Pricing models for communities — which one to pick

When you set up a community, you pick one of six pricing models. The choice affects how members join, how you get paid, and what the community page looks like. You can change it later, but switching a model with active subscribers needs care (the existing subscriptions don't auto-migrate).

The six models

Free

What it is: Anyone can join. No payment, no approval, no tier picker.

Use when: You're building an audience, growing a list, or running a community that monetizes through courses/events/products inside it rather than at the door.

Setup: Set pricing to Free. No Stripe required.

Trade-off: Zero friction means you'll get freeloaders. Combine with paid courses or affiliate offers if you need revenue.

Subscription

What it is: Members pay a recurring fee (monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or yearly) for ongoing access.

Use when: Your community delivers ongoing value — weekly content, regular live sessions, monthly templates, etc.

Setup: Set pricing to Subscription, choose currency (USD/EUR/RON/GBP/CAD/AUD), set the price per interval, optionally add trial days. Stripe Connect required.

Trade-off: Highest LTV per member when retention is strong; you'll churn ~5-10% per month if your content slows down.

One-time

What it is: Members pay once for lifetime access.

Use when: Your community is more like a private archive — finite content, network effects, lifetime support promise.

Setup: Set pricing to One-time, pick currency, set price. Stripe Connect required.

Trade-off: Easier sell for members ("never see this charge again"), worse cash flow than subscription. Some creators use this as a launch-bundle then switch to subscription.

Tiered

What it is: Multiple tiers (e.g. Basic / Pro / VIP) with different prices, perks, and access levels. Member picks a tier at join time and can upgrade/downgrade later.

Use when: You have clearly different audience segments — beginners vs. advanced, free vs. premium content, individual vs. team.

Setup: Set pricing to Tiered, configure each tier in the Tiers tab — name, price, billing interval, trial days, features. Tier-gated content uses each tier's allowed-tier list.

Trade-off: More complex; testers report 2-tier setups convert better than 4-tier ones. Start simple.

Freemium

What it is: Free to join, but specific tiers, events, courses, or content require a paid upgrade.

Use when: You want maximum reach (free funnel) and monetize on the upgrade. Same conversion mechanics as classic SaaS freemium.

Setup: Set pricing to Freemium. Members join free; you configure paid tiers in the Tiers tab and gate content/events to those tiers.

Trade-off: Best for funnel-style growth. Watch the free-to-paid conversion rate; 2-5% is healthy for B2C, 5-15% for B2B niches.

Invite-only

What it is: Members can't sign themselves up. You (or your admins) generate invite codes or share invite links.

Use when: Curated/private community, application-based access, mastermind, paid-elsewhere group.

Setup: Set pricing to Invite-only. From Members → Invite generate codes or single-use links and share them outside the platform.

Trade-off: Zero discoverability — you have to drive invites yourself. Highest exclusivity feel.

Currency

You pick the currency in the community pricing settings. Choices: USD, EUR, RON, GBP, CAD, AUD. Members see prices in your currency at checkout; Stripe handles conversion if needed. Set this before creating tiers — changing currency after pricing is published requires recreating Stripe Prices.

Tiers (subscription, tiered, freemium)

For all three of these models, you can set per-interval prices (monthly / quarterly / semiannual / yearly), trial days per tier, max enrollments, and the feature lists members see. Each tier gets its own Stripe Product + Price under the hood — managed automatically.

Coupons

Any paid model can accept coupon codes at checkout. Configure them in Creator dashboard → Coupons. Coupons can apply to a specific community, course, or tier, with percentage-off or fixed-amount discount. Per-user redemption caps prevent abuse.

Platform fees

The platform takes a small percentage on each paid join + each renewal. The exact rate is set by your creator plan — see Creator dashboard → Plan. The fee is automatically deducted before Stripe payout.

Switching models

You can switch pricing model at any time, but:

Existing subscribers keep their current plan until they cancel — switching to "Free" doesn't refund them.
Switching to invite-only stops new public sign-ups but doesn't kick existing members.
Switching from subscription to one-time means new members pay once; existing subscribers keep being billed.

If you need a hard transition (kick free users to a paid plan), use Stripe Customer Portal to invite them to migrate.

Stripe Connect — required for paid models

Subscription, one-time, tiered, and freemium (if paid tiers exist) all require a connected Stripe account. From Creator dashboard → Business → Stripe, click Connect Stripe and complete Stripe's onboarding (~5 min). Once verified, the orange "not connected" banner disappears and you can publish paid pricing.

Quick decision guide

Just want to get started → Free, add paid courses later
Predictable recurring revenue → Subscription
Premium content, one launch → One-time
Multiple audience segments → Tiered
Big top of funnel, sell upgrades → Freemium
Mastermind / private / hand-picked → Invite-only