Skip to main content

CompareVerified 2026-11-07

MemberPad vs Facebook Groups

A Facebook group costs nothing, everybody already has an account, and the conversation tools are better than most paid platforms manage. What it never gives you is the membership: not the payment, not the email list, and not the ability to move any of it somewhere else.

The short version

Choose Facebook Groups if

  • Nobody has to sign up for anything. Your members already have accounts, already have the app, and already check it, which is a starting advantage no paid platform can buy.3
  • You are not charging, and you are not sure you ever will. A group costs nothing, holds as many people as turn up, and asks nothing of you before it works.3
  • The conversation is the whole point. Community Chats organized into categories, polls, keyword alerts, topic tags and Group Insights are a real toolkit, and moderators get genuine powers rather than a title.4
  • You want live video with no allowance to watch. Facebook Live and Messenger Rooms run inside the group with no minute pool and no paid tier standing in front of them.4

It is a tie on

  • Both carry posts with images and video, comments, reactions, polls and real time chat, and neither puts a ceiling on how many people can be in the room.4
  • Both reach members on the web, on iPhone and on Android, and both send a notification when something happens that somebody asked to hear about.3
  • Both give whoever helps you run the place a role with real powers, and both keep a record of what is happening that an owner can actually read.4

Choose MemberPad if

  • You intend to charge for it. Meta’s own terms allow it to deduct a revenue share of up to 30% of a fan subscription, against our 9%, and Meta reserves the right to change that with thirty days of notice.1
  • You want to own the relationship. A group gives you no email addresses, no export and no way to reach anybody if the group is removed, and MemberPad hands you a member CSV and the mail to go with it.
  • You are teaching something. Units put posts in an order, which is a long way from graded quizzes, assignments a creator marks, certificates and lessons that open on a schedule.4
  • You have a show or a back catalog. There is no podcast hosting, no RSS feed and no browsable video library in a group, and all three are standard here.3

At a glance

One row per category. The full table, with every row and every source, is further down.

The eight categories at a glance. Every row here also appears in the full table below.
CapabilityFacebook GroupsMemberPad
Real time chatThe difference between a forum people check weekly and a room they sit in.YesCommunity Chats, organized under custom categories in the inbox4YesLive rooms with typing and presence, free on every community8
Build courses inside the platformA course hosted somewhere else is a second login and a second bill.DifferentUnits sequence posts for revisiting, which is not a course4YesCourses, modules and lessons, with video uploaded here or linked from YouTube8
Private member only podcast feedA private feed puts your paid show in the app people already listen in.NoNo RSS of any kind, private or otherwise3YesAn RSS feed unique to each member, authenticated per person8
Broadcast to an audienceOne to many video, where the audience watches rather than joins.YesFacebook Live runs in the group with no allowance to watch4YesAny audience size, but the community needs one paid tier8
What the platform takesThe number that decides how much of every membership actually reaches you.NoMeta may deduct a revenue share of up to 30%1Different9% of what a member pays, and nothing at all before that7
Desktop appA window that stays open is very different from a tab that gets closed.NoNo desktop application, only a browser tab3YesWindows and macOS installers that update themselves9
On demand video libraryA back catalog people can browse is worth more than the same videos buried in a feed.PartialUnits gather posts, but nothing tracks what anybody watched4YesUploads or YouTube links, browsable, with progress, bookmarks and comments8
Start without paying anythingWhat you owe in the months before the community is earning anything at all.YesNothing at all. A group has never cost money to run3YesNothing. There is no MemberPad subscription to buy7

What each one costs

Running a group costs nothing and always has, which is the honest reason most communities start on Facebook and a perfectly good reason to stay if money never changes hands.3

Charging is where it turns. Meta’s fan subscription terms allow it to deduct a revenue share of up to 30%, and Apple or Google fees are taken out of Meta’s share rather than added to it, which their own example settles at seventy percent reaching the creator.1

Ours is 9% of what a member actually pays, with Stripe billing card processing separately on your own account. Even adding processing to our side, a creator keeps more of every dollar here than Meta’s published ceiling leaves them.5

Facebook Groups

$0/moplus 30% of each sale

  • Free to run, no member cap
  • Up to 30% of a subscription
  • Apple and Google come out of that

MemberPad

$0/moplus 9% of each sale

  • No plans and no tiers
  • You keep the member list
  • No feature behind a higher plan

What each one takes on top

Where a percentage is shown above, that is Facebook Groups's own rate and it already covers card processing, so unlike ours there is nothing further to add to it. MemberPad takes 9% of what a member actually pays you, and card processing sits on top of ours as well, billed by Stripe on your own account. There is one plan, nothing is held back behind a higher one, and a month where nobody pays you costs nothing.

There is no crossover to find, and this time it runs our way. On fees alone Facebook Groups costs the same or more than MemberPad at every level of revenue, so whatever the reason to choose them is, it is not the cut they take.

Community

The conversation tools are better than the price suggests

It is worth being straight about this before anything else. Facebook groups are good at the thing communities are for. Community Chats sorted into categories, polls, topic tags, keyword alerts so an admin hears about a subject without reading everything, and Group Insights that say what is actually happening.4

Moderators get real powers rather than a title, and the whole thing works without anybody creating an account, downloading anything or being told where to click. That last part is worth more than most feature lists.

What a group does not have is a shape you control. One feed organized by tags rather than rooms you design, personal profiles rather than profiles that belong to your community, and no points or levels behind the contributor badges.4

Courses

Units put posts in an order, and that is the whole of it

Facebook describes units as a way to deliver educational content, and taken literally that is what they do. Posts arranged into a sequence somebody can revisit, which beats scrolling and is genuinely useful for a reading list or a challenge.4

What is missing is everything that turns delivery into teaching. Nothing is graded, nothing is handed in, nothing tracks who finished, nothing is issued at the end, and there is no way to hold week three shut until week three.

MemberPad has all five. Graded quizzes that keep the next lesson closed until a member passes, assignments a creator approves or sends back, certificates on completion, and a schedule that opens a section on a date or a set number of days after that person started.

Podcasting

Audio in a feed is not a show anybody subscribes to

You can post audio to a group, and people can play it there, which is where the resemblance to a podcast ends. There is no show, no episode list, no RSS and nothing a podcast player can be pointed at.3

The practical effect is that your audio only gets listened to by people who happen to be scrolling. A podcast earns its place precisely because it reaches somebody walking the dog, in the app they already keep on their home screen.

MemberPad hosts the episodes as shows, holds a whole show to a paid tier, and issues every member an RSS feed authenticated to them personally, with one tap subscribe for Apple Podcasts and Overcast.

Live

This is the row Facebook wins, and it wins it clearly

Facebook Live and Messenger Rooms run from inside the group, cost nothing, and have no published minute allowance sitting behind them. Anybody can go live, anybody can watch, and the recording stays in the group afterwards as a post.4

MemberPad carries broadcasts, two way video rooms and audio rooms itself, with replays saved into the video library automatically. It is a richer set, and it comes with two caveats worth stating in the same breath.

All three need the community to have at least one paid tier, and live time comes out of a monthly pool that starts at about three hours of broadcasting and grows with what you earn. If free and unmetered live is the thing your community runs on, Facebook does that and we do not.

Money

Up to thirty percent, and Meta can change it with a month of notice

Meta’s fan subscription terms are unusually clear. It may deduct for itself a revenue share of up to 30% of a subscription, and where Apple or Google take a cut, that comes out of Meta’s share rather than on top, which their own worked example settles at seventy percent reaching the creator.1

Two further things are worth reading twice. Meta reserves the right to change the revenue share with thirty days of notice, and a subscription attaches to a Page or a creator rather than to the group, so the group is a perk you hang off a subscription rather than a thing you sell.2

MemberPad takes 9% of what a member pays and nothing else. Stripe bills card processing on your own account, so even counting that, a creator keeps more here than Meta’s published ceiling leaves them, and nobody can revise it on thirty days of notice.

Access

Already on the phone, and never under your own name

The strongest argument for a Facebook group is that nobody has to be persuaded to install anything. The app is already there, the account already exists, and the notification arrives in a place people already look, which is a real advantage and not a small one.3

The cost is that the address is facebook.com and it always will be. No custom domain, no desktop application, and the product surrounding your community is one you do not control and cannot quiet down.

MemberPad runs on the web, on iPhone and Android, and on self updating Windows and macOS installers, with your own domain on any community. The honest caveat is that a Powered by MemberPad link always sits on a public page, so the surface is yours but the credit is shared.

Content

Everything is a post, which is fine until you need it later

A group holds posts with photos and video, files in a tab, polls, and events with RSVPs and reminders. MemberPad events take RSVPs and send reminders too, so on a calendar the difference is where the event lives rather than what it can do: a Facebook event sits in an app your members already use.4

Where it thins out is retrieval. Units gather posts into a sequence but nothing records who watched what, so a back catalog exists only as far back as somebody is willing to scroll.

MemberPad separates the feed from the library on purpose: a browsable video library with progress, bookmarks and comments, a file library with folders, photo albums, notebooks, and events that repeat, carry timezones, take RSVPs and remind everyone who is going.

Value

You do not get the list, and the list is the business

This is the argument, and everything else on the page is detail. A Facebook group gives you no email addresses, no export, and no way to contact a single member outside the product. Whatever you build sits on ground you are borrowing.

If the group is removed, restricted, or simply shown to fewer people because Meta changed what the feed favors, there is no list to write to and no version of the community that survives the decision. Nobody plans for that and it is the only risk that cannot be undone.3

MemberPad exports members to CSV, mails them from inside the product, runs on a domain you own, and has a documented API and webhooks. What we ration instead is allowances: storage, stored video and email sends start at a floor and grow every month your revenue does.

Everything we checked

Every row carries a note rather than a tick, and every claim about Facebook Groups links to the page it came from.

Facebook Groups and MemberPad compared. Every claim about Facebook Groups is sourced, and was last checked on 2026-11-07.
CapabilityFacebook GroupsMemberPad
Community Whether people actually talk to each other, and who holds the room they do it in.
Separate spaces for separate topicsOne undifferentiated feed is where a growing community starts to feel noisy.DifferentTopic tags and units organize one feed rather than separate spaces4YesChat rooms grouped into sections, beside one community feed8
Real time chatThe difference between a forum people check weekly and a room they sit in.YesCommunity Chats, organized under custom categories in the inbox4YesLive rooms with typing and presence, free on every community8
Direct messages between membersMembers who can reach each other privately stay for each other, not only for you.YesMessenger reaches anybody, with nothing to unlock first3PartialOne to one or groups of up to 10, but starting one needs a paid tier8
Member profilesA face and a history is what turns an account into a person other members recognize.DifferentA personal Facebook profile rather than one for your community3YesPublic profiles with follows, blocks and private member notes8
Moderation toolsWhoever helps you run the place needs powers that stop short of your own.YesAdmins appoint moderators, with keyword alerts and topic tags4YesPick each moderator's powers: moderate messages, time out, ban8
Points, levels or a leaderboardVisible progress is one of the few things that reliably brings people back daily.PartialContributor badges exist, but no points, levels or ranking4YesPoints, levels, streaks, badges, celebrations, and a leaderboard the creator switches on8
Courses Whether you can teach something and check that it landed, not just publish videos.
Build courses inside the platformA course hosted somewhere else is a second login and a second bill.DifferentUnits sequence posts for revisiting, which is not a course4YesCourses, modules and lessons, with video uploaded here or linked from YouTube8
Course video hosted for youEmbedding from YouTube means your paid lessons live on someone else’s player.YesVideo uploads into a group post are hosted by Meta3YesHosted and streamed by us, uploads capped at 1080p8
Quizzes and graded assessmentsChecking that someone learned it is the difference between a course and a playlist.NoA poll is the nearest thing, and nothing is graded4YesGraded quizzes that hold the next lesson shut until passed8
Assignments you reviewWork handed in and marked up is what cohort programs are built on.NoNothing is handed in, and nothing comes back marked4YesAssignments a creator reviews, approves or sends back8
Certificates on completionA certificate is the thing a member posts, which is free marketing for you.NoNo completion is tracked, so nothing can be issued4YesGenerated on completion, in the community accent color8
Release lessons on a scheduleDrip keeps a cohort together and stops a member finishing in a weekend and leaving.NoA unit is open the moment somebody can see the group4YesOn a fixed date, or a number of days after each member starts8
Courses that unlock by taking partEarning your way into the next course is a reason to show up that a paywall never gives anybody.NoBadges carry no access, so nothing opens by earning it4YesA course can open at a level, showing the climb rather than a paywall8
Podcasting Whether a paid show reaches members in the app they already listen in.
Host podcast audioPodcast hosting is otherwise a separate product and a separate monthly bill.NoAudio posts exist, but no show or episode structure does3YesAudio hosted here, organized into shows and episodes8
Private member only podcast feedA private feed puts your paid show in the app people already listen in.NoNo RSS of any kind, private or otherwise3YesAn RSS feed unique to each member, authenticated per person8
Plays in normal podcast appsAudio that only plays on the website is not really a podcast.NoA podcast player has nothing here it can subscribe to3PartialOne tap subscribe covers Apple Podcasts and Overcast only8
Lock a show to a paid tierAudio is one of the easiest things to charge for, if the platform lets you.DifferentPost the audio in a subscriber group and gate the group2YesA whole show can be held to a paid tier8
Live experiences Whether the live part happens inside the product or somewhere you bolt on.
Broadcast to an audienceOne to many video, where the audience watches rather than joins.YesFacebook Live runs in the group with no allowance to watch4YesAny audience size, but the community needs one paid tier8
Two way video roomsOffice hours, coaching calls and cohort sessions all need faces on both sides.YesMessenger Rooms open from the group for two way video4YesTwo way rooms, and again a paid tier is required8
Audio only roomsFar lower effort to show up to than video, so far more people do.NoNo audio only room appears among the ways to run an event4YesAudio only rooms with a stage, paid tier required8
Replays saved automaticallyMost of a live session’s value is watched by people who missed it.YesA finished live video stays in the group as a post4YesSaved automatically and publishable to the video library8
How live time is meteredEvery platform meters live somehow, and the shape of the limit decides what you can run.YesNo published minute allowance, because Meta sells the attention3DifferentA monthly minute pool that grows with your own revenue7
Monetization What you can charge for, and how much of it reaches you.
Recurring paid membershipsRecurring revenue is the reason most creators move onto a platform at all.PartialSubscriptions attach to a Page, with the group as a perk2YesMonthly and yearly tiers, charged on your own Stripe account7
One time purchasesNot everything should be a subscription, and not every buyer wants one.NoNothing inside a group sells as a single purchase2YesAny piece of content can be sold once instead of gated8
Digital products and downloadsA template pack or a preset is often the first thing a member ever buys.NoNo shop, no downloads and no file anyone pays for3YesDownloads or external links, sold from a shop tab8
Sell physical merch you shipA shirt, a record or a print is something a fan will buy long before a membership.DifferentItem listings in a buy and sell group, marked as sold by hand6YesVariants, stock and shipping rates. You ship within the US, and buyers need no account8
Coupons and promo codesA launch or a seasonal offer needs a code you can hand out and expire.NoNo code to hand out, because there is no checkout2YesPercent or amount, once, repeating or forever, scoped per tier8
Free trials on a paid tierA trial is the cheapest way to show someone what is behind the wall.NoNo trial is offered on a fan subscription1YesUp to 365 days, with the card taken up front8
Affiliate program for membersMembers who earn for referring are the cheapest growth channel there is.NoNothing pays a member for bringing somebody in1YesMembers earn a commission on referrals at a rate you set8
What the platform takesThe number that decides how much of every membership actually reaches you.NoMeta may deduct a revenue share of up to 30%1Different9% of what a member pays, and nothing at all before that7
Access Which screens a member can reach the thing on, and whose name is on it.
Web appWhere most members will actually read, and the only surface search engines see.YesThe web version is where most admin work happens3YesA full web app, server rendered for speed and search9
iPhone appPush notifications and a home screen icon are what make a community a habit.YesThe Facebook app is already on the phone3YesPublished on the App Store as a native app9
Android appHalf the phones in most audiences, and often the majority outside the US.YesThe same app, with the same head start3YesPublished on Google Play as a native app9
Desktop appA window that stays open is very different from a tab that gets closed.NoNo desktop application, only a browser tab3YesWindows and macOS installers that update themselves9
Your own domainThe address decides whether the community reads as yours or as rented.NoThe address is facebook.com and it always will be3YesYour own domain on any community, with no upgrade8
Content Where things live once you have made them, and how a member finds them again.
Posts with mediaThe everyday surface. Whatever is awkward to post here will simply not get posted.YesPosts with photos and video are what a group is made of3YesCreators and admins post text, sixteen images, video and polls, and members comment and react8
On demand video libraryA back catalog people can browse is worth more than the same videos buried in a feed.PartialUnits gather posts, but nothing tracks what anybody watched4YesUploads or YouTube links, browsable, with progress, bookmarks and comments8
Events and a calendarAnything recurring needs a place members can see it coming.YesGroup events with RSVPs and reminders, inside an app members already use4YesRepeating events with timezones, RSVPs, a waitlist, and reminders to everyone going8
File libraryTemplates, worksheets and swipe files are what members quietly value most.YesFiles upload to the group and stay in one tab4YesA file library, 50 MB a file, folders one level deep8
PollsThe lowest effort thing a quiet member will ever do, and often their first.YesPolls post into the feed and into a chat4YesIn posts and in chat rooms, results hidden until you vote8
A public page that sells the communityThe page a stranger lands on decides whether they ever become a member.PartialA public group has a page, on an address Meta owns3YesA public page by default, a block builder, and a link in bio page8
Value What it costs, what it keeps, and what you walk away with.
Start without paying anythingWhat you owe in the months before the community is earning anything at all.YesNothing at all. A group has never cost money to run3YesNothing. There is no MemberPad subscription to buy7
Members without a capA member cap turns your own growth into a bill you did not plan for.YesNo ceiling on how many people join a group3YesMembers, communities, posts, courses and tiers are all uncapped7
Email your membersEmail is the only channel you keep if the platform ever goes away.NoNo addresses, no export, and no way to mail anybody3Partial5,000 sends a month to start, growing with your revenue7
API and webhooksThe difference between a platform you can build around and one you cannot.NoNo public API a creator can build a group on3YesA documented public API and outbound webhooks8
Remove the platform brandingWhether the product reads as entirely yours, or visibly built on someone else.NoIt is Facebook, on every screen, permanently3NoA Powered by MemberPad link always sits on the public page8

Moving from Facebook Groups to MemberPad

  1. Accept that the list does not come with you

    There is no export from a Facebook group, so nobody is migrating. What you are really doing is inviting people to a new place, one post at a time, and the sooner that is the plan rather than a surprise the better it goes.

  2. Open the new community before you announce it

    Set up the rooms, the welcome page and at least one thing worth arriving for, then invite. A community that is empty on the day people first look at it is much harder to fill the second time.

  3. Turn the units into an actual course

    A unit is a sequence of posts. Rebuilding it as a course lets you add a quiz that holds the next lesson shut, an assignment you review, and a certificate at the end, which is usually the moment people understand why they moved.

  4. Decide what happens to the group

    Most people keep it, running as the free front door where strangers find them, and put the paid part on MemberPad. Closing it outright works too, but it throws away the discovery that made the group valuable.

  5. Rebuild the calendar and ask again who is coming

    Events do not import. Recreate the ones that repeat on MemberPad, then post the link in the group so members answer again on the new event and start getting its reminder.

What does not come across

MemberPad imports a list and emails each person a one tap invitation to join, but Facebook will not hand over the email addresses of your members, so you can only invite the contacts you have gathered elsewhere. The number who follow you off the group is always smaller than the number inside it.

Free, unmetered live video does not come across. Facebook Live costs nothing and watches nothing, where ours needs a paid tier on the community and draws on a monthly pool that starts at roughly three hours of broadcasting.4

RSVPs do not come across either. Everyone who said they were going to a Facebook event has to answer again on ours before our reminder reaches them, so move a big date early rather than in the week it happens.4

Questions people actually ask

How much does Meta take from a paid Facebook group?

Meta’s fan subscription terms allow it to deduct a revenue share of up to 30%. Where Apple or Google take a cut on an in app purchase, that comes out of Meta’s share rather than on top, and their own worked example leaves seventy percent reaching the creator.

Can I charge for a Facebook group directly?

Not exactly. Subscriptions attach to a creator or a Page, and access to a private group is one of the perks you can offer subscribers. The group is something you hang off a subscription rather than a product you sell on its own.

Can I export my Facebook group members?

No. A group gives you no email addresses and no export, so there is no list to take anywhere and no way to contact members outside Facebook. That is the single biggest difference between a group and a membership you own.

Is MemberPad free like a Facebook group?

It is free to run. There is no plan to buy, no seat to count and no monthly bill, so a community that has not earned anything costs nothing. We take 9% once a member actually pays you, with Stripe billing card processing on your own account.

Does Facebook Groups have courses?

It has units, which Facebook describes as a way to deliver educational content by arranging posts into a sequence people can revisit. Nothing is graded, nothing is submitted, nothing tracks completion and nothing is issued at the end.

Should I close my Facebook group if I move?

Most people should not. The group is usually where strangers find you, so keeping it as the free front door and putting the paid part on MemberPad works better than closing it, which throws away the discovery that made it worth having.

What does Facebook Groups do better than MemberPad?

Two things clearly. Live video is free and unmetered where ours needs a paid tier and draws on a pool, and members can message each other with nothing to unlock first. Beyond those, the audience itself: your members are already signed in to Facebook, which no new platform can offer.

How this was checked

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.

Last verified

Who published it

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

Sources

  1. 1Facebook’s Fan Subscription Creator TermsMeta · facebook.com · checked 2026-11-07
  2. 2About subscriber groups on FacebookMeta · facebook.com · checked 2026-09-20
  3. 3Getting Started with GroupsFacebook Community · facebook.com · checked 2026-09-20
  4. 4How to Organize Content in your Facebook GroupFacebook Community · facebook.com · checked 2026-09-20
  5. 5PricingStripe · stripe.com · checked 2026-11-07
  6. 6Sell something in a Facebook buy and sell groupMeta · facebook.com · checked 2026-10-20
  7. 7PricingMemberPad · memberpad.com · checked 2026-11-07
  8. 8FeaturesMemberPad · memberpad.com · checked 2026-11-07
  9. 9AppsMemberPad · memberpad.com · checked 2026-11-07

Other comparisons

MemberPad vs DiscordThe best real time chat and voice anywhere, free, on every device including consoles. Its monetization is United States only, capped at three tiers, and restricted by a content policy worth reading before you build on it.MemberPad vs SlackThe chat tool a great many communities start in by accident. It is priced per person for work teams, and there is no way to charge anybody for being there.MemberPad vs CircleThe most polished community product in this comparison, with a real website builder and automations. You pay for it every month whether the community earns or not.All comparisonsEvery platform in one table, with the sources behind each row.

Try it before you decide.

Creating a community is free, and the 9% only applies once a member pays you something.

Start a communitySee the pricing