Seedly Communities vs Heartbeat

Same toolkit. One payment.

Q: Feature for feature, what is actually different?

Less than you would think on the toolkit, feed, chat, courses, events, live, payments, both sides have them. The differences are the deed, the caps, and the fees. Heartbeat rents you the toolkit with member caps and a revenue cut. Seedly sells you the source once, with unlimited members and 0% fees.

Q: Does Seedly have built-in automations like Heartbeat?

Yes. Twelve engagement automation types ship built in, welcome posts, at-risk member outreach, abandoned-cart recovery, onboarding drips, streak recovery, event follow-ups, and more, configured from the admin Workflows screen without code. Outbound webhooks and the REST API are there too for wiring into external tools.

Q: What happens at member 351?

On Seedly, nothing, there are no member caps anywhere in the code. On Heartbeat's Build plan, member 351 is the moment you upgrade tiers, which is how caps are designed to work.

Q: What about the mobile app?

Seedly ships responsive web plus Capacitor iOS and Android shells you configure and submit yourself, there is no managed native app service. Heartbeat has a dedicated app today, as a managed service. Both halves of that sentence are true, so weigh them honestly.

Q: What do I need to run it?

Your own Convex, Vercel, and Stripe accounts, plus Daily.co for live video and SendGrid or Postmark for email plus a guided deploy weekend. It is source you own, deployed on infrastructure you control, with no tier ladder waiting as you grow.

Heartbeat is the closest thing to Seedly Communities in the rental market, feed, chat, courses, events, live rooms, payments. The difference is the deed. Their unlimited-members tier is $849 a month. Ours is $399 once.

Explore Seedly Communities Try the demo

Which one fits your work?

Pick Seedly Communities if you want your member data, courses, and payments on community software you own.

Pick Heartbeat if you want managed hosting, built-in automations, and a dedicated mobile app.

You own it

Seedly Communities

$399one time

Their model

Heartbeat

$149/mo Grow plan

Build is $49 a month, capped at 350 members with a 5% fee. Unlimited members costs $849 a month.

THE HONEST VERSION

Feature parity, business-model gap.

Heartbeat deserves the honest credit first. It is a well-scoped product with custom domains on every plan, real monetization, and built-in automations, the closest feature-for-feature rival Seedly Communities has.

The structure is the story. Member caps per tier, 350 on Build and 5,000 on Grow, with unlimited only at $849 a month. Revenue fees of 5%, 2.5%, or 1.25% stacking on Stripe by tier. A branded app locked at the top tier, and a branded app available on the highest plan. Check export formats and migration steps before moving.

When the feature lists match this closely, the comparison collapses to the business model. Rent the toolkit forever, with caps and fees, or buy the toolkit once for $399.

At a glance.

Capability	Seedly Communities	Heartbeat
Price	$399 once	$49, $149, or $849 a month
Member caps	UnlimitedOur advantage	350 on Build, 5,000 on Grow, unlimited at $849/mo
Transaction fees	0%, your own StripeOur advantage	5%, 2.5%, or 1.25% by tier, plus Stripe
Own the software	Full source + commercial licenseOur advantage	Never
Feed, chat, courses, events, live	All included	All present, comparable scope
Custom domain	Yes, with full design tokens	Yes, on all plans
Branded mobile app	Capacitor shells you configure	A managed branded app, at the $849 tier
Mobile experience today	Responsive web + shells	A dedicated managed app
Managed hosting + uptime	Yours to run	Fully managedTheir advantage
Instant start	A guided deploy weekend	Live todayTheir advantage
Automations	12 built-in workflow types + webhooks	Built-in automations
Data export	You hold the database	Check available export formats

Price

Seedly Communities: $399 once
Heartbeat: $49, $149, or $849 a month

Member caps

Seedly Communities: UnlimitedOur advantage
Heartbeat: 350 on Build, 5,000 on Grow, unlimited at $849/mo

Transaction fees

Seedly Communities: 0%, your own StripeOur advantage
Heartbeat: 5%, 2.5%, or 1.25% by tier, plus Stripe

Own the software

Seedly Communities: Full source + commercial licenseOur advantage
Heartbeat: Never

Feed, chat, courses, events, live

Seedly Communities: All included
Heartbeat: All present, comparable scope

Custom domain

Seedly Communities: Yes, with full design tokens
Heartbeat: Yes, on all plans

Branded mobile app

Seedly Communities: Capacitor shells you configure
Heartbeat: A managed branded app, at the $849 tier

Mobile experience today

Seedly Communities: Responsive web + shells
Heartbeat: A dedicated managed app

Managed hosting + uptime

Seedly Communities: Yours to run
Heartbeat: Fully managedTheir advantage

Instant start

Seedly Communities: A guided deploy weekend
Heartbeat: Live todayTheir advantage

Automations

Seedly Communities: 12 built-in workflow types + webhooks
Heartbeat: Built-in automations

Data export

Seedly Communities: You hold the database
Heartbeat: Check available export formats

Competitor plan prices and fees reviewed November 2, 2026 against vendor pricing pages. Five-year totals use the plan and billing cadence stated on each page, exclude usage and processing unless specified, and can change. Seedly Communities is a one-time license plus your own infrastructure and payment processing.

Sources checked: Heartbeat pricing.

THE REAL THING

See the software.

Seedly Communities product screen — Real-time chat, DMs, reactions, and typing indicators, with unlimited members and 0% fees, bought once.

Unlimited members, two prices.

Heartbeat's Grow plan is $149 a month, $8,940 over five years, and it caps you at 5,000 members. Build is $49 a month, $2,940 over five years, capped at 350 members with a 5% revenue fee. Unlimited members their way is $849 a month, $50,940 over five years. Unlimited members our way is $399, once. That is the starkest per-member math in the category.

The fees stack too. At $30,000 a year in member revenue on Grow, the 2.5% cut is about $750 a year on top of rent, before Stripe's own fees.

Seedly Communities has no member, seat, or admin tiers and no Seedly revenue fee, and payments run through your own Stripe. Your ongoing cost is your own Convex and Vercel hosting. Bought together with Seedly CRM in one checkout, it is $249.

Growth should not be an invoice.

The caps are the quiet upgrade engine. Member 351 on Build is not a milestone, it is an invoice. On software you own, growth costs you nothing extra, which is the whole reason to own a toolkit you already like.

And the rent does not buy reliability. Seedly offers responsive web plus Capacitor shells you configure. Heartbeat offers a managed mobile experience; choose based on whether vendor operation or source ownership matters more.

Getting out of Heartbeat, honestly.

Heartbeat's export runs through support tickets, posts, comments, docs, and members per their help docs. Request everything before you cancel, while the account still answers.

Then the standard manual move. Invite members through Seedly's invite links and email invites, re-seed your cornerstone content, and re-anchor subscriptions on your own Stripe with fresh opt-ins. No importer exists on our side.

When Heartbeat is the right call.

Heartbeat gives you managed hosting, built-in automations, and a dedicated mobile app today, with no deploy work for your team. If those services matter more than source ownership, its subscription may fit better.

If you can spend one setup weekend, own ours.

BEFORE YOU DECIDE

Questions about Seedly Communities and Heartbeat.

Feature for feature, what is actually different?

Does Seedly have built-in automations like Heartbeat?

What happens at member 351?

What about the mobile app?

What do I need to run it?

Choose the foundation that fits your work.

Explore Seedly Communities Shop all codebases