Mighty Networks

Mighty Networks competes head-on with Circle in hosted-community-platform space, with a similar mix of forum threads, courses, events, paid memberships, and member directories. Pricing in 2026 starts at $49/mo for the Community plan (3% transaction fee), $99/mo for the Courses plan (2% fee), and scales up through higher tiers with lower fees and more features.

Mighty Pro is the headline differentiator: custom-quote enterprise pricing that builds you a fully branded standalone iOS and Android app, so your community lives at "YourPodcastApp" instead of "yourpodcast.mighty.com". For podcasters with established audiences and real budget, this is the closest thing to building a real app without writing native code.

The platform is strongest on mobile — push notifications drive real engagement, the native apps feel native, and the gamification (member levels, points, leaderboards) drives the kind of repeat-visit behavior that web-only platforms struggle to create. Downsides: the Community plan's 3% transaction fee is high compared to Circle's 2%, some features (live streaming, advanced analytics) feel less polished, and Mighty Pro pricing is enterprise-tier — you need real revenue from the community to justify it.

Best for podcasters where the community is a major revenue stream and the brand-as-product story matters. The 14-day free trial with no credit card required is generous enough to actually evaluate the platform before committing.