How to start a paid online community

How to start a paid online community: six steps

Start a paid online community by naming the one result members pay for, setting one price and opening to a small founding group, on a platform that takes payments and controls who gets in.

On Mighty Networks, paid member plans start on the Launch Plan, $95 a month, billed monthly, as read on 4 October 2026, with a 2% transaction fee, and the 14-day free trial needs no credit card.

A member plan is what you set up for people to join: paid, free, by approval or after screening questions. The transaction fee is Mighty Networks' share of each sale, separate from Stripe's card processing.

1. Name the result. Say in one sentence what members get. A member plan carries a sales pitch of up to 120 characters.
2. Pick what sits behind the paywall. A plan can cover the whole Network, which is one community with its own web address, members and Spaces, or just one Space or a bundle of Spaces. A Space is a section of the Network with its own members, privacy setting and features.
3. Set the price. Choose a one-time payment for lifetime access or a subscription charged on a recurring basis. Tiers and promo codes come with Launch.
4. Connect Stripe. Payments from the web go straight to your Stripe account. PayPal and other processors are not supported.
5. Decide on a member free trial. A subscription plan can offer one, from 3 days to 1 year.
6. Invite a founding group first. Post the plan's share link, or invite your own email list by CSV file, which comes with Launch and sends 50 at a time.

What members buy in a paid community: the whole Network or chosen Spaces

A full member can use the whole Network, while a limited member can use only the Spaces that member's plan includes, which is how one course or one series of calls is sold on its own. The page on Mighty Networks membership sets out member plans, access and fees in full.

A member free trial works on subscription plans only, not on one-time, installment or free plans. A member who starts one enters a card and is billed when the trial ends, the opposite of the no-card trial you get yourself. A paid one-time event needs Scale, per the pricing grid.

What a paid community keeps from $1,000 a month

Take a paid group that opens with 40 founding members at $25 a month, which is $1,000 a month. With every payment made on the web, this comes off on Launch:

• Mighty Networks transaction fee, 2%: $20
• Stripe card processing, which Mighty Networks puts at typically 2.5% to 5% a transaction: $25 to $50
• Launch itself, billed monthly: $95
• Left: $835 to $860 a month

The example shows what comes off the price, not what any community will earn. Purchases made in the iOS app go through Apple instead, which the help center says charges 15%, with no Mighty Networks fee and no Stripe fee on those. Fees on other platforms are compared in best community platforms for creators.

When a monthly price is the wrong start, and who should pick Patreon

Mighty Networks has no free plan on its pricing page and gives no refunds for unused time, so Launch costs $95 a month, billed monthly, or $79 a month, billed annually ($950 a year), from the day you choose it, even with no paying member.

Pick Patreon instead if you have no paying members yet and want to pay nothing until the first sale: it has no monthly price and keeps 10% of income on its standard plan, plus card processing. Mighty Networks alternatives covers the other platforms.

A founding group can be invited during the trial, which runs on the Growth Plan. Sales made in the trial carry a 5% transaction fee, against 2% on Launch. The Mighty Networks free trial page covers what the 14 days include and what happens on day 14.