Lyceum vs Circle
Circle's spaces, with a classroom and a back office behind them.
Circle is a polished community platform, and when the community is the product it holds up well. Spaces, live rooms, events, courses, and gamification are on the first plan, the website builder and custom domain come with it, and workflows fire when a member does something. Bigger companies get branded apps and AI agents on Circle Plus.
Lyceum starts from the classroom and builds the community around it. Spaces are unlimited at $49, where Circle counts 20 or 30. Every lesson carries a tutor. The back office is real: a member CRM, attendance, invoices, a task board, and from Pro, teacher logins. Email sequences and newsletters are included on Pro; on Circle email is an add-on billed per 10,000 contacts. Both platforms pay you through your own Stripe. Circle then takes 2% or 1% on top, and Academy takes nothing. Circle is ahead of us on workflows and on the native app, and it has an affiliates feature we are still building.
The side by side
Their plans, our plans, and every row we could check.
Circle
Community platform, priced from circle.so/pricing
- Professional: $89 a month billed annually; 2% transaction fee; 20 spaces, 3 admins
- Business: $199 a month billed annually; 1% transaction fee; 30 spaces, 5 admins
- Circle Plus: custom pricing; 0.5% transaction fee; branded apps and AI agents
- Transaction fees sit on top of Stripe's processing fee; monthly billing is not listed on the pricing page
- Email Hub: add-on at $99 a month per 10,000 contacts after the trial; Plus includes 10,000
- Unlimited members on every plan; 14-day free trial
Lyceum
Three plans, and the money lands in your own Stripe
- Starter: $49 a month plus 5% of member revenue
- Pro: $99 a month plus 2%
- Academy: $249 a month, 0% of member revenue
- Annual billing: two months free on every plan
- No cap on members or contacts; 14-day free trial on every plan
- Members pay through your own Stripe; Stripe's card fee is separate, as it is everywhere
○ marks what we are still building, named plainly. Circle’s figures are from circle.so/pricing, read on 4 September 2026. Prices change; check theirs before you decide. Where their page did not say, the cell says so.
Still on the way
What is still on the way at Lyceum
Circle has all three today: workflows on every plan, an affiliates feature, and a native app, with branded apps on Plus.
- A visual when-then automations builder
- An affiliate program
- A branded native mobile app
Today a school works in any phone browser with nothing to install, and we do not publish ads to Meta or Google. We will not list any of this as included until it is real.
Switching from Circle
Asked before people move.
Can I move my Circle community to Lyceum?
Yes. Export your member list from Circle and import it here, then set up your spaces under the same names so people land where they expect. Course videos come across as files, and the Architect rebuilds the outline from your notes. Write to support@joinlyceum.com and we will do it with you.
Circle pays through my Stripe too. What is different?
The share, and the seat. Circle adds 2% on Professional, 1% on Business, and 0.5% on Plus on top of Stripe's fee. Lyceum adds 5% on Starter, 2% on Pro, and 0% on Academy. At $5,000 a month in member revenue, Circle Business and Lyceum Academy cost the same; above that, Academy is cheaper. Below it, Circle's seat is cheaper, and what you get for the difference is the classroom, the tutor on every lesson, and a back office. Circle's prices are the annual rate; monthly billing is not listed on its pricing page.
Does Lyceum have Circle's live rooms and events?
Live classes and video rooms are on Pro and Academy, with a unified school calendar on every plan. On Starter the community runs without live video. Circle includes live on its first plan, so if live rooms are the whole point and you are at the entry price, that row goes to Circle.
The same school, under your own name.
Already on Circle? Type your email, enter the code we send, and your studio opens. Building is free, and a plan starts only when you are ready to enroll paying members. If you would rather a person moved you, write to support@joinlyceum.com.
Free to build · no card until you open the doors · your content leaves with you