Leaving Circle: you can take more than you think β but not everything
Circle is one of the better platforms to leave. Members, posts, comments, and subscription records can all come out. What can't come out is every image, video, and lesson you ever uploaded. Here's the full inventory before you move.
What moves out of Circle, and what stays behind
Circle documents a real data export β which puts it ahead of most of its competitors. The catch is in the fine print: the export is text, not media, and the API you'd need to fill the gaps isn't on the plan most creators are paying for.
Comes with you
- Your member list β a self-serve CSV with first name, last name, email, join date, tags, custom profile fields, and engagement metrics. Admins generate it themselves; it arrives by email
- Posts and comments β Circle will send a CSV of your posts and comments, but you have to email support@circle.so to request it. It is not self-serve
- Subscription and transaction records β exportable as CSV from the Paywalls section, so you land on Mateflow knowing exactly who was paying what
- Your Stripe account β Circle connects a sub-account under your own Stripe, so the payment relationship was always yours. It survives cancelling Circle
- Your custom domain β you own the domain and point it wherever you want next
Circle keeps
- Every uploaded image, video, and file β Circle states plainly that the posts and comments export "won't include any uploaded media." You get the text, not the pictures
- Courses and lessons β no course export is documented anywhere. Rebuild from your source files
- Gamification points and levels β no export is documented. The member CSV has an "activity score," which is not the same thing
- API access, unless you're paying for it β the Admin API starts at Circle's Business plan and the Data API at Plus. On Starter and Professional you get a Zapier token and nothing else
- Your data, after 90 days β Circle removes community data roughly 90 days after cancellation. Export before you cancel, not after
Every claim above was checked against Circle's public help center on 2026-07-11. Circle updates its plans often β if something here is out of date, tell us and we'll fix it.
A four-step migration, run in parallel with your live Circle community
Order matters here more than on most migrations: some of what you need is only available while your Circle subscription is still active.
- 1
Export everything while Circle is still live
Pull the member CSV and the subscriptions CSV yourself, and email support@circle.so for the posts and comments export. Do this before you cancel β the data is removed about 90 days afterwards.
- 2
Collect the media the export won't give you
The posts export is text-only. We help you identify which images, videos, and lessons actually matter β usually a small fraction β and gather them from your originals rather than scraping them back out of Circle.
- 3
Stand up your Mateflow site in parallel
A 30-day extended trial gives you room to rebuild spaces, courses, and access rules while Circle keeps running. We import the member CSV and send batch invitations when you're ready.
- 4
Move the paywall and the domain
You connect your own Stripe account to Mateflow, members re-subscribe, and you cancel the Circle-side subscriptions yourself β Circle does not cancel them for you. Then your domain points at Mateflow, and your price is locked for 12 months.
One thing worth saying plainly: Mateflow has no Circle-specific importer, and neither does anyone else β Circle's own Admin API is the closest thing, and it's gated to their Business plan. What we have is a member CSV importer, batch invitations, and a team that rebuilds the rest with you. On a Circle migration, that rebuilding is mostly media and courses.
The questions people ask before leaving Circle
Straight answers, based on what Circle's own documentation says today.
Yes. Circle gives admins a self-serve CSV export that includes first name, last name, email, join date, active status, tags, profile fields including custom ones, engagement metrics, and email marketing preference. The file is emailed to the admin account that requested it. This is genuinely one of Circle's better behaviours, and it makes the member side of a Circle migration straightforward β we import that CSV directly.
Yes, but not by yourself. Circle requires you to email support@circle.so to request the export, which arrives as CSV files covering members, spaces, posts, and comments. The important caveat is in Circle's own wording: the posts and comments export "won't include any uploaded media." You get post bodies and comment text β no images, no videos, no attachments.
They stay on Circle. Media is excluded from every documented export, and there is no course or lesson export at all. This is the real work in a Circle migration, and it's why we don't pretend it's a one-click move. In practice most communities find that only a fraction of their media is worth carrying over β recent lessons, evergreen resources, the flagship course β and everything else is archive nobody will open again. We help you sort which is which.
No, and there's a trap here worth knowing. Because Circle connects a sub-account under your own Stripe, your Stripe account survives cancellation β but Circle states that cancelling your Circle plan "won't automatically cancel your member's paywall subscriptions." You have to cancel them yourself, or your members keep getting charged for a community that no longer exists. On Mateflow you connect your own Stripe and members re-subscribe there.
Only if you're paying for the right plan. Circle's Admin API β which Circle itself describes as suitable for migration scripts β starts at their Business plan, and the Data API at Plus. On Starter and Professional you get a Zapier token and no API access. So for most creators the API isn't an option, and the practical route is the CSV exports plus a rebuild.
Not long. Circle states that community data is typically removed about 90 days after a plan is cancelled. Export everything β members, subscriptions, posts, comments β while your subscription is still active. Do not cancel first and export later.
Almost always the same reason: the bill. Circle's base plan is the start of the price, not the end β email broadcasts, media storage, extra admins, and white-label all live behind higher tiers or add-ons, and the total creeps well past what most creators expected to pay. On Mateflow those are included rather than metered. The side-by-side comparison page has the detail.
Two to four weeks for most communities. The exports and the member import take days. Rebuilding media and courses is what sets the pace β which is exactly why the 30-day extended trial exists, and why we do that rebuilding with you on Growth and Business plans.
Thinking about leaving Circle?
Send us your export files and we'll tell you honestly what's movable and what needs rebuilding β before you commit to anything.