Comparisons
Choosing between Fourthwall and Circle for your online shop
Fourthwall brings creators a unified, fully branded home for selling merch, content, and memberships with total ease.
Features
Fourthwall
Circle
Free to use
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Private-label (fully branded to you)
Create a completely white-labeled experience with your own logo, colors, domain, and no outside platform branding.
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Membership tiers
Create multiple subscription levels with exclusive perks for members.
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Built-in commerce (physical + digital)
Sell physical or digital products directly from your platform.
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Digital products + memberships only
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Native video hosting
Provide high-quality video hosting for your content without needing third-party platforms.
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Video catalog & series
Earn revenue through subscriptions, paywalls, rentals, or pay-per-view events.
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Community tools
Provide features like polls, comments, or welcome messages to build engagement.
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Welcome posts
Greet new members with automatic welcome messages or shoutouts when they join your community.
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Course creation (LMS tools)
Build organized learning experiences with flexible, creator-friendly LMS features.
Simple video + digital content hosting
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Live streaming
Broadcast private or open live events and content directly to your audience.
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Send fans push notifications
Instantly notify your members with mobile alerts about new content, merch drops, or exclusive updates.
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Your own branded app
Launch a mobile app that’s entirely customized to your brand, not buried inside a marketplace of other creators.
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Analytics & insights
Track member behavior, content performance, earnings, and engagement through a detailed analytics dashboard.
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Email marketing tools
Manage emails and branded newsletters with a suite of tools at your disposal
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Platform fees
Percentage or transaction fees charged by the platform for sales or memberships.
0% on physical products, 5% on digital + memberships
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Monthly subscription + transaction fees (4% → 0.5%) depending on plan
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Integrated payment options
Supports seamless checkout experiences with popular payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
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Stripe-based checkout only
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Tax management
Fourthwall handles payment processing, manages sales tax, & ensures compliance across multiple states and countries.
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Donations & tips
Receive one-off donations of any amount from your supporters.
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Advanced content protection
Provide digital rights management and security features to protect your video content.
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AI & automation
Always-on AI tools that automate workflows and boost engagement.
Content posting, site design, mockups, and messaging
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Extensive AI suite: AI Agents, workflows, automated moderation, AI Copilot.
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Your custom domain
Use your own .com or branded URL instead of a generic subdomain to establish a more professional presence.
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APIs & Webhooks
Discover Fourthwall's API Docs
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Customer support
Highly rated creator-first customer support with fast responses.
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Priority support available on higher plans; slower on lower tiers
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Members badges
Display icons or badges next to loyal members’ usernames to show off their status or support level.
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Full ownership of your data
We believe your fans and your data belongs to you, not the marketplace you're using.
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Custom promo codes
Create promo codes for a variety of different discounts.
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Stream alerts
Trigger real-time alerts on your stream when someone buys merch, joins your membership, or sends a donation.
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Members get alerted when you go live
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You bring the ideas. We'll handle the rest.
Design your product, we make it real. Sourcing, samples, production, quality control — handled by partners we vet. No upfront costs, quality guaranteed.
Build a branded shop in minutes. Start with a template and customize every part until it's truly yours. Don't need a storefront? Skip it and order your products immediately.
Fast, global shipping. We work with top manufacturers all over the world to ensure that products ship fast and for a fair price.
World-class support for you and your customers. Whenever you or your customers need help, we'll be there with fast, human support.
Made with Fourthwall
Frequently asked questions
There are no monthly fees, no upfront costs, and no contracts to use Fourthwall. You set your prices and choose your own margins. Here is how our pricing and splits work when you sell:
- Products from our product catalog. All products in our product catalog have a publicly listed flat fee, which gets deducted from the selling price you set. There are no extra percentages/margins. You keep 100% of profits.
- Products you self-source. No fee (0% fee)
- Digital products. 5% flat fee
- Memberships. 5% flat fee
Additionally, all US-based credit card transactions have an added 2.9% + $0.30 payment processing fee (same as Shopify). Fees vary for PayPal and other providers. Learn more.
Yes! Fourthwall operates as the "Merchant of Record" and automatically supports the following payment methods on checkout:
- All major credit cards
- PayPal
- Apple Pay & Google Pay
- Amazon Pay
- And many local payment methods. Click here to see the full list
Fourthwall operates as the "Merchant of Record", which means that we're responsible for handling all sales taxes. This includes nexus registration, collecting sales tax, and remitting this to US states & other countries.
That way you can focus on designing products and promoting your shop, not taxes.
If you need help finding an artist or designer, check out our design community.
This is a vetted network of exceptional designers that can help you make great quality designs for your audience.
Product costs are listed directly in our product catalog.
If a t-shirt is listed in our catalog at a $10 cost, we will automatically deduct that amount from your profits whenever you make a sale. You can sell products for any price you want.
For example, if you sell the shirt for $22, you'll make $12 in profit on each unit sold. If you sell it for $50, then you'll make $40 in profit on each unit sold.
Yes! Fourthwall works with manufacturing & fulfillment partners around the globe in the US, UK, EU, and AUS. Shipping rates are dynamically determined by the size of package and destination. We work with most major carriers and pass through the true cost of shipping. That means that you can offer low-cost, fast shipping to your fans. Most items have a delivery window of 7-10 days.
Be sure to browse our product catalog to find products that are fulfilled out of your target regions to provide the fastest & cheapest shipping for your community.
Yes, in a few places, all of it being optional, to help with the busywork of running a shop. Your art, your designs, your shop data, and your customer information are not used to train AI models, and you can turn AI off across your shop in your account settings. More information can be found on our AI transparency page.
Yes. For any product from our product catalog, we'll handle all customer support for you.
From answering general order questions to making address changes, our team is there to ensure that your buyers are treated with the same level of care that you would personally give them. We have a 12-hour or less average reply time, including nights and weekends.
For any items that you source on your own and ship from home, however, you'll need to do customer support.
Yes. You can connect a custom domain or subdomain on Fourthwall. Learn more.