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A paid community needs three things to get going: a place for members to meet, a way to charge them, and a page that explains why they should join. A newsletter and social promotion help it grow later.
Start with the essentials below, then add the rest as members join. Each step links to listings picked for WebTools.directory, where you'll find current plan and deal details.
Start with these
1. Community platforms
Why: The shared space where members talk, ask questions and get to know each other.
- Skool: community, courses and live calls in one simple app, with unlimited members. There's no free plan, but you can try it free before you pay.
- Heartbeat: a community platform with channels, courses, events, documents and paid memberships. Try it free, with no card needed.
- Circle: an all-in-one community, course, events and payments platform with branded apps. Try it free, with no card needed.
2. Memberships and payments
Why: Recurring payments, so members are billed automatically and you're not chasing renewals.
- Gumroad: sell memberships and digital products with no monthly fee. It's the merchant of record and handles sales tax for you.
- Kit: its free plan lets you sell digital products and subscriptions, alongside a newsletter for members.
- Stripe: pay-as-you-go online payments and subscriptions, with no setup or monthly fees. You pay per successful card charge. Its listed pricing is for the UK, so check the page for your country.
Skool, Heartbeat and Circle (step 1) also have paid memberships or payments built in, so you may not need a separate tool.
3. Landing page
Why: One page that explains who the community is for, what members get and how to join.
- Carrd: quick one-page sites, free to start. Custom domains are on its Pro plan.
- Framer: a no-code website builder for a more designed page. The free plan publishes on a Framer domain, and a custom domain needs a paid plan.
Add these later
4. Newsletter
Why: A regular email keeps members engaged and gives people outside a taste of what they're missing.
- Kit: a newsletter platform for creators with landing pages and forms. Its free plan covers a large list.
- SendFox: a simple newsletter tool with automations and landing pages, available as a one-payment deal.
- Brevo: email marketing with a free plan and a daily sending limit.
5. Social promotion
Why: Sharing conversations, wins and invitations on social media is how most communities find new members.
- AdaptlyPost: schedule posts across many social accounts with AI captions, as a one-payment deal.
- SocialBu: schedule and automate posts with an AI writer, also a one-payment deal.
Browse the categories
Compare more options in each category:
- Collaborate, for community platforms
- Sell Online, for memberships
- Accept Payments
- Build a Website
- Create Content, for newsletters
- Run Marketing
