Skool review: what $9 and $99 a month buy
Skool is the cheapest credible way to run a paid community, and the wrong tool if you want it to look like your own product. Our 1 October 2026 check records Hobby at $9 a month and Pro at $99, flat for the whole community rather than per member, with a 2.9% fee on paid membership revenue on top.
The short answer
Buy Skool if you want a paid community running this month at the lowest fixed cost in the category. Hobby is $9 a month and Pro is $99, verified against skool.com/pricing on 1 October 2026, and both are flat rates for the whole community, so the subscription does not move as members join.
Skip it if the member experience has to carry your branding, or if the community is free and informal. A Discord server costs nothing to run, and Circle at $89 a month buys the customisation Skool deliberately withholds.
Where Skool fits
Skool fits the creator who wants one price and no decisions. There is a single layout, a discussion feed, a course area and a gamified leaderboard, and you do not get to rearrange them. That constraint is the product: setup takes an afternoon rather than a fortnight, which is the specific job it does better than the configurable platforms.
The flat rate is the pricing argument and it is a strong one. Hobby at $9 a month and Pro at $99 cover the community rather than the headcount on our 1 October 2026 check, so a group of 50 and a group of 5,000 pay the same subscription. Most of this category prices per member or per seat, which is why Skool reads cheap at scale.
The variable cost is the transaction fee, and it tracks what you charge rather than how many people are in the room. Our snapshot records 2.9% on paid membership revenue. At $49 a month per member that is about $1.42, so a hundred paying members at that rate generate roughly $142 a month in fees on top of the subscription.
Our 1 October 2026 snapshot records a single 2.9% rate and does not attach different rates to Hobby and Pro. That matters, because a per-plan fee difference would move the break-even between the two plans, so read the current rate for your own plan off Skool's pricing page before building a revenue model on it.
That leaves the $90 a month gap between Hobby and Pro as a feature purchase rather than a capacity one, since neither plan charges per member. The feature split is not in our verified snapshot, so this page does not list it. The useful question is narrow: which Pro features would you use in the next quarter, and what would going without them cost in workarounds.
There is no free tier, which separates Skool from most of the community platforms category. Our check records a 14-day full-access trial and nothing permanent behind it, so $9 a month is the floor once the trial ends. For a free community a Discord server remains the usual starting point.
The fit is clearest for a creator selling access to a group rather than to a curriculum. Skool covers community and courses adequately rather than either exhaustively, so a course business with a community attached is better served by a dedicated course platform, and a community that needs its own look is better served by Circle.
Skool pricing
Skool publishes two plans and charges a percentage of paid membership revenue on top. The figures below were verified against skool.com/pricing on 1 October 2026, and the Skool pricing breakdown carries the longer version.
| Plan | Price | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Hobby | $9/mo | Flat for the whole community, no per-member fee. $108 across a year |
| Pro | $99/mo | Flat for the whole community. $1,188 across a year. Feature split not in our snapshot |
The subscription is only part of the bill, because the fee moves with your revenue. Four things set what Skool costs you:
- What you charge members, through the 2.9% fee on paid membership revenue. The fee scales with price rather than headcount, so a premium community pays more in fees than a cheap one of the same size.
- Which plan, and that is a feature decision rather than a capacity one. The $90 a month gap is $1,080 across a year, and neither plan charges per member, so growth alone is not a reason to move.
- Nothing about member count. Both rates are flat for the whole community, which is the single most useful fact about Skool's pricing and the reason it gets cheaper per member as you grow.
- No annual prepayment. Our 1 October 2026 check records monthly rates only, with no discount for paying up front, so Pro costs $1,188 across a year at list price.
Skool pricing against the community platforms
Skool Hobby has no equivalent anywhere in this category. Circle starts at $89 a month on Professional and Mighty Networks at $79 on Launch, both verified 1 October 2026, against Hobby at $9. Skool Pro at $99 sits between Circle Professional at $89 and Circle Business at $199. Discord is free to run with no built-in paywall, verified 1 October 2026, so the real comparison for a paid community is Skool's $9 against Discord's $0 plus whatever a third-party gating tool costs.
Skool billing terms worth knowing
The absence of a free plan and the presence of a revenue fee are the two things that catch people out, so both are stated exactly here.
- Free plan
- None. Our 1 October 2026 check records no permanently free tier.
- Free trial
- 14 days with full access.
- Hobby
- $9 per month, flat for the whole community. $108 across a year.
- Pro
- $99 per month, flat for the whole community. $1,188 across a year.
- Fee on paid memberships
- 2.9% of paid membership revenue. Our snapshot records one rate for both plans.
- Per-member charges
- None on either plan. The subscription does not move as members join.
- Annual discount
- None recorded on our check. Monthly rates only.
If a Skool bill is higher than $9 or $99, the difference is the 2.9% fee on paid membership revenue rather than a change in the subscription, because neither plan charges per member. Our 1 October 2026 snapshot records a single fee rate and no per-plan variation, so confirm the rate on your own plan before modelling margins. Our creator tool cost calculators will total a community stack across a year once you add your own membership price.
What Skool gives up
Customisation is the trade, and it is deliberate. There is one layout and you do not control it, so your community looks like Skool rather than like you. For a creator whose brand is the product that is a real cost, and it is the main thing Circle charges ten times as much to give you.
The gamified leaderboard is central and not optional. Points and levels suit some communities and actively damage others, and a professional or expert audience can find it childish. Spend the trial watching how your own members react to it rather than deciding on principle.
Course delivery is adequate rather than real. You can put lessons behind the community, and you do not get the curriculum structure, completion tracking and bundling that a dedicated platform gives you. If the course is the product, the course and membership platforms category is where to look.
The feature split between Hobby and Pro is not in our verified snapshot, so this page cannot tell you what $90 a month more buys. That is a gap in what we verified rather than in Skool's disclosure, and it is the single thing a buyer most needs to know. Read it off skool.com/pricing before upgrading.
There is no free plan to fall back on. Once the 14-day trial ends the floor is $9 a month, which is low but not nothing, and a community that goes quiet still costs you. Platforms with permanent free tiers let a dormant community sit at zero, and Skool does not.
The 2.9% fee is small until your revenue is not. At $10,000 a month in membership revenue it is $290 a month, which is roughly three Pro subscriptions, so a successful community pays considerably more than the sticker price. Model it at your target revenue rather than your current one.
Our check records no annual discount, which is unusual in this category and worth factoring into any comparison. A competitor advertising a monthly rate alongside a prepayment saving is not quoting like for like against Skool's $108 and $1,188 yearly totals.
How Skool compares
The four platforms below are the ones a creator weighs against Skool, and each one wins or loses on a single thing: who controls the member experience and who supplies the paywall. Prices are the vendors' published rates with the date each was checked against its own pricing page. The wider field sits in the community platforms category.
| Tool | Best for | Price | Where it breaks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skool | Paid communities wanting one flat price and a built-in paywall | $9/mo Hobby, $99/mo Pro | No branding control, no free tier, 2.9% on membership revenue |
| Circle | Paid memberships needing courses, events and your own branding | $89/mo Professional | Nearly ten times Skool Hobby before a member joins |
| Discord | Free real-time chat and voice for an unpaid community | $0, Nitro $9.99/mo | No checkout, no course delivery, no member reporting |
| Mighty Networks | Communities wanting courses and a branded app together | $79/mo Launch | Entry price is nearly nine times Skool Hobby |
| Kajabi | Course businesses where community is the secondary product | $179/mo Basic | Priced for a course business, not a discussion group |
What to test in a Skool trial
The trial is 14 days with full access on our 1 October 2026 check, and there is no free plan behind it, so this is the only free look you get. Use it on real members rather than on the interface.
- Invite ten real members and post for a week before judging anything. Skool's format either suits your audience or it does not, and that is not visible from an empty community.
- Watch how your members respond to the points and levels. The gamification is central and cannot be turned off in any meaningful way, so a negative reaction now is a reason to look at Circle instead.
- Run a real payment through the paywall and check the fee that comes off it. The 2.9% on membership revenue is the part of the price that grows with you.
- Work the fee out at your target revenue, not your current one. At $10,000 a month it is $290, which changes how Pro at $99 compares with a platform charging more up front and less per sale.
- Read the Hobby and Pro feature split off skool.com/pricing and name the Pro features you would use this quarter. Our snapshot does not record the split, so this step is yours and it decides a $1,080 a year difference.
- Put one course inside the community and see whether the structure holds. If you find yourself wanting modules, prerequisites and completion reporting, the course platforms are the better buy.
- Total a year on Hobby at $108 against Circle at $89 a month and Mighty Networks at $79, both verified 1 October 2026. The cost calculators will add the fee, and the free resources library has a community launch checklist.
Skool questions buyers ask
How much does Skool cost per month?
Skool has two plans. Hobby was $9 a month and Pro was $99 a month on our check of skool.com on 1 October 2026, and both are flat for the whole community rather than per member. Both include unlimited members, the community feed, course hosting and gamification. On top of the subscription there is a 2.9% fee on paid membership revenue, and our snapshot records that single rate without attaching a different rate to either plan. There are no other tiers, no add-on costs and no annual prepayment discount on that check.
Does Skool have a free plan or free trial?
Skool does not have a permanent free plan, but it offers a 14-day free trial on both the Hobby and Pro plans. The trial gives you full access to all features, so you can set up a community, invite members, and test the course and gamification features before paying. No credit card workaround needed. It is a straightforward trial.
Who is Skool best for?
Skool is built for coaches, course creators, and community builders who want engagement-driven membership communities. It works especially well for paid masterminds, coaching groups, fitness communities, and creator cohorts. It is not a great fit for creators who need advanced course assessments, white-label branding, or deep integrations with tools like ActiveCampaign or HubSpot.
Skool vs Circle: which is better?
Skool is simpler and much cheaper to start, at $9 a month on Hobby against Circle's $89 a month on Professional, both verified 1 October 2026, and it has better built-in gamification. Circle offers far more customisation, native integrations, advanced analytics, custom domains and richer course features. Choose Skool if speed and engagement are your priorities. Choose Circle if you need branding control, automation and a feature-rich ecosystem.
Does Skool integrate with email marketing tools?
Not natively. Skool has no built-in integrations with email platforms, CRMs, or marketing tools, and no public API. The primary workaround is Zapier, which supports basic triggers like new member added. If you need to sync members to ConvertKit, Mailchimp, or ActiveCampaign, Zapier works but offers limited depth compared to Circle's native integrations.
Can I use a custom domain on Skool?
No. All Skool communities use a skool.com subdomain (e.g., skool.com/your-community). Even on the Pro plan, you get a custom URL path but not a fully custom domain. Skool branding is always visible. This is a deliberate design choice that benefits Skool's discovery network but limits creators who want a fully branded experience.
What are Skool's transaction fees?
Our 1 October 2026 check records one rate, 2.9% of paid membership revenue, and it does not attach a different rate to Hobby or to Pro. At $49 a month per member that is about $1.42 a member, so a hundred paying members at that price generate roughly $142 a month in fees on top of the subscription. The snapshot records no flat per-transaction charge and no higher band above any revenue threshold, so this page states neither. Because the fee tracks what you charge rather than how many people are in the room, a premium community pays more in fees than a cheap one of the same size. Read the current rate for your own plan off Skool's pricing page before building a revenue model on it. Payouts are processed every Wednesday, with first payouts taking up to 14 days.
Is Skool good for selling online courses?
Skool handles basic course hosting well: video lessons, text modules, and file attachments with native video hosting so you do not need Vimeo. However, it lacks quizzes, graded assessments, completion certificates, drip scheduling, and student progress analytics. If your courses require structured learning paths or credentialing, you will need a dedicated platform like Teachable or Kajabi alongside or instead of Skool.
How does Skool's gamification and leaderboard work?
Members earn points when other members like their posts, comments, and replies. Points accumulate toward levels that you define as the group admin. You can attach rewards to each level: like unlocking a bonus course at Level 3 or a private coaching call at Level 5. A public leaderboard shows rankings, creating friendly competition that drives consistent engagement. It is Skool's most unique feature compared to other community platforms.
Can I cancel Skool anytime?
Yes. Skool is month-to-month with no long-term contracts, and you can cancel at any time from your account settings. Our 1 October 2026 check records monthly rates only, with no annual prepayment option and no prepayment discount, so there is no annual term to be locked into and no saving to weigh against the flexibility. At those list prices a year on Hobby is $108 and a year on Pro is $1,188.