Ubunya vs Heartbeat
Heartbeat brings members together. Ubunya runs the programme.
Heartbeat combines chat, threads, courses, events and documents in one community, starting at $49 a month. Ubunya is built for organisations that also need admissions, intakes, attendance, offline fees, certificates and reports.
The short answer
Choose Heartbeat if
- You want Slack-style chat and threads alongside courses and events.
- Your members pay online and you don't need cohorts or attendance.
- You want a lower entry price for a small online community.
Choose Ubunya if
- You run intakes with applications, seats and class times.
- Learners pay by bank transfer, M-Pesa, UPI, Pix, cash or through their employer.
- You need attendance, certificates and impact reports.
- You want WhatsApp reminders and your own branded app.
Heartbeat and Ubunya at a glance
- Price
- Heartbeat: Build $49/month, Grow $149/month, Scale on request
- Ubunya: One plan agreed with you, paid by invoice in your currency. Every feature is included.
- Fee on payments
- Heartbeat: Varies by plan (reported from 2% to 5%), plus Stripe
- Ubunya: 0%
- Best for
- Heartbeat: Online communities with chat
- Ubunya: Organisations running cohorts
- Branded app
- Heartbeat: Not included
- Ubunya: Included
Feature by feature
| Feature | Ubunya | Heartbeat |
|---|---|---|
| Community feed, categories and polls | Threads and chat channels | |
| Courses, lessons and progress | ||
| Points, levels and leaderboards | Limited | |
| Live sessions | Live rooms in the browser, with breakout groups and recording | Events and voice |
| Admissions | Application forms with a review queue | Invite and paid access |
| Cohorts | Intakes with seats, dates and class times | |
| Attendance | Online and in person, with QR check-in | |
| Certificates | Issued on completion, with a public check page | |
| Small groups | Squads inside each cohort | Groups |
| Impact reporting | Impact reports and follow-up surveys | Basic analytics |
| Payments made outside a card checkout | Bank transfer, M-Pesa, UPI, Pix, card and cash recorded, with receipts and balances | Card checkout through Stripe |
| One payer for many learners | An employer or sponsor pays for several learners | |
| WhatsApp and SMS | WhatsApp and SMS reminders and announcements | |
| Email broadcasts and automatic sequences | Basic | |
| Phone app | Installable app under your own name and logo | Heartbeat app |
| Web address | ubunya.com/yourname, or your own domain | |
| Developer access | Public API, MCP server and CLI | Webhooks and Zapier |
| Fee on what learners pay | 0% | Varies by plan |
Heartbeat details as of November 2026, from Heartbeat pricing and published reviews. Prices and fees change, so check Heartbeat's site before you decide.
What Heartbeat really costs
The plan price is only part of the bill. Here is what each platform costs a month when 200 learners each pay $50 ($10,000 a month), on the cheapest plan that can sell memberships, billed yearly where offered: the plan, the platform's fee, and card processing where it is charged separately. Heartbeat's fees vary by plan, so it isn't in this table.
| Platform | Monthly cost | How it adds up |
|---|---|---|
| Skool Pro | $372 | $82 plan (yearly) + 2.9% Skool fee |
| SchoolMaker | $386 | $36 plan (yearly) + 0% + Stripe |
| Kajabi Basic | $493 | $143 plan (yearly) + 0% + Kajabi Payments |
| Mighty Networks Launch | $629 | $79 plan (yearly) + 2% + Stripe |
| Whop | $630 | $0 plan + 3% community fee + 2.7% + $0.30 |
| Circle Professional | $639 | $89 plan (yearly) + 2% + Stripe |
| Skool Hobby | $1,008 | $7.50 plan (yearly) + 10% Skool fee |
| Patreon | $1,350 | 10% platform fee + 2.9% + $0.30 |
| Discord | $1,600 | 10% fee + about 6% desktop processing |
| Ubunya | Your plan | One plan by invoice and 0% on learner payments. Learners pay you directly, by bank transfer, mobile money, card or cash, so nothing passes through Ubunya. |
Worked from each vendor's published prices in November 2026. Fees change and card rates vary by country, so check before you decide.
Cohorts, not just a membership
Heartbeat organises a community into channels, threads and groups, with courses and events alongside. It doesn't have intakes, seat limits or an admissions queue. Ubunya starts from the programme: you open an intake with a start date, seats and class times, people apply, your team admits them, and they move through the cohort together until graduation.
Every learner has a record that follows them: which intake they joined, which sessions they attended, what they paid and which certificate they earned. When a funder or board asks how the last cohort went, the answer is already there.
If you only need an open membership that anyone can join with a card, Heartbeat may be all you need. If you admit people into programmes that start and finish, that structure is what Ubunya is for.
Getting paid the way your learners pay
Heartbeat sells access by card through Stripe, with a platform fee that depends on your plan. Many of the organisations we work with are paid by bank transfer, mobile money such as M-Pesa, UPI or Pix, a company cheque, a card on their own machine (Visa, Mastercard, American Express) or cash at the first session, often in instalments.
Ubunya records each payment against the learner's fee account, issues a receipt, shows the balance and reminds people before an instalment is due, by email, WhatsApp or SMS. Nothing is taken from what your learners pay: Ubunya charges 0%.
When an employer pays for ten staff, one payer covers all ten seats and gets one invoice, while each learner still has their own place in the cohort.
Attendance and certificates that prove the work
Heartbeat runs events but doesn't keep attendance registers or issue checkable certificates. In Ubunya, people who join a live session are marked present automatically, and for in-person days staff can tick a register or learners can scan a QR code at the door, even on a weak connection.
Completion rules can require attendance as well as lessons. When a learner finishes, their certificate is issued with a public check page, so an employer can confirm it is genuine.
Where Heartbeat is the better choice
No platform suits everyone. Heartbeat does these things better than Ubunya:
- Chat and threads that feel like Slack, for communities that live in conversation.
- A lower entry price for small online groups.
- Documents and a knowledge base inside the community.
Moving from Heartbeat to Ubunya
- Request a community. We set it up with your name, logo and colours, at ubunya.com/yourname or on your own domain.
- Import your members from a CSV export, with their names, emails and phone numbers.
- Recreate your programmes and courses. Lesson videos can be uploaded or embedded, and we can help with the move when we agree your plan.
- Invite members to sign in. Their history starts in Ubunya from the next intake.
Questions
Is Ubunya a Heartbeat alternative?+
For training organisations, yes. Ubunya has the community, courses and events, and adds admissions, intakes, attendance, offline fees, certificates and impact reports.
How much does Heartbeat cost?+
Heartbeat lists Build at $49 a month and Grow at $149 a month, with Scale priced on request. Reports of its transaction fees vary by plan, so check their site.
Other comparisons
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