# Paid community platforms: which vendors AI models recommend (September 2026)

Source: Memetik Index, https://www.memetik.ai/index/paid-communities
Field: Creator economy. Edition: 2026-09. Run: 2026-09-02.
Method: 5 fixed buyer prompts sent once each to 10 current models (GPT-5.6 Sol, GPT-5.6 Terra, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude Sonnet 5, Claude Fable 5, Gemini 3.6 Flash, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Sonar Pro, Sonar Reasoning Pro) via their APIs with web search enabled. 50 answers. Answer share = fraction of answers naming the vendor. Named first = fraction where it was the first tracked vendor named.

**Circle leads** with 100% answer share (named in 50 of 50 answers) and was named first in 60%. Skool follows at 98%. 13 vendors were named at least once.

## Answer share

| # | Vendor | Answer share | Named first | Mentions | Models |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Circle | 100% | 60% | 50/50 | GPT-5.6 Sol, ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 2 | Skool | 98% | 16% | 49/50 | GPT-5.6 Sol, ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 3 | Mighty Networks | 88% | 2% | 44/50 | GPT-5.6 Sol, ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 4 | Discord | 74% | 18% | 37/50 | GPT-5.6 Sol, ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 5 | Kajabi | 60% | 0% | 30/50 | GPT-5.6 Sol, ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 6 | Whop | 52% | 0% | 26/50 | GPT-5.6 Sol, ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 7 | Patreon | 34% | 0% | 17/50 | GPT-5.6 Sol, ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Gemini, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 8 | Heartbeat | 28% | 2% | 14/50 | GPT-5.6 Sol, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 9 | GroupApp | 22% | 0% | 11/50 | Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 10 | Slack | 16% | 0% | 8/50 | Claude, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash |
| 11 | Bettermode | 12% | 2% | 6/50 | Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 12 | Discourse | 2% | 0% | 1/50 | Perplexity |
| 13 | Nas.io | 2% | 0% | 1/50 | Claude |

## By model

- **GPT-5.6 Sol** (OpenAI, gpt-5.6-sol, 5 answers): Circle 100%, Skool 100%, Mighty Networks 80%, Kajabi 60%, Patreon 40%
- **GPT-5.6 Terra** (OpenAI, gpt-5.6-terra, 5 answers): Circle 100%, Skool 100%, Discord 100%, Kajabi 80%, Mighty Networks 60%
- **GPT-5.6 Luna** (OpenAI, gpt-5.6-luna, 5 answers): Circle 100%, Skool 100%, Mighty Networks 80%, Kajabi 60%, Discord 40%
- **Claude Opus 5** (Anthropic, claude-opus-5, 5 answers): Circle 100%, Skool 100%, Mighty Networks 100%, Discord 100%, GroupApp 80%
- **Claude Sonnet 5** (Anthropic, claude-sonnet-5, 5 answers): Circle 100%, Skool 100%, Mighty Networks 100%, Discord 80%, Kajabi 60%
- **Claude Fable 5** (Anthropic, claude-fable-5, 5 answers): Circle 100%, Mighty Networks 100%, Discord 100%, Skool 80%, Kajabi 80%
- **Gemini 3.6 Flash** (Google, gemini-3.6-flash, 5 answers): Circle 100%, Skool 100%, Discord 100%, Mighty Networks 80%, Whop 80%
- **Gemini 3.5 Flash** (Google, gemini-3.5-flash, 5 answers): Circle 100%, Skool 100%, Mighty Networks 100%, Discord 100%, Whop 60%
- **Sonar Pro** (Perplexity, sonar-pro, 5 answers): Circle 100%, Skool 100%, Mighty Networks 80%, Kajabi 80%, Whop 80%
- **Sonar Reasoning Pro** (Perplexity, sonar-reasoning-pro, 5 answers): Circle 100%, Skool 100%, Mighty Networks 100%, Discord 80%, Kajabi 80%

## Sources the models cited

- youtube.com: 84
- circle.so: 47
- guideflow.com: 39
- mightynetworks.com: 38
- whop.com: 36
- linodash.com: 32
- communipass.com: 31
- ventureharbour.com: 30
- customerhub.com: 30
- group.app: 29
- reddit.com: 29
- standingongiants.com: 27
- bettermode.com: 24
- pocketsflow.com: 19
- creatorstackclub.com: 18

## Prompts

1. What is the best platform to run a paid community for a creator? Name specific products.
2. Which platform to run a paid community would you recommend to a creator in 2026?
3. Compare the top platform to run a paid community options right now.
4. I'm a creator and I need a platform to run a paid community. What should I use and why?
5. Best platform to run a paid community for a paid Discord-style community?

## Tracked but never named

Geneva, Tribe

Raw answers: https://www.memetik.ai/index/paid-communities (every answer published in full). Chart image: https://www.memetik.ai/charts/paid-communities.png. Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit "Memetik Index".