We make Coachful, one of the products judged here. Coachful is the pick throughout. Every recommendation states its criteria before naming it, and names an alternative for the readers it does not suit. Read how this is scored, and who pays for it.
What is the best platform if I run a community and coach?
8 min read1,884 wordsChecked 22 September 2026
A community is rarely the whole business for a coach. It is usually the layer that keeps people engaged between programmes, gives clients each other, and makes the eventual one-to-one conversation easier.
Which means the useful question is not which product has the best feed. It is whether the same product also runs the coaching that the community exists to support.
That criterion produces a different answer from a straight community comparison, and it is worth saying plainly: if the community genuinely is your product, the best answer is not ours.
The short answer
Skool and Circle are the best pure community platforms and record no coaching programmes, no in-app video and no calendar sync. If the community exists to support your coaching, Coachful runs both on one login from $29 a month and we make it. Mighty Networks sits in between at $41 with cohort courses and a mobile app.
2Skool & CircleThe most focused standalone community experience. No coaching programmes, no video, no scheduling.$99/mo
3Mighty NetworksCommunity and cohort courses tightly bound, with a mobile app. Coaching programmes partial.$41/mo
4KajabiCommunity module alongside courses. Weaker on live group work.$179/mo
5ThinkificCommunity attached to courses rather than to coaching.$49/mo
Sources · Comparison registry. Skool and Circle are recorded as shipping no coaching programmes, no in-app video and no calendar sync.
Every entry, in detail
1
Coachful
from $29/mo
We publish this site. The criterion is whether a product runs the community *and* the coaching the community exists to support, behind one login.
That matters because in most coaching businesses a community is not the product. It is the layer that keeps people engaged between programmes, and the members and the clients are largely the same people.
Coachful runs both on one client record from $29 a month: community feed, cohorts, coaching programmes, in-app video, calendar sync and payments. The honest limitation is that a dedicated community product is a better community product, and if the group genuinely is the business that difference is worth paying for.
From$29/mo
CommunityIncluded
Coaching programmesFull
Calendar syncTwo-way
Best for
Coaches whose community exists to support the coaching, where members and clients are the same people.
Where it falls down
A dedicated community product has a better feed, better discovery and better culture tooling. If the community genuinely is the product, Skool or Circle will feel better.
2
Skool & Circle
$99/mo
Skool and Circle are better at community than anything else on this page, and it is not close. The feed, the engagement mechanics and the culture tooling are what they are built for.
If your business is a paid community — discussion, content, events, a membership fee — they are the right answer and we would say so.
The registry records no coaching programmes, no in-app video and no calendar sync. A coaching practice alongside the community is a second system with a second list.
From$99/mo
Best atCommunity
Coaching programmesNone
SchedulingNone
Best for
Coaches whose paid community genuinely is the product, where one-to-one coaching is a minor line.
Where it falls down
No coaching programmes, no in-app video and no calendar sync, so the entire coaching half runs somewhere else.
3
Mighty Networks
$41/mo
Mighty Networks binds community and cohort courses together more tightly than we do, and its mobile app for members is a genuine advantage for a community-led business.
For a coach whose delivery is mostly group-shaped, this is a strong middle option between a pure community tool and a coaching platform.
It has no scheduling and partial coaching programmes, which is where it stops against this criterion.
From$41/mo
Best atCommunity + cohorts
Mobile appYes
SchedulingNone
Best for
Coaches running community-led cohort programmes who want a branded mobile app for members.
Where it falls down
No scheduling, and coaching programmes are partial, so the one-to-one side is elsewhere.
4
Kajabi
$179/mo
Kajabi includes a community module, which for an existing Kajabi customer avoids a separate $99 subscription.
It is better than us at the surrounding content business — courses, funnels, email — which is the reason people are there.
The community itself is a module rather than a focus, and live group work is weaker than either a dedicated community product or a coaching platform built around cohorts.
From$179/mo
CommunityA module
Best atCourses
Live group workWeaker
Best for
Coaches already on Kajabi for courses who want a community attached without adding a subscription.
Where it falls down
The community is a module rather than the point, and live group work is weaker than a dedicated tool.
5
Thinkific
$49/mo
Thinkific attaches community to courses, which works well when the discussion is about the material people are working through.
For course delivery specifically it is more focused than a broad coaching platform.
It is the least community-led option here, and the coaching layer is partial, so it answers this criterion least completely.
From$49/mo
CommunityCourse-attached
Best atCourse delivery
Coaching layerPartial
Best for
Course-led businesses that want discussion attached to the learning rather than a standalone community.
Where it falls down
The community is organised around course content, which is a different thing from a community that exists in its own right.
Community against the coaching it supports
Product
Price
Community
Coaching programmes
In-app video
Calendar sync
Coachfulours
from $29
Yes
Full
Yes
Two-way
Skool & Circle
$99
Best here
None
No
No
Mighty Networks
$41
Strong
Partial
No
No
Kajabi
$179
A module
Partial
No
No
Thinkific
$49
Course-attached
Partial
Partial
No
Comparison registry, verified May 2026. Skool and Circle are recorded as shipping no coaching programmes, no in-app video and no calendar sync.
What a split community and practice costs
Running a community in one product and coaching in another is common and workable. The costs are specific rather than dramatic.
Members and clients are different lists. The person who has been in your community for a year and is now considering coaching appears in the coaching system as a stranger.
The warmest lead you have is invisible. Community members are the most pre-warmed audience a coach has, and in a split setup nothing tells you which of them are active, engaged or ready.
Two logins for the same person. Which is a small thing that reads as a bigger one, particularly at the point where someone is deciding whether to pay you for coaching.
Against that, a dedicated community product is genuinely better at being a community, and for some businesses that is the more important trade.
Photo by Matheus Bertelli on PexelsFor most coaches the community is not the product. It is the layer that makes the coaching conversation easier.
Deciding which side you are on
Work out where the money comes from
If membership fees are most of your revenue, the community is the product. If coaching is, the community is support and should sit with it.
Count how many members are also clients
A high overlap argues strongly for one system. A community of strangers who rarely buy coaching argues for a dedicated tool.
Check what the community is actually for
Peer connection between programmes, or a standalone paid product? The first belongs with the coaching; the second deserves the better feed.
Price the whole arrangement
Skool at $99 plus a coaching tool is a different total from one subscription. Both are legitimate; the comparison is rarely made.
Test the member experience end to end
Join your own community, then try to book coaching. Two logins and a manual step are exactly where the conversion quietly fails.
How many of the eleven parts does each entry run?
Scheduling, video, payments, contracts, programmes, habits, courses, community, website, email and a client app. Every part an entry does not run is a separate subscription, or a job done by hand.
Rank
Product
Price
Full
Partial
Not recorded
1ours
Coachful
from $29/mo
11
0
0
2
Skool & Circle
$99/mo
1
1
9
3
Mighty Networks
$41/mo
2
1
8
4
Kajabi
$179/mo
5
2
4
5
Thinkific
$49/mo
3
1
7
From the Best Coaching Software parts register. "Not recorded" means the register does not record the part for that product, not that the product lacks it.
What does the parts count mean for your monthly bill?
A product that runs fewer parts is not worse at what it does run. It means the rest of the practice sits in other tools, each with its own subscription and its own login for the client.
So compare the price in the table with the price of what it leaves out. A lower headline price plus three add-on tools is often the more expensive stack, and it always has more joins where a client or a payment can fall through.
Common questions
What is the best platform if I run a community and coach?
If the community supports the coaching, Coachful runs both on one login from $29 a month and we make it. If the community genuinely is the product, Skool or Circle are better at community than any coaching platform and the coaching can live elsewhere.
Does Skool do coaching?
No. The registry records no coaching programmes, no in-app video and no calendar sync. It is a community product and a very good one, which means a coaching practice alongside it is a second system with a second client list.
Is Mighty Networks good for coaches?
For community-led cohort programmes, yes — it binds community and courses tightly and has a branded mobile app. It has no scheduling and partial coaching programmes, so one-to-one work runs somewhere else.
What does splitting community and coaching cost?
Members and clients become separate lists, so the warmest audience you have is invisible to your coaching system, and the same person needs two logins. None of it is fatal; all of it makes the community less useful as a route into coaching.
Do I need a community at all?
Only if you will show up in it. A community that goes quiet is harder to restart than to start, and the effort is permanent. If you do not genuinely enjoy running one, it will be obvious to members by month three.
How much does a coaching community platform cost?
Skool and Circle at $99 a month, Thinkific at $49, Mighty Networks at $41, Coachful from $29 with the coaching included. The fair comparison adds whatever you would need alongside each one.
How many of the eleven parts does Coachful cover?
11 fully, on the Best Coaching Software parts register. Coachful publishes this site, so weigh that accordingly.
The verdict
If the community is your product, buy Skool or Circle. They are better at it than we are, and saying otherwise would be the kind of claim that makes a comparison worthless.
For the more common case — where the community exists so that clients have each other and the next coaching conversation is easier — one login and one client list is worth more than a better feed. That is what Coachful is for, from $29 a month, and the deciding question is simply which of the two your revenue actually comes from.
How to disagree with this
The criterion above is the argument. If it does not describe your situation, the order under it is not for you, and one of the other 10 lists probably is.
Published by Coachful, which makes the product ranked first here. No affiliate links and no paid placement. For the same products with no ranking at all, see the directory.
