Online communities are seen as the future. A good community-building platform can help you achieve your goals. One popular platform for this is Circle.so, which is trusted by over 8500 community builders. It is a top choice for creators of communities and courses.
We have conducted a thorough review of the Circle.so Community Platform to help you decide if it aligns with your requirements.
This review provides a detailed overview of Circle, including its features, pricing, pros, and cons. Be sure to read the final verdict and consider an alternative if Circle does not meet your needs. This guide will give you a comprehensive understanding of Circle as a community platform.
Let’s begin.
Features: Circle provides a range of features for building online courses and communities, including live streaming, a course builder, event management, and integrations with other platforms.
Pricing: Circle has four pricing plans, all with a 14-day trial period. Each plan has a transaction fee on top of the standard Stripe processing fee. You can choose to pay annually for a discounted price on each plan.
Customer Support: Circle provides customer support through email and a help center, but does not offer live chat for immediate assistance.
User Experience: The Circle user interface is considered user-friendly for community members, although it may be perceived as cumbersome for community creators at times.
What’s Circle.so Community Platform?
Circle.so is a platform designed for facilitating the creation and growth of online communities, providing tools and features to help creators in building and monetizing their communities.
Circle.so is a platform that allows creators to develop courses, online communities, and online events. It was launched in 2019 by Sid Yadav, a former designer at Teachable.
Who’s Circle.so For?
Circle.so is appropriate for:
- Solopreneurs
- Online Course Creators
- Community Builders
- YouTubers
- Influencers
- Branded Communities
- Mastermind Groups
Circle.so Features Review
Circle has undergone significant improvements and now offers a range of useful features for community operations, which were previously lacking.
Circle’s features, including customization and in-depth analytics, are continuously updated to meet industry standards and evolving demands, effectively aligning with the growing needs of its users.
Let’s examine all the features of Circle.so.
1 – Community Dashboard
When you enter Circle, you will see a community dashboard. It includes navigation options, a search bar, and a community feed. The feed is like what you find in Facebook groups. On the left side, there’s a sidebar menu with main options, spaces, and important links.
Circle offers various customization features for your community feed, including the ability to add a welcome banner or a descriptive video.
Furthermore, it is possible for users to set a threshold for trending posts and establish a default sorting order for posts, which applies universally regardless of user login status.
2 – Community Spaces
The Spaces feature in Circle is a standout feature that enhances content and processes for efficiency. While the lock screen serves as a useful landing page, it may not be the best option for creating a comprehensive sales page. However, the feature is thorough in its attention to detail and provides a comprehensive user experience.
Spaces in a Circle.so community are specific channels designed to help organize the community and make navigation easier.
Spaces are accessible from the left side of the community dashboard, where users can view content from various spaces they have joined in their community feed upon logging in.
A space can contain various types of content, information, or digital products. Each space comes with customizable access levels, notification choices, and visibility settings. Additionally, you have the option to set up a paywall for exclusive content within each space.
Paid spaces have lock screens that are customizable. The lock screens can have a custom banner, description, and Call-to-action. These lock screens function as basic landing pages.
Additional Space settings include
- Members are required to adhere to specific permissions and restrictions regarding their activities.
- The placement of objects and identifying markers.
- SEO settings should include a slug, meta title, meta description, and graph image.
6 Types of Circle Spaces
- Posts: To develop posts for announcements and engagement.
- Course: Developing online courses for members.
- Events: To organize and coordinate both online and offline events.
- Members: The goal is to establish a member directory.
- Chat: The purpose is to establish group chats.
- Images: Creating a visual feed in your community.
Space Group
3 – Course Builder
Circle’s course builder has functional capabilities, particularly with its native video and file hosting features. However, it may not fully meet the needs of users looking for essential learning features such as quizzes and certificates.
Circle offers a course builder feature that allows creators to develop, deliver, and monetize online courses within the platform.
We will explore Circle’s course builder to assess its functionalities.
To access the ‘courses’ section, simply click on the option in the left-side menu. From there, you can view all of your courses in the ‘courses’ tab.
In order to use the Circle course builder, users must first create a new space, which provides three different formats for online courses:
- Self-paced: All content is accessible, allowing learners to advance at their preferred speed.
- Structured: Learners have the flexibility to enroll at any time, with content being released gradually.
- Scheduled: Enrollment takes place on a specific date, and content is released based on a predetermined schedule.
Upon choosing the format, you will be asked to enter a course title. From there, you will be taken to the Circle Course Builder Dashboard.
Circle’s Course Builder offers various features for designing an online course.
Lesson Editor
Customization
Paywalls
Additional Settings
- You can create a waitlist for your online course.
- Add SEO elements.
- Get notifications about comments.
4 – Events
Circle’s Event Builder provides a comprehensive event experience with essential tools included.
Circle is a community platform that includes a built-in event feature, allowing users to easily set up events in a matter of minutes.
The event builder in Spaces, like the course builder, allows users to create events by entering an event title, choosing visibility options, setting notification preferences, and deciding whether to auto-RSVP space members.
Additionally, you have the option to set a schedule for the event and decide if it should repeat at specified intervals.
There are four options available for the event location:
- In-person
- URL (Google Meet or Zoom)
- Circle Live Stream or Room
- TBD (To be determined)
Circle offers the option to set up a paywall and monetize your event. After creating your event, you have the ability to share its link and pin it within your community.
Here’s what else you can do with Circle’s Event Builder:
- Add a cover image and event description
- Directly invite members
- Automate reminders
- Customize thank you messages
- Set up confirmation emails and notifications
- Disable comments and likes
- Disable or limit RSVPs
5 – Live Streaming
The native live-streaming feature is convenient as it eliminates the need for an external tool. However, it lacks live engagement features such as reactions and comments.
Circle’s other notable feature is Native Live Streaming.
Native live streaming is a convenient feature offered by Circle, allowing users to livestream without the need for external tools.
The Circle Livestream button can be located at the bottom-left of your community dashboard.
Live Room
Livestream
Additional functions of the Circle Livestream feature include:
- Capture live streams and events.
- Keep the location private from those who are not attending.
- Turn off live link-sharing.
- Enable automatic posting of recordings to the event.
6 – Analytics
The analytics provided by Circle do not meet all expectations, particularly in terms of tracking and monitoring metrics for online courses and live streams.
Accessing detailed data requires manual exploration, as the available filters are not very helpful. Filters like tags, profile fields, and user roles are not accessible to users.
Circle includes analytics as a key feature for community platforms, offering insights into community performance and the ability to download CSVs of the data.
This feature provides five tabs for monitoring analytics, with the overview tab being the most important.
Overview Tab
This tab provides an overview of key metrics for monitoring purposes, including metrics such.
- There are daily and monthly active members.
- Members who are not currently active
- Outstanding invitations.
- New members join on a monthly basis.
- Popular times and days
- Popular posts and spaces
- Top members and post-starters
Additional Analytics Tabs
Spaces Tab: This tab offers information on the most popular spaces based on engaging comments and posts.
Messages Tab: This tab monitors member interaction metrics including DMs, group chats, chat space messages, and live room/stream chats.
Posts & Comments Tab: This tab provides information on the frequency of member posts and comments.
Members Tab: This tab monitors and tracks metrics related to user activity, including top members, top commentators, and post starters.
7 – Automated Workflows
Circle’s workflows are effective for completing tasks without the need for external app integrations, allowing for automation without relying on third-party tools.
Circle’s workflow automates repetitive tasks for you, saving you time and personalizing member experiences. For instance, you can easily set up automated welcome messages for new members and perform bulk actions with ease.
Workflow Templates
8 – Paywalls
The Paywall feature offers the ability to create flexible payment plans and ensure a smooth checkout experience for members.
Improving the feature set of Circle could include adding options for upsells, order bumps, testimonials, money-back guarantees, and social proof to enhance conversions.
The paywall feature is only compatible with Stripe and does not work with PayPal or any other payment gateway.
Paywalls help you control access to your content and earn money from it. This can apply to online courses, communities, and events. Paywalls make it simple to set up paid subscriptions or one-time payments. You’ll need a Stripe account to set up paywalls.
One-Step Checkouts
Members have the option to create an account, complete payment, and apply coupon codes all on one page with minimal information required.
The paywall feature offers additional capabilities. Let’s explore them.
Create Coupon Codes
Create Membership Groups
Get Bulk Logs
9 – Affiliates
Circle offers an affiliate tool that allows users to run affiliate programs, including the ability to use paywalls and coupon codes for affiliates.
After setting up your affiliate program, you can track affiliate information and commissions in the affiliates section.
10 – Third-party App Integrations
Circle’s integration features are notable for providing control over multiple platform integration options.
The platform has limitations when it comes to handling complex custom integrations with code snippets. It is recommended to avoid trying to create advanced custom integrations, as Circle does not offer customer support for third-party app integration problems.
Integrations are exclusively offered to users on high-tier pricing plans, limiting access to the integration feature for low-tier users.
Circle excels in third-party app integrations, which enhance flexibility and scalability. The platform demonstrates a deep understanding of the value these integrations provide.
Let’s explore the offerings of Circle.
1 – Zapier Integration
2 – Code Snippets
3 – Embedded Widgets
Community Widget
- This feature allows you to embed a community icon that, when clicked, displays your community in a modal window.
Space Widget
- The posts section of any space on your site can be embedded. This widget is only compatible with public spaces.
Posts Widget
- It is possible to integrate the comments section of a post onto a website page.
4 – API
5 – Single Sign-on (SSO)
11 – Mobile Apps
Circle has mobile apps for both iOS and Android. These apps were launched in late 2022. They allow you and your members to access community and content from anywhere. The apps have a clean and intuitive interface.
Circle apps primarily prioritize the user experience, which can limit the functionality available to admins who may find it more convenient to use the web platform for optimal usage.
The platform offers Circle Plus as a solution to the lack of admin control in apps, but it comes at a high cost.
Circle Plus
Circle Plus provides a fully branded community app with comprehensive control for administrators, including access to the admin panel upon subscription.
Pricing information for Circle Plus is not currently available on the website. Users are encouraged to reach out to Circle’s sales team for details on pricing.
12 – Moderation
Circle places a strong emphasis on moderation, offering member roles and advanced moderation settings that are highly effective.
Circle simplifies moderation by offering two distinct roles.
1 – Admins
2 – Moderators
Circle offers different payment plans that allow you to assign moderators to manage your community effectively. The basic plan includes one moderator, while upper-tier plans allow for more moderators to be assigned.
Moderators do not have access to the community’s backend settings and analytics. They can be assigned within a space or a space group.
To designate a moderator, you can:
- Assign moderator status to a new member when you invite them.
- Assign a role using a member’s profile.
- Adjust a member’s role within a space or a space group and designate them as a moderator.
Circle Moderation Settings
Profanity Filter
Content Reporting
Flag Members
13 – Onboarding & Member Management
Onboarding
Custom onboarding is available for your convenience:
- Create personalized invitation emails for both Circle users and non-Circle users.
- Implement an onboarding popup feature following account sign-ups.
- An automated welcome email will be sent following the creation of an account.
Circle allows users to include a personalized button label and URL for onboarding emails.
One method for enhancing the onboarding process is by utilizing Workflows. This entails creating automated messages to greet new members or alert moderators of new member arrivals. Additionally, you can designate which spaces and space groups new members will be able to access upon joining.
Inviting New Members
Circle provides a platform for sending direct invitations to potential members, allowing you to specify their access and permissions.
Circle’s direct invitation page allows you to:
- Customize invitation email.
- Select member tags.
- Specify auto-access to selected spaces or space groups.
- Give administrative permissions.
- Assign as a moderator.
When members accept the invitation, they will be directed to the landing page of the specified space or group.
Invitation Links
Member Management
Let’s discuss the member management features of Circle.
Custom profile fields are a feature exclusively available on premium payment plans. They allow for the collection of extra member information, which can be useful for marketing purposes.
Next, with Circle, you have the option to set member tags to personalize the experience for your members. By creating custom labels, you can easily identify members based on their roles, personas, and categories.
With the custom member tag feature, you can
- Add a custom name.
- Design a personalized symbol.
- Please select a background color.
- Select appropriate display locations such as profile pages, posts, etc.
- Directly apply tags to members.
These options provide the opportunity to create member tags effectively.
Finally, there is the member directory.
14 – Circle Chat
15 – Notifications
Circle allows users to customize their notification preferences for both email and in-app notifications. Users have the option to choose which activities and spaces they want to receive notifications for.
In addition, you have the option to create a personalized weekly digest for your members, serving as both a newsletter and a way to keep them informed.
16 – Community AI Co-Pilot
Circle has recently introduced an AI Co-pilot feature for users with upper-tier plans to stay up-to-date with the trend of implementing AI technology.
The AI co-pilot provides assistance in composing posts, generating video transcriptions, and utilizing activity scores to monitor member performance.
17 – Branding & Customization
Branding
Email White-Labeling
Circle.so Customer Support:
Circle offers customer support through a dedicated support team that can be contacted via email at [email protected]. Live chat support is not currently available.
The support widget is available in the bottom-right corner of the community dashboard. It can be used to send messages directly to the support team, which will generate a support ticket and result in a response from the team.
Circle has introduced a new chatbot called “Circle Bot” for assistance with feedback, issue reporting, and answering questions.
Circle User Experience
Circle receives top marks for user experience. The platform is simple and easy to navigate. It is free from complexities and is cloud-based, eliminating the need for installation or technical setup steps for your community.
Circle’s admin interface is user-friendly. Navigation and feature access are straightforward. Options are clearly labeled and easily accessible. The UI is visually pleasing and not overwhelming for the user.
Circle offers a unified search feature located at the top center of the community dashboard for both admins and users. It allows for quick searching of content, posts, and events by typing specific keywords.
The member interface closely resembles the admin interface, with the main difference being the admin settings. It is user-friendly for members to navigate your community and spaces on Circle, with all options conveniently located on the left sidebar.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the circle.so community is a vibrant and engaging platform where like-minded individuals come together to share their thoughts, ideas, and experiences. The sense of camaraderie and support within the community is truly inspiring, as members uplift and encourage one another in their personal and professional endeavors.
The diverse range of topics discussed on circle.so allows for meaningful conversations to take place, sparking new insights and connections that may not have been possible otherwise. With the introduction of the AI Co-pilot feature, branding and customization options, and excellent customer support channels, Circle has truly set itself apart as a top-notch community platform.
Overall, Circle.so provides a seamless user experience that is both easy to navigate and visually appealing. Whether you are looking to connect with others in your industry, seek guidance and support, or simply engage in interesting discussions, the circle.so community offers a welcoming and inclusive space for individuals to come together and connect. With its innovative features and dedicated customer support, Circle.so is a standout platform for building meaningful relationships and fostering collaboration within a community setting. Join the circle.so community today and experience the power of connection firsthand.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is circle.so?
Circle.so is an online platform that allows users to create their own communities and engage with like-minded individuals on specific topics or interests.
How do I join a circle?
To join a circle, you can either be invited by an existing member or request to join through the circle’s page. Some circles may have specific requirements for joining, so be sure to check the circle’s guidelines before requesting to join.
Can members of the community create content?
Community members have the ability to create posts, start discussions, and share content based on the permissions that are set.
Can I monetize my Circle.so community?
Circle.so provides support for community monetization through various features such as paid memberships, course offerings, and events. Different pricing plans can be configured and subscriptions managed directly on the platform.
How can I keep my community engaged on Circle.so?
Engagement can be enhanced through regular events, interactive discussions, exclusive content, and active moderation. Additional features such as direct messaging, notifications, and community announcements also play a role in maintaining member engagement.
Are there analytics tools available to track community engagement?
Circle.so offers analytics tools for tracking metrics such as member activity, content engagement, and growth trends to help communities improve performance.
