makes more sense if you want coaching + community + courses + email marketing + sales funnels + landing pages + payments under one roof.

Its Communities product supports private branded communities and is explicitly aimed at coaches, course creators and membership businesses. www.kajabi.com

The tradeoff is cost and complexity: you're paying for a much broader business platform than just a community.

Choose Kajabi if you expect your business to become something like:

Free content → email list → course → membership → group coaching → premium 1:1 coaching

rather than simply:

Community → coaching upsell

3. Mighty Networks — best if the community itself is the product

Mighty Networks

Mighty is strong if you want members to interact heavily with each other, attend events, consume content and feel like they're joining a real membership organization rather than buying access to a coaching portal.

It supports paid memberships and tiered subscription structures, and is particularly community-oriented. www.mightynetworks.com

I'd favor it over Circle if your pitch is essentially:

"Join this network of people pursuing X."

rather than:

"Buy my coaching program, with community included."

4. Heartbeat — an underrated option for coaching

Heartbeat

Heartbeat is worth a serious look if your community revolves around accountability, conversations, live sessions and coaching.

It has an actual offer system for paid memberships, freemium memberships and digital products, including tiered offers. help.heartbeat.chat

Its pricing is generally lower than the more full-featured platforms, although transaction fees vary by plan. circle.sowww.stackscored.comwww.kajabi.comhelp.heartbeat.chatcircle.so

I'd shortlist Heartbeat if you're early-stage and want to avoid paying Kajabi-level money.

5. Skool — easiest, but less sophisticated

Skool

Skool is compelling if you want:

• one community
• straightforward membership payments
• courses/resources
• gamification
• live calls
• minimal setup

It's particularly popular for coaching/accountability communities. Current comparisons put its Pro offering around $99/month, though pricing/fees can change. www.stackscored.com

The downside for your particular model is less flexibility. If you're envisioning elaborate membership tiers, sophisticated access rules, funnels and a premium branded experience, I'd take Circle over Skool.

What I'd choose for your model

I'd rank them:

🥇 Circle — if community + premium coaching are equally important
🥈 Kajabi — if you're building a full creator/coaching business
🥉 Heartbeat — if you're starting lean and coaching/accountability is central
4. Mighty Networks — if community/network effects are the main product
5. Skool — if simplicity and gamification matter more than flexibility

One important distinction: "Can sell 1:1 coaching" isn't the same as "has a great native coaching workflow." If your 1:1 offering involves scheduling, intake forms, contracts, session notes, packages, reminders, etc., you may still want a dedicated coaching/scheduling tool alongside the community platform.

The model I'd consider

Rather than making everything a membership tier, I'd probably structure it as:

Tier 1 — Community
Recurring membership, group discussions, resource library.

Tier 2 — Community + Group Coaching
Everything above + weekly/biweekly group calls.

Tier 3 — Community + 1:1
Everything above + a defined number of private sessions/month.

Standalone 1:1
Higher-priced coaching for people who don't want the community.

That gives you a natural ascension ladder without turning the membership page into 12 confusing options. Circle's own recent guidance similarly recommends keeping tiers to roughly two or three clearly differentiated offers. circle.so

If you tell me your expected monthly price for 1:1, your community price, whether you need courses/content, and roughly how many members you expect, I can narrow this to the best 2–3 platforms and compare their actual costs at your scale.

Yes. For a business that combines paid 1:1 coaching + a recurring paid community + multiple membership tiers, I’d focus on platforms where those are native parts of the same customer/account system.

My shortlist

1. Kajabi — best all-in-one

Kajabi is probably the first platform I'd evaluate for your model. It explicitly supports 1:1 coaching, paid/free communities, memberships, courses, payments, email marketing and websites in one system. help.kajabi.com

Its community product supports paid and tiered access, and you can connect different access groups to different offers—for example:

• Free community
• $49/mo Core membership
• $149/mo Premium membership
• $500/mo membership + monthly group coaching
• $2,000/mo VIP + 1:1 coaching

That tier/access architecture is built into Kajabi rather than requiring you to stitch together separate membership software. www.kajabi.com

Choose Kajabi if: you're building a serious coaching business and want your sales funnel → checkout → email → community → coaching → content under one roof.

Kajabi

2. Circle — best community experience

I'd look very closely at Circle if the community itself is your main product.

Circle lets you create different membership tiers and gate either the entire community or particular spaces. Its paywalls support subscriptions, one-time payments, trials, and multiple billing intervals. help.circle.so

It also supports courses, events, live rooms, messaging and coaching-related experiences, and its current platform explicitly positions community, courses, coaching and paid memberships together. circle.so

Current listed pricing starts at $89/month for Professional and $199/month for Business. circle.so

Choose Circle if: you want something that feels like a premium private network, with coaching layered on top.

Circle

3. Mighty Networks — best for a membership/community business

Mighty is particularly strong if your vision is "people join my network and stay because of the community."

It supports memberships, courses, events, bundles and multiple payment structures, including recurring and one-time payments. Mighty also showcases examples of communities using multiple paid tiers inside one hub. www.mightynetworks.com

A major differentiator is its emphasis on native mobile apps and member-led engagement. www.mightynetworks.com

Choose Mighty if: community participation, events, mobile engagement and member interaction are more important than having the deepest traditional coaching/marketing stack.

Mighty Networks

What I'd choose for your particular model

If your business looks something like:

Community

• $29–$49/mo → basic community
• $99–$199/mo → premium community + group calls
• $300–$500/mo → premium + more access to you

Coaching

• $1,000–$3,000+ → 1:1 coaching
• Possibly bundled with a premium community tier

I'd rank them:

1. Kajabi — if you want an all-in-one business platform
2. Circle — if you want a best-in-class community platform
3. Mighty Networks — if the network/community is the core product

One important distinction: I wouldn't choose based simply on which has "community + coaching." All three can get you there. I'd choose based on whether your business is fundamentally a coaching business with a community attached (Kajabi), a community business with coaching attached (Circle/Mighty), or a broader creator education business.

If you tell me your expected pricing tiers, whether you need scheduling/video calls, and roughly how many members you expect in year 1, I can narrow this down to the best 1–2 options and compare the actual economics.

For a business model with paid 1:1 coaching + a paid community + member tiers, I’d focus on platforms that handle subscriptions, gated access, scheduling/integrations, content, and community engagement. The best choice depends on whether your business is more coaching-led, community-led, or marketing/course-led. communipass.comcreatoreconomy.org

Here are the strongest options to consider:

My shortlist by business model

1. You sell high-ticket coaching ($500–$5,000+ packages) + a lower-priced membership

• Kajabi is usually the strongest all-in-one choice.
• Example structure:
  • Free newsletter/community preview
  • $49/mo community tier
  • $199/mo group coaching tier
  • $2,000 1:1 coaching package

2. Your community itself is the product

• Look at Circle or Mighty Networks.
• Example:
  • Basic member: $29/mo
  • Pro member: $99/mo (monthly calls + resources)
  • VIP: $299/mo (small group coaching)

3. You run accountability/cohort-style coaching

• Look at Skool.
• It works well when the value comes from:
  • daily engagement
  • peer interaction
  • challenges
  • progress tracking communipass.comcreatoreconomy.org

A stack I’d consider for a serious coaching business

Option A — simplest all-in-one

• Kajabi
• Calendly for 1:1 booking
• Zoom for calls

Option B — best community experience

• Circle
• Stripe for payments
• Calendly
• Zoom
• Email platform (if needed)

Option C — lean startup version

• Skool
• Stripe
• Calendly
• Zoom

Features I’d make sure you have before committing

• Multiple paid tiers (not just one membership)
• Ability to bundle coaching + community access
• Coupons/trials
• Member tagging/segmentation
• Automated onboarding emails
• Calendar integration
• Private spaces for VIP clients
• Payments/subscription management
• Exportable member/customer data

If you tell me your expected price points (for example $49 community + $1,500 coaching vs $500/month mastermind) and whether you already have an audience (email list, YouTube, Instagram, etc.), I can narrow this to 2–3 best fits.

Yes. For your model—paid 1:1 coaching + a paid community with multiple membership tiers—I’d narrow the field to Kajabi, Circle, Mighty Networks, and Skool.

1. Kajabi — best if you want the whole business in one place

This would be my first choice if coaching is the core business.

Kajabi lets you create separate Community Access Groups connected to different Offers, so you can create something like:

• Free — newsletter/community
• $49/mo — community + group calls
• $149/mo — premium community + additional resources
• $500/mo — community + 1:1 coaching
• $2,000 package — intensive 1:1 coaching

The important part is that access and payment are tied together, so different purchases can unlock different parts of the community. help.kajabi.com

It's also stronger than the community-first platforms if you want landing pages, email marketing, offers, courses, payments, and coaching under one roof.

Kajabi

I'd pick Kajabi if: you're building a serious coaching business rather than primarily a social community.

2. Circle — best community experience

Circle is probably my favorite if the community itself is the product.

Its current Professional plan is $89/month and includes paid memberships, courses, discussions, events, live streams/live rooms, member profiles, custom branding, and a custom domain. The $199/month Business tier adds workflows and more advanced customization. circle.so

You could structure it as:

Community

• $39/mo → basic membership
• $99/mo → premium membership
• $249/mo → VIP + group coaching

Coaching

• $500/mo → 1:1 coaching + premium community
• $2,500 → 90-day private coaching

The big advantage is that you can make the community feel like a real membership product, rather than a Facebook-group-style add-on.

Circle

I'd pick Circle if: your differentiation is the quality of the community, interaction, events, and member experience.

3. Mighty Networks — best for community + mobile experience

Mighty is particularly compelling if you expect your members to be highly active in the community.

Its current Launch plan is $79/month when billed annually ($95 monthly), with courses, events, community features, memberships, and mobile apps. Its payment system supports recurring memberships, installments, different payment intervals, promo codes, and automated access based on purchases/tags. www.mightynetworks.com

It also has a particularly strong mobile/community orientation, which can matter if your members will interact daily.

Mighty Networks

I'd pick Mighty if: you envision something closer to a membership network than a coaching portal.

4. Skool — best if you want extremely simple

Skool is worth considering if you want to launch quickly and don't need sophisticated marketing infrastructure.

It's very community/coaching oriented, with gamification and a simple member experience. The tradeoff is that it's less of an all-in-one business platform than Kajabi, and less customizable than Circle/Mighty.

I'd pick Skool if: your philosophy is essentially "I want a community, content, calls, and payments without fiddling with 50 settings."

What I'd choose for your particular model

I'd rank them:

🥇 Kajabi — if you're selling high-ticket 1:1 coaching alongside memberships
🥈 Circle — if the paid community is the centerpiece
🥉 Mighty Networks — if community engagement/mobile is especially important
4. Skool — if simplicity and speed trump customization

One distinction is especially important:

Don't make your 1:1 coaching and community two separate businesses.

I'd design the offer ladder so the community naturally feeds your coaching:

Free audience → $49/mo community → $149/mo premium → $500–1,000+/mo 1:1 coaching

Your 1:1 clients can automatically receive the highest community tier, while community members have a natural upgrade path into private coaching.

If you tell me what kind of coaching you offer, your expected price for 1:1, and roughly how many community members you expect in year 1, I can narrow this to the best 2 platforms and show you exactly how I'd structure the tiers on each.

Yes. For your model—paid 1:1 coaching + a paid community + multiple membership tiers—I’d shortlist these:

1. Circle — my first look

Circle is particularly compelling if the community itself is the product. Its Professional plan currently includes paid memberships, courses, discussions, events, live streams/rooms, a website builder, member directory, analytics, and custom branding for $89/month. The Business plan is $199/month and adds workflows and more advanced customization. circle.so

A structure like this would work well:

• Community — $49/mo
• Pro — $149/mo, including group coaching
• VIP — $399/mo, including a monthly 1:1 session
• Separate 1:1 coaching packages for clients who don't want the community

Why I'd consider it: you can make the tiers primarily about access and level of support, rather than creating completely separate products.

2. Kajabi — best if you're building a broader coaching business

Kajabi is stronger if you want the community to sit alongside courses, coaching, memberships, landing pages, email marketing, and sales funnels. Kajabi explicitly supports structured coaching programs with scheduling and payments, as well as standalone or bundled paid communities and tiered pricing. www.kajabi.com

I'd lean Kajabi if your eventual business looks like:

Free content → paid community → group program → 1:1 coaching → courses/products

rather than primarily:

Community → increasingly premium community tiers.

3. Mighty Networks — strongest community-centric alternative

Mighty is worth serious consideration if member-to-member interaction is central to your offer. It combines community, courses, events, livestreaming, memberships and coaching in one platform. It also supports recurring/one-time payments and different pricing structures. www.mightynetworks.com

Current pricing starts at $79/month for Launch and $179/month for Scale. www.mightynetworks.com

One especially relevant example: Mighty describes a creator using a $35.99/mo student membership + $120.99/mo mentorship group + $349.99 course, illustrating the kind of tiered ecosystem you're describing. www.mightynetworks.com

4. Skool — if you want dead simple

I'd choose Skool if you don't want to spend much time configuring a platform and your primary experience is community + content + calls.

The tradeoff is that it's less sophisticated for building a highly differentiated multi-tier coaching business. If you're envisioning complex combinations of 1:1 access, different member permissions, funnels, courses, and automations, I'd look at Circle or Kajabi first.

My recommendation

I'd narrow it to Circle vs. Kajabi vs. Mighty Networks.

Choose Circle if your core product is a premium community with coaching layered on top.

Choose Kajabi if you're building a full creator/coaching business with courses, funnels, email marketing and multiple offers.

Choose Mighty Networks if creating a highly engaged, community-first membership is the main thing you care about.

For the specific model you described, I'd probably start with Circle. It gives you a clean path from a basic paid community to differentiated tiers and premium coaching without forcing you into a giant course/marketing platform.

If you tell me roughly your intended monthly price for the community, 1:1 coaching price, and expected number of members, I can also compare the three on actual platform fees + what your tier structure could look like.

Yes. If you want both paid 1:1 coaching and a paid community with multiple membership tiers, I’d focus on platforms that can handle the whole customer journey rather than stitching together Calendly + Stripe + a community app.

My shortlist

1. Kajabi — probably the strongest all-around fit

Kajabi

I'd put Kajabi at the top if coaching is the core business and the community is an additional recurring-revenue product.

It combines coaching, memberships, communities, courses, payments, email marketing and landing pages. Its coaching product specifically supports structured programs, scheduling and payments. www.kajabi.com

It also supports tiered memberships, including separate content/access for different levels. www.kajabi.com

A structure like this is very doable:

• Community — $29/mo: community + basic resources
• Pro — $99/mo: community + group coaching/Q&A
• VIP — $299/mo: community + more direct access
• 1:1 Coaching — $1,000+/mo: private coaching

Why I'd choose it: You can build a real funnel around the offers rather than simply having a community with a payment button.

2. Circle — my pick if the community experience matters most

Circle

Circle is particularly compelling if you envision the community itself as the product.

It supports paid memberships, multiple tiers, subscriptions, free trials and one-time payments, and you can gate the entire community or individual spaces. circle.so

Current Professional pricing is $89/month, with Business at $199/month. circle.so

You could structure your community as:

Bronze

• Main community
• Resources
• Monthly group call

Gold

• Everything in Bronze
• Weekly coaching call
• Specialized spaces

Platinum

• Everything in Gold
• Priority access
• 1:1 coaching

That last tier is where Circle becomes especially interesting for your model: you can use the community as the base of the business and sell higher-touch coaching on top.

3. Mighty Networks — excellent for a community-led business

Mighty Networks

Mighty is worth serious consideration if you want your community to feel like a membership network rather than a course platform.

It combines community, courses, events and memberships, and supports recurring payments, installments, bundles and different membership levels. www.mightynetworks.comwww.mightynetworks.com

One particularly relevant feature: Mighty explicitly supports using higher-tier access as an upsell, including VIP spaces. www.mightynetworks.comwww.mightynetworks.com

So your model could be:

$49/mo Community → $149/mo Group Coaching → $500–$1,500/mo 1:1 Coaching

That's a very natural fit for the platform.

4. Skool — worth considering if simplicity is your priority

Skool is attractive if you want "community + content + recurring payment" without a huge amount of infrastructure.

The tradeoff is that it isn't as sophisticated for a business with lots of different products, funnels and coaching configurations. Mighty Networks itself characterizes Skool as being particularly suited to simple communities and community-idea testing. www.mightynetworks.com

I'd choose it if you said:

"I want members to log in, interact, consume my content, and pay me. I don't want to build a complicated platform."

I wouldn't make it my first choice if you already know you're going to have several membership tiers plus a substantial 1:1 coaching operation.

What I'd choose for your particular model

I'd narrow it to:

🥇 Kajabi — if you want to build a coaching business with a community attached.

🥈 Circle — if you want to build a community business with coaching attached.

🥉 Mighty Networks — if you want something in between, with especially strong community/membership functionality.

The biggest question is actually how you want the tiers to work. For example, there's a big difference between:

Model A

$49 community → $199 community + group coaching → $1,000 1:1

and

Model B

$49 basic community → $99 premium community → $299 VIP community → 1:1 coaching sold separately.

If you tell me roughly what you want to charge for the community and 1:1 coaching, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 platforms and compare actual fees, payment processing, tiering, scheduling, community features, and what you'd net at 50/100/500 members.

Yes. If your model is “paid 1:1 coaching + a paid community with multiple membership tiers,” I’d focus on platforms that can handle both without forcing you to stitch together a bunch of tools.

My shortlist

1. Kajabi — my pick if coaching is the core business

Kajabi is unusually well suited to your model because coaching, memberships, communities, payments, courses, and marketing automation all live in the same ecosystem. Its coaching product supports structured coaching programs, scheduling and payments, while its community product supports paid and tiered communities. www.kajabi.com

You could structure it like:

• Community — $49/mo: community + resources
• Pro — $149/mo: community + group calls + additional resources
• VIP — $500–1,500/mo: community + 1:1 coaching
• Private Coaching — $X: standalone 1:1 package

Kajabi specifically supports multiple membership tiers by connecting different products/offers to different levels of access. www.kajabi.comwww.kajabi.com

Choose Kajabi if: you also want landing pages, email marketing, funnels, courses, payments, and automated upsells.

Kajabi

2. Circle — my pick if the community experience matters most

Circle is particularly strong if you want the community itself to be the product. You can create spaces for different membership levels and use paywalls to control access to the entire community or individual spaces. It supports subscriptions, one-time payments, trials and installments. help.circle.so

For example:

Basic — $39/mo

• Community
• Resource library
• Monthly group call

Premium — $99/mo

• Everything above
• Weekly group coaching
• Premium spaces

VIP — $399/mo

• Everything above
• 1:1 coaching
• Private VIP space

Circle's current Professional plan is $89/month and includes unlimited members, courses, events, live streams, paid memberships and custom branding. Business is $199/month and adds workflows and additional customization. circle.so

The downside: if your business is heavily centered on sophisticated 1:1 coaching workflows, Kajabi is more naturally suited to that use case.

Circle

3. Mighty Networks — strongest for an actual membership community

Mighty is worth serious consideration if you're selling belonging, accountability and interaction, rather than primarily selling courses.

It combines community, courses, events, livestreaming, payments and memberships, and supports different paid tiers and spaces. Its payment system supports recurring memberships, installments and one-time purchases. www.mightynetworks.com

One particularly interesting capability is automatically giving higher-tier members access to exclusive spaces. www.mightynetworks.com

So you could have:

Member → Premium Member → VIP/Coaching Member

with progressively more access.

Choose Mighty if: your differentiator is the community and member-to-member interaction.

Mighty Networks

4. Skool — simplest model

Skool has gotten considerably more interesting for your use case because it now supports tiered pricing, subscriptions, freemium memberships and one-time payments. help.skool.com

Its pricing is also straightforward: currently $9/month for Hobby or $99/month for Pro, with transaction fees varying by plan. www.skool.com

And there are already real Skool communities using essentially the exact model you're describing—for example, a standard membership plus a premium tier containing 1:1 coaching. www.skool.com

Choose Skool if: you want to get something live quickly and don't need an elaborate marketing/CRM ecosystem.

Skool

What I'd choose

For your particular business model, I'd narrow it to:

🥇 Kajabi — if you want to build a serious coaching business with funnels, email, courses, memberships and 1:1 all under one roof.

🥈 Circle — if the community is the centerpiece and coaching is an upsell.

🥉 Skool — if you want the simplest/cheapest way to launch and validate the model.

Mighty Networks — if you expect the community itself to become a substantial, highly interactive membership business.

One important distinction: don't automatically make 1:1 coaching its own product. A very powerful model is to make coaching the upper tier of the community:

$49/mo → Community
$149/mo → Community + group coaching
$499/mo → Community + 1 monthly 1:1
$1,000+/mo → Community + weekly 1:1

That gives you a natural ladder from low-ticket recurring revenue into high-ticket coaching.

If you tell me roughly what you coach, your expected monthly price points, and whether you already have an audience, I can narrow this down to the best 2 platforms and show you exactly how I'd structure the tiers on each.