Small business▲+13Since September 2026: 31% → 44%, +13 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement. Read over the models both editions asked.
44%from 31% in September 2026
Cleared the floor by 2 pointsRank 1 of 74, unchanged
2 categories · RankedCircle
143Judge labels
32First choices
28Negative labels
14 / 14Models named it
2Categories
October 2026 Edition. Every number here is derived from the raw labels under vendor table v2026-10-05.2, every buyer segment counted.
Best standing
43% in Community for small business buyers
Rank 4 of 75 in the mid-market standingaccepted challenger
4 of 14 models made it the first choice on the direct prompt; 13% of its 53 labels there were negative.
What the models named instead of Circle →By buyer segmentA small-business product: leader at small business, not named at enterprise.
Small business1 of 76
43%64 labels
endorsed leader
Mid-market4 of 75
11%53 labels
accepted challenger
Enterprise68 of 69
0%23 labels
criticized challenger
In community · each standing computed within its segment · bars are 0 to 100 · the accent bar is the product's own best reading
Standing by category
Every category where a model named Circle for a mid-market B2B company. Share is first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts; rank is within every product named in that category.
| Category | Function | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Quadrant | Since September 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Community platforms | Customer | 11% | 4 of 75 | 13% | 53 | accepted challenger | ▼−2Since September 2026: 15% → 13%, −2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
| Customer education and LMS | Customer | 0% | 28 of 86 | 0% | 2 | under 10 labels · led by LearnUpon at 26% | =heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
Movement
Since September 2026, Circle held within the floor in all two categories: no change cleared 11 points.
Best category · Community · by segment
Mid-market▼−2Since September 2026: 15% → 13%, −2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
13%from 15% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 9 pointsRank 3 of 67, unchanged
Enterprise▼−2Since September 2026: 2% → 0%, −2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
0%from 2% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 9 pointsRank 11 → 62 of 63
All categories · Mid-market
| Category | September 2026 | Now | Change | Reading | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Community | 15% | 13% | ▼−2Since September 2026: 15% → 13%, −2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 3 → 4 of 75 |
| Customer education | 0% | 0% | =heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 56 → 28 of 86 |
Shares here are read over the models both editions asked, so they can differ by a point or two from the standing above, which counts every model in this edition.
The floor is 11 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one is noise, and both are shown. Movement is read over the twelve models both editions asked; GPT-6 Luna, Muse Glimmer 30B joined this edition and are in the standing but not yet in the comparison. How the floor is measured · The editions
By model
How each model treated Circle across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.ShowHide
By model
How each model treated Circle across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.
ShowHide| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Negative | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Grok 4.20 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Mistral Small | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Kimi K2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
By framing
Which of the six questions produced the naming. By model says how often; this says asked what. The first-choice count on the right carries the marks of the models that produced it.
FramingLabels by classFirst choices
Direct22 labels12
Paraphrase23 labels10
Comparative30 labels12not counted in share
Budget-constrained26 labels6
Scale-constrained15 labels4
Negative27 labels2not counted in share
First choiceAlternativeMentionNegative143 labels in all, every segment counted; 32 of the 46 first choices count toward share, since the comparative and negative framings do not. The bar is one segment per label class, to scale within the framing.
What the models said for it
Verbatim evidence the judge attached to positive labels.
“Highly regarded for its user-friendly interface, strong engagement features, and seamless integration of memberships, courses, and community spaces.” Mistral Small · Community · comparative prompt · first choice
“Circle - a comprehensive online community platform that offers a range of features, including community, events, courses, and mobile apps.” Llama 4 Maverick · Community · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“1. Circle - Best All-Rounder ... Most mid-market B2B companies find that Circle or Bettermode provide the best balance” GLM 4.7 FlashX · Community · direct prompt · first choice
“The Modern Favorite: Circle.so ... Go with Circle if you want to drive product adoption and human connection.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · Community · direct prompt · first choice
And against it
Verbatim evidence attached to negative labels. A warning on a product with few labels is a warning; on a product with many, it is one voice among them.
““Platforms to Avoid (Unsuitable for most large enterprises): Circle, Mighty Networks, Bettermode (formerly Tribe)”” Muse Glimmer 30B · Community · negative prompt · hard negative
“Circle and Mighty Networks are explicitly listed as unsuitable for most large enterprises” Mistral Small · Community · negative prompt · hard negative
“Avoid pricier ones like Circle ($89/mo)” Grok 4.20 · Community · budget prompt · hard negative
“these platforms are primarily designed for consumer/membership-oriented communities rather than large-scale enterprise customer support” Qwen 3.7 Flash · Community · negative prompt · soft negative
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as Circle, over the 143 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Circle was named but was not.ShowHide
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as Circle, over the 143 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Circle was named but was not.
ShowHideProductSame answerTook the first choice insteadHead to head
A head-to-head page exists where both products are among a category's top eight. The other rows are the same fact without a page behind them, so they link to the product instead.
What carried it into the answer
The sites and pages cited by the answers that named Circle. A fact about retrieval, not a lever on the model.
Citations exist only for the models that return a source list, five of the fourteen in this edition, so these counts come from 128 of the 143 answers that named Circle and are not a share of its labels.
Domains cited
bettermode.com74
guideflow.com74
thecmo.com56
learnworlds.com54
higherlogic.com48
spotsaas.com44
circle.soYour site40
learn.g2.com38
workramp.com38
g2.com34
460 of the 500 domain citations in answers naming Circle came from somebody else's page.
Pages cited
Pages are listed as the models cited them.
Search and answers
circle.so ranks 8 on Google for the category's searches. In the answers, Circle takes 11% of first choices and Bettermode takes 29%.ShowHide
Search and answers
circle.so ranks 8 on Google for the category's searches. In the answers, Circle takes 11% of first choices and Bettermode takes 29%.
ShowHideIn search
Google, US estimatesPosition for “customer community platform”
8
Position for “best customer community platform”
–
not in the top ten
- Searches for its name, Google
- 301,000 a month (“circle”)
- AI search demand for its name, est.
- 242,528 a month
- Organic visits to its site
- about 215,494 a month
- Searches its site ranks for
- 10,288 · 743 in the top three
- Sites linking to it
- 20,850
- Paid Google search
- 2 searches its ads show for, about 46 clicks and $1,570 a month (estimate)
In answers
This editionShare of first choices
11%
rank 4 of 75 in community
Segment leader
29%
Bettermode
- First choices
- 32 across its categories
- Named in
- 143 answers
- Its own site cited
- in 128 of the answers that named it
Search figures are US estimates from DataForSEO, read September 28, 2026; AI search demand is its modeled, directional estimate, not a count of queries to any assistant. The answers are this edition's. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
What it publishes
ShowHide
What it publishes
ShowHideAddresses on circle.so
4,929
subdomains included
Content
285
counted in the table below
Documentation
0
Product · Integration
2,194 · 0
| Kind | Pages | Last 90 days | 2025-10 to 2026-09 | Latest | Categories named |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blog | 179 | 31 | 2026-09-23 | Community | |
| Comparison | 30 | 1 | 2026-09-15 | ||
| Case study | 28 | 0 | 2026-04-28 | ||
| News or press | 11 | 0 | 2026-06-03 | ||
| Podcast or video | 10 | 0 | 2024-06-19 | ||
| Conference or event | 8 | undated | |||
| Webinar or virtual event | 6 | 0 | 2025-04-16 | ||
| Report or ebook | 6 | 1 | 2026-07-24 | ||
| Glossary or explainer | 5 | 3 | 2026-09-07 | ||
| Template or tool | 2 | undated |
Most recent
- 2026-09-23Best membership platforms blog
- 2026-09-18Ai website builders blog
- 2026-09-17Community onboarding blog
- 2026-09-16The real cost of tool sprawl for community builders blog
- 2026-09-15Owning vs renting your audience comparison
- 2026-09-11How to start a youtube channel blog
How it is countedHide how it is counted
Every page circle.so exposes, subdomains included. Kind is read from the address and title. The last 90 days, the latest date and the twelve months count pages by when they were published, from the site's feeds, a date in the address, or the page's own publication date, read from up to a hundred of its most recently changed pages; a page that says only when it last changed is counted in its kind but not in when, so the recent counts are a floor, and a kind none of whose pages gives a publication date reads undated. An event counts as online when its address or title says so (webinar, on demand, virtual or online summit); a conference, summit, trade show, expo or roadshow that does not say so is counted as a conference or event, which on a vendor's site is mostly in person. Read September 29, 2026.
Names read as Circle
What the judge wrote, as written, with how often. The vendor table decides that these count as Circle; a claim can dispute any of them.
Circle.so 6
Follow Circle
An email the morning each edition publishes: where this product moved, where it held, and by how much against the noise floor. One address, confirmed by a click; a stop link in every email.
Already following? Everything you follow, with a stop for each.
The company
Circle is its own company.ShowHide
The company
Circle is its own company.
ShowHideIn its own words
Stated by the vendor, not checked- Positioning
- A new era for digital businesses; Build a home for your community, events, and courses — all under your own brand.
- For
- digital businesses
- Price stated
- Flexible plans for communities of all sizes, starting as low as $89 per month. circle.so/pricing
- Starting price
- 89 circle.so/pricing
- Free plan or trial
- Start free trial circle.so
- Certifications
- SOC 2 CertifiedGDPR CompliantCCPA CompliantPCI SAQ Compliant
- Customers named
- Jay ShettyJay ClouseTim FerrissJohnny HarrisDr. BeckyAli AbdaalLara AcostaBrendon Burchard
- Not stated on the pages read
- Integrations, hosting
What Circle's own pages state, read September 28, 2026: circle.so, circle.so/pricing, trust.circle.so, circle.so/platform, circle.so/customer-stories. A claimed page can correct any of them.
Is this your product?
Claim this page
Claiming is free and changes nothing in the data. A claimed page shows a verified contact who is told when each edition publishes and when Circle's standing changes by more than the noise floor; the right to propose corrections to the vendor table, meaning names the judge wrote that should or should not read as Circle, applied by version and listed in the change log; and a one-line description supplied by the vendor and marked as such.
What a new claim receivesHide what a new claim receives
A new claim receives the current edition's vendor brief for Circle by email, built from the raw record of the edition. It shows:
- where Circle is named, by buyer and by framing, and which cells hold its first choices;
- the claims the models make when they name it, ranked, with the strongest and the weakest quoted;
- its vocabulary against the segment leader's, and the pages the models cited;
- who was chosen in the answers that did not name Circle, and every reason the record gives;
- a battlecard for each top rival: the head-to-head split, why they win, and the reservation quoted against them;
- one page of published figures cleared to show a buyer.