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CompareVerified 2026-11-07

MemberPad vs Heartbeat

Heartbeat wants the same job MemberPad wants, and gets a lot of it right: channels with threads, courses people finish, events people turn up to, and payments built in. The difference is the meter. Heartbeat charges a monthly fee and counts how many members you have.

The short version

Choose Heartbeat if

  • You want the platform to run the follow ups for you. Heartbeat names welcome, reminder, access and upsell workflows, and MemberPad automates a few fixed things, an email sequence for new paying members, event reminders and lesson release notices, with no workflow builder.2
  • You want members talking to each other from day one. Direct and group messaging is built in with nothing to unlock, where starting a conversation here needs the sender on a paid tier.2
  • You want live video without a paid tier standing in front of it. Heartbeat runs live video events and workshops, and MemberPad refuses live entirely until a community has at least one paid tier.2
  • You are earning well and you want the percentage down. At $849 a month the Scale plan takes 1.25%, which beats a flat 9% comfortably once you are past roughly eleven thousand a month.1

It is a tie on

  • Both put community, courses, events and payments inside one product rather than asking you to assemble three, and both run on a domain you own.2
  • Both carry channels with threaded discussion, member profiles, iPhone and Android apps, and membership tiers that decide who reaches what.2
  • Both take a percentage of what a member pays rather than only a monthly fee, and on both that percentage sits on top of what Stripe charges.3

Choose MemberPad if

  • Your community is going to be bigger than 350 people. That is where the $49 Build plan stops, and the next step up is $149 a month for five thousand, where MemberPad counts nobody.1
  • You have a show. Heartbeat names no podcast hosting and no feed anywhere, and MemberPad hosts audio as shows and issues each member their own authenticated RSS.2
  • Your teaching needs marking. Heartbeat says courses people actually finish, and MemberPad adds graded quizzes that hold the next lesson shut, assignments a creator reviews, and certificates.2
  • You are not earning yet. Heartbeat starts at $49 a month and takes 5% on top of Stripe, so a quiet month still costs you, where MemberPad costs nothing until a member pays.1

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.
CapabilityHeartbeatMemberPad
Real time chatThe difference between a forum people check weekly and a room they sit in.YesChannels with threaded discussion as the core surface2YesLive rooms with typing and presence, free on every community6
Build courses inside the platformA course hosted somewhere else is a second login and a second bill.YesCourses sit beside the community on every plan1YesCourses, modules and lessons, with video uploaded here or linked from YouTube6
Private member only podcast feedA private feed puts your paid show in the app people already listen in.NoNo RSS, so a show stays with an outside host2YesAn RSS feed unique to each member, authenticated per person6
Broadcast to an audienceOne to many video, where the audience watches rather than joins.PartialLive events and workshops, capped at 256 in a room1YesAny audience size, but the community needs one paid tier6
What the platform takesThe number that decides how much of every membership actually reaches you.Different5%, 2.5% or 1.25% by plan, on top of Stripe1Different9% of what a member pays, and nothing at all before that5
Desktop appA window that stays open is very different from a tab that gets closed.NoNo Windows or macOS application is named anywhere2YesWindows and macOS installers that update themselves7
On demand video libraryA back catalog people can browse is worth more than the same videos buried in a feed.PartialVideo hosting is metered in hours rather than browsable1YesUploads or YouTube links, browsable, with progress, bookmarks and comments6
Start without paying anythingWhat you owe in the months before the community is earning anything at all.No$49 a month on Build before anybody has joined1YesNothing. There is no MemberPad subscription to buy5

What each one costs

Heartbeat and MemberPad charge in the same two ways, which makes this the cleanest arithmetic in the portal. Both take a monthly fee and a percentage, and on both sides that percentage sits on top of what Stripe charges rather than covering it.3

The difference is which number is zero. Heartbeat starts at $49 a month and takes 5%, and MemberPad starts at nothing and takes 9%, so we are cheaper until roughly $1,225 a month in member revenue and dearer above it.1

The figure that decides it more often is not on the fee line at all. Build stops at 350 members, so a community that grows past that is on $149 a month whatever it earns, and the plan above that is $849.1

Heartbeat Build

$49/moplus 5% of each sale

  • $40 a month billed annually
  • Up to 350 members
  • 256 attendees in a live room

Heartbeat Grow

$149/moplus 2.5% of each sale

  • $124 a month billed annually
  • Up to 5,000 members
  • 50 hours of video hosting

Heartbeat Scale

$849/moplus 1.25% of each sale

  • $766 a month billed annually
  • Unlimited members
  • Branded app, 200 hosting hours

MemberPad

$0/moplus 9% of each sale

  • No plans and no tiers
  • Nobody counts your members
  • No feature behind a higher plan

What each one takes on top

Where a percentage is shown above, Heartbeat charges it on top of card processing, which Stripe bills separately, so what a sale really costs is the two added together. 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.

From about $1,225 a month, Heartbeat Build costs less than MemberPad. Below that we are cheaper, mostly because there is no monthly bill to pay in a quiet month.

  • Build overtakes us at about $1,225 a month
  • Grow overtakes us at about $2,292 a month
  • Scale overtakes us at about $10,955 a month

Community

The most similar product here, and the differences are small on purpose

Of everything in this comparison, Heartbeat is aiming at the same thing MemberPad is. Organized channels with threaded discussion, direct and group messaging built in, member profiles and roles with a directory to search, and all of it on a domain you own from the cheapest plan.2

It beats us on one row here without much argument. Members message each other with nothing to unlock, where MemberPad requires the sender to be on a paid tier before they can start a conversation. That gate is deliberate on our side and it is still a gate.

What we add is the layer above conversation. Points, levels, badges, a celebrations strip, and a leaderboard a creator switches on, plus courses that can open at a level. Heartbeat names profiles and roles, and publishes nothing about points or ranking.2

Courses

Both finish the course, only one of them marks it

Heartbeat sells courses people actually finish, and the formats behind that are genuinely good: evergreen, drip fed and cohort based, included on every plan rather than rationed by tier.1

MemberPad matches the release side. A section or a lesson opens on a fixed date or a set number of days after that member started, and it stacks with the older gate, so a lesson can need both the clock and a passing score.

The passing score is the part Heartbeat does not publish. Nothing in its pages describes a graded quiz, work handed in and marked, or a certificate issued at the end, and those three are what separate teaching from delivering.2

Podcasting

Same gap as almost everyone, for the same reason

No podcast hosting and no feed appears anywhere Heartbeat publishes. It is the most common absence in this comparison, and it is a reasonable choice for a product concentrating on the room rather than the broadcast.2

The cost of it is the same everywhere: a second product, a second bill, and a show that can never be part of what a paid membership buys because it does not live where the membership does.

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

Live

Two hundred and fifty six people, and no paid tier in the way

Heartbeat runs live video events and workshops with up to 256 people in a room, available without anything standing in front of it, and that is a straightforward win over us for a community that goes live often.1

MemberPad has the wider set, with broadcasts to any audience size, two way video rooms, audio only rooms with a stage, and replays saved into the video library. Both caveats belong in the same sentence: all three need at least one paid tier on the community, and live time draws on a monthly pool that starts at roughly three hours of broadcasting.

So the shapes differ more than the totals. Heartbeat caps the room and lets anybody open one, and we cap the month and let the room be as big as it likes.1

Money

The cleanest arithmetic in this whole comparison

These two charge the same two ways, which almost nothing else here does. A monthly fee plus a percentage, and on both sides the percentage sits on top of what Stripe charges rather than covering it, so the numbers can be compared without translating first.3

Heartbeat is $49 a month and 5% on Build, $149 and 2.5% on Grow, $849 and 1.25% on Scale. MemberPad is nothing a month and 9%. That makes us cheaper until roughly $1,225 a month in member revenue, and Heartbeat cheaper after it, with the gap widening as you earn.1

If you are past that line and staying there, Heartbeat is the cheaper home and this page will not pretend otherwise. If you are below it, or if the months are uneven, the $49 is due whether anything sold or not.

Access

A branded app at the top, and no desktop at any price

Heartbeat publishes iPhone and Android apps on its paid plans and a branded application on the $849 Scale plan, which is a real thing MemberPad cannot offer at any price and the page says so plainly.1

Below that tier the two are close. Both put you on your own custom domain from the cheapest plan, which is unusual in this comparison, and both reach members on the web and on both phones.2

The row we take back is the desktop. MemberPad ships self updating Windows and macOS installers and Heartbeat names none, and a window somebody leaves open all day behaves very differently from a tab they close.

Content

Events are theirs, and the library is ours

Heartbeat names RSVPs, reminders and calendar sync, and on the first two the products match: MemberPad members answer going, maybe or can’t make it, everyone going is reminded by bell, push and email, and a capped event keeps a waitlist that moves up on its own. The difference left is the sync. Heartbeat connects Google and Outlook calendars and Zoom, where ours hands a member a calendar file or a Google Calendar link to save themselves.2

Document storage and knowledge bases come on every Heartbeat plan, and so do landing pages, which is a fuller content set than most things at $49.1

Where we pull ahead is what happens to media afterwards. A browsable video library with progress, bookmarks and comments, photo albums, notebooks and polls, against video hosting metered in hours that starts at fifty on the middle plan.1

Value

Three hundred and fifty members is the number to look at first

The Build plan stops at 350 members. For a community that works, that is a ceiling you reach in the first year, and the next plan up is $149 a month for five thousand whether any of them are paying you or not.1

That is the shape worth understanding before the fee line. A member cap turns your own growth into a bill you did not plan, and it arrives at exactly the moment the community starts working rather than when it starts earning.

MemberPad counts nobody. Members, communities, posts, courses and tiers are uncapped, and what we ration instead is allowances that grow with revenue: storage, stored video and email sends start at a floor and stop counting once you pass two thousand a month.

Everything we checked

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

Heartbeat and MemberPad compared. Every claim about Heartbeat is sourced, and was last checked on 2026-11-07.
CapabilityHeartbeatMemberPad
Community Whether people actually talk to each other, and how many of them you are allowed.
Separate spaces for separate topicsOne undifferentiated feed is where a growing community starts to feel noisy.YesOrganized channels, unlimited on every published plan1YesChat rooms grouped into sections, beside one community feed6
Real time chatThe difference between a forum people check weekly and a room they sit in.YesChannels with threaded discussion as the core surface2YesLive rooms with typing and presence, free on every community6
Direct messages between membersMembers who can reach each other privately stay for each other, not only for you.YesDirect and group messaging built in, with no tier to reach2PartialOne to one or groups of up to 10, but starting one needs a paid tier6
Member profilesA face and a history is what turns an account into a person other members recognize.YesMember profiles and roles, with a directory to search2YesPublic profiles with follows, blocks and private member notes6
Moderation toolsWhoever helps you run the place needs powers that stop short of your own.PartialRoles are named, with no published breakdown of their powers2YesPick each moderator's powers: moderate messages, time out, ban6
Points, levels or a leaderboardVisible progress is one of the few things that reliably brings people back daily.PartialProfiles and roles are named, points and levels are not2YesPoints, levels, streaks, badges, celebrations, and a leaderboard the creator switches on6
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.YesCourses sit beside the community on every plan1YesCourses, modules and lessons, with video uploaded here or linked from YouTube6
Course video hosted for youEmbedding from YouTube means your paid lessons live on someone else’s player.PartialNative video hosting is metered in hours above the Build plan1YesHosted and streamed by us, uploads capped at 1080p6
Quizzes and graded assessmentsChecking that someone learned it is the difference between a course and a playlist.PartialCourses are named, graded assessment is not2YesGraded quizzes that hold the next lesson shut until passed6
Assignments you reviewWork handed in and marked up is what cohort programs are built on.PartialNothing published describes work handed in and marked2YesAssignments a creator reviews, approves or sends back6
Certificates on completionA certificate is the thing a member posts, which is free marketing for you.PartialCompletion is the pitch, but no certificate is named2YesGenerated on completion, in the community accent color6
Release lessons on a scheduleDrip keeps a cohort together and stops a member finishing in a weekend and leaving.YesDrip feed and cohort formats sit beside evergreen ones1YesOn a fixed date, or a number of days after each member starts6
Courses that unlock by taking partEarning your way into the next course is a reason to show up that a paywall never gives anybody.NoNo levels are published, so nothing opens by earning it2YesA course can open at a level, showing the climb rather than a paywall6
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.NoNo podcast product is named on any published page2YesAudio hosted here, organized into shows and episodes6
Private member only podcast feedA private feed puts your paid show in the app people already listen in.NoNo RSS, so a show stays with an outside host2YesAn RSS feed unique to each member, authenticated per person6
Plays in normal podcast appsAudio that only plays on the website is not really a podcast.NoNothing is published for a podcast player to collect2PartialOne tap subscribe covers Apple Podcasts and Overcast only6
Lock a show to a paid tierAudio is one of the easiest things to charge for, if the platform lets you.DifferentPut the audio inside a course and gate the course2YesA whole show can be held to a paid tier6
Live experiences What you can run live, how many can watch, and what stands in front of it.
Broadcast to an audienceOne to many video, where the audience watches rather than joins.PartialLive events and workshops, capped at 256 in a room1YesAny audience size, but the community needs one paid tier6
Two way video roomsOffice hours, coaching calls and cohort sessions all need faces on both sides.YesTwo way live video with no paid tier in the way2YesTwo way rooms, and again a paid tier is required6
Audio only roomsFar lower effort to show up to than video, so far more people do.PartialLive video is named, an audio only room is not2YesAudio only rooms with a stage, paid tier required6
Replays saved automaticallyMost of a live session’s value is watched by people who missed it.PartialVideo hosting hours are metered, from fifty on Grow1YesSaved automatically and publishable to the video library6
How live time is meteredEvery platform meters live somehow, and the shape of the limit decides what you can run.DifferentCapped by attendees in a room and by hosting hours1DifferentA monthly minute pool that grows with your own revenue5
Monetization What you can charge for, and what the platform keeps.
Recurring paid membershipsRecurring revenue is the reason most creators move onto a platform at all.YesMembership tiers with segmented access, checkout included2YesMonthly and yearly tiers, charged on your own Stripe account5
One time purchasesNot everything should be a subscription, and not every buyer wants one.PartialPayments are built in, with single purchases not detailed2YesAny piece of content can be sold once instead of gated6
Digital products and downloadsA template pack or a preset is often the first thing a member ever buys.YesDigital products sell beside memberships, courses and events4YesDownloads or external links, sold from a shop tab6
Sell physical merch you shipA shirt, a record or a print is something a fan will buy long before a membership.NoMemberships, courses, events and digital products are sold; goods are not named4YesVariants, stock and shipping rates. You ship within the US, and buyers need no account6
Coupons and promo codesA launch or a seasonal offer needs a code you can hand out and expire.PartialNo coupon or promotional code is named in the plans1YesPercent or amount, once, repeating or forever, scoped per tier6
Free trials on a paid tierA trial is the cheapest way to show someone what is behind the wall.PartialNo free trial on a member tier is described anywhere1YesUp to 365 days, with the card taken up front6
Affiliate program for membersMembers who earn for referring are the cheapest growth channel there is.YesA referral arrangement is named among the plan features1YesMembers earn a commission on referrals at a rate you set6
What the platform takesThe number that decides how much of every membership actually reaches you.Different5%, 2.5% or 1.25% by plan, on top of Stripe1Different9% of what a member pays, and nothing at all before that5
Access Which screens a member can reach it on, and whose name is on the icon.
Web appWhere most members will actually read, and the only surface search engines see.YesA full web application is the main surface2YesA full web app, server rendered for speed and search7
iPhone appPush notifications and a home screen icon are what make a community a habit.YesAn iPhone app is included on the paid plans1YesPublished on the App Store as a native app7
Android appHalf the phones in most audiences, and often the majority outside the US.YesAndroid ships alongside it on the same plans1YesPublished on Google Play as a native app7
Desktop appA window that stays open is very different from a tab that gets closed.NoNo Windows or macOS application is named anywhere2YesWindows and macOS installers that update themselves7
Your own domainThe address decides whether the community reads as yours or as rented.YesYour own custom domain is included on every plan2YesYour own domain on any community, with no upgrade6
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 and threaded replies inside organized channels2YesCreators and admins post text, sixteen images, video and polls, and members comment and react6
On demand video libraryA back catalog people can browse is worth more than the same videos buried in a feed.PartialVideo hosting is metered in hours rather than browsable1YesUploads or YouTube links, browsable, with progress, bookmarks and comments6
Events and a calendarAnything recurring needs a place members can see it coming.YesEvents with RSVPs, reminders, and Google and Outlook calendar sync2YesRepeating events with timezones, RSVPs, a waitlist, and reminders to everyone going6
File libraryTemplates, worksheets and swipe files are what members quietly value most.YesDocument storage and knowledge bases on every plan1YesA file library, 50 MB a file, folders one level deep6
PollsThe lowest effort thing a quiet member will ever do, and often their first.PartialNo poll appears among the published community features2YesIn posts and in chat rooms, results hidden until you vote6
A public page that sells the communityThe page a stranger lands on decides whether they ever become a member.YesLanding pages are included on every published plan1YesA public page by default, a block builder, and a link in bio page6
Value What you owe before anything sells, and what the plan counts.
Start without paying anythingWhat you owe in the months before the community is earning anything at all.No$49 a month on Build before anybody has joined1YesNothing. There is no MemberPad subscription to buy5
Members without a capA member cap turns your own growth into a bill you did not plan for.No350 members on Build, five thousand on Grow1YesMembers, communities, posts, courses and tiers are all uncapped5
Email your membersEmail is the only channel you keep if the platform ever goes away.PartialNo email send allowance appears in the plan comparison1Partial5,000 sends a month to start, growing with your revenue5
API and webhooksThe difference between a platform you can build around and one you cannot.PartialNo public API or webhook is named in the published plans1YesA documented public API and outbound webhooks6
Remove the platform brandingWhether the product reads as entirely yours, or visibly built on someone else.PartialA branded app is named, reserved for the $849 Scale plan1NoA Powered by MemberPad link always sits on the public page6

Moving from Heartbeat to MemberPad

  1. Count your members before anything else

    The number that decides whether this move saves you money is how many people you have and what they pay. Below roughly $1,225 a month in member revenue we cost less, and above it Heartbeat does, so start with the arithmetic rather than the features.

  2. Rebuild the courses and add the marking

    Drip fed and cohort courses map across, so re enter the schedule and pick whether the days count from when a member started or when they joined. While you are there, add the quizzes and assignments Heartbeat has no published equivalent for.

  3. Move channels into rooms and sections

    Heartbeat channels usually become MemberPad chat rooms grouped into sections, plus the community feed. The threading works differently enough that it is worth rebuilding deliberately rather than recreating the same list of channels.

  4. Rebuild the calendar before a big date

    Events do not import, so recreate the calendar on MemberPad and leave reminders on. Anyone who says they are going there is reminded before it starts, and each event offers a calendar file in place of the sync members had.

  5. Decide what happens to live

    Heartbeat lets anybody open a room for up to 256 people with no tier required. On MemberPad live needs at least one paid tier on the community and draws on a monthly pool, so a community that goes live constantly should check that pool against its habits first.

What does not come across

MemberPad imports your list and emails everyone a one tap invitation to join, so the move is no longer hand entering each person. Paid subscriptions are what still does not carry, because payment methods never transfer between platforms, so each paying member re subscribes on the new plan.

Nobody’s RSVP comes across. Every answer on a Heartbeat event has to be given again on ours, so move the calendar in a quiet week rather than the week of your biggest session.2

A branded application has no equivalent here at any price. If you are on the Scale plan with your own app in the stores, moving means giving that up entirely.1

Questions people actually ask

How many members does Heartbeat allow?

Three hundred and fifty on the $49 Build plan, five thousand on the $149 Grow plan, and unlimited on Scale at $849 a month. MemberPad counts nobody, because there is no plan for a member limit to sit on in the first place.

Is Heartbeat cheaper than MemberPad?

Above roughly $1,225 a month in member revenue, yes. Heartbeat is $49 a month plus 5% on its cheapest plan and MemberPad is nothing a month plus 9%, with Stripe charged on top for both, so we cost less below that line and more above it.

Does Heartbeat have courses with quizzes?

It has courses, in evergreen, drip fed and cohort formats on every plan, which is a good set. Nothing it publishes describes a graded quiz, work handed in and reviewed, or a certificate on completion, and MemberPad has all three.

Does Heartbeat host podcasts?

No. No podcast hosting and no RSS feed appears anywhere Heartbeat publishes, so a paid show needs a separate host and cannot be part of what a membership buys. MemberPad hosts the audio and gives every member a private feed.

What does Heartbeat do better than MemberPad?

Three things clearly. Workflows that send the welcome, the reminder and the upsell on their own, members can message each other without anybody being on a paid tier, and live video rooms for up to 256 people need no paid tier at all.

Does either one give me a branded mobile app?

Heartbeat does, on its $849 Scale plan. MemberPad cannot at any price: our iPhone, Android, Windows and macOS apps all carry the MemberPad name, and a Powered by MemberPad link always sits on a public page.

Which is better for a community that is just starting?

MemberPad costs nothing until a member pays you, where Heartbeat is $49 a month from the first day whether anybody joined or not. For a community still finding out whether it works, paying nothing while you find out is the whole argument.

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. 1PricingHeartbeat · heartbeat.chat · checked 2026-11-07
  2. 2HeartbeatHeartbeat · heartbeat.chat · checked 2026-09-20
  3. 3PricingStripe · stripe.com · checked 2026-11-07
  4. 4Community Payments and Membership BillingHeartbeat · heartbeat.chat · checked 2026-11-07
  5. 5PricingMemberPad · memberpad.com · checked 2026-11-07
  6. 6FeaturesMemberPad · memberpad.com · checked 2026-11-07
  7. 7AppsMemberPad · memberpad.com · checked 2026-11-07

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