Side-project builder
$/mo
Proving it works. Out-of-pocket costs near zero. Revenue-share and free tiers win.
Community Pricing Calculator
See what your community actually nets.
After every fee layer, across 8 community-first platforms.
Your scenario on
At 50 × $20/mo you might think you’re netting $1,000. Actual take-home on Patreon Standard (post-Aug 2025) is $856. $144/mo invisible.
Start here
Which of these looks like you?
Tap one, then edit the numbers. Everything below updates live.
Growing creator
Selected$/mo
Past hobby, not yet full-time. Flat-rate platforms start to beat revenue-share.
Established operator
$/mo
Platform costs are your largest fixed expense. Every 1% of take-rate = $720/yr.
At-scale operator
$/mo
Per-seat gets dangerous. Flat-rate + own Stripe. Roll-your-own may pencil out.
The real question
Don’t just pick what’s cheapest today.
Platform migrations cost you 20 to 30% of your members in lost re-onboarding. A creator who switches from Whop to Skool after hitting 200 members typically loses $1,200+/mo in revenue they never recover.
The real question: which platform will I still be on in 24 months?
Methodology
How we source and verify pricing.
Every platform’s pricing is pulled from the official page and cross-checked against a reference customer invoice where we can get one. Fee percentages include platform take-rate, payment processor, and App Store tax when signups happen on mobile. No marketing fluff. No “starting from” asterisks.
Numbers for Skool, Circle, Mighty Networks, Heartbeat, and Whop reflect current public pricing as of April 2026. Hivebrite & Bettermode have enterprise-only tiers and are flagged accordingly. If you spot a gap, tell us.
Find an error? We’ll fix it in 72 hours.
Send it in via our contact page and we’ll update within 72 hours, then email you personally when the fix is live.
The iceberg
The platform cost is the part you see.
Most creators compare platforms on one number: the headline take-rate. The actual cost of running a paid community is four layers deep. Three of those layers stay invisible until your first payout lands short.
The calculator above stacks all four. That’s why the net numbers look smaller than what the platforms themselves advertise.
Cost structures
There are only four ways a platform charges you.
Once you know which model a platform runs, you can predict roughly where it becomes cheaper or more expensive than the alternatives. The shape of the cost matters more than the number attached to it.
Skool, Mighty Networks
Flat rate
You pay rent. They don't care about your revenue.
Best once you clear ~30 paying members. Your effective take-rate drops every time you grow. Downside: you're paying whether or not you have any paying members this month.
Circle, Heartbeat, Whop
Revenue share
They eat with you. Forever.
Easy to start. No monthly bill when you're small. Problem: your cost scales linearly with success. At 1,000 members, that 5% is a full-time employee you didn't hire.
Bettermode, Hivebrite
Per-seat
Pay per head. Predictable, punishing at scale.
Tidy math for finance teams. Nightmare when you're cheap. Paying $2/member on a $5/member community is a 40% tax. Works when ARPU is $30+.
Discord, Slack, WhatsApp
Free + friction
Zero cost. Zero billing. You bolt on Stripe.
Actual out-of-pocket is ~$0. But retention tools, analytics, and churn prevention are on you. Great for communities-as-loss-leaders. Painful as a revenue stream.
Common questions
The objections, answered.
Why should I trust these numbers?
Because we show our work. Every cost line is broken down and every platform is sourced from its official pricing page. If you spot something off, we fix it in 72 hours and email you when it's live.
How is “Best long-term fit” calculated?
Skool wins for creators clearing about $1,200/mo in gross revenue (roughly 100 members at $12/mo, or 60 at $20/mo) because its flat fee + bundled Stripe rate stop scaling with your revenue while competitors keep taking a percentage.
The badge is scored across the whole grid on three things: 35% your net take-home at your current member count, 35% your net take-home at 3× your current scale (does this platform still win as you grow?), and 30% migration safety (can you grow on this platform, or will you have to switch later?). Each factor is normalized across the platforms you’re comparing.
One editorial rule on top: at the $1,200/mo threshold we recommend Skool by default even when another platform nets slightly more in a given month. The badge is about where you’ll still be in 24 months, not who wins this month by $4.
Full side-by-side math on every platform is in the community-platform-comparison guide.
Why is the 'winner' sometimes shown as a range instead of a point number?
Because the real math has genuine variance. App Store cut only applies to mobile signups. International card costs swing ±1%. For those platforms we show a range rather than fake a decimal. Expand the card to see exactly where the spread comes from.
What about currency conversion?
Numbers are USD. If your members pay in EUR/GBP/AUD, add another 1–3% for currency conversion depending on your processor. We're planning a currency toggle for Q3.
Does the App Store / Play Store cut factor in?
For the 8 community-first platforms in this calculator: no. Skool, Circle, Mighty Networks, Bettermode, Heartbeat, and Whop all route payments through web-based Stripe checkout even when accessed from their mobile apps. Apple/Google's 30% in-app-purchase cut doesn't apply in practice. That's why we don't show a device toggle: it would be misleading for these platforms. It DOES matter for Patreon, YouTube Memberships, and Discord Server Subs on iOS, but those aren't community-first platforms and aren't scored here.
What's the break-even math on tier upgrades?
Expand any card with a tiered plan (Circle Professional → Business, Skool Hobby → Pro, Mighty Launch → Scale). The cost breakdown tells you exactly where the upgrade pays for itself, usually around 40–80 paying members, depending on ARPU.
What's the affiliate commission input for, and why mention Skool?
Commission you pay existing members to refer new ones. Skool has a built-in affiliate program: zero setup, creator picks a percentage, Skool handles tracking + payouts. Circle, Mighty Networks, Heartbeat, and Kajabi support affiliates but require manual setup or third-party tools. Whop and Bettermode make it workable but take the most friction. The calculator applies the % universally across platforms, but the real-world setup cost differs. If growing via referrals matters to you, Skool's setup-free version is a real lever.
Why don't you include Discord as a top contender?
Because Discord is primarily a chat layer. Its native Server Subscriptions product exists but isn't most creators' primary path. If you want to charge for access on Discord, you're typically running a bot + membership tool on top. Our community-first scope covers the dedicated paid-community platforms.
Is Substack in here? What about Ghost?
No. Both are newsletter-first platforms where 'paid members' means paywalled newsletter subscribers, not an interactive community. We kept the calculator scoped to platforms where members actually talk to each other.
Is this financial advice?
No. It's a planning tool. Pricing changes. Talk to your accountant before making structural decisions.
This calculator is a planning tool and does not constitute financial advice. Pricing reflects current public rates and changes without notice.
Disclaimer
Financial Advisory: This calculator is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute tax, financial, accounting, or legal advice. Results are estimates based on the inputs you provide. The affiliate commission input (when enabled) models a creator-paid cost. It is optional, set by you, and does not represent a platform-imposed fee.
Accuracy: Every fee number in this tool is cross-checked against the platform’s own pricing page and help documentation. No guarantee, express or implied, is given regarding reliability, completeness, or timeliness. Pricing changes without notice. Individual results may vary due to annual discounts, custom enterprise deals, chargebacks, international card fees, or circumstances not accounted for here. If you spot an error, let us know via our contact page and we’ll update within 72 hours.
Professional Advice: You are strongly encouraged to consult a qualified tax professional or financial advisor before making platform decisions based on these results. Use of this tool is entirely at your own risk.