Review: Mighty Networks vs. Circle (in 2023)

In this blog post, we'll compare two membership platforms: Mighty Networks and Circle. One has been around for years. The other was launched more recently.

Both are amazing platforms, but as you will see there are key differences, and they have different strengths and advantages. Which might be right for you?

Disclosure: This article contains our unbiased review and recommendations to help you choose between Mighty Networks and Circle.so for your membership community platform. However, Circle.so is the platform that SPI uses for its community of members, SPI Pro, and this post contains affiliate links for Circle.so. Read our full disclaimer here.

I interviewed the founders of both platforms on my podcast, but let's start with Mighty Networks first.

The platform has been around for a few years. Here is some information about the creation of this platform.

How did Mighty Networks get started?

Mighty Networks was founded by Gina Bianchini, co-founder of Ning.com, an online social networking platform for individuals and organizations to create personalized social networks. Gina left Ning in 2010 and started Mighty Networks.

She and her team wanted to create something that was fast on mobile and creator-led.

Pat interviewed Gina on the SPI Podcast Session 405, where she talks about her vision with Mighty Networks: "...to create something that lets you bring your people together in one one place, do more with them, host online classes, host virtual workshops, or even host in-person events because of some of the features we've linked to people close to me."

"What's powerful about a Mighty Network," Gina explains, "is that you don't just bring your community and your courses together in one place. In fact, you create and leverage the same dynamic underlying dynamic that has built some of the most successful businesses in corporate history [Facebook, Twitter, etc.] The difference is that as a creator, you can leverage the same underlying dynamic. who built these platforms having your own creator-sized network effect i.e. for your people who built your company."

Gina Bianchini, founder of Mighty Networks

Gina wanted to create a space for "brands and businesses to meet through online courses, paid memberships, events, content and community, all under your brand, instantly available natively on every platform. -form". Mighty Networks serves the growing world of "creators with a purpose" in a category they call "the passion economy".

Mighty Networks is one of the oldest and most established platforms for hosting member communities, and it's packed with features.

Recently, it started marketing itself as a “website builder” rather than just a community platform. It's an interesting move, as it gives online businesses a way to build their entire infrastructure on a single platform.

What are the features of Mighty Networks?

The platform has a ton...