Skool for memberships
A deliberately simple community and course platform with a discovery marketplace, priced flat with no member limits.
What Skool is
Skool is a paid community platform with courses and a calendar attached, built around the idea that fewer features produce more engagement. Public groups can also be listed in Skool's own discovery feed.
Who it’s best for
Coaches and creators running a group program who want members posting rather than admiring the design, and who value getting live quickly.
- Creators who want one simple space and no configuration
- Group programs where engagement matters more than customisation
- Anyone who wants to launch this week
Who should avoid it
Anyone who needs the community to carry their branding, anyone who needs email marketing included, and anyone building a newsletter, podcast, or video product.
- Brands that need the community to match their own design
- Newsletter, podcast, or video-library memberships
- Anyone who needs email marketing in the same tool
Membership models it supports
Not every platform suits every kind of membership. These are the models we consider it a genuine option for.
- Paid community
- Course and community
- Coaching or group program
- Marketplace or discovery-led membership
- Low-cost membership
Pricing and fees
Read from Skool's own pricing page on 2026-07-28. Always check the official page before you buy.
| Plan | Monthly | Annual, per month | Platform fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| HobbyUnlimited members, courses, and calls, with a 10% transaction fee. | $9 | Not offered | 10.0% |
| ProSame features as Hobby with the fee dropped to 2.9%. Two months free billed yearly. | $99 | Not offered | 2.9% |
Payment processing. Skool states a single transaction fee per plan rather than a separate processing charge, so the plan fee is the whole percentage.
Trial. 14-day free trial
What it costs in practice
Cheapest plan that holds the member count, including the platform's cut and payment processing.
Just starting
25 members at $20 a month
$59 / month
On Hobby. About 12% of your revenue.
Established
100 members at $25 a month
$172 / month
On Pro. About 7% of your revenue.
Growing
500 members at $25 a month
$462 / month
On Pro. About 4% of your revenue.
Feature support
What is included, what needs a higher plan, and what simply is not there.
Community features
SupportedOne feed, one classroom, one calendar. Deliberately minimal.
Courses
SupportedUnlimited courses on both plans.
Coaching and live events
SupportedUnlimited live calls and a shared calendar.
Video hosting
Partially supportedUnlimited videos, but course video is typically embedded from YouTube, Vimeo, or Loom.
Livestreaming
Partially supportedLive calls are supported; there is no broadcast-style streaming product.
Newsletter and publishing
Partially supportedBroadcast messages to members, not a publishing tool.
Private podcast support
Not supportedPayments and monetization
SupportedPaid groups with recurring and annual pricing, plus affiliates on both plans.
Branding and customization
Partially supportedCustom URL, but the layout is fixed on purpose and cannot be themed.
Branded mobile app
Not supportedShared Skool app only.
Audience discovery
SupportedSkool Discovery lists public groups to people already browsing Skool.
Email and marketing
Not supportedNo email marketing tool. Use an external one.
Integrations and API
Partially supportedLimited integrations and a narrow API surface compared with rivals.
Migration support
Partially supportedNo first-party migration tooling; content is usually rebuilt by hand.
Customer and data ownership
Partially supportedSkool processes payments, so the subscriber relationship sits with Skool rather than in your own processor account.
Important limitations
- The Hobby plan's 10% cut overtakes the $99 Pro plan at roughly $1,100 a month in membership revenue.
- Almost nothing about the layout can be customised, which is the trade for the simplicity.
- Skool holds the payment relationship, so your subscribers are not in a processor account you own.
Data ownership and migration
This is Skool's weakest area. Payments are processed by Skool, so you do not hold the subscription relationship in your own Stripe account, and there is no real migration tooling in either direction.
Alternatives worth comparing
Sources
Every fact on this page traces to one of these official pages.