Sooper vs CircleBuilt to sell, not a closed book
Circle starts out as a closed book: a community stays behind a login until you make it public, and visitors only see the spaces you open up one by one, so selling it can take a separate website. Sooper sells for you: your community is your storefront, with public pages that show off your content, tiers, products and bookings, rank on Google and AI search, and take payment in one checkout. No monthly fee, just a flat fee on sales.
Four places Sooper works differently.
Circle is built around spaces and paid plans. Sooper is built around your content, your checkout and one flat rate.
Your community sells for you
A Circle community stays behind a login until you make it public, and even then visitors only see the spaces you open up. Sooper's public pages preview your content, tiers and products, get found on Google and AI search, and take payment the moment people are convinced.
No monthly fee, no add-on meter
Sooper takes 8% of what you sell and nothing else. No plan to pick, and no caps on members, co-creators, channels or storage. Circle starts at $89 a month on annual billing plus 2%, with admins, spaces, storage and live hours limited per plan and sold as add-ons.
A shop and bookings, built in
Digital products, single posts, pay what you want, per-tier pricing and bookable sessions with approval, seat limits and meeting links share one checkout with your tiers. Circle sells access through paywalls, and its help center points to tools like Calendly for bookings.
White-glove migration, real support
Moving from Circle? We help you bring your members, content and tiers over, and switch on batch upload so your whole back catalogue lands in one go. After that, you talk to the people who build Sooper, not a ticket queue.
Feature by feature.
Checked against Circle's pricing page and help center, Stripe's docs and our own codebase on September 21, 2026.
| Feature | Sooper | Circle |
|---|---|---|
| No monthly subscription fee | Yes | No$89 to $419 a month on annual billing, custom pricing on Circle Plus |
| Every feature on every plan | YesThere is only one plan | PartialWorkflows, API and transcriptions start at Business; AI agents, webhooks and custom SSO start at Scale |
| No plan caps on team seats, channels or storage | Yes | PartialProfessional has 3 admins, 20 spaces and 200GB; more costs extra |
| Payments charged on your own Stripe account | Yes | YesStandard Stripe Connect account |
| VAT and sales tax collected at checkout | YesStripe Tax on your own account, switched on when you need it | PartialStripe Tax on your account; you file and remit |
| Refunds from your dashboard | YesFull order refunds, prorated on cancellations | YesFull or partial |
| Feature | Sooper | Circle |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly and annual membership pricing | Yes | YesDaily to biennial, up to six prices per paywall |
| Native video hosting | YesNo storage cap, up to 1440p | Yes4GB per file, up to 1080p, counts toward plan storage |
| Scheduled posts | Yes | Yes |
| Sell individual posts directly | Yes | NoNo native feature documented |
| Feature | Sooper | Circle |
|---|---|---|
| Group chat channels | YesGated by tier | YesChat spaces and group chat |
| Co-creators and admins | YesNo cap, three roles, with their own profile and bookings | Partial3 admins on Professional, 5 on Business, more as paid add-ons |
| Feature | Sooper | Circle |
|---|---|---|
| Standalone digital product shop | Yes | NoPaywalls sell one-time access to spaces and courses; no standalone shop documented |
| Per-tier product pricing | YesIncluding free for a tier | NoNo native feature documented |
| Pay what you want on products | Yes | NoNo native feature documented |
| Coupons | Yes | YesFixed or percentage, for paywalls and paid events |
| Bookable sessions with approval and capacity | Yes | NoCircle suggests embedding a tool like Calendly |
| Waitlists before launch | Yes | PartialCourse waitlists and landing page forms |
| Feature | Sooper | Circle |
|---|---|---|
| Conversion tracking per post | YesFollows and subscriptions, post by post | PartialTracking script on the paywall thank-you page |
| Ad tracking for Meta, TikTok, Google and ChatGPT | YesServer-side purchase events for Meta, TikTok, GA4 and ChatGPT | PartialPixels through custom code; no server-side events documented |
| Export members as CSV | Yes | Yes |
Circle is a trademark of CircleCo, Inc. Circle details come from its pricing page, paywall transaction fees, paywalls overview and the rest of its help center; Stripe details from Stripe pricing and Connect docs. "No native feature documented" means we found no mention of the feature in Circle's help center. Both can change. If something here is out of date, let us know.
Not a closed book: a community people can discover, that sells your memberships, products and bookings for you, for one flat fee.
Your content first, with chat around it
Every Sooper community comes with a welcome page, gated posts, chat channels by topic and a personal inbox. You publish, your members talk, and there is no plan limit on how many channels or co-creators you add.
- Chat channels gated by tier
- Inbox with attachments and voice notes
- Co-creators featured on your community
- Bookable sessions with reminders and meeting links
Memberships and products, one checkout
Sell digital downloads, single posts and bookings next to your tiers. Price products per tier, drip free claims to members, and let Stripe handle the payment.
- Per-tier pricing and free claims
- Coupons and pay what you want
- Charged directly on your Stripe account
- VAT and sales tax through Stripe Tax
Frequently asked questions.
The things creators ask when they weigh Sooper against Circle.
Do I still need a website if I use Sooper?
Usually not. Your Sooper community is your website and your sales page: public pages for your posts, tiers, products and bookings, previews of locked content, SEO and AI-search-friendly pages, and checkout built in. A Circle community stays behind a login until you make it public, and visitors then see only the spaces you open up, so selling it can take a separate website or landing page builder.
How do the fees really compare?
Sooper has no monthly fee. You pay 8% of what you sell plus Stripe's standard processing, and nothing at all in a month you do not earn. Circle bills a plan every month whether your community earns or not: $89 on Professional, $199 on Business, $419 on Scale or custom pricing on Circle Plus, all on annual billing, plus a transaction fee of 2%, 1% or 0.5% and Stripe's fees on top. Until you earn roughly $1,480 a month, Sooper costs less than even Circle's cheapest plan, and that is before any Circle add-ons.
Where does the money go?
Straight to your own Stripe account. Sooper charges every payment directly on your connected account and Stripe pays it out to your bank on its normal schedule. We never hold your funds.
Will I hit limits or need add-ons as I grow?
No. Sooper has one plan with no caps on members, co-creators, chat channels or storage, and nothing to buy on top. On Circle, Professional includes 3 admins, 20 spaces, 200GB of storage and 10 live hours a month, and more is sold as paid add-ons. Email broadcasts run through the separate Email Hub add-on, and features like the API, workflows and transcriptions need a higher plan.
Can I run a course or a series on Sooper?
Yes. Organise posts and videos into ordered collections in exactly the order you want, gate them by tier or sell them on their own. Members see what they have already watched and videos resume where they stopped. For live sessions, members book a slot with you, including recurring group sessions with seat limits and Google Meet or Zoom links sent automatically.
How do members interact on Sooper?
Members talk in chat channels gated by tier, reply in threaded comments under every post, and message you and your co-creators directly with attachments and voice notes. Your posts stay front and centre instead of sinking in a busy feed, which keeps the focus on what members pay for.
Can I sell products and bookings, not just memberships?
Yes, and this is where Sooper goes further than Circle. Digital products, individual posts, pay what you want, per-tier pricing and bookable sessions with seat limits, approval and meeting links all share one checkout with your memberships. Circle's paywalls sell access to spaces and courses, and for 1:1 bookings its help center suggests embedding a tool like Calendly.
Can I move my Circle community to Sooper?
Yes, and we do the heavy lifting with you. Our white-glove migration helps you move your members, content and tiers over from Circle. We switch on batch upload for your community so your whole back catalogue of posts and videos lands in one go, instead of one upload at a time. Export your members as a CSV from Circle and invite them in. Run both side by side while people move over, and offer a coupon to make switching an easy yes.
What if I need help?
You talk to the people who build Sooper. Questions go straight to our team, not a bot or a ticket queue, and we stay with you from your first post to your first thousand members.
Start without a monthly bill. Pay only when you earn.
Free to start, no credit card, and your Circle community can keep running while you try it.