ChatGPT answers, unedited

For your use case—a hobbyist educator, monthly paid content, small membership, and a tight budget—I’d start with Patreon unless having your own publication/site is especially important.

My ranking

1. patreon.com — best overall for starting cheap

• $0 upfront; you pay when you earn.
• New creators are currently on a 10% platform fee, plus payment processing and applicable fees/taxes. Patreon Help Center Patreon
• Handles memberships, tiers, posts, video, newsletters, comments, chats, and DMs in one place. Patreon Help Center
• Particularly good if your primary product is “I publish something useful every month; members get access.”
• You don't have to build a website, payment system, login system, or member-management system yourself.
• ghost.org — best if you want your own publication

• Ghost's Publisher plan is currently $29/month billed annually and includes paid subscriptions, newsletters, comments, and up to 1,000 members. Ghost
• Ghost takes no transaction fee; payments go through your Stripe account, so you're mainly paying the fixed software cost plus Stripe processing. Ghost
• At $29/month, you'd need roughly 6 members paying $5/month just to cover the software cost.
• Much better than Patreon financially once you're earning enough, but it's more of a publication/membership website than a ready-made community.
• Discord + Patreon — best if community interaction is the product

• Patreon can integrate membership tiers with Discord roles. Patreon Help Center
• Discord itself is free, so this can give you a lively community without paying for a dedicated community platform.
• The downside is that educational resources can become messy to organize.
• Circle / Mighty Networks — probably overkill for you right now

• Dedicated community platforms are attractive, but you're generally looking at roughly $79–$89+/month before transaction fees depending on the platform/plan. Mighty Networks
• I'd only go here once the community itself—not merely your monthly content—is a substantial part of what members are paying for.

What I'd actually do

I'd launch with Patreon + one paid tier + possibly a free tier.

For example:

$7/month — Educator's Club

• One substantial lesson/resource each month
• Downloadable materials
• Members-only discussion
• Occasional live Q&A

Don't build a complicated 4–5-tier membership initially. Your scarce resource is probably your time, not platform features.

At 20 members × $7 = $140/month, Patreon is costing you more in percentage terms, but you're avoiding a $29–$89 monthly software bill. At that scale, that's a very reasonable tradeoff.

Once you're at, say, 75–150+ paying members, I'd reassess. At that point, Ghost—or a dedicated community platform if interaction has become central—can make more economic sense.

One important 2026 wrinkle: Patreon has changed its billing model for new creators to subscription billing, so if you specifically want a traditional "charge once per month for whatever I published this month" model, I'd factor that into your decision. Patreon Help Center

If you tell me roughly how much you'd charge per month ($5, $10, $20, etc.) and whether the community needs discussion/chat or is mainly content delivery, I can calculate the break-even point between Patreon, Ghost, Discord, and a couple of other options.

For a hobbyist educator with a small paid membership and a tight budget, I’d start with Patreon rather than paying $80–$100+/month for a dedicated community platform.

My ranking

Patreon currently lets new creators start without a monthly subscription and charges a 10% platform fee on earnings, plus payment-processing and other applicable fees. It also includes memberships, digital products, video, chats, comments, polls, and audience analytics. Patreon Help Center Patreon

By contrast, Circle's entry-level Professional plan is currently $89/month, although it gives you a much more comprehensive community/course environment. Circle Mighty Networks starts around $79/month. Mighty Networks

The key question is how much you expect to make

Suppose you charge $10/month:

• 10 members = $100/month → Patreon is roughly $10 platform fee + processing
• 25 members = $250/month → roughly $25 + processing
• 50 members = $500/month → roughly $50 + processing
• 100 members = $1,000/month → roughly $100 + processing

At that scale, a $89/month platform subscription starts making more sense only if its extra features materially improve your experience or retention.

For example, Circle's $89/month fee is equivalent to Patreon's 10% platform fee at about $890/month in membership revenue—before considering processing and other differences. So I wouldn't jump to Circle until you're somewhere around that neighborhood or have a compelling need for its features.

What I'd actually do

I'd use Patreon as the paid membership layer, with something like:

Free audience → Patreon → monthly lesson/content → comments/chat → occasional live session

Keep the community intentionally small and simple. You don't need a sophisticated "community platform" if your members primarily want your educational material and a place to discuss it.

If you discover that members are constantly asking for live discussion, peer interaction, channels, study groups, etc., then add Discord or eventually migrate to Circle.

One other interesting option is Whop, which has been getting attention for paid communities because it doesn't charge a monthly subscription and instead uses transaction fees; however, I'd favor Patreon for an educator unless Whop's particular community/discovery features are useful to you. BioGPT.IO

Bottom line: start with Patreon. At hobby scale, minimizing fixed costs is much more important than having the fanciest community software. Once the membership is reliably generating several hundred dollars a month, reassess whether the community experience is worth paying for.

If you tell me roughly how many members you expect (10 / 25 / 50 / 100), what you'd charge per month, and whether the community is mostly content, discussion, or live teaching, I can calculate the cheapest setup for your specific case.

For a hobbyist educator releasing monthly paid content with a small membership and tight budget, I’d avoid expensive “all-in-one creator businesses” at first. The best platform depends on whether your members are paying mainly for content, conversation, or structured learning.

My shortlist:

www.mightynetworks.com

My likely recommendation for your situation

Start with Patreon if:

• You publish once or a few times per month
• Members mostly consume your material
• You want the simplest possible setup
• You have fewer than a few hundred paying members

It handles subscriptions and tiers without you building a website or payment system. idarb.com

Start with Discord + a lightweight payment layer if:

• The community itself is the product
• Members ask questions, share projects, or help each other
• You want live conversations

Discord is free and excellent for engagement, but it feels more like a club chatroom than a classroom. www.mightynetworks.com

Consider Podia if:

• Your monthly content is more like mini-courses, workshops, PDFs, videos, or downloads
• You want a simple storefront plus membership

What I would not start with

• Kajabi: powerful, but usually excessive for a small hobby membership.
• Circle/Mighty Networks: excellent products, but the fixed monthly cost can be hard to justify early. www.mightynetworks.com

A lean setup many solo educators use

• Payments + membership: Patreon
• Community discussion: Discord
• Content archive: Google Drive, Notion, or a simple website

Then migrate to a dedicated community platform once you have enough recurring revenue that the monthly fee is trivial.

A few questions would change my recommendation:

1. What subject do you teach (art, history, coding, language, science, etc.)?
2. Roughly how many members do you expect in the first year (10, 50, 200+)?
3. Is the paid value mostly new content each month or access to you/community?

For a hobbyist educator releasing paid content monthly, I’d optimize for low fixed cost + easy membership payments + just enough community functionality. You probably don’t need a full-blown community platform yet.

My pick: Patreon

Patreon is probably the best starting point if your membership is small.

• $0 upfront — you pay fees when you earn.
• New creators currently pay a 10% platform fee, plus payment processing. support.patreon.com
• Handles monthly/annual memberships, digital products, posts, comments, chats, polls, and even video hosting. support.patreon.com
• You don't have to build a website, payment system, login system, or subscription infrastructure.
• You can start with one simple tier, rather than designing a complicated membership program.
• Patreon also supports connecting paid tiers to Discord roles, if you want a more conversational community. support.patreon.com

For example, if you charge $10/month and have 30 members, that's $300/month gross. Patreon takes roughly $30 in platform fees, before payment processing and other applicable fees. So you're paying for convenience rather than committing to a monthly software bill.

When I'd choose something else

Ghost is particularly interesting if you're building something more like an independent educational publication. Its Publisher plan is currently $29/month billed annually and includes paid subscriptions, newsletters, custom themes, and community comments, with no payment fees from Ghost itself. ghost.org

That means Ghost can become cheaper than Patreon once your membership revenue gets substantial enough. But at a small scale, the fixed monthly cost makes Patreon easier to justify.

What I'd do in your shoes

Start with Patreon + Discord only if you actually need live/community discussion.

I'd structure it something like:

$8–15/month → one monthly educational release + member discussion + archive

Don't build three or four tiers unless there's a genuine difference in what you're delivering. For a hobbyist educator, keeping the administrative burden tiny is probably more valuable than squeezing out another few percentage points of revenue.

One important 2026 wrinkle: Patreon now uses subscription billing for new creators, and its old per-creation model is no longer available to new accounts. support.patreon.com

Bottom line: Start with Patreon. Move to Ghost later if you develop a substantial audience and want your own publication/site, or to Circle if the community itself becomes the main product.

Patreon pricing/fees · Ghost pricing

For your use case—a hobbyist educator, monthly paid content, small membership, and tight budget—I’d start with Patreon, unless you specifically want a standalone website/newsletter.

My ranking

Patreon is particularly attractive because there's no upfront subscription cost: you pay platform fees when you earn. For creators who started after August 4, 2025, Patreon’s standard platform fee is 10%, plus payment processing and applicable fees. support.patreon.comsupport.patreon.com

It also supports monthly/annual memberships, posts, video, comments, polls, community chats, and digital products, so you don't need to stitch together several services initially. support.patreon.comsupport.patreon.com

When I'd choose Ghost instead

If your "monthly paid content" is more like a mini educational publication—articles, lesson materials, essays, PDFs, a newsletter—I'd seriously consider Ghost. Its Publisher plan is currently $29/month when billed annually, supports paid subscriptions and up to 1,000 members, and Ghost takes 0% of your subscription revenue (Stripe processing still applies). ghost.org

So the tradeoff is basically:

• $0 upfront + ~10% of revenue → Patreon
• $29/month + payment processing → Ghost Publisher

At $10/month with 10 members, I'd absolutely take Patreon. At $10/month with 100+ members, Ghost starts becoming much more attractive financially.

One thing I'd avoid

I wouldn't pay $89/month for Circle at your stage. It's a lovely all-in-one community platform, but its current Professional plan starts at $89/month. circle.so That's hard to justify until the community itself is generating meaningful revenue.

My recommendation: start with Patreon + its built-in community features. If your audience eventually grows into a serious educational publication, migrate to Ghost later. Patreon can also connect memberships to Discord if you discover that your members want real-time discussion. support.patreon.com

If you tell me roughly how many members you expect (e.g. 10, 50, 100), your monthly price, and whether the community needs live discussion, I can do the actual fee math and tell you which option is cheapest.

For your situation—one person, monthly paid content, small membership, and a tight budget—I’d start with Patreon.

My ranking

Patreon is particularly attractive because there's no upfront subscription cost: new creators currently pay a 10% platform fee on earnings, plus payment-processing and other applicable fees. It also includes memberships, one-time purchases, video, newsletters, chats, DMs, comments, and audience tools. support.patreon.com

For example, if you're charging $10/month:

• 10 members → $100 gross/month
• 50 members → $500
• 100 members → $1,000

At that stage, I'd much rather give up a percentage of revenue than pay $79–$100 every month before I've proven the community works.

When I'd choose something else

Choose Mighty Networks if the community itself is the product—e.g. members need profiles, discussions, events, courses, livestreams, and a persistent community space. Its current Explore option is $35/month when billed annually, while its Launch plan is $79/month monthly. www.mightynetworks.com

Choose Circle if you're already making enough money that a dedicated, polished community platform is worth the fixed cost.

Use Discord + Patreon if your members primarily want conversation and you want Patreon handling the money/content access. It's a very inexpensive way to get more community functionality without committing to an expensive all-in-one platform.

What I'd actually do in your shoes

Start Patreon-only for the first 10–30 members. Don't overbuild it.

Structure it around something like:

• $5–10/mo: monthly lesson/content
• $15–25/mo: lesson + community discussion + monthly live session
• Keep the number of tiers low.
• Give members a predictable monthly rhythm rather than trying to constantly produce new material.

Once you have enough members that the Patreon fee feels painful and people are demonstrably using the community, migrate to a dedicated community platform.

The key is that your biggest early expense shouldn't be software—it should be your time creating genuinely useful educational material.

If you tell me roughly how many members you expect (10, 50, 100?) and what kind of content you teach, I can narrow this down to the cheapest setup that still feels professional.

For a hobbyist educator with a small paid membership and a tight budget, I’d start with Patreon unless you specifically want your own publication website.

My ranking

Why Patreon: You don't have to gamble on a monthly software bill. New creators currently pay a 10% platform fee, plus payment-processing and other applicable fees, but there's no upfront cost. It includes memberships, digital products, comments, chats, polls, and audience insights. support.patreon.com

For your model—“I publish one substantial piece of paid educational content each month”—that's a very good fit. You can essentially say:

$5–10/month → one new lesson/resource + access to the member discussion

One important current wrinkle: Patreon has moved new creators to subscription billing; per-creation billing is no longer available to new creators, and legacy per-creation billing is scheduled to end November 1, 2026. support.patreon.com

When I'd choose Ghost instead

If your real goal is “build my own little educational publication”, I'd seriously consider Ghost.

Its Publisher plan is currently $29/month when billed yearly, supports paid subscriptions, newsletters, comments, multiple membership tiers, and up to 1,000 members—with no payment fees from Ghost itself. ghost.org

The math becomes attractive once you're earning enough that Patreon’s 10% starts exceeding Ghost's fixed cost. For example, at $500/month in membership revenue, a 10% Patreon platform fee is ~$50/month before processing, versus $29/month for Ghost Publisher.

What I'd actually do in your shoes

Start with Patreon + a free Discord server.

• Patreon: payment, member access, monthly content archive
• Discord: conversation, questions, peer interaction
• You: one excellent monthly educational drop
• Price: probably $5–10/month to start
• Don't pay for a sophisticated community platform until the community proves it needs one.

That keeps your fixed software cost essentially at $0, while letting you validate whether people actually want to pay for the community.

If you tell me roughly how many members you expect (e.g. 10, 50, 100) and your intended monthly price, I can compare the actual economics of Patreon vs. Ghost vs. Circle at that size.

For a small paid membership + monthly educational content + tight budget, I’d start with Patreon unless your main product is a newsletter/publication.

My ranking

Why Patreon: there's no upfront platform cost, and the current standard plan includes monthly/annual memberships, one-time sales, video, chats, polls, comments, newsletters, and member analytics. New creators pay a 10% platform fee plus payment-processing fees. support.patreon.com

For example, at 30 members × $10/month = $300 revenue, the 10% platform fee is $30, before payment processing. That's much easier to swallow than paying $89/month for Circle before you've validated the community. circle.so

When I'd choose Ghost instead

If your "community" is really monthly essays, lessons, videos, or a newsletter with some member discussion, I'd seriously consider Ghost.

Ghost's Publisher plan is currently $29/month billed yearly and supports paid subscriptions, while Ghost takes 0% of subscription revenue (Stripe still charges payment processing). It also supports members-only comments, which may be enough community interaction for an educator. ghost.org

The break-even intuition is roughly:

• 10 members × $10: Patreon is cheaper
• 30 members × $10: still probably Patreon
• 100 members × $10: Ghost's flat fee starts looking attractive
• Several hundred members: Ghost can be dramatically cheaper if you don't need Patreon-style community features

What I'd do in your shoes

Start with Patreon for 3–6 months. Keep the membership extremely simple:

$7–15/month → one substantial educational release + member discussion + occasional live session

Don't spend $89+/month on community software until you have enough members that the community itself—not just the content—is the product.

If your content is primarily written/long-form educational material, I'd flip that recommendation to Ghost.

If you tell me roughly (1) expected member count, (2) monthly price, (3) whether content is video/written/live, and (4) how important chat/community interaction is, I can work out the cheapest option with actual fee math.

For a small paid community + monthly educational content + tight budget, I’d start with Ko-fi or Patreon, rather than paying for a dedicated community platform.

My ranking

🥇 Best value: Ko-fi + Discord

Ko-fi currently lets you create membership tiers for free and charges a 5% service fee on membership payments, plus normal Stripe/PayPal processing. It also supports exclusive posts/content and can grant members exclusive Discord roles. help.ko-fi.com

That makes a nice setup:

Ko-fi → handles payment + membership → Discord → handles the actual community

For example:

• $5/month — monthly lesson + community
• $10/month — lesson + resource pack + community
• $20/month — everything + monthly live session

You can keep the educational content in Ko-fi (or Google Drive/Notion/etc.) and use Discord for discussion, Q&A, office hours, and peer interaction.

🥈 Patreon if you want less tinkering

Patreon is probably the easiest "I just want this to work" option. New creators are currently on a 10% platform fee, plus payment-processing and other applicable fees. It includes memberships, digital products, video hosting, chats, comments, polls, and audience insights. support.patreon.com

So if you have, say, 20 members × $10 = $200/month, Patreon is roughly $20 in platform fees before processing/taxes. Ko-fi would be roughly $10 in platform fees before processing.

Patreon wins on simplicity and built-in membership infrastructure; Ko-fi wins on cost and flexibility.

🥉 Don't buy Circle/Mighty yet

Dedicated community platforms become attractive once the community itself is the product.

For example, Mighty Networks' current Explore plan is $350/year ($35/month equivalent) and adds a much more sophisticated community experience, including activity feeds, chat spaces, events and livestreaming. www.mightynetworks.com

That's great—but if you're only serving 10–30 hobbyist learners, I'd rather see you spend that money on better content, equipment, or marketing.

One important distinction

If your members are primarily paying for the monthly educational material, I'd choose Ko-fi or Patreon.

If they're primarily paying to interact with you and each other, I'd choose Discord + Ko-fi.

If you're eventually selling "a place to belong"—ongoing discussion, cohorts, events, courses, networking, archives—then graduate to Circle or Mighty Networks.

My recommendation for your situation: start with Ko-fi + Discord. It's inexpensive enough that you can validate whether people will actually pay before committing to a $30–$100+/month community platform. help.ko-fi.com

If you tell me roughly how many members you expect (e.g. 10, 30, 100) and your planned monthly price ($5/$10/$20/etc.), I can calculate the actual monthly cost and take-home revenue for Ko-fi vs Patreon vs Discord.

For a small paid membership + monthly educational content + tight budget, I’d narrow it to Patreon vs. Ghost.

My pick: Patreon, if you want the least hassle

Patreon is probably the best starting point if you’re a hobbyist rather than trying to build a full publishing business.

• $0 upfront — you pay when you earn.
• New creators currently pay a 10% platform fee, plus payment processing and applicable fees. support.patreon.comwww.patreon.com
• Handles recurring memberships, tiers, one-time purchases, posts, video, newsletters, chats, DMs, and comments. support.patreon.comwww.patreon.com
• You don't have to stitch together a payment processor, membership system, and community software.
• It's particularly good if your community is more "support my educational work and get the monthly thing" than "I'm running an intensive online community."

The main downside is the 10% cut. If you're only making a few hundred dollars a month, though, avoiding a fixed monthly software bill can be worth considerably more than optimizing transaction fees.

Ghost is my pick if you want your own publication

Ghost is more attractive if your content itself is the product—e.g. monthly essays, lessons, tutorials, PDFs, or a newsletter.

Its Publisher plan is currently $29/month when billed annually, includes paid subscriptions and up to 1,000 members, and Ghost takes 0% transaction fees (Stripe fees still apply). ghost.org

That means roughly:

So around $300/month of membership revenue is the rough crossover point, before considering payment-processing differences.

Ghost also gives you considerably more ownership over the publication, including member import/export, paid tiers, email newsletters, your own website, and member-only comments. ghost.org

I wouldn't start with Circle

Circle is excellent if the community itself is the product—discussion spaces, courses, events, live sessions, member directory, etc. But its Professional plan is currently $89/month, plus a 2% transaction fee. circle.so

For a hobbyist on a tight budget, that's hard to justify unless you already have enough paying members to support it.

What I'd do in your situation

Start with Patreon if you're under ~$300/month and want to spend your time teaching rather than administering technology.

Move to Ghost once you're consistently around ~$300–500+/month or you care about building a more independent educational publication.

Use Circle later if you discover that people are paying primarily for interaction with you and each other, rather than merely for access to your monthly content.

One important distinction: if you tell me roughly how many members you expect (e.g. 10, 30, 100), your monthly price ($5/$10/$20/etc.), and whether the community needs live discussion/chat, I can give you a much more precise recommendation—including the cheapest setup.

For your situation—one educator, monthly paid content, small membership, and a tight budget—I’d start with Patreon.

My ranking

Patreon is particularly compelling because there's no upfront platform cost: you pay its standard 10% platform fee only once you earn, plus applicable processing/payout/etc. fees. It includes memberships, one-time purchases, posts, newsletters, chats, DMs, comments, and member analytics. support.patreon.com

So if you're charging, say, $10/month and have 30 members ($300/month), you're not committing to an $89–$199 monthly software bill before you know whether the community will work.

When I'd choose Ghost instead

If your "community" is really a monthly educational publication with discussion around it, I'd seriously consider Ghost.

Ghost's Publisher plan is $29/month when billed annually and supports paid subscriptions, newsletters, multiple tiers, member accounts, comments, and a proper website. Ghost takes 0% of subscription revenue (Stripe processing still applies). ghost.org

That becomes economically attractive as you grow. For example, at $1,000/month in membership revenue, a 10% platform fee is ~$100/month, so Ghost's fixed fee can start making sense.

What I would not do yet

I wouldn't start with Circle. It's a very nice product—courses, discussions, events, live streams, paid memberships, custom domains, etc.—but its Professional plan is currently $89/month. circle.so That's a lot of fixed overhead for a hobbyist educator testing a small membership.

My recommendation: start on Patreon, keep the offer extremely simple (probably one paid tier), and validate that people will pay for the monthly content. If you eventually find yourself wanting your own branded publication/site and the membership revenue is comfortably above the platform fee, migrate to Ghost.

If you tell me roughly how much you'd charge per month and how many members you expect (e.g. 20, 50, 100), I can run the break-even numbers between Patreon, Ghost, and a DIY setup.

For a hobbyist educator selling monthly content to a small paid community, I’d start with Patreon unless your community experience itself is the product.

My pick: Patreon

It has the lowest financial risk because there’s no upfront subscription cost. New creators currently pay a 10% platform fee, plus payment processing and other applicable fees. It also gives you memberships, one-time purchases, video hosting, posts, chats, comments, and audience analytics in one place. www.patreon.comsupport.patreon.com

That makes it particularly good if you're thinking something like:

“I publish one useful lesson/project/resource each month, and members get access plus a place to discuss it.”

You don't need 20–50 paying members just to cover the software bill.

How I'd rank the alternatives

Mighty's current Explore plan is $350/year ($35/mo equivalent when annual), with community feeds, chat, events and live features. www.mightynetworks.com Circle starts at $89/month and includes courses, discussions, events, live streaming and paid memberships. circle.so

Interestingly, Patreon itself supports free Discord integration for member-only communities, so you can use Patreon as the payment/content layer and Discord as the social layer. support.patreon.com

The setup I'd actually use

Patreon → monthly payment + content
Discord → member conversation + office hours + peer interaction

Keep it to one membership tier initially. For example:

• $5–10/month
• 1 substantial educational drop per month
• member-only discussion
• occasional live Q&A
• archive of previous material

At 20 members × $8/month, that's $160/month gross; Patreon takes its percentage rather than you having to pay an $89/month platform subscription regardless of whether you have 5 members or 100.

I wouldn't pay for Circle/Mighty yet. Once you're consistently at, say, 50–100+ members and the community experience becomes a major part of what people are paying for, then moving to an all-in-one platform starts making much more sense.

If you tell me roughly how many members you expect (e.g. 10, 25, 50), your monthly price, and whether the content is video/PDF/live classes, I can work out the cheapest setup and break-even point.

For a hobbyist educator with a small paid membership and a tight budget, I’d start with Fourthwall.

My ranking

Why Fourthwall: there’s no monthly subscription or upfront cost, and memberships are currently charged a 5% platform fee, plus payment processing. It also supports digital products and members-only Discord integration. fourthwall.com

Patreon is probably the easiest alternative. It has memberships, posts, newsletters, video/livestreaming, chats, DMs, comments, and member analytics in one place. But for new creators its standard platform fee is now 10%, before payment processing and other applicable fees. www.patreon.comfourthwall.com

What I'd do in your situation

If you're, say, charging $5–15/month and expect 10–100 members, I'd keep the setup extremely simple:

Fourthwall → monthly educational content → optional Discord community

That avoids paying a recurring software bill while you're still figuring out whether the membership has legs.

For example, at 50 members × $10/month = $500/month, Fourthwall's 5% platform fee is about $25, before payment processing. Patreon would take about $50 in its platform fee alone. www.patreon.comfourthwall.com

I'd only move to something like Circle when the community itself becomes the product—e.g., you need structured spaces, courses, events, member profiles, and a much more customized community experience.

Fourthwall · Patreon

If you tell me your approximate monthly price, expected number of members, and whether the content is video/PDF/live sessions, I can recommend the cheapest setup and estimate your actual take-home at 25, 50, and 100 members.

For a hobbyist educator releasing paid content monthly, I’d optimize for low fixed cost + easy recurring payments + a community that doesn’t feel like a second job.

My picks

Patreon is particularly attractive when you're starting with, say, 10–30 paying members, because your costs rise with revenue rather than requiring a substantial monthly subscription. Current comparisons put it at roughly an 8% platform fee, before payment processing. idarb.com

Ghost is unusually compelling for an educator who primarily publishes monthly material. Its Publisher plan is currently $29/month when billed annually, includes paid subscriptions, multiple membership tiers, newsletters, and member-only comments—and Ghost says it takes no payment fees itself. ghost.org

Mighty is more of a "proper community" solution: posts, chat spaces, events, courses, etc. Its current Explore offering is advertised at $350/year, while the regular monthly Launch plan is $79/month. www.mightynetworks.com

What I'd do in your shoes

Start with Patreon if the product is "monthly educational content + discussion."

Don't pay $79–$100+ every month for sophisticated community software until you know people actually want the community component.

A simple structure could be:

$5–10/month

• Monthly lesson/content drop
• Member discussion
• Occasional Q&A
• Archive of previous material

Then, once you're consistently at perhaps 30–50+ members, reassess whether you want a dedicated home such as Mighty or Circle.

Exception: if your content is primarily written lessons/newsletters and you want your own branded website, I'd choose Ghost from the beginning. Its fixed cost becomes especially attractive once membership revenue grows. ghost.org

If you tell me roughly how many members you expect (10, 25, 50, 100) and your planned monthly price, I can calculate the actual break-even cost of Patreon vs. Ghost vs. Discord vs. Mighty for you.