Softwr

Parenting · head to head

Circle vs Khoros

Circle logo

Circle

Parenting

The all-in-one community platform

From
$49/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Khoros logo

Khoros

Social Media

Enterprise social media management and branded community platform, now owned by IgniteTech

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Circle location tracking is basic and less granular than some competitors; Khoros igniteTech, part of ESW Capital, acquired Khoros in May 2025 and around 116 staff were made redundant within weeks, and ESW has a documented pattern of running acquired software on minimal cost bases, so support responsiveness and roadmap delivery are legitimate contract-negotiation issues rather than theoretical risks.
  • They diverge on capability: Circle covers Spaces, Khoros covers Branded communities.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Circle and Khoros actually diverge.

Attributes where Circle and Khoros differ
AttributeCircleKhoros
Starting price$49/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
PlatformsIos, Android, WebWeb, iOS, Android, API
CategoryParentingSocial Media
Founded2020Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Circle

  • Spaces
  • Events
  • Courses
  • Member Directory
  • Live Streams
  • Workflows
  • Zapier
  • Stripe

Only in Khoros

  • Branded communities
  • Community gamification
  • Social publishing
  • Social customer care
  • Moderation tooling
  • Listening and analytics
  • Aurora and Iris AI
  • Knowledge deflection

What people use each for

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

Circle

  • Running a branded online community with discussion spacesnot Khoros
  • Selling and delivering courses to an audiencenot Khoros
  • Hosting events and live streams for membersnot Khoros
  • Operating paid memberships with checkout and paymentsnot Khoros
  • Shipping a branded iOS and Android community appnot Khoros

Khoros

  • A telecommunications operator that wants a public support community whose accepted answers measurably deflect contact centre volumenot Circle
  • A consumer brand consolidating a dozen regional social accounts under one publishing approval workflow with regional role permissionsnot Circle
  • A games publisher running player forums where moderation load and volunteer moderator tooling matter more than publishing featuresnot Circle
  • A bank that needs social service messages tracked against the same SLA framework as its email and chat queuesnot Circle

Where each one falls short

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

Circle

  • Location tracking is basic and less granular than some competitors
  • Does not monitor social media interactions or private messages
  • Requires Circle Home Plus hardware purchase for full home network control
  • Activity reports are limited and less comprehensive than competing platforms

Khoros

  • IgniteTech, part of ESW Capital, acquired Khoros in May 2025 and around 116 staff were made redundant within weeks, and ESW has a documented pattern of running acquired software on minimal cost bases, so support responsiveness and roadmap delivery are legitimate contract-negotiation issues rather than theoretical risks.
  • Community migration is genuinely hard: moving years of threads, accepted solutions, member reputation and SEO-bearing URLs off Khoros later is a project measured in quarters, which makes the switching cost far higher than the annual licence suggests.
  • Pricing is not published and the platform is sold on annual enterprise contracts with substantial implementation and design services, so the first-year cost is materially higher than the recurring licence and hard to benchmark.
  • The publishing and listening side inherited from Spredfast has been outpaced by dedicated social suites, so social-first teams frequently find themselves keeping a second tool for scheduling and analytics and paying for overlapping capability.
  • The product is the result of merging two large codebases and has now changed private-equity owner twice, and reviewers consistently report that community administration and social management still feel like separate systems sharing a login rather than one product.
  • Khoros Community Classic is being sunset in favour of the new Aurora AI community platform, so existing customers face a forced migration of an already hard-to-move asset, on the acquirer timetable rather than their own.

Pricing, plan by plan

Circle

$49/month
  • Basic$49/month
    • Community
    • Members
    • Spaces
  • Professional$89/month
    • Courses
    • Workflows
    • Analytics
  • Business$199/month
    • White Label
    • API Access
    • Custom Domain

Khoros

On request
  • Khoros$undefined/year
    • Branded communities
    • Social publishing and governance
    • Social customer care queue

Which should you pick?

Choose Circle if

  • You need spaces.
  • You work on Ios, Android, Web.
  • You also want events.
Circle review

Choose Khoros if

  • You need branded communities.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, API.
  • You also want community gamification.
Khoros review

Questions people ask

Is Circle or Khoros better?
Neither clearly leads. Circle starts at $49/month and Khoros at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Circle or Khoros?
Circle starts at $49/month and Khoros at On request.
Does Circle or Khoros run on more platforms?
Circle runs on Ios, Android, Web. Khoros runs on Web, iOS, Android, API.
What is Circle best used for?
Circle is most often used for running a branded online community with discussion spaces, selling and delivering courses to an audience, hosting events and live streams for members, operating paid memberships with checkout and payments. Of those, running a branded online community with discussion spaces and selling and delivering courses to an audience are not what Khoros is typically brought in for.
What can Circle do that Khoros cannot?
Circle covers Spaces, Events, Courses, Member Directory. Khoros covers Branded communities, Community gamification, Social publishing, Social customer care.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Circle: How much does Circle cost?

Circle offers a 14-day free trial of the app with all premium features included. After the trial, subscriptions are 9.99 USD per month or 89.99 USD per year. The Circle Home Plus device costs 129 USD upfront and includes one year of free app access, after which the app subscription costs approximately 10 USD per month.

Source
Khoros: Who owns Khoros now?

IgniteTech, an ESW Capital company, acquired Khoros on 27 May 2025. Vista Equity Partners, which created Khoros by merging Lithium and Spredfast, is no longer the owner.

Circle: What devices does Circle support?

Circle works on Android, Apple iOS, Mac, Windows, Chromebook, Xbox, PlayStation, Kindle, smart speakers, IoT devices, gaming consoles, smart TVs, and iPhones. An unlimited number of devices can be managed from a single Circle account.

Source
Khoros: Why does the website say khoros.ai?

The company moved its corporate domain from khoros.com to khoros.ai as part of an AI-first relaunch under IgniteTech, centred on its Aurora and Iris AI capabilities.

Circle: How does Circle Home Plus work?

Circle Home Plus is a router-adjacent device that connects to your home network via Ethernet (with Wi-Fi backup) and manages all connected devices on that network. The Circle app then connects to this device to enforce parental controls across web browsing, app usage, and screen time across all family members' devices.

Source
Khoros: Is pricing published?

No. Khoros quotes privately on annual enterprise contracts, and implementation services are a significant separate cost.

Circle: Does Circle monitor social media?

Circle does not directly monitor social media content, conversations, or private messages. However, it can restrict access to social media apps and websites, and manage time spent on those platforms through screen time controls.

Source
Khoros: Should the ownership change affect my decision?

It should affect your contract. Ask for written roadmap commitments, named support staffing and exit or data-export terms before signing a multi-year community deal.

Share

Related pages

More on Circle

More on Khoros

Keep looking

Other head to heads