Circle vs Heartbeat
Circle
circle.so
Heartbeat
heartbeat.chatSide by side
| Figure | Circle | Heartbeat |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $89/mo | $19/mo |
| Free plan | — | — |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 4 | 14 |
| Spec score · Online Community Platforms | 8.9 (#2) | 8.7 (#9) |
| Spec score · Social Networking Software | 8.8 (#1) | 8.7 (#3) |
| Spec score · Learning Community Platforms | 9.0 (#2) | 8.7 (#3) |
| Spec score · Community Platforms | 8.9 (#10) | 8.9 (#11) |
| Custom domain | Yes | Custom domain is included on every plan. |
| Event hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Free plan | No | No |
| Integrations | Circle lists integrations including Airtable, Google Sheets, Memberstack, WordPress, Memberful, Typeform, and Slack through native connections, embeds, snippets, or Zapier. | Integrations include Zapier, Zoom, Outlook Calendar, Google Calendar, Slack, Circle, and Peerboard imports. |
| Mobile apps | both | Heartbeat includes iOS and Android apps. |
| Moderation tools | Yes | Yes |
| Private spaces | Yes | Yes |
| Paid from | 89 | Paid plans start from $49 per month. |
Plans
Circle
- Professional$89 a month
- Business$199 a month
- Scale$419 a month
- Circle PlusPriced on request
Heartbeat
- Build$49 a month
- Build$490 a year
- Grow$149 a month
- Grow$1,490 a year
- Scale$849 a month
- Scale$9,200 a year
- Native video hosting add-on$19 a month
- Build annual$40 a month
- Build monthly$49 a month
- Grow annual$124 a month
In their own words
Circle
Circle brings community, content, events, courses, payments, email and website tools into one platform. Its community features include discussions, chat, member profiles and directories, gamification and analytics. Courses can be self-paced, structured or scheduled, with sections, lessons and quizzes. Events, live streams and live rooms include Q&A, attendee participation and session recordings. Circle lists integrations such as Airtable, Google Sheets, Memberstack, WordPress, Memberful, Typeform and Slack through native connections, embeds, snippets or Zapier. It offers Admin and Headless Member APIs, with request limits varying by plan. Access includes Android, iOS, Mac, Windows and web; desktop apps are available to communities on all plans. Professional costs $89 a month with annual billing, Business costs $199 a month with annual billing, and Scale costs $419 a month with annual billing. A 14-day trial is listed, but there is no free plan. The pricing comparison lists live-stream attendee caps of 100, 200 and 500 for Professional, Business and Scale, respectively.
Heartbeat
Heartbeat is a paid platform for running online communities, with Android and iOS apps. Its listed features include private spaces, event hosting, moderation tools and custom domains. Plans vary by community size: Build supports up to 350 members, Grow up to 5,000 and Scale has unlimited members. Build costs $49 a month billed monthly; Grow costs $149 a month billed monthly; Scale costs $849 a month billed monthly. Build includes five automation workflows and one custom landing page. Grow includes unlimited automation workflows and 50 hours of native video hosting. Scale includes 50 custom landing pages, 200 hours of native video hosting and a white-label branded mobile app. Native video hosting is also available as a $19 a month add-on for 50 hours of storage. Integrations include Zapier, Zoom, Outlook Calendar, Google Calendar, Slack, Circle and Peerboard imports. The 14-day trial does not become a continuing free plan: communities are deactivated if they are not upgraded afterward, and inactive communities are automatically deleted after 30 days.