Brutally Honest Skool Review after 4 years

Skool is one of the simplest ways to run a paid online community. The member feed, courses, live calls and payments sit in one place, starting at $9 a month. I have run my own community on Skool since 2022 and was a Skool beta tester.

If you are a creator or you own an internet business…

If you want to host online courses;

Or you need a distraction free alternative of Facebook Groups;

Or if you want to easily reward people for being a part of your tribe;

Or if you want to monetize your skills with paid memberships or digital products;

Skool can be a great option.

But, there is a catch to this whole hype. I don’t want you to get lost in the hype running on the internet and take a decision that is right for your business.

Affiliate disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. I will appreciate if you use them.

Simple TL;DR is This

• You can start a Skool community for $9/mo which is the lowest barrier to entry
• You can upgrade to $99/mo for the lower 2.9% transaction fee, a custom URL, webinars, Zapier and member affiliates.
• You get access to Skool’s Skoolers community and Hormozi’s Skool Games with any Skool community plan which is a great learning ground as a community builder
• Skool doesn’t offer brand colors, custom fonts or email sequences (only a one-click email broadcast to members), so it might not suit people who prioritize branding.
• Skool allows you to host your courses, community chats, live meetups and (on Pro) webinars all inside the platform so you do not need extra zoom subscription.
• The platform prioritizes community engagement over static courses so this is not an ideal platform for digital product hosting.
• The best way to explore the platform is by taking a 14-day free trial on the Pro plan, which shows you every feature, and extensively use the platform. It’s free and lets you understand your needs and platform abilities.

Alternatively, you can check Skoolers, Skool’s own group for community owners.

Finding a community platform is overwhelming

If you’re here, chances are you either already run a community or are busy putting one together. A community around your brand is the best thing a business can have.

I wrote an article about this for Forbes a few years back, and called it ‘The Tribe Effect.’ Businesses everywhere are starting to get how important communities are and now’s a great time to start your own.

If Skool’s caught your eye and you’re thinking about using it to build your community, start with what it actually is.

What is Skool and how does it work?

Skool was founded in 2019 by Sam Ovens, who’s also the mind behind consulting.com, and Daniel Kang. Alex Hormozi partnered with Skool in 2024 and created the Skool Games.

After doing tons of research and working with loads of creators and consultants, Sam decided to make a community platform that’s a bit different from everything else out there.

At first look, you can see that Skool has this clean, tidy layout and some interesting features.

It’s all part of Sam’s no-nonsense approach to solving some old problems in community engagement.

If you’re used to Facebook groups, you’ll love Skool’s simple design, funky fonts, and easy-to-use experience. It’s like a breath of fresh air.

How Skool works in five steps

1. You create a group and pick the Hobby or Pro plan after the 14-day trial.
2. You set the group’s price: free, a monthly or yearly subscription, freemium, tiers or a one-time payment.
3. Members find you through your group’s About page or through Skool Discovery.
4. Inside, they post in the Community feed, take courses in the Classroom, join calls from the Calendar and earn points on the Leaderboard.
5. Skool processes every payment and pays you after its transaction fee.

Skool is not a perfect solution for everyone

Skool is a great solution for coaches, consultants, and folks who own information businesses. So, if you’re not in any of these lines of work, Skool might not be the right fit for you.

But if you’re a course creator or an information entrepreneur (like a coach, consultant, or creator), Skool might just be the straightforward solution you need to boost sales, build stronger trust, and ramp up engagement with your target audience. For $9/mo hobby plan there is no platform which comes close to it.

Also if you’re selling courses or subscriptions memberships, Skool is your jam.

However, if you’re all about selling physical products, Skool might not be your best bet. Several other community platforms give you more room for a store and heavy branding.

Skool Feature Review - Good, Bad and Ugly

Discover or List Your Communities

One of the coolest things about Skool is its less-is-more approach.

Using other tools like Kajabi or Facebook groups can sometimes feel like a bit of a chore. Skool, on the other hand, makes life easier by keeping things simple and cutting through the clutter of building a community and selling courses.

As someone who’s been selling courses for years, I find Skool to be a breath of fresh air. The interface isn’t all in your face; it gives you just what you need and leaves out what you don’t. Here are a few key features:

Skool’s High Points

• Incredible UI: It offers a smooth, slick experience that makes you want to use the platform, unlike some other ones.
• Single sign-on (SSO): No matter how many groups you’re running, you only need to log in once. This solves a big headache for folks wanting to sell more expensive stuff (upsell) or run multiple groups.
• Personalized leaderboard: A leaderboard to keep an eye on and track member engagement.
• Personalized sections: Member profile, chat, and follow options to foster more connections.
• Rich course hosting: You can edit different aspects of your courses, add links, transcript, videos, images and customize the lessons. Course videos are faster to edit when you edit the transcript instead of a timeline.
• Gamified engagement where members can unlock new features or courses as they level up.
• Subscription membership: You can charge a monthly and annual subscription fee from your members, making it a way to monetize your content and membership. You can also set multiple tiers, one-time fee and offer 7-day free trials to new members
• One-Off courses: You can create courses for your community which they can buy with single click. It creates a smooth checkout experience and increases conversions.
• Growth Boost: Skool promotes your group in Discovery and in off-site ads, and takes a 30% commission only on the members it brings you.
• Member affiliates (Pro): Your members can earn a commission for every new paying member they refer.

Skool subscription review

Skool lets you host free and premium memberships within a single group. For hosting mastermind groups and offering upsells, it can be highly useful.

Skool offers one-click upgrade and option to create multi-tiered membership plans for community builders and you can enable it.

Skool also offers annual membership along with the monthly option. It allows people to get a bigger discount for a longer commitment. As a community builder, this is a great way to improve your lifetime customer value.

Skool Classroom Experience as Community Manager

Skool lets you sell paid online courses as well as free ones. You can create free and paid online courses for your members and place them in the classroom section.

As you can see in this screenshot from my community admin dashboard, there are multiple methods to unlock these programs.

Time unlocks, Level unlocks and instant purchase options are pretty automated. However, private unlock is based on your personal preferences.

If courses are the core of your business, a course-first platform like Teachable adds quizzes, certificates and student apps built around the course itself. For cohort programs with a community around them, Heartbeat’s cohort and course tools go further than Skool’s Classroom.

Host your courses on Skool

Cons of Skool platform

Update: Skool now offers native video hosting, an anytime go-live feature, and Skool meetings and webinars. You can test all three on a free 14-day Skool trial.

Note that Skool webinar is available in pro version at $99/mo plan while Skool meetings is available in Hobby plan that comes for just $9/mo.

So if you are planning to use webinars for attracting people towards your business you might need an additional zoom subscription or upgrade to $99/mo version.

In my own experience, Loom videos gel really well with Skool and provide a distraction-free vibe. However, since Skool has a native video hosting with courses and posts, it is no more required. You can also go live instantly with Skool live option now.

There are two major problems with Skool for some creators.

First, it doesn’t include a funnel builder. So, you’ll need to set up your own website, hosted elsewhere, if you want to have a sales funnel. Most of the time, you do not need it but if you do, Skool doesn’t have it.

Also, a big point which I discovered while helping a client setup her community was, lack of brand adjustment. Since Skool relies on a social media style discovery through Skool network, it doesn’t let you change brand colors and fonts.

If people are inside your community, they are not fully in it. They are also visibly a part of Skool’s network. Many alternative tools like Circle allow you to build a separate login system and an independent identity for community.

This can play into your advantage since it lets other people discover you through the network. So it is a free marketing in both ways. But if you don’t like it, Skool is not for you.

Those are the main downsides for me.

Skool pricing and fees in 2026 (Hobby vs Pro)

Skool has the cheapest pricing in premium community platform segments. Circle starts at $89/mo billed yearly and Mighty Networks at $79/mo, while a Skool community costs $9/mo to begin with after a 14-day free trial.

Free 14-Day Skool Trial

All community subscriptions are for single community and not for an account. That means you pay $9 or $99 for every community you create.

When Pro pays for itself

With sales under $900 each, the two plans cost the same at about $1,270 a month in member revenue on monthly billing, or about $1,060 a month on yearly billing. Below that line, Hobby’s higher fee still costs less than Pro’s subscription. Above it, every extra sale makes Pro cheaper.

At $3,000 a month in member revenue, Hobby costs about $309 a month ($9 plus a $300 fee). Pro costs about $186 ($99 plus an $87 fee). The 30¢ per sale is the same on both plans, so it does not change the comparison.

My rule for owners is to launch on Hobby and switch to Pro the month revenue crosses that line. Webinars or a custom URL are reasons to switch earlier.

On top of this, platform also charges 30% from the boosted Skool Growth mechanism. Skool shows your group in Discovery and in off-site ads, and the platform takes a 30% commission on members it brings you. If you have a vibrant community but you are lacking new members, this is a unique feature that puts Skool ahead of any other community platform, as long as your group ranks well in Skool Discovery.

Skool also offers a yearly plan that comes with two months free. So the hobby plan works out to $90 a year (about $7.50 a month) and the full plan to $990 a year (about $82.50 a month).

Both plans come with a community that can include an unlimited number of users and all-access courses. When you stack it up against Teachable’s Builder plan at $89 per month and Kajabi’s Basic plan at $179 per month (both billed monthly), Skool’s pricing is pretty low.

Visit Skool pricing page

And this pricing includes support and access to a community of like minded community builders known as Skoolers.

And you get access to the Skool Games, where Alex Hormozi ranks Skool owners on leaderboards by what their communities earn.

Skool’s lifetime deal: Skool doesn’t offer a lifetime deal. The only options are monthly or yearly billing for each community, from $9/mo on the hobby plan. If you find anyone offering a Skool lifetime option consider it a scam as of today.

What is the p.skool.com charge on my card?

A p.skool.com charge is a payment made through Skool. It is either a Skool plan that started after its free trial, or a membership or course you bought from a Skool group.

Skool processes payments for every group, so the statement shows Skool’s name instead of the community owner’s. If you do not recognize the charge, search your email for a Skool receipt, then contact the group owner or Skool support.

Refunds and buyer protection

Skool does not refund its own platform subscriptions. Group owners can refund a member’s payment from that member’s payment history in the Members tab, so a member who wants money back asks the owner first.

Skool’s affiliate program

The Skool affiliate program pays 40% of the plan price for every owner you refer, every month that owner stays. I have been a Skool affiliate for more than two years, and these are my lifetime earnings as of October 2026.

Skool user experience review

Members land on the Community feed, with the Classroom, Calendar, Members list, Leaderboard and About page as tabs across the top. Every post, lesson and call sits one click away, so new members find their way around without a tour.

For owners, the admin settings live inside the same group instead of a separate dashboard. Pricing, membership questions, plugins and payouts all sit in the group’s settings.

Free 14-Day Skool Trial

Skool Games

The Skool Games are part of Skoolers, which is a private group of Skool community builders.

Skool Games offer regular meetings and rewards for action takers and achievers. Skoolers also has enough resources to build a successful online community even if you skip the Games.

The Skool Games are Alex Hormozi’s competition for Skool owners, where communities climb a leaderboard by what they earn while owners learn to monetize their Skool group. Top earners win prizes and time with Hormozi, and the rules change between seasons.

While you must do the work and create a high value community, Skool games will help you network with top creators and learn from them.

Skool Games is open to anyone hosting a Skool group, through the Skoolers group, which lists $9 a month with a 14-day free trial.

Checkout Skool Games

Skool Mobile App - iOS and Android Experience

Skool’s mobile app runs on iOS and Android, with a bunch of features designed to ramp up user engagement. My own experience with the iOS app wasn’t all that different from using Skool on a desktop, which is nice because it feels familiar and comfy.

Members can read and post in the feed, chat, watch course lessons and get push notifications. Push notifications for group members can really help to drive engagement. Members can stay connected all the time, and this can bump up your daily active users (DAU).

Is Skool Support better than the competitors?

So far, I have tested more than 10 free and paid Skool alternatives.

As a community manager, support is super important to me. Skool offers community-based support for all customers and will provide direct email-based support if needed.

One of the things I love most about Skool is the community itself. Seeing other people building thriving communities is pretty inspiring. And it seems like everyone in the group is always ready to lend a hand.

Even if you don’t have a specific issue, the group is always ready to share wisdom and advice.

But heads up, sometimes there’s so much information it can feel like overload. So try not to get dazzled by the next shiny new thing.

What happens to your members and data if you leave Skool

Skool keeps your members, content and payments inside its own system. Only part of that comes with you, so a move works best when you plan it early.

Exporting your member list

The Export button on the Members tab downloads a CSV of your members with their answers to membership questions. Email addresses show up for members of paid groups. In a free group, asking for an email in your membership questions puts each address in that export.

Courses and posts

The member export covers people, not content. Keep your original video files, slides and lesson text in your own storage, since you will rebuild each course on the new platform.

Paying subscriptions

Skool processes member payments through a Stripe Express account it creates for your group, and you cannot connect your own Stripe account. Those subscriptions cannot move to another platform, so every paying member signs up again at the new home.

When you cancel your Skool plan, the group archives at the end of the billing cycle. Skool saves everything as it is, and you can reactivate the group later. You can delete it only once it is archived and you are the last member left.

To hand the group to someone else instead, ownership transfer works on the Pro plan only. The new owner must already be an admin, and the group archives until they add payment details.

Planning the move

During the switch, the Close doors option under Settings > Pricing stops new members from joining. Existing members keep their access and keep being billed, so revenue continues while you run both platforms.

The order that keeps the most members is export, rebuild, set up billing, announce, run both platforms side by side, then close the Skool group. Nobody loses access before the new home is ready, which is how you move from Skool without losing members.

How Skool compares with Kajabi, Circle and Facebook Groups

Skool, Circle and Kajabi solve the same problem at very different prices, from $9 a month on Skool Hobby to $143 a month on Kajabi billed yearly. Facebook Groups cost nothing, and Whop charges per sale instead of per month.

Skool vs Kajabi

So, Kajabi is like that multi-tool you keep in your drawer. It does a whole lot. It’s got course creation, email marketing, and more, all under one roof. Now, that might sound great, but sometimes it’s a bit much, like trying to fly a spaceship when all you want to do is host a course and build a community.

Skool, on the contrary, subscribes to a more minimalist philosophy, concentrating its efforts on community building and course hosting. By prioritizing these two key areas, Skool streamlines the user experience and avoids overwhelming users with a multitude of features.

When it comes to your wallet, Kajabi can be a little steep, starting at $179 a month on monthly billing ($143 a month billed yearly). Skool, on the other hand, comes in at a friendly $99 a month. Plus, with Skool, you get to host an unlimited number of users and complete courses in one community.

So, here’s the rundown: if you want everything and the kitchen sink and you’re okay with the price, Kajabi could be your match. But, if building an engaged community and simplicity are your jam, Skool might be the one for you.

Skool vs. Facebook Group

Let’s face it, Facebook groups are a bit of a letdown. Sorry, Zuck!

Back in 2017, I spent loads of money populating my group with all sorts of people. Little did I know that one algorithm update would tank my engagement levels and that I’d have to pay just to reach my own community members.

Skool, on the other hand, tackles the major issues of a confusing interface and too many distractions. You can grow engagement, get feedback and eventually take your relationship with your members to the next level by building group funnels.

A free group still has a place for reaching new people. A Facebook Group for business works best as the front door, where strangers meet you before the most engaged ones move into a paid Skool group.

Skool vs Circle

Circle is a platform that allows you to create your very own online space, kind of like your personal virtual island. It’s flexible and customizable, which is awesome for those who want full control of how their online community looks and feels.

On the flip side, there’s Skool. Skool is less about all those fancy customizations and more about simplicity and focus. It’s designed to help you build an engaging online community and host courses without getting lost in a sea of features. It’s like your cozy community center that has everything you need and nothing you don’t.

Now, when it comes to pricing, Circle starts at $89 a month on yearly billing for its Professional plan, with unlimited members and a 2% transaction fee. Skool is $99 a month on Pro, or $9 on Hobby, and gives you the freedom to host unlimited members and full courses in one community. At $5,000 a month in member revenue, that works out to about $274 a month on Skool Pro and about $364 on Circle Professional.

One thing Circle really has going for it is its integration capabilities. You can connect it with tools like Zapier, allowing you to automate processes and connect with many other apps. This can be particularly useful for tech startups managing their developer communities.

Skool’s features are tailored for creators and information businesses. It also offers integration with thousands of apps through Zapier, but only on the Pro plan, and the features are targeted towards automating the management.

Skool vs Whop

Whop is built for selling, not for gathering people. There is no monthly fee, and Whop takes 2.7% + 30¢ on each domestic card sale. A creator selling Discord access, software keys, trading signals or a one-off download keeps more of a small sale there than on Skool’s Hobby plan.

Whop also runs a marketplace and the clipping campaigns where brands pay creators per view, which puts your product in front of buyers Skool’s Discovery page never reaches.

The community side is where Whop falls behind. Its forums and chats are apps you add to a storefront, while Skool builds the whole product around the feed, levels and courses that unlock as members take part.

If members talking to each other is what they pay for, Skool fits better. If the product is the download or the access, Whop does the job for less.

Skool Add-ons

Skool is a pretty chill platform for hosting courses and communities. But if you’re building an online community empire, there are a few additional things you’ll need.

Back when I started my own course business in 2019, it was a huge headache to manage communities on Telegram, sales funnels on ClickFunnels, courses on Teachable, calendars on Google, plus a few other tools. But you don’t have to go through all that.

Here are all the tools you might need to manage your entire education and community business:

1. A sales funnel builder

You’ll still need a place to host your checkout pages, sales pages, and blogs to draw more people to your platform. For that, I use Thrive Themes on WordPress, and have for years. It turns your entire website into a conversion-focused funnel. With complete control over your themes and hundreds of templates, Thrive Suite is a strong option if you are already on WordPress.

With WooCommerce integration, you can create checkout pages, connect with various email services, and make beautiful pages without the headaches on WordPress.

If you would rather not run WordPress, ClickFunnels is easy to use and has a large community of funnel hackers, as they call it.

2. An email marketing system

Email marketing software is another essential tool you’ll need to build a complete sales funnel and engagement system. Generating leads, sending newsletters, and email updates is key.

For this, I recommend Kit for all your email marketing needs.

I found it super intuitive to use and easy to get started with. You can start for free with up to 10,000 subscribers, so there’s zero cost upfront.

The paid Creator plan starts at $33 a month (billed yearly) for 1,000 subscribers and adds automated sequences. With Kit, it’s easy to create automated flows, subscriber tags, and segmentations, all without overwhelming designs.

What is next for you?

If you’re looking to build a community around your products or make money by creating an online community, Skool is a solid option. It cuts through the clutter and gives you just what you need to grow a community and harness it for the end KPI you’re shooting for (which is making money, right?).

A new group goes live once you pick a plan, fill in the settings and add a first course. The harder part is getting your first 100 members into a Skool community.

In the end, the best way to get a real feel for Skool is to try it out for yourself. You can snag a 14-day Skool trial for free.

If you are unsure where to begin join the Tribe and start learning. It will be a pleasure having you.

You can easily cancel if it’s not your thing, so there’s no risk. And if you decide to stick with it, I’d love to hear more about your business in the comments.

Skool FAQ

What is Skool?

Skool is an online community platform that combines a member feed, courses, a calendar for live calls and built-in payments. Creators, coaches and consultants use it to run free or paid communities from $9 a month.

How much does Skool cost per month?

Skool has two plans per group. Hobby costs $9 a month ($90 a year) with a 10% + 30¢ transaction fee. Pro costs $99 a month ($990 a year) with a 2.9% + 30¢ fee, rising to 3.9% + 30¢ on sales above $900. Both start with a 14-day free trial.

Is Skool free?

Skool has no free plan for community owners, only a 14-day free trial. Members can join free groups at no cost, because each owner decides whether their group is free or paid.

What fees does Skool charge on sales?

On the Hobby plan Skool keeps 10% + 30¢ of every sale. On the Pro plan it keeps 2.9% + 30¢, or 3.9% + 30¢ on sales above $900. Card processing is included, and Growth Boost takes 30% only on members that Skool brings you.

Is Skool legit or a scam?

Skool is a legitimate company, founded in 2019 by Sam Ovens and Daniel Kang, that hosts communities and processes their payments. In my experience, the risk sits with individual groups, so a paid group is worth judging by its owner’s track record before you join.

What is the p.skool.com charge on my card?

A p.skool.com charge is a payment made through Skool, either a Skool plan after its free trial or a membership or course bought from a Skool group. Check your email for a Skool receipt, then contact the group owner or Skool support if you do not recognize it.

Can I get a refund on Skool?

Skool does not refund its own platform subscriptions. Group owners can refund a member’s payment from that member’s payment history in the Members tab, so a member who wants money back asks the group owner first.

Who owns Skool? Does Alex Hormozi own Skool?

No. Skool was founded by Sam Ovens (CEO) and Daniel Kang (CTO). Skool’s about page lists Alex Hormozi as a partner who joined in 2024 to create the Skool Games.

Is Skool worth it in 2026?

Skool is worth it for coaches, consultants and creators who sell knowledge and value engagement over branding. Start on Hobby, and move to Pro once your group earns about $1,270 a month, where the lower fee pays for the upgrade.

Can I export my members from Skool?

Yes. The Export button on the Members tab downloads a CSV of your members and their membership question answers, with email addresses in paid groups. Member subscriptions cannot move to another platform, so paying members sign up again wherever you go.