Skool Pricing 2026 (Full Breakdown)

Quick Answer: What Does Skool Cost in 2026?

Skool has two plans in 2026. Hobby is $9/month with a 10% transaction fee. Pro is $99/month with a 2.9% transaction fee. Both include unlimited members, courses, videos, and live calls. Annual billing saves roughly 17%, dropping Hobby to $7.50/mo and Pro to $82/mo (Skool, 2026).

TL;DR: Skool has two plans — Hobby at $9/month (10% transaction fee) and Pro at $99/month (2.9% fee). The break-even point is around $1,300/month in community revenue. Below that, Hobby wins. Above it, Pro saves real money. A community doing $10,000/month saves roughly $620 every month by being on Pro versus Hobby (Skool pricing, 2026).

Last updated: April 2026

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Skool pricing used to be brutally simple. One plan. $99/month. Take it or leave it — the same flat rate Sam Ovens launched the platform with back in 2019.

Then on July 8, 2025, Skool dropped a $9/month Hobby plan and the entire calculus changed. Two tiers. Two different transaction fee structures. And a break-even point that most creators get wrong because they only look at the sticker price.

With over 170,000 active communities on the platform and Skool Games monthly prize pools running to six figures, the question isn’t “is Skool legit” anymore. It’s “which plan actually saves me money?” After running the numbers across half a dozen paid communities at different revenue levels, I’ve seen the same mistake repeat: people stay on Hobby because it “feels cheap,” then bleed $500+ a month in transaction fees they never see.

Let’s fix that.

How Much Does Skool Cost Per Month?

Skool costs either $9/month (Hobby) or $99/month (Pro) on monthly billing, plus transaction fees on member payments. On annual billing, those prices drop to roughly $7.50/mo and $82/mo respectively — a ~17% discount that works out to two free months per year (Skool pricing, 2026).

Here’s the Skool price comparison side by side:

Feature	Hobby ($9/mo)	Pro ($99/mo)
Monthly price	$9	$99
Annual effective price	~$7.50/mo	~$82/mo
Transaction fee	10% + $0.30	2.9% + $0.30
Unlimited members	Yes	Yes
Unlimited courses	Yes	Yes
Unlimited video hosting	Yes	Yes
Unlimited live calls	Yes	Yes
Custom URL / domain	Yes	Yes
Affiliate program	Yes	Yes
Free 14-day trial	Yes	Yes

Citation capsule: Skool’s two-tier model — Hobby at $9/month with a 10% transaction fee and Pro at $99/month with a 2.9% fee — gives both tiers unlimited members, courses, videos, live calls, a custom URL, and an affiliate program. The only real split is the transaction fee (Skool pricing page, April 2026).

The Hobby plan launched on July 8, 2025. Before that date, every single community paid $99/month. No cheaper option existed. The new tier opened the door for creators who wanted to validate an idea before committing to three-figure monthly overhead.

Worth noting: both plans now include a custom URL and the ability to run an affiliate program. In earlier versions of Skool’s pricing page these were Pro-only. As of April 2026 they ship with Hobby too — which changes the upgrade math significantly.

What Are Skool’s Transaction Fees?

Skool charges 10% + $0.30 per transaction on the Hobby plan and 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction on Pro (Skool pricing, 2026). Payments above $900 on Pro incur a higher 3.9% + $0.30 rate, according to Skool’s Payments documentation. These fees apply on top of Stripe’s own processing, which Skool passes through.

Citation capsule: On Skool Hobby, a creator charging $49/month to 20 members grosses $980/month but pays $98 in transaction fees plus $9 subscription — $107 total to Skool. On Pro, the same revenue pays $28.42 in fees plus $99 subscription — $127.42 total. Hobby wins at this scale (Skool pricing, 2026).

Where the Transaction Fee Bites Hardest

The 10% Hobby fee sounds small until you multiply it across real revenue.

Here’s the trap: Skool markets Hobby as the “cheap” plan, and at low volume that’s true. But the 10% fee is almost 3.5x Pro’s 2.9%. Every dollar of community revenue past $1,300/month you earn on Hobby is costing you money compared to Pro. Most creators don’t switch until they’re several thousand dollars deep into that leak.

Compared to Stripe’s ~2.9% + $0.30 baseline, Hobby is charging you a 7% platform override on every dollar. Pro effectively zeros out the platform override — you’re paying close to pure card processing.

Fee Cap on Large Transactions

Pro’s fee structure gets more nuanced on high-ticket payments. Skool applies a 3.9% + $0.30 rate on individual payments above $900. If you charge $1,500 annual memberships or $2,000 course bundles, that surcharge meaningfully eats margin. Check the Skool Payments FAQ for the current fee schedule before pricing a high-ticket offer.

When Should You Upgrade From Hobby to Pro?

Upgrade from Hobby to Pro when your community revenue crosses roughly $1,300/month. That’s the mathematical break-even point where Pro’s lower transaction fee saves more than the $90/month price difference. A community at $5,000/month in revenue saves approximately $265/month on Pro; at $10,000/month, the savings climb to around $620/month (Skool pricing, 2026).

Here’s the exact cost comparison at six different revenue levels. Total cost includes the monthly subscription plus transaction fees on all revenue.

Monthly Revenue	Hobby Total Cost	Pro Total Cost	Winner
$500	$59.00	$113.50	Hobby saves $54.50
$1,000	$109.00	$128.00	Hobby saves $19.00
$1,300	$139.00	$136.70	Pro (crossover)
$2,000	$209.00	$157.00	Pro saves $52.00
$5,000	$509.00	$244.00	Pro saves $265.00
$10,000	$1,009.00	$389.00	Pro saves $620.00
$50,000	$5,009.00	$1,549.00	Pro saves $3,460.00

A creator running a $50,000/month Skool community is bleeding roughly $41,520 per year by staying on Hobby. That’s a full hire. I’ve personally watched creators leave that on the table for six months before someone showed them the spreadsheet.

Should Anyone Stay on Hobby Forever?

Yes — three specific cases:

• You run a free community. No transaction fees means no fee math. Hobby at $9/month is the correct answer.
• You’re validating an idea. If you’re still testing whether people will pay, Hobby protects your downside during the first 60–90 days.
• Your community stays under ~$1,000/month in revenue long-term. Some creators intentionally keep a small paid mastermind small. Hobby is cheaper for them indefinitely.

For everyone else, Pro pays for itself the moment you cross the crossover line.

Does Skool Offer a Free Trial?

Yes. Skool offers a 14-day free trial on both Hobby and Pro plans, with full feature access during the trial period (Skool, 2026). A credit card is required at signup, and Skool auto-converts the account to the chosen paid plan on day 15 unless you cancel. Members who join paid communities you create get a separate 7-day trial before their first charge.

Citation capsule: Skool’s 14-day trial works on both Hobby ($9/mo) and Pro ($99/mo) with no feature gating. Members who join a paid community you create receive a 7-day trial before the first charge. Skool processes all payments through Stripe Express and pays creators every Wednesday (Skool Help Center, 2026).

If you cancel before day 14, you’re charged nothing. If you forget, Skool bills the full month and the trial effectively becomes a paid month — there’s no prorated refund on a missed cancellation window.

How Does Skool Pricing Compare to Competitors?

Skool’s $9/month Hobby plan is cheaper than every major community platform except Whop’s $0/month tier, and Skool’s $99/month Pro plan is cheaper than Kajabi’s starting plan ($143/month annual), Circle’s Professional tier ($89/month), and Mighty Networks’ Business tier ($179/month) (Kajabi, Circle, Mighty Networks, 2026).

Here’s how Skool pricing stacks up across the main alternatives:

Platform	Entry Price	Mid Tier	Transaction Fee	Member Cap
Skool	$9/mo	$99/mo	2.9–10%	Unlimited
Whop	$0/mo	—	2.7% + $0.30 + 3% platform	Unlimited
Circle	$89/mo	$199/mo	0.5–4%	100 → unlimited
Kajabi	$143/mo (annual)	$199/mo	0% (Stripe only)	2,500 → unlimited
Mighty Networks	$79/mo	$179/mo	2–3% + $0.30	100 → unlimited
Teachable	$29/mo	$69/mo	0–7.5%	Unlimited
Podia	$33/mo	$75/mo	0%	Unlimited

Most comparison articles miss the real story: the platforms with “no transaction fee” (Kajabi, Podia, pure Stripe plans) charge you a much higher base subscription. The platforms with a low base (Skool Hobby, Whop) recoup via transaction fees. There is no free lunch — you either pay a fixed cost or a variable one. Pick based on your revenue trajectory, not the marketing.

Whop advertises $0/month but layers a 3% platform commission on top of Stripe, and adds 1.5% on international cards. A $10k/month community on Whop pays roughly $600/month in blended fees — nearly double Pro.

Skool vs Kajabi on Price

Kajabi’s Basic plan starts at $143/month on annual billing and caps at 2,500 contacts, 3 products, and 3 pipelines. Skool Pro at $99/month has no cap on members, courses, or communities features. For a pure community + courses use case, Skool is $44/month cheaper with fewer limits (Kajabi pricing, 2026).

Kajabi does include native email marketing, sales pipelines, and automation that Skool lacks. If those matter to you, the price gap is justifiable — you’re not buying the same product.

Skool vs Circle on Price

Circle’s cheapest useful tier starts at $89/month (Professional, billed annually), climbs to $199/month (Business), and tops out at $360/month (Enterprise). Circle has a 4% transaction fee on its lowest tier that drops to 0.5% at Enterprise (Circle pricing, 2026).

Circle wins on customization, white-labeling, and workflow automation. Skool wins on simplicity, Skool Games-driven discovery, and the $9 entry point. For a creator-led community with courses, Skool is dramatically cheaper and faster to launch.

Skool vs Mighty Networks on Price

Mighty Networks starts at $79/month (Business) with a 3% transaction fee, climbs to $179/month (Mighty Pro) with 2% fees, and Mighty Pro+ starts at $299/month. Skool Pro at $99/month with 2.9% fees sits in a similar ballpark, but Mighty’s entry tier caps at 100 members while Skool’s doesn’t (Mighty Networks pricing, 2026).

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Is Skool Worth the Cost in 2026?

Skool is worth the cost for creators whose primary need is a community plus a simple course engine in one dashboard, especially at the $9/month entry point. An analysis of the top 1,000 paid Skool communities found the median paid membership charges $49/month and the average charges $376.77/month — meaning most creators recoup the Pro subscription within the first 1–3 paying members (Skool Data by Zam Noor, 2025).

What you get across both plans:

• Community feed with threaded discussions and @mentions
• Unlimited course hosting with unlimited video upload
• Live event scheduling with native calendar and Zoom-style sessions
• Gamification (points, levels, leaderboard) that drives daily engagement
• Native iOS and Android apps with push notifications
• Built-in payments via Stripe Express, with payouts every Wednesday
• Discovery feed visibility (free platform-driven traffic)
• Eligibility to enter Skool Games (monthly creator prize pool)

What you don’t get:

• Quizzes, certificates, or drip content scheduling
• Native email marketing (you need Kit, ConvertKit, or similar)
• Built-in CRM or sales pipeline
• Deep theming or white-labeling — every Skool looks like a Skool

The single biggest reason to pick Skool over Kajabi or Circle isn’t the price. It’s the Skool Games discovery engine. New communities get surfaced to Skool’s existing user base, and that compounding organic distribution is something no competing platform matches. You can’t buy that with any Kajabi plan.

If quizzes, certificates, or email automation are dealbreakers, pick Kajabi or Teachable. If community velocity and simplicity matter more than feature depth, Skool is the obvious choice.

Skool Pricing Hidden Gotchas

Three pricing details the sales page doesn’t lead with.

Each Community Needs Its Own Subscription

One Skool subscription equals one community. Run a free community and a paid community in parallel (a common list-building play) and you need two subscriptions. Three communities at Pro is $297/month, not $99/month. Plan your ecosystem with stacked subscriptions in mind.

Cancellation vs Deletion

Canceling a Skool subscription stops billing but doesn’t delete the community. Members still see it; you just can’t collect new payments. Full deletion is a separate action in account settings.

Annual Billing Locks Your Price

Skool has raised prices once (the Hobby launch was technically a new tier, not a hike) and the platform hasn’t publicly signaled another increase. But annual subscribers lock in their current rate until renewal. If you’re confident you’ll be on Skool 12 months from now, annual is both ~17% cheaper and inflation-insurance.

Skool Pricing for Members vs Creators

A distinction most people miss entirely: there are two different “Skool pricing” questions depending on which side you’re on.

As a creator, you pay Skool directly — $9/month (Hobby) or $99/month (Pro) for your subscription, plus transaction fees on any payments you collect.

As a member joining someone else’s community, you pay whatever the community owner charges (typically $9–$197/month, with high-ticket masterminds going to $500+). You never pay Skool directly as a member. Your payment flows through Skool’s Stripe integration to the creator, and Skool takes its transaction cut from the creator side.

If you’re evaluating whether to join a specific paid community, Skool’s platform price is irrelevant. What matters is the community’s own pricing and the transformation it delivers.

What Skool Pro Actually Unlocks Over Hobby

The Pro-only features are easy to misread as incremental. They aren’t. Here’s what each one actually does in practice.

Lower Transaction Fees (2.9% vs 10%)

The single biggest Pro benefit. On $5,000/month of community revenue, this difference alone saves $355/month — more than 3.5x the $90 price jump. Every other Pro feature is a bonus on top of this.

Advanced Analytics

Pro gives you detailed dashboards on member activity, course completion rates, revenue cohorts, and engagement over time. Hobby gives basic counts. If you’re making pricing decisions or running paid traffic, the analytics gap matters.

Pixel Tracking

Pro allows Facebook and Google Pixel installation on your community pages. This enables retargeting, conversion tracking, and lookalike audiences — essential if you’re acquiring members through paid ads.

Pro Plugins

Skool-native integrations and advanced features available only on Pro. The specific plugin list evolves, but it has historically included advanced course drip, member tagging, and third-party email tool integrations.

Who Each Plan Is For

Hobby ($9/month) is for:

• Creators validating a community idea in the first 60–90 days
• Established creators running a free community with no paid tier
• Small paid communities under ~$1,000/month in revenue indefinitely

Pro ($99/month) is for:

• Any paid community over $1,300/month in revenue
• Creators running paid ads who need pixel tracking and advanced analytics
• Multi-tier memberships where the lower transaction fee compounds fast
• Anyone serious about monetizing past the validation stage

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a free version of Skool?

No, Skool does not offer a permanent free plan for community creators. Pricing starts at $9/month on Hobby. Both plans include a 14-day free trial with full feature access, but there is no indefinitely free option (Skool pricing, 2026). Members joining paid communities get a separate 7-day trial.

What is Skool’s transaction fee in 2026?

Hobby charges 10% + $0.30 per transaction. Pro charges 2.9% + $0.30. On Pro, individual payments above $900 trigger a higher 3.9% + $0.30 rate. These fees sit on top of Stripe’s standard processing (Skool pricing, 2026). Factor the $900+ surcharge in if you’re charging high-ticket annual memberships.

Can you actually make money on Skool?

Yes. Skool processes member payments through Stripe Express with weekly Wednesday payouts. An analysis of the top 1,000 paid communities found the average charges $376.77/month, and many creators operate six-figure communities on the platform (Zam Noor Skool Data, 2025). Skool’s Discovery feed and Skool Games also surface newer communities to existing platform users.

Does Skool charge per member?

No. Both Hobby and Pro include unlimited members at the flat subscription price. Skool makes its money on the transaction fee (10% Hobby, 2.9% Pro), not per-member counts. This matters at scale — your per-member cost approaches zero as membership grows, which is the structural advantage over contact-capped platforms like Kajabi (2,500 contact limit on Basic) (Kajabi pricing, 2026).

Is Skool cheaper than Kajabi?

Yes. Skool starts at $9/month vs Kajabi’s $143/month on annual billing — a 15x difference at the entry tier. Even Skool Pro at $99/month is cheaper than Kajabi’s cheapest plan, and Skool has no limits on members or courses where Kajabi caps Basic at 2,500 contacts and 3 products (Kajabi pricing, 2026). See the full Skool vs Kajabi comparison for feature-level breakdown.

What’s the break-even point between Hobby and Pro?

Approximately $1,300/month in community revenue. Below that, Hobby’s $9 + 10% fee structure costs less in total. Above it, Pro’s $99 + 2.9% fee structure wins — and the savings widen fast. At $10,000/month revenue, Pro saves roughly $620/month vs Hobby (Skool pricing, 2026).

Bottom Line on Skool Pricing

Start on Hobby at $9/month if you’re validating an idea, running a free community, or sitting under $1,000/month in revenue. Switch to Pro the month your community crosses $1,300/month — that’s where the 2.9% transaction fee more than pays for the $90 price jump.

Every month you stay on Hobby past the crossover point, you’re handing Skool money that belongs in your account. A $10k/month community loses $7,440/year on the wrong plan. A $50k/month community loses over $41,000/year. Don’t be that creator.

Both plans include a 14-day free trial with full feature access. Start there, hit the crossover when your numbers say so, and move on.

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