Skool Pricing Plans

Skool's pricing model has a clear structure, but to get a sense of the total expense to your business, you need to consider both the monthly fee and the transaction fee, which are charged as a percent of each sale.

At present, Skool offers two plans: The Hobby Plan (which is an incredible bargain for the amount of bang you'll get for your buck) is $9 a month. We feel like that's an extraordinary entrance price to start creating a serious community, since it eliminates the biggest obstacle for most new creators: money. But, in order to keep prices so low, Skool will charge you a whopping 10% of every dollar you earn from sales. That is how Skool gets paid if you choose the lower priced plan.

On the other hand, the Pro Plan costs a lot more; it is $99 a month. And although you pay a lot more each month than the Hobby Plan, the transaction fee drops to only 2.9%, which is a much better rate than the Hobby Plan and certainly competitive.

In terms of cost to the creator, we believe the Pro Plan is actually less expensive when your monthly revenue is greater than around $1,500 or $2,000. So, instead of focusing on the difference between $9 and $99, we suggest you focus on the breakeven point for your revenue. A bigger percentage of your sales is lost to the transaction fees as your monthly income increases. Therefore, we believe it makes economic sense to reduce the amount of money lost to these fees as quickly as possible.

Skool has a number of advantages over other tools we have utilized to build communities & courses. In our opinion, the greatest advantage is its simplicity. Skool deliberately integrates the three necessary functions for a community/courses platform; the community forum (for discussion), the course classroom (for teaching), and the calendar function (for planning events) into one clean, simple interface. This reduces the complexity associated with the "Frankensteining" together with multiple different tools such as Kajabi & Zoom (and Facebook groups) - an absolute nightmare to manage, and an equally poor experience for users. With everything organized and streamlined, there will be massive improvements in how engaged members will be in the community.

Another great advantage is the gamification layer. Skool offers a native points/badges/leaderboard system that we believe is absolutely fantastic at encouraging participation and retaining members. We believe this small competitive element encourages members to engage and provide value, versus simply consuming content passively. It also creates a viral loop of engagement, something that many other platforms are unable to create. Lastly, having a native mobile application is another huge plus. We would recommend that if possible, prioritize any tool that has a robust mobile application, as this will ensure that your community can be accessed and engaged through mobile devices, creating a sense of familiarity and relevance in your members’ lives, while providing a high-end feeling to your product.

Skool is the ultimate "home run" for a particular kind of online business: those that focus on cohort-based learning, with high-engagement coaching. That is why Skool is the ultimate solution for subject matter experts, coaches & content creators that rely on the community as much as the course material.

In our view, the unique combination of Skool's features (the Forum, Classroom, Leaderboard) create the ultimate environment for niche educational communities. We believe Skool will be ideal for subject matter experts that can deliver a specific, high value skill & require their students to interact and keep each other accountable. The AI Automation Society, for example, is a large group of people working together to master no-code AI or The Lady Change which focuses on menopausal health and fitness, also finding huge success using Skool. In both cases these communities are NOT simply video dumps. They are live & dynamic places to learn.

We would strongly recommend Skool to anyone that runs a paid membership or group coaching programs where the interaction between peers is key. As examples, look at Zero To Founder by Tom Bilyeu, or the very specific, high end entrepreneurship based Bourbonado Community; they show that Skool can work for either high end entrepreneurship or niche hobbies. The fact that the user experience is clean, simple & free from clutter, means that your members will remain focused on the content & community and therefore improve their overall engagement and increase your long term retention as a business. Additionally, Skool has the potential to significantly grow your community & help you monetize your expertise.

A strong ROI for creators and coaches can be generated by Skool, however the ROI is created by the user retention and engagement created through the product rather than the low cost of the monthly fee. The true benefit to creators and coaches, is not the fact they can save money at the rate of ten dollars per month. Rather, the benefit comes from the gamification and distraction free environment. In an environment where algorithmic changes are minimized and advertising is non-existent and the user experience is not cluttered and disorganized, the users will actually engage with the product. A high level of engagement is what we believe is the key to achieving a successful ROI and that results in longer term membership retention and less difficult course completions. For example if a member has stayed for six months rather than three, their CLV is doubled and that is a significant ROI win.

In terms of creating a strong ROI for serious business owners on the pro plan ($99) which includes a reduced transaction fee of 2.9%, the decision to use Skool becomes a no-brainer based solely on the fees associated with each product. If serious business owners are able to create over $1500 in monthly revenue, the amount saved in transaction fees may exceed the cost of the monthly subscription. Regardless of how one views the cost of using Skool, our position is always to view the platform as a strategic investment in a single platform that increases engagement and decreases transactional costs as the company grows. In other words, you are paying for a seamless and frictionless experience that is designed to maintain long-term relationships with your customers.

The Hobby Plan (9/month) is probably the most popular Skool plan with new community owners in the platform, based on the number of new sign ups to the platform and the platform's economic model. Why? The Hobby Plan is the lowest risk entry point into the platform. A user can start an idea, create a course and invite members to join for less than the price of a latte. That is why the Hobby Plan has the largest number of new users signing up for the platform.

However, the key difference is that the Pro Plan (99/month) is almost definitely the most popular plan amongst profitable, scalable and professional community owners. I believe any creator who views their community as a major part of their core business (i.e. they are making money from the community), will have to move to Pro in order to make a profit. The savings of the 2.9% transaction fee compared to the Hobby Plan (10%) is a large profit multiplier and creates immediate justification to switch to Pro when a community reaches a specific monthly revenue threshold. I would look at it like this: Hobby is the most popular plan to get started, while Pro is the most popular plan to scale.

Getting the absolute most out of your Skool membership is really about maximizing the platform’s core strengths, engagement and simplicity, while also being smart about the administrative and financial side. Here is how we think creators can optimize their use and their spend:

1. Go all-in on gamification: Don't just enable the leaderboard; actively weave it into your teaching. Award points for community contributions (answering questions, sharing wins) instead of just course completion. This drives the high engagement that makes the platform’s cost worthwhile.

1. Prioritize the Pro plan for profit: Once your community is generating a stable income, immediately switch to the Pro Plan. The massive fee reduction (from 10% to 2.9%) will save you far more money annually than the Hobby Plan costs, maximizing your ROI without a pricing plan downgrade.

1. Optimize your subscription cycle (if available): If Skool were to introduce annual billing, we would always recommend it. Annual commitment usually unlocks a significant discount, often 10% to 20% off the monthly rate. Always check if a yearly option is available to cut down your fixed costs.

1. Check our marketplace for deals: We invite you to keep checking our marketplace for future discounts and promo codes on Skool so you can instantly enjoy valuable savings.

When we tackle the question of is Skool cheaper than Circle, the answer isn't a simple yes or no, it truly depends on your company's stage and, critically, your revenue. The platforms have fundamentally different pricing philosophies, and that's the key.

Here is a breakdown of how the costs compare:

1. The starting line: Skool is significantly cheaper to just start, thanks to the Hobby Plan at $9/month. Circle’s comparable starter plans are usually around $89/month. We recommend Skool hands-down if you are pre-revenue and need the lowest fixed cost possible to validate your idea.

1. The scaling cost (Pro vs. Professional): The most comparable feature set is Skool's Pro Plan ($99/month) versus Circle's Professional Plan (around $89-$99/month, often billed annually). At this level, the monthly fees are similar, but the transaction fees tell the real story. Skool Pro hits you with a 2.9% platform fee. Circle typically has a platform fee that starts at 2% on their Professional plan, plus a separate Stripe processing fee. We think this makes Skool slightly more predictable on the fee side, though Circle’s percentage can drop lower (to 1% or 0.5%) on their much higher-tier plans.

1. The flexibility factor: Circle operates with tiered pricing based on features and spaces (like sub-groups). If you need extensive customization, more advanced automations, or multiple distinct membership levels, you’ll be forced onto Circle's much pricier plans (like Business or Enterprise). Skool, on the other hand, is a flat $99/month for unlimited everything within a single community.

Skool is cheaper and simpler for the single-community creator aiming for high engagement and low fixed costs. Circle is cheaper only if you are a massive operation that qualifies for their highest tiers with tiny transaction fees, or if your budget allows for their higher fixed monthly cost to unlock complex organization and white-labeling. We would say Skool offers better cost-predictability and a much lower entry barrier.