Idun Blue vs Circle — email included, and no fee on your sales
Circle starts at $89/mo on annual billing, takes 2% of sales on Professional and sells email as a separate add-on. In Idun Blue email is included and the platform fee is 0%.
Checked Aug 20, 2026
The Verdict
Circle is built around community and starts at $89/mo for Professional, on annual billing. On top of that Circle takes 2% of sales on Professional and 1% on Business, and email is a separate add-on, Email Hub, with its own price list. The public API needs Business at $199/mo. Idun Blue has one price for the whole business: courses, community, website, email and automations, checkout and bookings are included, and you switch on podcast, events and invoices when you need them. The platform fee is 0%, Idun AI works directly in your material, and Studio is available in Swedish with servers in the EU. Circle's figures come from its pricing page on 20 August 2026.
Circle pricing and plans last checked Aug 20, 2026 against Circle's own pages. Circle's pricing page states that prices are shown in USD, are based on annual billing and exclude applicable taxes — no month-to-month price is published. Email is a paid add-on, Email Hub, priced by contact count and charged on top of the community plan. Rows the pricing page neither confirms nor denies — certificates, quizzes, podcast hosting, bookings, interface languages and server location — are left out rather than guessed.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | Idun Blue | Circle |
|---|---|---|
| Community | ✓ | ✓ |
| Online courses | ✓ | ✓ |
| Email marketing | ✓ | ~ |
| Page builder | ✓ | ✓ |
| Checkout & payments | ✓ | ✓ |
| Events | ✓ | ✓ |
| Automations | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI assistant | ✓ | ✓ |
| Member mobile app | ✓ | ✓ |
| API access | ✓ | ~ |
| 0% platform fee | ✓ | ✗ |
A ~ in the Idun Blue column means the feature is in the platform but switched off by default — you turn it on under Settings → Features. Rows where Circle's own pricing page neither confirms nor denies a feature have been left out entirely.
The short version
Circle is built around community. All three plans include unlimited members, spaces, events, live rooms, a website builder, automations, Circle AI and a member app on iOS and Android. Courses are included on all three plans. Email, however, is not part of the community plan: it is sold as a separate add-on, Email Hub, with its own price list. And on every sale Circle takes a transaction fee.
Idun Blue is built for the whole business. Courses, community, website and pages, email and automations, checkout, bookings and Instagram planning sit in the same workspace, for one price. Podcast, events and webinars and invoices are switched on when you need them. Idun AI works directly on the material you have already put in. The platform runs on servers in the EU and Studio is available in Swedish and English.
Pricing
The figures below come from Circle’s own pricing page and were checked on 20 August 2026. Prices change, so always check circle.so/pricing.
The pricing page states that prices are shown in USD, are based on annual billing and exclude applicable taxes. No month-to-month price is published, so every figure below assumes you pay for a year at a time.
| Plan | Price on annual billing | Transaction fee |
|---|---|---|
| Professional | $89/mo | 2% |
| Business | $199/mo | 1% |
| Circle Plus | Custom pricing, talk to sales | 0.5% |
The transaction fee is Circle’s own and sits on top of your payment provider’s fees. Several things are priced separately: extra admins $10/mo each, extra moderators and extra spaces $20/mo per ten, a custom sender email address $40/mo on Professional. Email Hub is priced by contact count, $0/mo under 100 contacts and $99/mo at 10,000, charged on top of the community plan with the first 30 days free. Circle Plus includes 10,000 contacts. The pricing page shows a free 14-day trial with no credit card required.
Idun Blue is free during the beta and then costs SEK 1,000 a month excl. VAT, for the whole platform. Email is included, and the platform fee is 0%: payments go to your own Stripe account and you pay only Stripe’s fees. Circle bills in dollars and Idun Blue in kronor, so compare the converted price on the day you choose.
Where the platforms differ
Fees when you charge money
Circle takes 2% on Professional, 1% on Business and 0.5% on Circle Plus, on top of your payment provider’s fees. The fee grows with revenue: at $10,000 a month, 2% is $200. Idun Blue takes a 0% platform fee. You pay Stripe’s own fees and nothing to us on top.
On Circle, email is a paid add-on priced by contact count, and a custom sender address costs $40/mo extra on Professional. In Idun Blue, email is part of the platform: broadcasts, sequences and automations in the same system as courses, offers and purchase history. A broadcast or an automation can therefore start from what someone actually bought or did, with no sync between two tools.
Community
Circle’s community has spaces, threads, events, live rooms, member directories and moderation, with unlimited members on every plan, 20 spaces on Professional and 30 on Business. Idun Blue’s community is organised in rooms for discussion, announcements, events and resources. A room can be open, limited to the students of a particular course or private, and course buyers are added automatically. Open a member’s profile and you see her course progress, purchases and emails in one place.
Courses
Courses are included on all three Circle plans. In Idun Blue, courses are always on, with modules, lessons, video, drip scheduling and progress tracking, connected to offers, email and community in the same workspace. Lesson quizzes and attachments are included, and course certificates are switched on when you need them.
More than community and courses
Idun Blue also includes bookings for intro calls and sessions, and Instagram posts are planned and scheduled from Studio. A podcast with its own RSS feed, events with their own live room and replay, and invoices are switched on under Settings → Features. Circle’s pricing page says nothing about bookings, so we make no claim about it.
AI that does the work
Circle AI is included on all three plans, with 2,500 credits a month on Professional and Business. Idun AI is included and works with what is in your workspace. Ask it to turn your notes into a course outline, write a sales page or prepare a welcome sequence. The result is saved as a draft in Studio, and you decide what gets published or sent. If you would rather use your own ChatGPT or Claude, connect it through Studio for Mac or as an MCP client.
API and mobile app
The public API, Headless Member API and Admin API are on Business and Circle Plus, not on Professional. A white-labeled community is available on Business and up, and apps under your own brand are a Circle Plus item. Idun Blue has a public API in every workspace. Members use the Idun Blue app for iPhone and iPad, or the web app in the browser on your own domain. An app under your own brand is not included.
What is included in Idun Blue
- Courses, offers, email and people are always on. Pages, blog, community, automations, coupons, bookings, social media and link in bio are on from the start.
- Live events and webinars, podcast, coaching, invoices, physical products and course certificates are switched on under Settings → Features. Lesson quizzes and attachments are part of the course tools.
- Members use the Idun Blue app for iPhone and iPad, or the web app on your own domain.
- Card payments run through your connected Stripe account. Free offers work without it, and selling on invoice works once invoicing is switched on.
- Servers in the EU and Studio in Swedish and English. AI and email delivery use external providers, and your provider choices affect where data is processed.
- Free during the beta, then SEK 1,000 a month excl. VAT.
Switch to Idun Blue if
- you pay 2% or 1% of your sales to Circle. Idun Blue takes 0%.
- you pay for Email Hub. With Idun Blue, email and automations are part of the base price.
- you need Business to get the API. With Idun Blue, the API is part of the base price.
- you want a website, bookings, podcast, events and invoices in the same workspace as your community and courses.
- you want AI to do the work inside the business, with Idun AI or your own ChatGPT or Claude.
- you want Studio in Swedish and your data on servers in the EU.
Idun Blue opens to more creators as the beta grows. Join the waitlist and we will be in touch.
Keep reading
- FeatureCommunityRooms, posts and moderation in the same place as the courses your members bought — not in a Facebook group you don't own.
- FeatureEmail & automationsBroadcasts, multi-step sequences and automations triggered by purchases, tags and course progress — in the same system as everything else.
- Who it is forIdun Blue for membership sitesRun subscriptions, protected content, community, member records and retention email from one connected workspace.
- GuideCommunity or course first? Choose by the jobA grounded way to decide whether your first paid product should be a structured course, a recurring community or a smaller pilot that tests both.
- GuideHow to build a membership site that can earn its renewalPlan the promise, recurring delivery, capacity, churn and launch of a membership — with a free calculator that uses your own numbers.
Thinking about moving from Circle?
Moving courses, members and content is real work, and we do it together with you. Get in touch and we'll walk through what your move would actually involve before you decide anything.
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