Move from Circle to Whop: What Transfers and How to Switch

How Circle maps to Whop

Your member list and your card subscribers carry over. Spaces, courses and posts get rebuilt as separate Whop apps, and the free Circle to Whop migration tool does most of that setup for you.

Features as of October 2026. Sources at the end of this page.

Members come from Circle's audience export

Circle emails the file to your admin address. Open Audience, go to the Manage audience page, pick the All tab with no filters, then click More and Export CSV (Circle help center, updated September 2026). The file includes names, emails, join dates, tags and profile fields.

Upload it to the wizard as is, or tidy it first with the member CSV converter. Whop's API can't add members to a product directly, so the tool creates a hidden "Existing members" option instead. Free members and one-time buyers get a claim link. Subscribers who can't be migrated get a matching plan with a free trial that ends on their next Circle renewal, so their first Whop charge lands when Circle's would have.

Card subscribers can move with their renewal dates

Circle doesn't hold your members' cards. Paywalls run on a Stripe account in your name, and if you already had Stripe, Circle creates a separate business under your login. That makes your subscribers eligible for Whop Migrations, Whop's own tool for copying active and trialing card subscriptions out of Stripe with the same amount, billing cycle and renewal date.

Whop Migrations skips subscriptions under $1, customers with no email on file, past-due or canceled subscriptions, and anything paid with Stripe Link, ACH or SEPA. Those members take the re-subscribe path described above.

App-store subscribers have to re-join

If you run a Circle branded app with in-app purchases, Apple or Google bills those members, not your Stripe account. Circle's help center says you can't cancel or refund Apple in-app purchases for a member, and you can't cancel Google ones either. Each of those members cancels in their phone's subscription settings, then joins Whop through your trial link.

Courses and posts are rebuilt

Circle documents CSV exports for members, subscriptions and transactions, but we found no course export in its help center (checked October 2026). Paste each course outline into the wizard and we create the Whop course with chapters, lessons, lesson text and YouTube or Loom embeds. Video files don't transfer, so upload them in Whop or embed them.

We also create Whop Forums and Chat with a pinned welcome post. Old posts and comments stay behind because Whop's API publishes as you, stamped with today's date. For an archive, email support@circle.so and ask for the full data export: four CSV files covering members, spaces, posts and comments, without uploaded media.

How the switch works, step by step

Eight steps take you from Circle to Whop without a gap in access or a double charge. Run them in this order.

1. Export your audience CSV. Then go to Payments, then Subscriptions, pick the Active tab and click Export CSV to get each subscriber's plan and renewal details. Both files arrive by email.
2. Open the free migration wizard and connect your Whop account with Sign in with Whop. We never ask for your Circle or Stripe password.
3. Upload the audience CSV and confirm each paywall's name and price. The wizard creates your Whop products and plans through Whop's official API.
4. Paste your course outlines, then upload each lesson's video in Whop or swap in a YouTube or Loom embed.
5. In Whop, go to Settings, then Migrations, and select Stripe. Enter the keys for the Stripe business Circle uses (if you have more than one, switch businesses from the name in Stripe's top-left corner), add Whop's migration email to your Stripe team with the Data migration specialist role, review the preview and start. Our guide to moving subscriptions to Whop covers the edge cases.
6. Download Whop's migration report and send claim links to everyone it didn't cover. The migration announcement templates give you the emails and posts.
7. Keep Circle open, with Stripe still connected, until the last migrated subscription reaches the end of its current period.
8. Close Circle. Ask support for the data export if you want an archive, then cancel your plan.

How to keep members and avoid double billing

Whop Migrations is built to prevent double charges. Each migrated Stripe subscription is scheduled to cancel at the end of its current period, and Whop bills on the old renewal date. The risks sit in the timing and in the members it can't move.

Leave Stripe connected until the old subscriptions end

Circle disconnects Stripe only through support, and its help center says you must first cancel any active member subscriptions or installment plans (article updated August 2026). Don't cancel them to speed things up. Whop Migrations picks up only active or trialing subscriptions, so cancelling first would push every card subscriber onto the re-subscribe path.

Run the migration, let each old subscription reach its period end, then close Circle. For monthly members that's at most one more billing cycle. If you have annual members, ask Circle support before you cancel your plan how that affects subscriptions already scheduled to end.

Check installment plans in the preview

Whop's announcement doesn't mention installment plans. If you sell Circle paywalls in installments, find those members in the preview and consider excluding them (the tool accepts email addresses or Stripe subscription IDs) so they finish paying on Circle. That means keeping Circle running until the final installment clears.

Tell members before you start

Email members before the migration runs so a receipt from Whop doesn't surprise anyone. Here is a version you can adapt:

Subject: Our community is moving to Whop on [date]

Hi [first name], on [date] we're moving from Circle to Whop. If you pay by card on the web, you don't need to do anything. Your membership moves at the same price, renews on the same date, and your next receipt comes from Whop.

If you subscribed in our iPhone or Android app, please cancel in your App Store or Google Play subscriptions, then join here: [trial link]. You won't be charged on Whop until your current period ends.

Everyone else can claim free access here: [claim link]. Circle stays open until [date], so you won't lose anything while you move.

Circle vs Whop fees at your revenue

At $10,000 a month in $50 memberships, Circle costs about $719 a month on Professional and $739 on Business once Stripe's fees are included, while Whop costs about $380. The gap comes from Circle's plan price plus its transaction fee, both stacked on Stripe's processing.

Prices as of October 2026. Sources at the end of this page.

How we calculated it: monthly cost = plan price + (revenue × percentage fees) + (number of charges × $0.30). On Circle, a subscription charge pays Circle's fee (2% on Professional, 1% on Business) plus Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 and Stripe Billing's 0.7%, the same breakdown Circle's fee article uses. On Whop it's 2.7% + $0.30 plus the 0.5% billing fee. We assumed US cards, monthly memberships and Circle billed month to month. Paying Circle annually drops the plan to $89 or $199, which saves $10 or $20 a month.

Under these assumptions Circle never comes out cheaper. Its lowest published rate, 0.5% on Circle Plus, still adds up to 4.1% + $0.30 per subscription charge with Stripe, against Whop's 3.2% + $0.30, and that's before Circle's plan price. Between Circle's own plans, Business becomes cheaper than Professional above about $12,000 a month, where its lower fee covers the $120 difference in price.

Left out on both sides: international-card and currency-conversion surcharges (Whop adds 1.5% and 1%; Stripe charges its own), Whop's $0.07 Radar fee per transaction, dispute fees, payout fees such as Whop's $2.50 next-day ACH, Whop's optional 2% tax service, and Circle add-ons such as Email Hub. Plug in your own price and volume in the Circle vs Whop fee calculator, or read every Whop fee explained.

What you'll rebuild by hand

Content and automations are the manual part of a Circle move. None of it is hard, but it scales with every lesson and space, so list it before you pick a launch date.

• Course videos. Upload them from your original files, or embed them if they already live on YouTube or Loom.
• Lesson text and quizzes. Copy the text into each Whop lesson and rebuild quizzes in Whop Courses, which supports quizzes and progress tracking.
• Posts worth keeping. Repost your best evergreen threads in Whop Forums. Everything else stays in Circle's export.
• Events and live sessions. Recreate upcoming ones in Whop's Events app, which runs live or in-person events with optional paid tickets.
• Workflows. Circle's automations (Business plan and up) don't carry over, so list each one and rebuild it after the move.
• Email Hub. Contacts, broadcasts and sequences don't move automatically. Export your contact list and recreate the emails you still need.
• Member directory, profile fields and gamification. Check which of these Whop's apps cover today before you promise them to members.
• Coupons and access groups. Recreate them as Whop promo codes and separate plans.
• Your domain and links. Point your custom domain, link in bio and email footers at your Whop page.

Should you switch from Circle to Whop?

Switch if most of what you pay Circle for is checkout and gated access. Stay if your community runs on Circle-specific tools you'd rather not rebuild.

Switching makes sense if:

• You sell memberships and fees matter. In the example above you'd keep about $339 a month more than on Circle Professional at $10,000 in revenue.
• You want buyers to pay with PayPal, crypto or buy now, pay later, or to sell through Whop's Discover marketplace, which has charged a 0% commission since May 12, 2025.
• Your community is mainly chat, discussion and a course or two.

Stay on Circle if:

• Your branded app is part of the product. Circle Plus builds custom iOS and Android apps, while Whop members use the Whop app.
• You run on Circle workflows, AI agents or Email Hub and don't want to rebuild them.
• You want payments in a Stripe account you control. Whop runs every sale through Whop Payments, and you can't connect your own Stripe.
• You're on a Circle plan bought before March 1, 2026 whose limits you can't buy anymore. Circle keeps those limits only while you stay on that plan.

Whop has its own constraints too. New accounts can face payout reserves and a $2,500 cap per checkout until Whop approves higher amounts, which matters for high-ticket offers. For the feature-by-feature view, read Whop vs Circle compared, or browse other Circle.so alternatives if Whop isn't the fit.

After the move: launch checklist

Run through this list before you tell members the move is finished.

• Buy your own product with a real card to check checkout, access and the receipt email.
• Open a claim link in a private browser window and confirm it gives access to Chat, Forums and Courses.
• Compare Whop's migration report with your Circle active-subscriptions export, and email anyone who fell through.
• Finish Whop's payout setup and identity verification before money builds up.
• Update every link that still points at Circle: custom domain, link in bio, email footers and video descriptions.
• Pin a "we've moved" post in Circle and stop selling new Circle paywall access.

What changed

• October 3, 2026: First published. Circle pricing, fees and help-center steps, and Whop's fees and Migrations scope, checked on October 3, 2026.

Spotted something out of date? Email hello@movetowhop.com and we'll fix verified errors within 7 days.