Circle

[Shawn Gossman]

Have you ever heard of Circle?

Circle: Start your 14-day free trial

No credit card required. You can cancel at any time.

circle.so

These are online communities that are typically made with more modern features.

These are the online communities of 2023.

Would you use this, or is a forum better? Why?

 

[Dilip]

Can we self host it?

 

[Shawn Gossman]

Can we self host it?

I don't think so.

It looks like a SaaS to me.

But it's about $50 a month for the basic online community. You can even charge for it with built-in payment options.

 

[Elseb]

Is there a preview forum anyway? Interested in seeing what it looks like.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

Is there a preview forum anyway? Interested in seeing what it looks like.

You might be able to see some examples here:

Welcome to the Circle Showcase

The place to get inspired, explore and join communities you love.

community.circle.so

 

[Shawn Gossman]

So, I've been a community manager on Circle for about a month now (paid position) and it's nice but it lacks a lot of features.

Their mobile app sucks to say the least. The desktop app has a lot of feature but the mobile one does not and I just think that's a bad move in 2023.

But it isn't the worst platform.

 

[Uncrowned Guard]

I always found it super discouraging when community software doesn't have a support community built using their software.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I'm not sure if Circle would benefit from a forum-like support or utilizing their community. Since it's all paid, I feel like more P2P support is appropriate.