How much does a community platform really cost?
The monthly plan is the number on the pricing page. The transaction fee is the number that decides your bill at 500 members. This guide separates the two and shows the math at three sizes.
9 min read
Creators compare community platforms by their monthly price and then get surprised by the invoice a year later. The reason is that most platforms charge twice: a subscription, and a percentage of everything you earn through them. The percentage is small on the pricing page and large in practice, because it scales with your revenue and, on most platforms, never stops. This guide lays out both parts for the platforms creators compare most often, then models the total at three community sizes. Prices were verified June 2, 2026; every projection below is a math example, not a customer outcome.
The three parts of a platform bill
Subscription: the flat monthly or annual fee for the plan. Transaction fee or revenue share: a percentage of member payments taken by the platform, sometimes with a per-transaction amount added. Payment processing: Stripe or the platform's own processor, typically 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction, which applies everywhere and which honest comparisons list separately rather than bundling into a headline rate.
The subscription is easy to compare. The transaction fee is where the differences live, and the question to ask is whether it has a monthly cap.
What each platform charges
Skool: Hobby $9 a month with a 10% transaction fee; Pro $99 a month with 2.9% plus $0.30 and a 1% platform fee on sales over $899. Circle: Professional $89 a month with 2%, Business $199 with 1%, Plus custom with 0.5%; no cap. Kajabi: Basic $179 a month, Growth $249, Pro $499; Kajabi Payments at 2.7% to 2.9% plus $0.30, with a third-party payment add-on fee of 0.5% to 5% by tier. Mighty Networks: Launch $79 with 2%, Scale $179 with 1%, Growth $354 to $425 with 0.5%; no cap. Patreon: no subscription, a flat 10% of income plus processing, conversion and payout fees. Discord: free, with 10% on Server Subscriptions, US-only.
HiveLearn: Starter $0 a month with a 6% revenue share, so there is no monthly fee until you monetize; Growth $39 with 4% capped at $2,000 a month; Pro $99 with 2% capped at $3,000; Scale $249 with 1% capped at $4,000; Enterprise $499 with 0.25% capped at $5,000. Annual billing saves 17%. Stripe fees are additional on every platform above.
The math at 100 members paying $30 a month ($3,000 revenue)
Skool Pro: $99, plus its 2.9% plus $0.30 processing on 100 payments (about $117), plus 1% on the roughly $2,100 of sales over $899 (about $21), for about $237 a month. Circle Professional: $89 plus 2% ($60), about $149 plus Stripe processing of about $117. Patreon: 10% ($300) plus processing and payout fees. HiveLearn Growth: $39 plus 4% ($120), about $159 plus Stripe processing of about $117. At this size the platforms cluster together and the choice should be made on features. Math example, not a customer outcome.
The math at 500 members paying $40 a month ($20,000 revenue)
Circle Business: $199 plus 1% ($200), about $399 plus Stripe. Mighty Networks Scale: $179 plus 1% ($200), about $379 plus Stripe. Patreon: 10% ($2,000) plus fees. Kajabi Growth: $249 plus processing. HiveLearn Pro: $99 plus 2% ($400), about $499 plus Stripe, and the share is now within reach of its $3,000 cap. At this size the percentage is the bill; the subscription is a rounding error. Math example, not a customer outcome.
The math at 2,000 members paying $50 a month ($100,000 revenue)
This is where caps start to matter. Circle Plus at 0.5% takes $500 a month on top of a custom subscription, and keeps climbing as you grow. Mighty Growth at 0.5% takes $500 on top of $354 to $425. Patreon takes $10,000. HiveLearn Scale: $249 plus 1% ($1,000), about $1,249 plus Stripe. The difference is what happens next: HiveLearn caps the Scale share at $4,000 a month, so at $400,000 in monthly revenue the share stops there and stays there, while an uncapped 0.5% keeps rising to $2,000 and beyond. A capped share is a known number you can plan around. Math example, not a customer outcome.
Hidden costs to add to the model
The second tool. If the platform lacks quizzes, certificates, RSVP events or channel notifications, you will buy them elsewhere, and that subscription belongs in the comparison. Annual lock-in: Teachable bills annually with no free plan, so the "monthly" price is a yearly commitment. Processing surcharges: Thinkific and Kajabi add a percentage if you use your own Stripe account instead of theirs. Migration: moving members and content has a cost in hours even when the software is free, which is why HiveLearn includes concierge migration on Pro and above.
Run your own numbers
Every community is different in price point, member count and growth rate, and the crossover points move accordingly. Our calculator models Skool, Circle, Kajabi and Patreon against HiveLearn at any member count and price you enter, with Stripe processing shown separately, so you can see the month your bill would diverge.
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