$9 - $99/month
14 days
Coaches, course creators, community builders
The best platform for community-first online businesses. Simple, effective, and growing fast.
What is Skool?
Skool is an all-in-one community platform that combines community discussion, online courses, events, and payments into a single, streamlined experience. Founded in 2019 by Sam Ovens (CEO) and Daniel Kang (CTO), Skool was built on a radical premise: community should come first, and everything else should serve that core experience.
In 2024, Alex Hormozi — entrepreneur, author, and investor — made a significant investment in Skool and helped launch the now-famous Skool Games competition. This partnership catapulted Skool into mainstream awareness among online creators and coaches.
As of March 2026, Skool has grown to impressive numbers:
25M+
Total users
170K+
Communities
$1B+
Spent on communities/year
Skool's philosophy is deliberate simplicity. While competitors pile on features, Skool focuses on doing a few things extremely well: fostering genuine community engagement through gamification, making course delivery frictionless, and keeping the interface clean enough that non-technical creators can launch in minutes.
You can browse existing Skool communities on our community directory to see the range of niches and topics covered on the platform.
Skool Pricing in 2026
Skool simplified its pricing to two straightforward plans. No hidden fees, no complex tiers — just pick the plan that fits your stage and start building.
| Feature | Hobby — $9/mo | Pro — $99/mo |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $9 | $99 |
| Transaction fee | 10% | 2.9% + $0.30 |
| Admins | 1 | Up to 30 |
| Members | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Courses | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Custom URL | No | Yes |
| Advanced plugins (AutoDM, Zapier) | No | Yes |
| Affiliate / referral system | No | Yes |
| Free trial | 14 days | 14 days |
Break-even point: If your community generates around $1,200/month in revenue, the Pro plan becomes cheaper than Hobby due to the lower transaction fee (2.9% vs. 10%). Below that threshold, the Hobby plan is more cost-effective.
New in 2026
- ✓ Freemium model: Offer free tiers within your community to attract new members, then upsell to paid access.
- ✓ Multiple pricing tiers: Create different access levels within a single community (e.g., Basic, Premium, VIP).
- ✓ One-time purchases: Sell individual courses or content without requiring a subscription.
- ✓ "Buy Now" courses: Standalone course pages that can be purchased independently from community membership.
Skool Features Breakdown
Community
The heart of Skool. The community feed works like a mix between Facebook Groups and Reddit — members post, comment, and upvote content. Posts can be organized into categories, pinned, and filtered. The feed algorithm surfaces the most engaging content, keeping discussions alive. Every member has a profile with their activity, level, and contributions visible to the group.
Classroom
Skool's course hosting feature lets you create structured learning paths with modules and lessons. Each lesson can contain video, text, images, and downloadable files. Courses are drip-fed or unlocked all at once. The Classroom integrates tightly with the community — course completions feed into the gamification system, and members can discuss lessons directly in the community feed.
Gamification
This is Skool's secret weapon. Every action — posting, commenting, completing lessons, receiving likes — earns points. Members level up on a visible leaderboard, creating friendly competition and habit-forming engagement loops. Community owners can unlock specific content or courses at certain levels, rewarding active participation. It sounds simple, but it is remarkably effective at driving retention.
Calendar & Events
Schedule live events, workshops, Q&A sessions, and group coaching calls directly within Skool. Events show up in each member's local timezone. Members RSVP and get reminders. While Skool does not host video calls natively, it integrates with Zoom, Google Meet, and other tools via event links. Recurring events can be set up for weekly or monthly sessions.
Payments & Monetization
Skool handles payments via Stripe with built-in subscription management. You set your monthly or annual price, and Skool handles billing, refunds, and cancellations. New in 2026: freemium tiers, one-time purchases, multiple pricing levels, and standalone "Buy Now" courses. The Pro plan also includes an affiliate/referral system so your members can earn commissions for bringing in new subscribers.
Mobile App
Skool offers native iOS and Android apps that mirror the full desktop experience. Members can browse the feed, watch course videos, RSVP to events, and engage with the community from their phones. Push notifications keep members coming back. The mobile app is clean and fast — no feature parity issues like you see with some competitors.
Discovery & Marketplace
Skool has a built-in discovery page where potential members can browse and find communities by category, popularity, and topic. This is a meaningful advantage over platforms like Circle or Kajabi where you must drive all your own traffic. The Skool marketplace acts as a built-in acquisition channel, especially for communities competing in the Skool Games.
What Skool Does NOT Have
Skool's simplicity is a double-edged sword. Here is what you will not find on the platform:
- ✗ No quizzes, tests, or certificates. If you need formal assessments or completion certificates for compliance or accreditation, Skool cannot provide them.
- ✗ No built-in email marketing. Skool does not include email sequences, newsletters, or broadcast tools. You will need a separate tool like ConvertKit, Mailchimp, or ActiveCampaign.
- ✗ No native CRM integrations. Direct integrations with CRMs are limited. The Pro plan offers Zapier access, but there are no native connections to HubSpot, Salesforce, or similar tools.
- ✗ No custom domain. You cannot host your Skool community on your own domain. Pro plan members get a custom URL path, but the domain remains skool.com.
- ✗ No funnel builder. Unlike Kajabi or ClickFunnels, Skool does not include landing pages, sales funnels, or checkout page customization. You will need external tools for complex sales flows.
- ✗ No advanced LMS reporting. Course analytics are basic — you can see completion rates but lack detailed reporting on quiz scores, time spent per lesson, or learning outcomes.
- ✗ Limited design customization. You can set a logo, banner, and colors, but the overall layout and structure is fixed. If brand aesthetics are critical, this may feel restrictive compared to Circle or Kajabi.
Skool vs Alternatives
How does Skool stack up against other popular platforms? Here is a quick comparison across the most important criteria.
| Criteria | Skool | Circle | Kajabi | Teachable | Mighty Networks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $9/mo | $49/mo | $69/mo | $39/mo | $41/mo |
| Community focus | ★★★★★ | ★★★★ | ★★ | ★★ | ★★★★ |
| Course features | ★★★ | ★★★ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | ★★★ |
| Gamification | ★★★★★ | ★★ | ★ | ★ | ★★ |
| Marketing tools | ★★ | ★★★ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★ | ★★★ |
| Customization | ★★ | ★★★★ | ★★★★ | ★★★ | ★★★ |
| Simplicity | ★★★★★ | ★★★ | ★★ | ★★★ | ★★★ |
Want a deeper dive? Check out our detailed comparisons: Skool vs Discord, Skool vs Kajabi.
Who Should Use Skool
Skool is an excellent fit if you match any of these profiles:
- ✓ Coaches and consultants who want to build a paid community around their expertise and deliver coaching content alongside group interaction.
- ✓ Course creators who believe learning is better in community. If your courses benefit from peer interaction, accountability, and discussion, Skool is ideal.
- ✓ Community builders who want a platform that puts engagement and retention first, with built-in gamification to keep members active.
- ✓ Solopreneurs who want an all-in-one solution without juggling multiple tools. Community, courses, events, and payments — all in one place.
- ✓ Non-technical creators who want to launch fast without dealing with website builders, plugins, or integrations. Skool requires zero technical skill.
- ✓ Creators on a budget who need to start at $9/month and scale up as revenue grows, rather than paying $100+/month from day one.
See what other Skool creators are building on the platform.
Who Should NOT Use Skool
Skool is not the right platform for everyone. Consider alternatives if:
- ✗ You need advanced course features like quizzes, graded assessments, completion certificates, or SCORM compliance. Look at Teachable or Kajabi instead.
- ✗ You need full marketing automation including email sequences, landing pages, and sales funnels in one tool. Kajabi is the better all-in-one for that.
- ✗ Brand customization is critical. If you need full control over design, layout, and domain branding, Circle or a custom-built solution will serve you better.
- ✗ You run a large enterprise that needs SSO, advanced permissions, CRM integrations, or compliance features. Skool is built for creators, not corporations.
- ✗ You only sell courses without a community component. If community is an afterthought, a dedicated LMS like Teachable or Thinkific will give you more course-specific tools.
The Skool Games
The Skool Games is a quarterly competition created in partnership with Alex Hormozi that challenges community owners to grow their communities as fast as possible within a set timeframe. Participants compete for cash prizes, recognition, and bragging rights.
The competition has become one of Skool's most effective growth engines. It motivates creators to go all-in on community building, share strategies, and push the boundaries of what is possible on the platform. Past winners have built communities generating six and seven figures in annual revenue.
The Skool Games also creates a flywheel effect: the competition generates content, case studies, and social proof that attract new creators to the platform, who then participate in future rounds. It is a clever growth strategy that benefits both Skool and its community owners.
How to participate: Any Skool community owner can enter the Skool Games. There is no additional fee — just sign up through the official Skool Games community on the platform. Competitions typically run for 12 weeks.
Our Verdict
Skoolmakers Rating
Skool is the best platform available today for creators who believe that community is the product, not just an add-on. Its deliberate simplicity, powerful gamification, and integrated course delivery make it uniquely effective at building engaged, paying communities.
The introduction of the Hobby plan at $9/month makes Skool accessible to anyone, and the new freemium model and multiple pricing tiers in 2026 address one of the platform's biggest previous limitations. The Skool Games and Alex Hormozi's involvement have created a thriving ecosystem that benefits all community owners on the platform.
Where Skool falls short — customization, advanced LMS features, marketing automation — it does so intentionally. This is not a platform trying to be everything. It is a platform that does community better than anyone else, and it bets that community is the future of online business.
If your business model revolves around building a loyal, engaged audience and delivering value through content and interaction, Skool is the platform we recommend.
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