How to Migrate from Circle Without Losing Members
To migrate from Circle without losing members, export your member and subscription CSVs first, copy any posts and lessons you want to keep by hand (Circle has no bulk content export, per our September 2026 profile), rebuild your spaces, courses and events in the new platform, then move paying members over at their next renewal date rather than all at once. Plan on about four weeks for a coaching community of a few hundred members, and run both platforms side by side for one billing cycle.
This guide is for coaches who started on Circle for the community and now run 1:1 sessions, signed agreements and between-session programs beside it in other tools. It covers what Circle lets you export, a data map from Circle objects to Coachful, a week-by-week timeline, paste-ready member emails, how Stripe subscriptions behave when you switch, and a cutover checklist. We make Coachful, so we say clearly where Circle is the better fit and where we think Coachful is.
Why do coaches leave Circle?
Most coaches who leave Circle do not leave because the community is weak. They leave because a coaching practice needs more than a community, and Circle was built as a community platform first.
Credit where it is due. Circle is a polished community product. Its Professional plan, as listed in October 2026, includes community spaces, courses, live events, a website, a member directory, analytics, payments, gamification, a custom domain and Circle-branded iOS, Android and desktop apps. Business adds workflows, custom profile fields, APIs, activity scores, branded email notifications and white-labeling. Members generally like how it feels. If your business is a large membership where the conversation is the product, Circle does that job well.
The friction shows up when coaching, not community, becomes the center of the business. These are the gaps coaches name most often, based on what Circle's pricing page lists and our September 2026 profile:
- No 1:1 booking or client back office. Circle has no native scheduling for private sessions and no per-client record with session notes, intake answers and payment history. Coaches bolt on a scheduler, a CRM or a spreadsheet.
- No coaching agreements. Contracts and e-signatures happen in yet another tool.
- No between-session program engine. Circle has no per-client habits, daily check-ins or coaching plans with weekly goals. A course is the closest thing, and a course is the same for everyone.
- A platform fee on sales. As listed in October 2026, Circle takes 2% of payments on Professional, 1% on Business and Scale and 0.5% on Circle Plus, on top of Stripe processing.
- Branded apps cost extra. Your own branded iOS and Android apps are only on Circle Plus, which is custom-priced.
- Add-ons stack up. Circle's add-on list includes Email Hub at $99/month for 10,000 contacts, extra admins at $10/month each, custom profile fields at $49/month on Professional and branded email notifications at $40/month on Professional.
On Trustpilot, Circle held a 4.1 rating from 129 reviews when we checked on October 25, 2026. That is a decent score, which matches the pattern above: people rarely leave Circle because it is broken, they leave because their business outgrew what a community tool is for. Our full Circle review covers the strengths in more depth, and the Circle pricing breakdown lays out every plan and add-on.
Circle vs Coachful at a glance: is switching worth it?
Switching is worth it when you sell 1:1 coaching or structured programs and are paying for three or more tools around Circle. If your business is a large paid community with little private coaching, staying on Circle is reasonable.
The comparison below uses the criteria that matter to coaches: one login for the whole client journey, between-session delivery, total stack cost and setup effort. Circle prices are annual billing as listed on its pricing page in October 2026.
| Platform | Starting price | Fee on your sales | 1:1 booking and agreements | Habits and check-ins | Community and courses | Setup help |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coachful | Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients | 0% platform fee; Stripe or Razorpay processing only | Built in, with e-signature before the first call | Built in, per client | Built in, with cohort groups per program | Free white-glove build and import |
| Circle Professional | $89/month billed annually | 2% plus Stripe processing | Not built in | Not built in | Strong: spaces, courses, events, live streams | Self-serve |
| Circle Business | $199/month billed annually | 1% plus Stripe processing | Not built in | Not built in | Adds workflows and white-labeling | Self-serve |
| Circle Scale | $419/month billed annually | 1% plus Stripe processing | Not built in | Not built in | Adds AI agents and webhooks | 60-day concierge onboarding on annual |
Circle's pricing page shows annual prices only; our older profile recorded monthly-billed prices of $129 for Professional and $219 for Business. Circle offers a 14-day free trial on Professional, Business and Scale with no credit card required. See the Coachful vs Circle comparison for a feature-by-feature view.
What can you export from Circle?
You can export your members and your subscriptions as CSV files at any time. Posts, comments, lessons and other content have no bulk export, according to our September 2026 profile of Circle, so plan to copy what you want to keep by hand.
Circle documents its export options in its own help center. Check the current article there before you start, because export features change. Here is what to expect and how to handle each type of data:
- Members CSV. Names, emails and the profile data Circle stores for each member. This is the file your new platform imports. If you use custom profile fields, confirm they appear as columns before you close anything.
- Subscriptions CSV. Who pays, for which paywall, at what price and when they renew. You need this to plan the payment cutover. It is a record, not a way to move billing.
- Posts and discussions. No bulk export. Copy the posts worth keeping (pinned guides, your best answers, resource lists) into a document. Most threads do not need to move.
- Course lessons. No bulk export of lesson content. Keep your original video files and written lesson text. If you only have them inside Circle, download or copy each lesson before you cancel.
- Events and recordings. Download the recordings you want to keep. Upcoming events get recreated on the new calendar.
- Member chat and DMs. Treat as non-portable. Tell members ahead of time so anyone who wants to save a conversation can.
Take the exports twice: once at the start, so you can plan, and once on cutover day, so you catch anyone who joined or changed plans in between.
How does Circle data map to Coachful?
Almost everything in Circle has a direct home in Coachful, and several things coaches run outside Circle (scheduling, contracts, invoices, habits) land in the same account. The table below maps each object.
| Circle object | Coachful equivalent | How it moves |
|---|---|---|
| Coachful import service | Clients, programs and content imported for you during onboarding | Send the CSVs and files; the team imports them |
| Members | Clients and community members, with tags and a client record | Members CSV import |
| Member tags and custom profile fields | Client tags and intake answers on the client record | Mapped from CSV columns |
| Spaces | Community feed, group chat and cohort groups | Recreated; cohort groups appear automatically on program enrollment |
| Courses and lessons | Courses with modules, lessons, drip and completion tracking | Rebuilt from your video files and lesson text |
| Events and live streams | Video events, group calls and webinars | Recreated on the sessions calendar |
| Paywalls and subscriptions | Offers and checkouts through your own Stripe Connect account | Members re-subscribe at a new checkout (see the payments section) |
| Member directory | Community members list and client dashboard | Follows from the member import |
| Workflows | Email sequences with triggers, delays, branching and A/B splits; app automations | Rebuilt |
| Email Hub broadcasts | Email lists and broadcasts | Rebuilt; import only contacts who opted in |
| Circle website pages | Section-based website builder with blog and custom domain | Rebuilt or brought in with the Import website option |
| Not in Circle: 1:1 booking | Booking pages with calendar sync and video links | New |
| Not in Circle: contracts | Coaching agreements with e-signature | New; upload past signed PDFs to client records |
| Not in Circle: habits and check-ins | Programs with weekly goals, daily tasks, habits and check-ins | New |
The last three rows are why most coaches switch. In Circle, a member's private coaching lives somewhere else. In Coachful, the record for each client holds goals, check-ins, habits, notes, intake answers, tags, payments and sessions, with a status of thriving, active, quiet or at risk.
What is the step-by-step migration plan and timeline?
A typical move takes four weeks: one week to export and plan, one to build, one to invite and run in parallel, and one to cut over billing and close Circle. Small communities can compress this; larger ones should stretch week three.
| Week | What you do | Done when |
|---|---|---|
| Coachful setup (week 1) | Start a free trial, connect Stripe, request the free white-glove build and import | Account live, Stripe connected, build request sent |
| Week 1: export and plan | Export members and subscriptions CSVs; list spaces, courses, events and workflows; save recordings and lesson files | You have a full inventory and every file outside Circle |
| Week 2: build | Recreate community spaces, courses, offers, booking pages, agreements and your first program; set up email lists | A test member can join, pay, book and see content |
| Week 3: invite and run in parallel | Send the announcement and invite emails; host one live event in the new home; keep Circle open read-only for questions | Most active members have logged in |
| Week 4: billing cutover and close | Move paying members to new subscriptions at renewal; cancel old subscriptions; final export; close Circle spaces | No member is billed twice and none are left without access |
Here is the same plan as a list of steps you can work through.
- Write down what you are moving. List every space, course, event series, paywall and workflow. Mark each one keep, merge or retire. Many Circle communities have spaces nobody posts in; this is the moment to drop them.
- Export the two CSVs. Members and subscriptions. Save them somewhere you control.
- Get your content out. Download event recordings, collect lesson videos and text, and copy the few posts worth keeping.
- Open the new account and connect payments. In Coachful, payments run through your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account, so revenue goes to you directly.
- Rebuild the structure. Community spaces, courses, offers and checkouts first, then the pieces Circle never had: booking pages, coaching agreements and programs.
- Test as a member. Join with a second email, buy the lowest offer, book a session, sign the agreement and open a lesson. Fix anything that confuses you.
- Announce the move. Use the email templates below. Give members a date, a reason and a link.
- Run in parallel. Post the move in Circle, host the next live event in the new community, and answer questions in both places for a week or two.
- Cut over billing. Move each paying member at their renewal date, then cancel the Circle subscription for that member.
- Close Circle. Take a final export, set spaces to read-only or archive them, and cancel the plan once the last subscription has moved.
If you are moving a whole stack at once, not just Circle, our guides to migrating from Kajabi and migrating from Mighty Networks follow the same order and cover the overlapping parts.
What should you tell members? Paste-ready email templates
Tell members early, tell them why it helps them, and give them one clear action. Three emails cover most moves: an announcement, an invite, and a billing note for paying members.
Before you send, check two rules. Under the FTC's CAN-SPAM compliance guide, commercial email needs accurate sender details, a non-deceptive subject line, a valid physical postal address and a working opt-out honored within 10 business days. Messages that only concern an existing membership are largely exempt, but a promotional launch email is not, so include the footer. And only import contacts into marketing lists if they agreed to hear from you.
Email 1: the announcement (two to three weeks before)
Subject: Our community is moving on [date]
Hi [first name],
On [date], our community moves to a new home. Same people, same conversations, and a few things you have asked for: you can now book 1:1 sessions, track your habits and check in between calls, all with one login.
You do not need to do anything yet. Next week you will get an invite link. Your current membership and price stay the same.
If there is a conversation or resource in the old community you want to keep, save it before [closing date].
Questions? Just reply to this email.
[Your name]
Email 2: the invite (one week before)
Subject: Your invite to the new community
Hi [first name],
Your spot is ready. Click here to set your password and come in: [invite link]
Once inside, you will find [space names], the [course name] course, and the calendar for our next live session on [date]. You can also add the app to your phone.
The old community stays open until [closing date] so nothing gets lost in between.
See you inside,
[Your name]
Email 3: billing note for paying members
Subject: Your membership payment is moving on [renewal date]
Hi [first name],
Your membership renews on [renewal date]. To keep everything in one place, that payment will now go through our new checkout. Please re-enter your card here before [renewal date]: [checkout link]
Your price stays at [price]. As soon as your new payment goes through, I will cancel your old subscription, so you will not be charged twice.
If anything looks off on your statement, reply and I will fix it the same day.
[Your name]
If you have used member wins as testimonials in Circle and plan to put them on your new sales pages, check they still reflect honest, typical results. The FTC's Endorsement Guides Q&A explains what to disclose.
What happens to payments and subscriptions when you leave Circle?
Active subscriptions do not move automatically from Circle to another platform. Each paying member needs to start a new subscription on your new checkout, and you cancel their Circle subscription once the new one is live.
Circle runs member payments through Circle Payments, which is built on Stripe. A Stripe subscription belongs to the Stripe account and the platform that created it. When you change platforms, the new platform cannot pick up and keep billing a subscription another platform set up. Even if both sides use Stripe, the subscription object, its schedule and the link to your Circle paywall stay where they were created. Do not assume saved card details can follow members to a new account; plan for members to enter payment details once on the new checkout.
The safest way to handle this:
- Sort the subscriptions CSV by renewal date. Move members in batches as their renewal approaches, not all on one day.
- Send each member a personal checkout link a few days before renewal (Email 3 above). Keep the same price unless you have announced a change.
- Cancel the old subscription only after the new payment succeeds. That one rule prevents both double charges and gaps in access.
- Do not let Circle renew someone you have already moved. Keep a simple sheet: name, renewal date, new subscription started, Circle subscription cancelled.
- Handle annual members separately. Members who prepaid a year can stay on Circle access until their term ends, or you can grant them access in the new home and start their new subscription at their original renewal date.
- Check refunds and disputes. Process any refund for a Circle charge in Circle, since the payment was taken there.
On Coachful, payments run through your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account and support one-time payments, subscriptions, payment plans, order bumps, coupons, refunds, Apple Pay and Google Pay, with Stripe Tax and an invoice per transaction. Coachful charges a 0% platform fee (since August 2026), so you pay only Stripe or Razorpay processing. Compared with Circle's 2% fee on Professional, a coach who collects, as an example, $5,000 a month in memberships keeps about $100 more each month before processing. Coachful does not support PayPal. More on the payment side is on our coaching payment software page.
What does the cutover checklist look like?
Use this checklist on the last week. Each line has an owner and a check, so nothing depends on memory.
| Task | Where | Check |
|---|---|---|
| Coachful account ready | Stripe connected, offers live, booking pages and agreements set | Test purchase and test booking completed |
| Final members export | Circle | Row count matches the member count shown in Circle |
| Final subscriptions export | Circle | Every paying member is on your billing sheet |
| Recordings and lesson files saved | Your own storage | Open three files at random to confirm they play |
| Key posts copied | New community or a document | Pinned guides and FAQ posts live in the new home |
| Members imported and invited | New platform | Invites sent; log-ins tracked |
| Custom domain pointed | Your domain registrar | Domain loads the new site |
| Paying members moved | New checkout | Each new subscription succeeded before the old one was cancelled |
| Circle subscriptions cancelled | Circle | No active subscription left for moved members |
| Integrations reconnected | Zapier, Meta Pixel, GA4 | Test event fires |
| Final announcement posted | Circle | Pinned post with the new link |
| Circle plan cancelled | Circle billing | Confirmation saved after the last subscription moved |
What do you gain in Coachful that Circle does not do?
The community comes with you, and the coaching work that lived in other tools joins it: 1:1 booking, signed agreements, per-client programs with habits and check-ins, invoices and email, under one login for you and one branded app for your clients.
Here is what that looks like in practice for a Circle switcher:
- Booking that knows the client. Booking pages with availability rules, buffers, minimum notice and time-zone detection; two-way Google, Apple/iCloud and Outlook sync; built-in video or auto-created Zoom, Meet or Teams links; email reminders plus SMS (24 hours) and WhatsApp (1 hour) once messaging is enabled; paid sessions, session credits and intake questions on booking. See scheduling software for coaches.
- Agreements before the first call. Coaching agreements with e-signature, sent before the first session and stored on the client record. See coaching contracts.
- Programs between sessions. Multi-week programs with weekly goals, daily tasks, habits, morning and evening check-ins, goals with progress bars and streaks.
- Community that follows enrollment. Community feed, group chat, direct messages and video events, with cohort groups created automatically when someone enrolls in a program. See group coaching software.
- Courses in the same app. Modules, lessons, drip and completion tracking, plus downloads, videos, books and bundles. See the online course platform for coaches.
- Michelle, the AI assistant. Works from your live practice data: builds programs, drafts emails, summarizes recorded sessions and briefs you before each call. Questions and planning are included in your membership; confirmed builds and changes use AI credits.
The client side is where Circle members notice the difference most. Instead of a feed plus a separate booking link, they open one branded home with their next session, their program, their habits and the community.
This short walkthrough shows how the client journey fits together in Coachful, from first booking to program and check-ins.
What is Coachful, and who is it for?
Coachful is a coaching platform. One subscription covers booking, payments, contracts, program delivery with habits and check-ins, courses, a community, a website with funnels and email, and an AI assistant, with one login for the coach and one branded app for the client. It is built for coaches who deliver programs, not just sessions, for solo coaches growing into a small team, and for coaches replacing four to six tools. The company is based in Tallinn, Estonia, and holds a Trustpilot rating of 4.5 from 21 reviews.
What it does not do. Coachful is not HIPAA-certified and does not sign a BAA, so it is not for clinical records or insurance billing. It has no PayPal and no permanent free plan. The client app ships under the Coachful listing with your branding, not in your own App Store account; if you need a fully separate branded app, that is a real reason to look at Circle Plus. It has no third-party plugins, is not a course marketplace, and its affiliate program tracks links, clicks, conversions and revenue but records payouts manually.
How to start. Start a free trial, then request the free white-glove build and import. Plans are flat monthly, lower plans cap the number of clients, Pro is unlimited, team plans add coach seats, and monthly plans cancel in one click (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). Most Circle communities that also run 1:1 coaching fit on Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients.
How does the free white-glove import and build work?
You describe what you want moved and built, attach your files, and the Coachful team builds it inside your own account, usually within about 24 hours. Clients, programs and content are imported for you during onboarding.
Why Coachful stands out: a free white-glove service. Most platforms hand you an importer and a help center. Coachful offers a free build service on every plan. From Create > We'll build it for you · FREE (or the "Want us to build it for you?" card on Website, Funnels, Programs and the template galleries), you can request a website, funnel, offer or sales page, program, course outline and written material, journey or coaching flow, form or worksheet, email sequence, link in bio, lead quiz, event or webinar, automation, or something else. Attach up to 8 reference links and up to 10 files, such as your Circle CSVs, logo, brand guide and lesson documents (no video files). Nothing gets invented: no fake credentials, testimonials or prices. Gaps are left for you to fill. It does not include recording videos, logo design, ad management or ongoing marketing. Read more about the free white-glove service.
For a Circle move, a good request looks like this: "Import the attached members CSV as clients and community members, tag them by the Circle space they were in, rebuild my course from the attached lesson documents, create a monthly membership offer at my current price, and build a homepage with a booking button for a discovery call." Recent anonymized builds give a sense of scope: a somatic coach leaving Kajabi had the homepage and About page rebuilt and the contact form connected, and a real-estate and money coach got a year-long cohort program with an application form, an eight-page site and a free nine-day bootcamp funnel.
If your Circle site was thin, the website builder has 30 designed homepage templates, an Import website option, blog, custom domain and SEO settings. See the coach website builder.
Should you keep Circle for the community and add a coaching tool instead?
You can, and some coaches do. It makes sense if your community is very large, member-to-member conversation is the main product, and private coaching is a small side offer. It makes less sense once most of your revenue comes from 1:1 or program clients.
Running Circle beside a coaching tool means two logins for every client, two places to check for messages, and two subscriptions. On Circle Professional, that is $89/month billed annually, plus the 2% fee on community sales, plus whatever the scheduler, contract tool and email platform cost. Run the numbers for your own stack. Our guide to hosting a coaching community without Circle walks through what the community side needs, and running a client mastermind without Circle covers smaller paid groups.
What are the common mistakes when leaving Circle?
The expensive mistakes are about billing and timing, not content. Most of them come from moving too fast.
- Cancelling Circle before every subscription has moved. Members lose access or keep getting billed with no way for you to manage it.
- Moving all payers on one day. Card failures and confused replies pile up. Batch by renewal date.
- Rebuilding every space. Quiet spaces stay quiet in the new home. Merge them.
- Forgetting lesson video files. If your only copy is inside Circle, download it before anything else.
- Skipping the test member. Five minutes as a member finds the broken link before a client does.
- Importing everyone into a marketing list. Separate members who opted in to email from those who did not.
- Changing the price at the same time. A move plus a price change reads as a price change. Do them separately.
Frequently asked questions about migrating from Circle
How long does it take to migrate from Circle?
Plan on about four weeks for a community of a few hundred members: one week to export, one to build, one to invite and run in parallel, and one to move billing and close. A small group with few paying members can move in two weeks. The billing cutover sets the pace, because you move each payer at their renewal date.
Can I export my posts and discussions from Circle?
Our September 2026 profile of Circle found no bulk export for posts and content; members and subscriptions export as CSV. Check Circle's help center for the current options before you start. In practice, copy the pinned guides and best threads by hand and let the rest go.
Will my members' Circle subscriptions transfer automatically?
No. Subscriptions created through Circle Payments stay with Circle. Each paying member starts a new subscription on your new checkout, and you cancel the Circle one once the new payment succeeds. Batch the move by renewal date to avoid double charges.
Do members have to create a new account?
Yes, they set a password in the new platform through the invite link. If you import their email from the members CSV, the invite goes straight to them and their profile is already set up.
Does Coachful charge a fee on my sales like Circle does?
No. Coachful has charged a 0% platform fee since August 2026, so you pay only Stripe or Razorpay processing. Circle, as listed in October 2026, takes 2% on Professional, 1% on Business and Scale and 0.5% on Circle Plus.
Can I still run a paid community in Coachful?
Yes. Coachful includes a community feed, group chat, direct messages and video events, with cohort groups created automatically when someone enrolls in a program. You sell access through offers and subscriptions on your own Stripe account. If your business is a very large community with no private coaching, Circle may still be the better fit.
Will my clients get a branded app?
Clients use the Coachful app with your branding, so they see your name and look. It ships under the Coachful listing, not your own App Store account. On Circle, your own branded iOS and Android apps are only on the custom-priced Circle Plus plan.
What does the free white-glove service include for a Circle move?
The Coachful team imports your clients, programs and content and builds what you request inside your account, usually within about 24 hours. You can attach up to 10 files, including your Circle CSVs and lesson documents, and up to 8 reference links. It does not record videos, design logos or run ads.
What should I do with Circle content I do not move?
Take a final export, save recordings and lesson files to your own storage, and post a pinned notice with the new link. Give members a closing date so anyone who wants to save a conversation has time, then cancel your Circle plan once the last subscription has moved.
Is Coachful suitable for health or therapy-adjacent coaching communities?
Coachful works for coaching, not treatment, and it is not HIPAA-certified. Keep clinical records in a clinical system, and refer members to a licensed professional when a concern goes beyond coaching. For coaching programs with habits and check-ins, see the health coach page.
