12 Best Coaching Platforms With a Built-In Community (2026)

The best coaching platforms with a built-in community put the group feed in the same place clients book, pay, sign and do their weekly work, so the community becomes part of the program instead of one more app people forget to open. If you run cohorts, masterminds or a membership alongside 1:1 coaching, the deciding question is simple: does the community know who your clients are, which program they bought and how they are doing this week? Plenty of tools can host conversation. Far fewer can connect a post, a group call and a missed check-in to one client record.

Our pick is Coachful. We make Coachful, so weigh that accordingly, but it is the one platform on this list where enrolling in a program drops a client into that program's cohort group automatically, next to their habits, check-ins, sessions and payments, under one login. The other 11 tools are strong at parts of the journey: Kajabi and Circle for selling knowledge products around a community, Skool for a cheap gamified group, Paperbell for 1:1 admin with no community at all. Every vendor fact below comes from the vendor's own pages as listed in October 2026, not from hands-on testing.

How we ranked: one login for the whole client journey, between-session delivery (habits, check-ins, cohort groups), total monthly stack cost, and setup effort, including whether someone will build the setup for you.

What does a coaching community need at each stage of the client journey?

A coaching community needs different things at each of four stages: attract, enroll, deliver and retain. A community tool that only covers the deliver stage leaves you stitching the other three together by hand, which is where members slip through. Researchers who study communities of practice describe groups that learn together through shared, repeated activity; for a coach, that repeated activity is the program itself, so the community works best when it is wired into the program.

Attract: a free group or lead magnet that feeds a paid offer

Many coaches open a free community, a challenge or a webinar to meet prospects. The platform needs a public page, a sign-up form, email follow-up and a way to see which members later booked a call. If the free group lives in one tool and the email list in another, you lose the thread between "joined the group" and "became a client".

Enroll: application, call, payment, agreement, group access

For a cohort, enrollment usually means an application form, a discovery call, a checkout with a payment plan, a signed coaching agreement and access to the right group. Every manual step here (copying an email into a community tool, sending an invite link, chasing a signature) is a step someone forgets in week one of a launch.

Deliver: weekly rhythm in the group, accountability between calls

Delivery is where community earns its keep: a weekly prompt, a group call, a replay, peer wins. But coaching outcomes depend on what each client does between calls, so the platform should also carry habits, daily or weekly check-ins and goals, and show you who has gone quiet. A busy feed can hide the three people who stopped showing up.

Retain: alumni groups, renewals and early warning

Retention means spotting a disengaged client before they cancel, moving graduates into an alumni space, and offering the next program at the right moment. That needs engagement data per client, not just total post counts. Our guide to weekly cohort participation covers the rituals; the platform decides whether you can see who is slipping.

Which platforms cover which stage?

Only Coachful covers all four stages with per-client delivery inside one login; the course-and-community suites cover attract, enroll and group delivery but not individual accountability, and the coaching-admin tools cover enrollment but little community. The table summarises what each vendor documents.

How did we choose these 12 platforms?

We picked tools that either include a community natively or are commonly paired with one by coaches, then ranked them on the four criteria above. Platforms that cover more of the journey in one login rank higher; pure community tools rank lower because a coach still needs separate booking, contracts and accountability. Prices come from each vendor's pricing page as listed in October 2026, and for Circle, Podia and Heartbeat from pages we read on October 25, 2026. Where a vendor does not document something, we say so instead of guessing. Ratings are Trustpilot figures seen in October 2026. For the broader category view, see our group coaching community platform buying guide.

1. Coachful: the community lives inside the program

Coachful is a coaching platform that puts booking, payments, contracts, program delivery, courses, a community, a website with funnels and email, and an AI assistant under one subscription. The coach has one login; the client gets one branded app. It is built for coaches who deliver programs rather than just sessions, solo coaches growing into a small team, and anyone currently paying for 4 to 6 separate tools. The company is based in Tallinn, Estonia, and holds a 4.5 Trustpilot rating from 21 reviews.

What the community looks like

The community layer has four parts: a community feed, group chat, direct messages and video events. When a client enrolls in a program, Coachful creates the cohort group for that program automatically, so you never paste a buyer's email into a separate community tool or chase an invite link. Group calls and webinars run from the same place, which means the call reminder, the replay and the follow-up post all live where the client already is.

For a cohort coach, that changes the Monday routine. The weekly prompt goes into the cohort's group, the replay goes into the course lesson, and the people who went quiet show up on your client list instead of as an absence you notice three weeks later. Our community platform page shows the full set of community features.

How it connects to delivery between sessions

Programs run for multiple weeks with weekly goals, daily tasks, habits, morning and evening check-ins, goals with progress bars, and streaks. Each client record holds goals, check-ins, habits, notes, intake answers, tags, payments and sessions, plus a status of thriving, active, quiet or at risk. That status is what makes a built-in community worth having: a member who stops posting and stops checking in is flagged in one place, not spread across three dashboards.

Courses (modules, lessons, drip, completion tracking), downloads, videos, books and events are delivered into the same branded home. Michelle, the built-in AI assistant, works from live practice data: she can brief you before a session, draft the week's cohort email and summarize recorded sessions. Questions and planning are included in your Coachful membership; confirmed builds and changes use AI credits. You can also configure an AI Coach, an AI version of you that selected clients chat with between sessions.

This short walkthrough shows how community channels are set up inside Coachful:

Enrollment and the business side

Booking pages handle availability rules, buffers, minimum notice and time-zone detection, with two-way Google, Apple/iCloud and Outlook sync and built-in video or auto-created Zoom, Meet or Teams links. Payments run through your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account: one-time, subscriptions, payment plans, order bumps, coupons, Apple Pay and Google Pay. Since August 2026 Coachful takes a 0% platform fee, so you pay only Stripe or Razorpay processing. Coaching agreements with e-signature go out before the first call and are stored on the client record. On the attract side, the website builder offers 30 designed homepage templates, a blog and a custom domain, plus booking, application, lead-magnet and checkout funnels and email sequences with triggers, delays and branching.

What it does not do

Coachful is not HIPAA-certified and offers no BAA, so it is not for clinical records or insurance billing. There is no PayPal and no permanent free plan. The client app ships under the Coachful listing with your branding, not under your own App Store account. It is not a course marketplace, has no third-party plugins and has no Salesforce or HubSpot integration. If your community is a public audience of thousands of strangers rather than clients in programs, a dedicated community platform such as Circle may fit better.

Price and how to start

Plans are flat monthly: lower plans cap the number of clients, Pro is unlimited, and team plans add coach seats (current plans: Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients; Solo: $49/month for up to 20 clients; Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients; Studio: $199/month with unlimited clients). Monthly plans cancel in one click, and you can start with a free trial. Clients, programs and content are imported for you during onboarding.

Why Coachful stands out: a free white-glove service. From Create, choose "We'll build it for you" and describe what you want: a website, a funnel, a program, a course outline, an email sequence, an event page or an automation. You can attach up to 8 reference links and up to 10 files, and the Coachful team builds it inside your own account, usually within about 24 hours. Nothing is invented: no fake testimonials, credentials or prices, and gaps are left for you to fill. One real-estate and money coach received a year-long cohort program with an application form, an eight-page site and a nine-day bootcamp funnel this way. The service does not cover recording videos, logo design or ad management. Details are in our white-glove service guide.

2. Kajabi: a community bundled with courses and funnels

Kajabi is a course, community, website, funnel and email platform for selling knowledge products. For a coach whose community is the delivery vehicle for a course or paid membership, it covers attract and enroll well: a website, funnels and email marketing come on every plan, and the community sits beside the products it supports.

As listed in October 2026, Basic costs $179/mo ($143/mo billed annually) with 5 products, 2,500 contacts, 1 community and 0 AI credits. Growth is $249/mo ($199/mo annually) with 50 products, 25,000 contacts, 1 community and 500 AI credits. Pro is $499/mo ($399/mo annually) with unlimited products, 3 communities and 100,000 contacts. The standard trial is 14 days per Kajabi's help center; a card is optional. Kajabi Payments in the US costs 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic, falling to 2.7% + $0.30 on Pro. Using another processor (excluding PayPal) adds a Kajabi fee of 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth or 0.5% on Pro.

The gap for coaches is between-session delivery. Kajabi has no habit tracking or daily client check-ins, and coaching is organized as products and communities rather than per-client plans. You can see who bought which product, but not who skipped this week's reflection. Basic's cap of 5 products also fills quickly once a lead magnet, a course, a cohort program and a membership each count separately, which nudges many coaches toward Growth. On Trustpilot, Kajabi shows 3.4 from 2,347 reviews.

Pick it over Coachful if your business is mainly courses sold to a large email list, coaching is a small add-on, and you want the longest-established name in the course-and-community category.

3. Circle: the most complete standalone community

Circle began as a community platform and now sells itself as a full digital business suite. Every plan includes community spaces, courses, live events, a website, a member directory, payments, gamification, a custom domain and iOS, Android and desktop apps, according to its pricing page on October 25, 2026. For coaches whose community is large, public-facing or the product itself, it is the most capable dedicated option on this list.

The prices shown are billed annually: Professional at $89/mo (3 admins, 10 moderators, 20 spaces, a 2% transaction fee, live streams for up to 100 attendees, live rooms for up to 15 participants, 10 hours), Business at $199/mo (workflows, APIs, activity scores, branded email notifications, a 1% fee) and Scale at $419/mo (AI agents, unlimited workflows, a 1% fee). Circle Plus is custom-priced and is the only tier with your own branded iOS and Android apps. The page we read did not show monthly-billing prices. The trial is 14 days with no credit card. Email marketing is a separate Email Hub add-on, listed from $99/mo for 10,000 contacts on top of the community plan.

Three details matter for coaches. First, Professional includes no automations: workflows and scheduled workflows start on Business. Second, live rooms cap at 15 participants on Professional, which matters if your group calls run inside the community. Third, the pricing page lists no 1:1 booking calendar, coaching agreements or per-client habit tracking, so most coaches on Circle add a scheduler and a contracts tool, which adds logins and cost (see the stack recipes below).

Pick it over Coachful if your community is the product (hundreds or thousands of members, paid tiers, a searchable directory) and 1:1 coaching is a smaller part of the business.

4. Podia: products, bookings and a community on one bill

Podia sells courses, downloads, coaching, events and community from one storefront, with a website, blog and email built in. Its community includes topic-based spaces, group chats, DMs and free or paid tiers, and every plan includes the coaching feature, which lets clients book and pay without back-and-forth.

On its pricing page on October 25, 2026, Podia listed annually billed prices: Mover at $42/mo (up to 100 email subscribers, 50 products, 25 spaces, a 5% transaction fee), Shaker at $84/mo (500 subscribers, 150 products, 100 spaces, no Podia fees, PayPal, affiliates and upsells) and Earthquaker at $150/mo (1,000 subscribers, unlimited products and spaces). Monthly-billing prices were not visible in the version we read. The trial is 14 days with no card; refunds are offered within 72 hours of your most recent payment, with no partial refunds on annual plans. Stripe or PayPal charge their own processing on top.

Limits appear on the delivery side. Podia describes booking and paying for coaching, but nothing on its pricing page mentions client habits, check-ins, contracts or per-client progress. Email allowances are small: 100 subscribers on Mover means a single lead-magnet funnel can outgrow the plan in weeks. The 5% fee on Mover adds up too. On $3,000 of monthly sales, that is $150 before processing, which is more than the price difference to Shaker.

Pick it over Coachful if you sell a mix of digital products with occasional coaching calls, want PayPal at checkout, and do not need habits or check-ins.

5. Mighty Networks: livestream-ready groups at scale

Mighty Networks combines community, courses and events, with Mighty-branded member apps and livestreaming included in every plan. That suits coaches who teach live to a large group and want the stream, chat and replay inside the community.

As listed in October 2026, Launch costs $95/mo ($79/mo annually) with 3 hosts, 10 moderators, 200 GB and livestreaming for 20 hours a month with up to 100 attendees. Scale is $215/mo ($179/mo annually) with 5 hosts, 500 GB and 30 hours for up to 200 attendees. Growth is $354/mo billed annually with 10 hosts and livestreams for up to 1,000 attendees, and Mighty Pro is custom-priced. Mighty adds a platform fee on sales: 2% on Launch, 1% on Scale and 0.5% on Growth and Pro, plus Stripe processing. The 14-day trial needs no card and includes Growth features.

The limits are the familiar ones for community-first tools: no 1:1 scheduling, invoicing or contracts, and no per-client habits, check-ins or private coaching plans. Your own branded app is only on Mighty Pro. In practice, coaches on Mighty run the group there and handle enrollment and 1:1 work somewhere else. Public reviewers give it 3.3 on Trustpilot from 219 reviews.

Pick it over Coachful if you run large live-taught groups and want livestream hours for hundreds of attendees built into the community.

6. Delenta: a coaching CRM with group coaching

Delenta is a coaching practice platform covering CRM, scheduling, contracts, client portals, group coaching and, on its top plan, courses. It is one of the few coaching-admin tools here that pairs group coaching with 1:1 contracts and portals, which makes it a direct substitute for an all-in-one setup.

Prices as listed in October 2026: Starter at $29/mo ($19.08/mo annually) with 1 seat, 10 client portals and 1 GB; Pro at $49/mo ($39.08/mo annually) with 40 client portals and up to 6 calendars; Premium at $79/mo ($58.25/mo annually) with unlimited portals and 100 GB. Teams is a per-seat licence with no price shown, and Enterprise is custom. Delenta states no additional transaction fees beyond Stripe or PayPal. The page conflicts on trial length (the headline says 14 days, the FAQ says 7), and no credit card is required.

Watch the portal caps. A 12-person group on Starter already exceeds its 10 client portals, so most group coaches land on Pro, and a cohort of 40 reaches Pro's ceiling. The course creator and mobile app are only on Premium, and multi-coach features need custom-priced Teams. Delenta's pages do not describe habit tracking or daily check-ins. Its Trustpilot score is 4.1, from only 5 reviews.

Pick it over Coachful if you want a coaching CRM with group coaching at a low entry price, your clients pay through PayPal, and your groups stay small.

7. CoachVantage: group programs with cohorts for solo coaches

CoachVantage is practice management for coaches: CRM, scheduling, contracts with e-signature, invoices, a client portal, group programs and small courses. Its pricing frames the community side as group programs with cohorts.

As listed in October 2026, Clarity costs $39/mo ($35/mo annually) with unlimited contacts and engagements but caps of 2 group programs, 2 sales pages, 2 booking pages, 4 e-signatures a month, 2 contract templates, 2 courses and 500 MB. Aha! costs $59/mo ($53/mo annually) and removes the caps on group programs (with cohorts), sales pages, booking pages and e-signatures, with 5 contract templates and 5 courses. The trial is 14 days with no card. CoachVantage says it takes no commission on your revenue; Stripe or PayPal fees apply.

Four e-signatures a month on Clarity is tight if you enroll a cohort of 12 at once, so group coaches should budget for Aha!. Older profile data notes no team or multi-coach features, and public reviewers describe the built-in video tool, CVMeet, as weak, with many users still running sessions on Zoom. No habit tracking or daily check-ins are documented.

Pick it over Coachful if you are a solo coach who wants per-coach pricing with unlimited clients, needs PayPal, and runs one or two structured cohorts a year.

8. Heartbeat: automated member groups for paid communities

Heartbeat is a community platform aimed at paid communities, with channels, courses (evergreen, drip and cohort-based), documents, events, DMs, landing pages and payments. Automated groups sort members and trigger automations, which is close to what a cohort coach needs when one purchase should open one set of channels.

On its pricing page on October 25, 2026: Build at $49/mo monthly or $40/mo billed annually, for up to 350 members (admins and moderators count), 5 automation workflows, 1 custom landing page and a 5% transaction fee; Grow at $149/mo ($124/mo annually) with 5,000 members, unlimited workflows, cancellation and retention flows, an affiliate program and a 2.5% fee; Scale at $849/mo ($766/mo annually) with unlimited members, a white-label branded app and a 1.25% fee. The trial is 14 days with no card. Listed integrations include Zapier, Zoom and Google Calendar.

The 5% fee on Build ties with Podia's Mover plan as the highest percentage on this list after Skool's Hobby plan: on $4,000 of monthly cohort sales, that is $200 before Stripe. Heartbeat branding stays on Build. And like the other community-first tools, the pricing page lists no 1:1 booking pages, coaching contracts or client habit tracking.

Pick it over Coachful if you want cohort-based courses inside a community with automated member groups, and the community, not 1:1 coaching, is your core product.

9. Paperbell: 1:1 admin with no built-in community

Paperbell is here as the honest outlier: it has no built-in community. It is all-in-one admin for solo coaches (booking, packages, payments, contracts, a client portal and a simple website), and it often serves as the admin half of an assembled stack where the group lives in Skool or Circle.

Its single plan is listed at $97/mo, or $80.83/mo billed annually, in October 2026, with unlimited clients, sessions, files, packages and traffic, plus a 30-day money-back guarantee. Paperbell says it adds no transaction fees; Stripe or PayPal processing applies. Its help center described a 7-day trial in July 2026 with the public site offline and client messages and SMS switched off.

Beyond the missing community, Paperbell has no courses, goal tracking or habit tracking, and no native mobile app (mobile browser only). Trustpilot shows 3.5 from 14 reviews. It ranks above the pure community tools below because it covers attract, enroll and 1:1 delivery in one login, and below the others because a group coach will always need a second tool.

Pick it over Coachful if you coach 1:1 packages only, have no plans for a group, and value PayPal plus one flat price that never changes with client count.

10. Skool: the cheapest way to open a group

Skool puts a community, a classroom and a calendar in one group, with gamified leaderboards that reward posting. It is the cheapest way to stand up a group on this list, and it can host a free community that feeds a paid offer sold elsewhere.

As listed in October 2026, Hobby is $9/mo ($7.50/mo annually) and Pro is $99/mo ($82.50/mo annually), both with unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls. Payments run only through Skool Payments: Hobby charges 10% + 30¢ on every transaction, while Pro charges 2.9% + 30¢ up to $899 and 3.9% + 30¢ above $900. Fees are non-refundable and payouts are weekly. The pricing page does not state a trial length.

Skool has no custom-domain website, funnels, email automation or public API, and no 1:1 client records, intake forms, habits or check-ins. The fee structure punishes higher-ticket coaching on Hobby: sell a $1,500 program there and Skool keeps $150.30. Public reviews are thin and harsh, at 1.6 on Trustpilot from 54 reviews. For coaches leaving Discord-style setups, our guide to hosting community channels without Discord compares the options.

Pick it over Coachful if you want the lowest-cost community possible as top-of-funnel and you handle coaching and enrollment in another tool.

11. Systeme.io: funnels first, community as an extra

Systeme.io is a low-cost marketing suite with funnels, email, courses, a community, a blog and an affiliate program. For the attract stage, it is the cheapest complete option on this list.

As listed in October 2026, the Free plan includes 2,000 contacts, 3 funnels, 1 course, 500 students, 1 blog, 1 custom domain and 1 automation rule. Startup is $17/mo (5,000 contacts, 10 funnels, 5 courses), Webinar is $47/mo (10,000 contacts, 50 funnels, 20 courses) and Unlimited is $97/mo. Systeme.io charges 0% transaction fees on every plan, including the free one, so you pay only Stripe or PayPal processing. The free plan does not expire and needs no card. Trustpilot shows 4.9 from 8,696 reviews.

Community and course features are basic, there is no branded mobile app, and older profile data notes no native 1:1 scheduling with client records, habits or check-ins. A coach would run funnels and a light community here and book and track clients somewhere else.

Pick it over Coachful if budget is the deciding factor, you want a plan that costs nothing indefinitely, and the community is a light extra next to email marketing.

12. Thinkific: a course platform with discussion spaces

Thinkific is a course platform with communities, memberships and coaching or webinar products. Every self-serve plan includes at least one community, so it fits coaches whose program is mainly a course with discussion around it.

As listed in October 2026, Start costs $109/mo ($82/mo annually) with 10,000 current students, 1 community of 10 spaces, 5 live community events and a maximum group size of 50. Grow is $219/mo ($164/mo annually) with 3 communities of 20 spaces and group size 100, and Expand is $499/mo ($374/mo annually) with 10 communities and unlimited group size. Prices rose about 10% on August 13, 2026. Every self-serve plan has a 30-day trial. There is no Thinkific transaction fee with Thinkific Payments (about 2.9%), while third-party gateways carry an extra fee. The branded mobile app is a $199/mo add-on.

For coaches, the gaps are 1:1 scheduling (older profile data says coaching relies on external booking links), client habits, daily check-ins and per-client plans, plus only 5 live community events on Start. Trustpilot shows 1.8 from 868 reviews.

Pick it over Coachful if you mainly sell courses to a large student base and the community is a discussion layer for those courses.

Should you buy one platform or assemble a stack?

For most coaches running groups and 1:1 together, one platform costs less and loses fewer members, because the community, the checkout and the client record share the same data. Assembled stacks can be cheaper on paper, but they add logins, manual invites and gaps (usually contracts or check-ins). The table shows example monthly costs at list prices as of October 2026, before payment processing.

A few notes on the recipes. CoachAccountable prices by active client (Level 1 covers 5, Level 3 covers 20, Level 4 covers 50), which is why that stack climbs fastest as a group grows. Calendly's Standard plan is listed at $10/mo per seat on annual billing; its monthly price was not shown. Kit Creator starts at $39/mo for up to 1,000 subscribers and rises with list size. HoneyBook's scheduler is not on its Starter plan, so the recipe uses Essentials at $59/mo.

The hidden cost of assembled stacks is the handoff. Every new cohort member has to be invited to the community by hand or through a Zapier step, and every quiet member has to be spotted by comparing two dashboards. If you want help pricing the offer itself, our guide to platforms for selling coaching packages compares checkout features, and membership platforms for coaches covers recurring billing.

How does a group coach set up a community in Coachful, step by step?

A typical setup takes one program, one offer, one funnel and one cohort group, and the community is created by the enrollment itself. Here is an example for an illustrative 12-week leadership cohort of 12 people.

1. Request the build. Open Create, choose "We'll build it for you" and describe the cohort: weekly themes, call times, who it is for. Attach your outline and logo. The team builds the draft in your account.
2. Shape the program. Set 12 weeks with weekly goals, daily tasks, one or two habits and morning or evening check-ins. More than 40 ready-to-film program templates give you a starting structure if you would rather build it yourself.
3. Create the offer. Connect your Stripe account and add a one-time price and a payment plan, plus a coupon for early applicants.
4. Add the agreement. Attach a coaching agreement with e-signature so every member signs before the first call.
5. Build the application funnel. Use an application funnel and a booking page with intake questions for discovery calls, and connect an email sequence for people who apply but do not book.
6. Enroll and let the group form. As each member pays, Coachful adds them to the program's cohort group automatically. Schedule the weekly group call as a video event.
7. Run the week. Post Monday's prompt in the cohort feed, check your client list for anyone marked quiet or at risk, and send them a direct message before Thursday's call.
8. Plan the next step. In week 10, start a broadcast or sequence offering the next program or an alumni space, and use the Community tab in Analytics to see how the cohort engaged.

For engagement ideas once the group is live, see our list of community engagement ideas without social media and our guide to building an online coaching community that lasts.

How do you move an existing community without losing members?

Move in stages: run the old and new spaces in parallel for a short window, migrate active members first, and close the old space only after the first full program cycle. The details below apply whether you are leaving Skool, Circle, Kajabi or a Facebook group.

• Export before you announce. Download your member list, course content and any files while you still have full access, and check each platform's export options against your plan.
• Treat subscriptions separately. Recurring payments are the delicate part. Ask your current platform how subscriptions can move or be paused, and avoid asking members to re-enter cards mid-cycle if you can.
• Rebuild channels as cohorts, not as a copy. A move is a chance to replace a sprawling feed with one group per program plus an alumni space.
• Give members one date and one link. Announce the switch twice in the old space, post a short welcome video in the new one, and pin a "start here" post.
• Get help with the heavy lifting. In Coachful, clients, programs and content are imported for you during onboarding, and the white-glove team can rebuild a site or funnel from your old pages.

Our full guide to switching coaching platforms without disrupting clients has a week-by-week plan.

Which coaching platform with a built-in community should you choose?

Choose Coachful if you run programs or cohorts alongside 1:1 work and want the community, payments, agreements and between-session accountability in one login; it is the only tool here where enrollment creates the cohort group and the client record flags who is slipping. Choose Circle or Mighty Networks if the community itself is your product and has hundreds of members. Choose Kajabi or Thinkific if courses are the main business. Choose Skool or Systeme.io if cost is everything and the community is top-of-funnel. Delenta and CoachVantage suit solo coaches who want a coaching CRM with light group features, and Paperbell suits 1:1-only practices that will never run a group. If you are still comparing group features specifically, our roundup of the best group coaching platforms and the group coaching software page go deeper.

Frequently asked questions

What is a coaching platform with a built-in community?

It is coaching software that includes a group space (a feed, group chat, channels or events) alongside client tools such as booking, payments and programs. The difference from a standalone community tool is that members are your clients, so access, progress and payments are linked. Our explainer on why a coaching community matters covers the basics.

Is Coachful's community included in every plan?

The community feed, group chat, direct messages and video events are included in your Coachful membership. Plans differ mainly by client count and coach seats (current plans: Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients; Solo: $49/month for up to 20 clients; Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients; Studio: $199/month with unlimited clients).

What is Coachful's white-glove build service?

It is a free service on every plan: you describe what you want built (a website, funnel, program, course outline, email sequence and more), attach up to 8 links and 10 files, and the Coachful team builds it inside your account, usually within about 24 hours. It never invents testimonials, credentials or prices, and it does not include video recording, logo design or ad management.

Can I use Skool or Circle for the community and something else for 1:1 coaching?

Yes, and many coaches do. The trade-off is two or three logins, manual or Zapier-based invites for each new client, and no single view of who is engaged. The stack table above shows typical costs for those combinations.

Which platforms charge a fee on community sales?

As listed in October 2026, Skool charges 10% + 30¢ on Hobby, Heartbeat charges 5% on Build, Podia charges 5% on Mover, and Circle and Mighty Networks charge 2% on their entry plans. Kajabi adds 0.5 to 2% only when you use a processor other than Kajabi Payments or PayPal. Systeme.io charges 0%.

Do any of these platforms give members a branded app?

Coachful's client app carries your branding inside the Coachful app listing. Circle offers its own branded apps only on custom-priced Circle Plus, Mighty Networks only on Mighty Pro, Heartbeat on Scale, and Thinkific as a $199/mo add-on.

How many members can a coaching community have before I need a dedicated community platform?

There is no fixed number, but the shape of the group matters more than the size. If members are clients in programs, a coaching platform with a built-in community fits. If the community is an open audience of hundreds or thousands who mostly never buy coaching, a dedicated tool such as Circle or Mighty Networks is built for that.

Can I move my existing members into Coachful?

Yes. Clients, programs and content are imported for you during onboarding, and the white-glove team can rebuild pages from your old site. Plan a short parallel period so members are not left between two spaces.

Is a built-in community suitable for health or therapy groups?

Coaching communities are for coaching, not treatment. Coachful is not HIPAA-certified and offers no BAA, so it should not hold clinical records; refer members to a licensed professional when a concern goes beyond coaching scope.