Updated Oct 5, 2026
Membership & Community Platforms
Skool
Paid community platform with courses, calendar and leaderboards
Skool at a glance
from our research
Community platform for coaches and creators: feed, classroom, calendar, chat and leaderboards in one group
Points and levels can open courses to members, so access grows with participation
Integrations are limited to a Zapier plugin and a webhook for developers, both on Pro
Pro: $99 a month with 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction; Hobby is $9 a month with 10% + 30 cents
Overview
What is Skool?
Skool is a platform for hosting communities that share education content and courses, made by Skool.com, Inc., a US company founded in 2021. Each community is a group with a Community feed for posts, comments, polls and mentions, a Classroom for courses and a Calendar for events with reminder emails. The features page also lists chat, search, email broadcasts, metrics, gamification and an automatic affiliate program. Members use Skool at skool.com and get in-app and email notifications, including digests of popular posts.
An owner sorts the feed into up to 10 categories, each with its own posting rights and sort order, and hands out roles: Group Owner, Billing Manager, Admin and Moderator. Points and levels reward activity, and a course can stay closed until a member reaches a set level. Up to three membership questions screen people who ask to join, and AutoMod flags high-risk users and their posts for review. A group can be free, a monthly or annual subscription with an optional 7-day trial, freemium, tiered or a one-time payment. Skool is the merchant of record for those payments, handles EU VAT and pays out every Wednesday in the owner's local currency.
Each community needs its own Skool plan, Hobby or Pro, a flat subscription billed monthly or yearly after a 14-day free trial. Both include unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls. They differ in the transaction fee Skool takes from member payments and in Pro-only plugins such as Zapier, a webhook and automatic direct messages.
Our verdict on Skool
Skool is built for a coach or creator who runs one paid group and wants members to keep showing up. Everything sits in that group: the feed, the classroom, the calendar and the leaderboard. The gamification has a job beyond badges, because points and levels can open courses, so members get more by taking part. Both plans include unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls, and Skool acts as merchant of record, handling EU VAT and sending payouts every Wednesday in the owner's own currency.
That simplicity is also the limit. A group's feed allows up to 10 categories, and integrations come down to a Zapier plugin and a webhook Skool describes as developer-only, both on Pro; refreshing the Zapier key breaks existing Zaps. The privacy policy was last updated on September 29, 2021 and says nothing about AI training. Owner subscriptions renew automatically, partial billing periods aren't refunded, and transaction fees aren't refundable either.
Hobby costs $9 a month and Pro $99 a month, and yearly billing comes with two months free. What separates them for most groups is the transaction fee: 10% + 30 cents per payment on Hobby, against 2.9% + 30 cents on Pro for charges up to $899 and 3.9% + 30 cents above $900. Skool's help center shows a $9 monthly membership paying out $7.80 on Hobby and $8.40 on Pro. On $2,000 a month from 100 members paying $20, Hobby comes to $239 in plan price and fees and Pro to $187, and Pro becomes the cheaper plan once members pay about $1,270 a month.
Choose Skool for a coaching program or course community that fits in one group and doesn't need deep integrations. Circle is the better match when the community needs many spaces, member exports with profile fields and activity scores, or APIs: Professional costs $89 a month, based on annual billing, with a 2% fee plus Stripe's processing. For a free, public discussion forum, Discourse's hosted Free plan includes unlimited members and chat.
Written by Lokesh Kapoor
Pros & cons
Skool pros and cons
What it does well
- Both plans include unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls
- Skool is merchant of record and handles EU VAT on member payments
- Groups can be free, subscription, freemium, tiered or one-time payment
- AutoMod flags high-risk users and their posts for admin review in every group
Where it falls short
- Hobby's fee is 10% + 30 cents per member payment, against 2.9% + 30 cents on Pro
- Zapier, webhooks and AutoDM need Pro, at $99 a month plus 2.9% + 30 cents per sale
- No refunds for partial billing periods, and transaction fees aren't refundable
Editor's assessment from vendor documentation and published pricing
Pricing
Skool pricing
Skool's paid plans start at $9/month, below the $59 median across the 5 tools in our Membership & Community Platforms ranking. You can test it on a 14-day free trial.
Hobby
per community, per month
- Unlimited members
- Unlimited courses and videos
- Unlimited live calls
- Custom URL
- Affiliates
Usage: Skool charges 10% + 30 cents per transaction on member payments; its help center says a $9/month membership pays out $7.80 after fees. Yearly billing is offered with 2 months free.
Pro
per community, per month
- Unlimited members
- Unlimited courses and videos
- Unlimited live calls
- Custom URL
- Affiliates
Usage: Skool charges 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction up to $899 and 3.9% + 30 cents above $900; its help center says a $9/month membership pays out $8.40 after fees. Yearly billing is offered with 2 months free.
Checked against Skool.com's pricing page on October 5, 2026 · see the full breakdown
Capabilities
Skool features
Checked against the same feature list as every other tool in its category.
Community Experience
- Not included:Branded mobile appYour own iOS and Android app rather than a shared platform app.
- Included:Built-in coursesStructured lessons alongside discussion, without a separate course platform.
- Included:Live events & streamingHost calls, streams or events inside the platform rather than linking out.
- Included:Real-time chat & DMsLive chat channels and direct messages between members.
- Included:Spaces & sub-groupsSeparate areas for topics or member tiers within one community.Post categories only, up to 10
Monetisation
- Included:Multiple membership tiersSeveral price points with different access levels.
- Included:Paid membershipsRecurring subscriptions with tiers, trials and coupons.
- Not included:Zero platform feesThe platform takes no percentage of member payments.
Moderation & Growth
- Included:API & integrationsConnect member data to your CRM, email tool or automation platform.Pro plan only
- Included:Engagement analyticsActivity, retention and member health reporting for the owner.
- Included:Gamification & leaderboardsPoints, levels and leaderboards to encourage participation.
- Included:Moderation toolsFlagging, queues, member roles and automated spam handling.
- Not included:Public, SEO-visible contentThreads are indexable, so the community also attracts search traffic.
- Not included:Self-hosting optionRun it on your own infrastructure and own the database.
Ecosystem
Skool integrations
- Stripe
- Zapier
Alternatives
Top Skool alternatives
Tools that do the same job, from the same category.
Circle
Best for creators and brands selling memberships, courses and events in one paid community
Mighty Networks
Best for course creators and brands whose members will join from iOS and Android phones
Patreon
Best for podcasters, video creators and artists who want paid memberships with no monthly fee
Fit check
Will Skool fit your team?
Support
- Email support
- Knowledge base
Training
- Documentation
- Video tutorials
Deployment
- Web
- iOS
- Android
Typical users
- Freelancers
- Small businesses
FAQs
Skool FAQs
Written by our editorial team.
Is Skool free?
No. Skool has no free plan for group owners: Hobby, at $9 a month with a 10% + 30 cent transaction fee, and Pro, at $99 a month with 2.9% + 30 cents, are both recurring subscriptions after a 14-day free trial. Members can still join for free, because an owner can make a group free, freemium or paid. See Skool pricing for what each plan includes.
What are Skool's transaction fees?
Skool takes 10% + 30 cents per transaction on Hobby, and 2.9% + 30 cents on Pro for charges up to $899, rising to 3.9% + 30 cents above $900. Transaction fees aren't refundable. Skool's help center shows a $9 monthly membership paying out $7.80 on Hobby and $8.40 on Pro. On $2,000 a month from 100 members paying $20, the fees come to $230 on Hobby and $88 on Pro, more than covering Pro's higher $99 price.
How do members pay in a Skool group?
Through Skool, which acts as the merchant of record and handles EU VAT. An owner can make a group free, charge a monthly or annual subscription with an optional 7-day trial, offer freemium access or tiers, or sell one-time access, which Skool suggests for lifetime courses, pop-up groups and seminars. A single charge can be up to $100,000, and payouts go out every Wednesday in the owner's local currency. Refunds to members are at the creator's discretion.
Does Skool integrate with Zapier?
Yes, on the Pro plan. The Zapier plugin gives an API key that can send paid members' names and emails, or their answers to membership questions, to a CRM, and can invite members or give a member access to a course. Refreshing that key breaks existing Zaps. Pro also has a Webhook plugin, which Skool describes as developer-only, for sending invitations after a checkout that happens outside Skool.
Can I cancel Skool, and does it give refunds?
Yes, you can cancel from Settings, Billing, Cancel Subscription, or by email. Owner subscriptions are billed monthly or yearly and renew automatically, and Skool doesn't refund partial billing periods; transaction fees aren't refundable either. Refunds to your own members are your decision, and Skool usually doesn't refund on a creator's behalf. If you're still choosing a platform, see Circle vs Skool.
Sources & methodology
Product details come from Skool.com's public website and documentation (United States). Every plan and price was checked against the vendor's pricing page on October 5, 2026. We haven't tested this product hands-on; the verdict is a desk assessment. How we research and rank tools
- Founded 2021
- 1 language supported
- skool.com
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