Which community and membership stack is best for you? I break them all down and show you what their sales pages won't say out loud!
The free plan that's actually free: 2,000 contacts, unlimited emails, one course, a community, 0% fees on your own Stripe or PayPal. The funnels and email are the point. The course builder and the community are the compromise. We use it, so this one's first person.
I run my funnels and email on Systeme.io, so this listing is first person. I like it. I also have opinions.
Systeme is a funnel builder with everything else attached: email broadcasts and automations, a course builder, a community, a blog, affiliates, webinars on the higher plans. The free plan is the most honest free plan on this site: 2,000 contacts, unlimited emails, three funnels, one course, one community, one custom domain, 0% transaction fees, no card.
Here's the thing. The funnels and the email are excellent for the money. The course builder and the community are the bits they added so you wouldn't leave. They work. They're not why anyone picks Systeme, and if community is your product, they're not why you should either.
Annual billing gives two months free. The pricing page doesn't print annual totals.
The contact cap is the real meter. Every email address in your CRM counts, whether they've bought or not. A lead magnet that works will push you off the free plan in a few months, which is the plan.
0% on every plan, including free. You pay Stripe or PayPal's rate and nothing else. Systeme says so on the pricing page and I can confirm it from my own payouts.
Your own Stripe and PayPal, plus Apple Pay, Razorpay, Flutterwave, Xendit and MercadoPago for other markets. Systeme never holds your money. Rated "Built in, multiple processors."
Communities are created under Assets. Each one gets a name, a domain and a path, and you choose whether posts publish automatically or wait for moderation. Inside: Topics (the nearest thing to categories), posts with files, embeds and voice memos, scheduled posts, comments sorted by oldest, newest or popular, pinned posts, and a members tab. Private or public.
Access is the clever part, because it's Systeme. You grant or revoke community access from an automation rule or a workflow, which means "bought the course, tag added, community unlocked" is three clicks. Nothing else on this site ties the community to the funnel that tightly, because nothing else is the funnel.
Gamification: none. No points, no badges, no leaderboard. Rated "None." Spaces: Topics only, one community per free plan. Rated "Categories only."
I'll be blunt about the feel of it. It's a forum attached to a CRM. Members don't open an app for it; they get an email and click a link. If your community needs to feel alive on its own, this isn't where it'll happen.
The course builder is where I lose patience, and I say that as a customer. You need the course structure clear before you start, because restructuring later is painful. Updating lesson content is slower than it should be. It's functional, with modules, lessons, drip and student access, and 500 students on free. It is not Thinkific. If the course is your main product, build it somewhere else and use Systeme to sell it; that's what I do.
Does it send members a digest? No. Members can switch on "Notify me about published community posts," one email per post. There's no daily or weekly summary. Rated "Basic notifications."
Can you email your members from inside it? Yes, and this is the best answer on the site at this price. Broadcasts (campaigns), automation rules, and multi-step workflows with delays and conditions, on every plan, unlimited sends. The free plan caps you at one campaign and one rule, which is one more than most platforms give you for $99. Rated "Sequences and automation."
Can you get your list out? Yes. CRM → Contacts → select → Export, and a CSV lands in your email. It's deleted after three days, so download it. There's no native sync to Kit or Mailchimp because Systeme is your email tool; the list already lives in the thing you own. Rated "Native ESP integration" on the grounds that the ESP is built in, which is the whole argument for the platform.
Members in: CSV import with delimiter choice, tags on import, and optional campaign subscription. Then grant community access by tag via automation. The help centre is strict about consent: imported contacts must have opted in. Rated "Yes."
Members out: Contacts CSV. Community posts and comments: no export I could find.
Courses in: Rebuild by hand. Systeme offers free migration on paid plans, which in practice means they'll move your funnels and contacts; ask before you assume it covers course content.
None. Members use the browser. On a phone that's a link in an email, not an icon on a home screen. Rated "None."
No mobile app, no gamification, one community on free with Topics as the only structure. The course builder is rigid once built. Community members get one email per post or nothing; no digest.
Checked 16 Oct 2026 against the Systeme.io pricing page and these help centre articles: How to create a community; How to import or export a contact list (updated 9 July 2026); and the Systeme.io affiliate program page. The opinions about the course builder and the feel of the community are mine, from using the product daily.
An agency CRM with a Skool clone inside it, down to the exact points table. $97/mo, 0% platform fee on your own Stripe, unlimited contacts, groups and channels, levels that unlock courses, a Skool importer, and a white-label app for $497/mo on top. Built for agencies, not creators.