The circular foundation is one of the most widely used foundation types. However, little emphasis has been placed on the research of the bearing capacity for circular shallow foundations than strip footings. To solve this problem, an upper-bound solution of the bearing capacity of circular shallow foundations was presented on the basis of the limit analysis by building a multi-block discrete model and taking soil weight, cohesion, and overload into account. Then, the present solutions have proved more accurate through comparisons with measured values found in references and calculation results using other methods. Additionally, analyses of the ground slide surface were carried out, which show that the scope of the slide surface searched is smaller than that of the classical logarithmic spiral surface, due to the weight of the soil. The scope of the slide surface increases with the increase of internal friction angle and embedded depth, but decreases with the increase of the unit weight of soil.