Compare · Verified 2026-11-07
Thirteen platforms, eight categories, every claim taken from the other company's own published pages and dated. Including the rows where they win.
| Capability | MemberPad | Circle | Skool | Mighty Networks | Kajabi | Patreon | Substack | Discord | Podia | Teachable | Thinkific | Facebook Groups | Slack | Heartbeat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CommunityReal time chat | YesRooms and DMs | YesSpaces and chat | YesChat and posts | YesChat and feed | PartialDiscussion boards | YesChats and DMs | PartialThreads, not rooms | YesVoice and text | YesBuilt in chat | NoNo chat | PartialPosts, not rooms | YesCommunity Chats | YesChannels and huddles | YesChannels and threads |
| CoursesBuild courses inside the platform | YesBuilt in | YesBuilt in | YesClassroom | YesIncluded | YesThe core product | NoNone | NoNone | NoNone | YesCore product | YesThe whole product | YesThe whole product | DifferentUnits, not courses | NoNone | YesOn every plan |
| PodcastingPrivate member only podcast feed | YesPrivate per member | NoNo feed | NoNo feed | NoNo feed | YesPrivate per member | YesPrivate feed | YesPrivate feed | NoNo feed | NoNo feed | NoNo feed | NoNo feed | NoNo feed | NoNo feed | NoNo feed |
| Live experiencesBroadcast to an audience | YesPaid tier needed | YesFrom $89 plan | DifferentSchedule only | Yes20 hours a month | NoNone | YesNative, no gate | YesNative, no gate | DifferentStream to a channel | DifferentRuns on Zoom | NoNone | DifferentZoom, not native | YesFacebook Live | NoNo broadcast | Partial256 in a room |
| MonetizationWhat the platform takes | Different9%, no monthly | Different2% plus $89/mo | Different2.9% plus $99/mo | Different2% plus $79/mo | Different2.9% plus $179/mo | Different10%, no monthly | Different10%, no monthly | Different10%, US only | Yes0% above $84/mo | Yes0% above $69/mo | Yes2.9%, plus monthly | NoUp to 30% | Not applicableNo transactions | Different5% down to 1.25% |
| AccessDesktop app | YesWindows and macOS | YesOn every plan | NoNone | NoNone | NoNone | NoNone | NoNone | YesWindows, Mac, console | NoNone | NoNone | NoNone | NoBrowser only | YesWindows and macOS | NoNone |
| ContentOn demand video library | YesBuilt in | DifferentInside spaces | DifferentInside Classroom | DifferentInside courses | DifferentInside products | DifferentA video feed | DifferentVideo as posts | NoNone | PartialCapped per plan | DifferentInside courses | PartialInside lessons | PartialUnits only | NoNone | PartialMetered hours |
| ValueStart without paying anything | YesNothing | No$89 a month | No$9 or $99/mo | No$79 a month | No$179 a month | YesNothing | YesNothing | YesNothing | No$42 a month | No$29 a month | No$109 a month | YesNothing | YesNothing, or per seat | No$49 a month |
Each one opens with what the other platform is genuinely good at, states at least one thing MemberPad does worse, and links every claim to the page it came from.
A leaderboard running from the day you open the doors
Points, levels and rewards, ranked from day one. MemberPad has the same mechanics, but its board stays off until you switch it on.
Funnels, landing pages and abandoned cart recovery
Landing pages, funnels, order bumps, upsells and behavior triggered email, none of which MemberPad has any version of.
An app in the stores with your own name on it
Mighty Pro publishes branded apps on both stores. MemberPad cannot do that at any price, and always shows a Powered by MemberPad link.
No cut taken out of any sale you make
Teachable Builder at $89 and Podia Shaker at $84 take nothing per sale beyond processing, so past roughly $950 a month they cost less than our 9%.
A network that brings you readers you did not already have
Readers find publications through Substack itself, through recommendations and cross posting. MemberPad has a public directory and creator recommendations, on a far smaller scale.
A course that opens on a schedule, or once a member has earned it
A section or lesson opens on a date, or a set number of days after each member starts. A whole course can also open at a level they reach.
A paid podcast your members hear in their normal podcast app
Hosting plus an authenticated RSS feed unique to each member. Substack, Patreon and Kajabi host audio too; most community platforms here do not.
Community, courses, podcasts and live video with no monthly bill
All four in one product, at 9% of what a member pays and nothing before that. No other platform here does all four, and the only one hosting both courses and podcasts, Kajabi, starts at $179 a month.
Every figure about another platform on these pages came from that platform’s own published pricing, feature or documentation pages, and each one is listed with the date it was read. Where a company does not publish an answer, the page says that rather than guessing at one.
Nothing here is based on testing a competitor’s product hands on, and no page claims otherwise. Claims about MemberPad are checked against the code that ships rather than against our own marketing, which is why several of them are unflattering.
Fee comparisons put both sides on the same footing. Some platforms quote a percentage that already covers card processing and some quote one that sits on top of it, and treating those two numbers as the same thing is the most common way a comparison like this misleads.
This comparison was written and published by MemberPad, so read it knowing we make one of the two products in it. We have tried to earn your trust the only way that works, which is by being specific about what the other platform does better and where ours falls short.
Competitor pricing and features change. If you find something here that is out of date or wrong, the sources and the date we checked them are listed on every page so you can see exactly what we were looking at, and we would rather hear about it than have it sit here.
Drew AumanFounder, MemberPad
Creating a community is free, and the 9% only applies once a member pays you something.