Is Disciple or Textline better?

Neither clearly leads. Disciple starts at £599/month and Textline at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Disciple or Textline?

Textline has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at £599/month for Disciple and Free for Textline.

Does Disciple or Textline run on more platforms?

Disciple runs on Web, iOS, Android. Textline runs on Web.

What is Disciple best used for?

Disciple is most often used for a membership body moving several thousand paying members off facebook groups into an app that carries its own name in the app store, a fitness or coaching business selling subscriptions where a percentage-based platform fee would cost more each month than a flat licence, a sports club or faith organisation that wants push notifications to reach members directly rather than competing with a social feed algorithm, a brand running a customer community that must live on its own domain and its own app listing for reasons of ownership or sponsorship. Of those, a membership body moving several thousand paying members off facebook groups into an app that carries its own name in the app store and a fitness or coaching business selling subscriptions where a percentage-based platform fee would cost more each month than a flat licence are not what Textline is typically brought in for.

What can Disciple do that Textline cannot?

Disciple covers Native branded apps, Web community, Groups and feeds, Courses.

Communication · head to head

Disciple vs Textline

Disciple

Communication

White-label community apps published under your own brand on iOS, Android and web

From: £599/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

Textline

Communication

Business texting for teams

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Textline has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Disciple the entry plan starts at £599 a month, so a community with a few hundred members pays more per head than almost any percentage-fee alternative, and the flat fee only wins above a revenue threshold you should calculate before signing.; Textline enterprise plan requires custom quote and demo booking
Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Disciple and Textline actually diverge.

Attributes where Disciple and Textline differ
Attribute	Disciple	Textline
Starting price	£599/month	Free
Pricing model	Per month, flat fee with no transaction charge	freemium
Free tier	No	Yes
Platforms	Web, iOS, Android	Web

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Communication).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Disciple

Native branded apps
Web community
Groups and feeds
Courses
Live streaming and video
Subscriptions and payments
Multi-tier membership
Push notifications and analytics

Only in Textline

Nothing recorded that Disciple does not also cover.

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Disciple

A membership body moving several thousand paying members off Facebook Groups into an app that carries its own name in the App Storenot Textline
A fitness or coaching business selling subscriptions where a percentage-based platform fee would cost more each month than a flat licencenot Textline
A sports club or faith organisation that wants push notifications to reach members directly rather than competing with a social feed algorithmnot Textline
A brand running a customer community that must live on its own domain and its own app listing for reasons of ownership or sponsorshipnot Textline

Textline

Responding to customer support tickets via SMS from a unified inboxnot Disciple
Sending appointment reminders and conducting follow-ups via text messagenot Disciple
Coordinating field teams across job sites with time-sensitive text updatesnot Disciple
Running SMS campaigns to promote sales and capture leads with high engagementnot Disciple
Managing HIPAA-compliant texting for healthcare patient communicationsnot Disciple

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Disciple

The entry plan starts at £599 a month, so a community with a few hundred members pays more per head than almost any percentage-fee alternative, and the flat fee only wins above a revenue threshold you should calculate before signing.
Video is metered at 10,000 minutes on the entry plan and 20,000 on Pro, so a community that leans on live streaming will hit overage or a plan upgrade rather than the unlimited storage the marketing implies.
Owning your own App Store listing means owning App Store review, rejections and the annual developer account, and a policy change at Apple becomes your problem rather than the platform vendor's.
Apple and Google still take their cut of in-app purchases regardless of Disciple charging no transaction fee, so the zero percent claim applies to Disciple's share only and not to the total cost of collecting money in-app.
Pricing is in sterling, which introduces exchange rate exposure and, for some buyers, VAT handling that a US-billed competitor would not create.

Textline

Enterprise plan requires custom quote and demo booking
Additional message credits cost $0.03 each (purchased in advance)
Backup credits cost $0.04 each with minimum 250-credit purchase

Pricing, plan by plan

Disciple

£599/month

Branded App$599/month
- Branded iOS, Android and web apps
- 5 admin seats
- 10 groups
Branded App Pro$999/month
- Unlimited admin seats and groups under fair use
- Unlimited monetised courses
- 20,000 video minutes
Organisation$3400/month
- From £3,400 per month
- Custom feature development
- API access and custom integrations

Textline

Free

EssentialsFree
- 600 message credits per month
- 3 agents included
- 3 years conversation history
ProFree
- 2000 message credits per month
- 5 agents included
- Unlimited conversation history
Enterprise$null/month
- Custom pricing
- All Pro features
- Flexible implementation

Which should you pick?

Choose Disciple if

You need native branded apps.
You work on Web, iOS, Android.
You also want web community.

Disciple review

Choose Textline if

You want to start without paying.

Textline review

Questions people ask

Is Disciple or Textline better?: Neither clearly leads. Disciple starts at £599/month and Textline at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Disciple or Textline?: Textline has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at £599/month for Disciple and Free for Textline.
Does Disciple or Textline run on more platforms?: Disciple runs on Web, iOS, Android. Textline runs on Web.
Can I use Textline for free?: Yes. Textline has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Disciple starts at £599/month.
What is Disciple best used for?: Disciple is most often used for a membership body moving several thousand paying members off facebook groups into an app that carries its own name in the app store, a fitness or coaching business selling subscriptions where a percentage-based platform fee would cost more each month than a flat licence, a sports club or faith organisation that wants push notifications to reach members directly rather than competing with a social feed algorithm, a brand running a customer community that must live on its own domain and its own app listing for reasons of ownership or sponsorship. Of those, a membership body moving several thousand paying members off facebook groups into an app that carries its own name in the app store and a fitness or coaching business selling subscriptions where a percentage-based platform fee would cost more each month than a flat licence are not what Textline is typically brought in for.
What can Disciple do that Textline cannot?: Disciple covers Native branded apps, Web community, Groups and feeds, Courses.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Disciple: How much does Disciple cost?

Branded App is £599 a month, Branded App Pro is £999 a month, and the Organisation tier starts at £3,400 a month. Annual billing gives two months free.

Textline: Can I use Textline for free?

Yes, Essentials and Pro tiers are free to get started, with no credit card required. Essentials includes 600 message credits and 3 agents monthly. Pro includes 2000 credits and 5 agents. Enterprise requires a custom quote.

Source

Disciple: Does Disciple take a cut of member payments?

No. All plans are 0% transaction fees on Disciple's side. Apple and Google still take their standard in-app purchase commission, which is separate.

Textline: How much do extra message credits cost?

Additional message credits cost $0.03 per credit. Backup credits are available at $0.04 each with a minimum purchase of 250 credits.

Source

Disciple: Is the app published under my brand?

Yes. iOS and Android apps go into the stores under your own name and branding, not as a section within a shared platform app.

Textline: What are the costs for phone number registration?

10DLC registration costs $15 per campaign per month via The Campaign Registry. Toll-free numbers do not have a monthly registration fee.

Source

Disciple: Is there a member limit?

Plans advertise unlimited members subject to fair use. The real limits are admin seats, groups, courses and video minutes, which differ by plan.

Disciple vs Textline

Disciple

Textline

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Disciple

Only in Textline

What people use each for

Disciple

Textline

Where each one falls short

Disciple

Textline

Pricing, plan by plan

Disciple

Textline

Which should you pick?

Choose Disciple if

Choose Textline if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Disciple

More on Textline

Keep looking

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