Skool Pricing: Which Plan Actually Costs You Less? (2026)

Skool has two plans: Hobby at $9 a month and Pro at $99 a month. Both include unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls and a 14-day free trial. The real difference is the transaction fee on member payments: 10% + 30c on Hobby versus 2.9% + 30c on Pro. Pro also unlocks features like Zapier, member affiliates and AutoDM. As a rule of thumb, Pro pays for itself once members pay you about $1,270 a month.

This page breaks down every cost: plan prices, yearly billing, transaction fees, Growth Boost commissions, payouts, cancellation and refunds. All figures come from skool.com/pricing and Skool's help center, checked in November 2026. For the full feature review, see our Skool review.

Skool Plans and Prices

Skool charges a flat price per community, not per member. If you run two groups, each one has its own subscription. All Skool subscription prices are in US dollars.

Yearly Billing

Skool's pricing page shows "2 months free!" on the yearly toggle. That works out to about $90 a year for Hobby and $990 a year for Pro (10 months' price for 12 months). The yearly saving is $18 on Hobby and $198 on Pro, but Skool does not refund unused billing periods, so only pay yearly once you are sure the community will run for a full year.

Is There a Free Plan?

No. Joining free communities on Skool costs nothing, which is why people ask whether Skool is free. Creating a community needs a paid plan after the 14-day trial. If you want a genuinely free community tool, Systeme.io includes communities on its free plan; see our Systeme.io free plan guide.

Skool Transaction Fees Explained

Every payment a member makes through Skool carries a fee. It covers card processing, so you do not pay a separate Stripe bill on top.

Skool's own examples show how much the 30-cent part matters on cheap memberships: a $9 monthly membership pays out $8.40 on Pro and $7.80 on Hobby. On Pro, a $999 payment pays out $959.74. Transaction fees are non-refundable, and the maximum single charge is $100,000.

The Hobby vs Pro Break-Even Point

Because each plan is a fixed price plus a percentage, you can find the point where Pro becomes cheaper. Pro costs $90 more a month and saves 7.1 percentage points on every payment, so the break-even is $90 / 0.071 = about $1,268 a month in member payments. The 30-cent part is the same on both plans, so it does not change the break-even.

Totals are plan price plus percentage fee, excluding the 30c per payment that both plans charge. At $10,000 a month, staying on Hobby would cost about $620 more every month than Pro.

What Pro Adds Besides Lower Fees

The pricing page lists the same headline features on both plans, but Skool's help center marks several features as Pro-only:

• Member affiliates, so members earn a commission for referring paying members.
• Zapier integration and webhooks, for sending members to a CRM or email tool.
• AutoDM, onboarding video and cancellation video plugins.
• Google Ads tracking, the Links plugin and instant membership approval.
• Group ownership transfer to another person.

Membership Questions and level-based unlocks for chat and posting work on both plans. If you need Zapier or member affiliates, you need Pro regardless of revenue.

How You Can Price Your Own Community

Your Skool plan is what you pay. Separately, you decide what members pay, and Skool supports several models. Skool's interface lists free trials, subscriptions, tiers, lifetime access, annual pricing and affiliates as options.

If you raise your price later, Skool says existing members are grandfathered at the price they already pay, which can be free. Plan your launch price with that in mind, because early members keep it.

How Skool Payouts Work

Skool collects member payments and pays creators out on a weekly schedule. The main rules from Skool's help center:

• Payout day: your available balance is paid every Wednesday.
• First payout: can take up to 14 days; after that, payouts come every 7 days.
• Arrival time: US bank accounts usually take 1 to 3 business days, international accounts 3 to 5.
• Currency: members pay in USD and payouts arrive in your local currency. Skool does not support USD deposits outside the US.
• Minimum payout: typically one base unit of your local currency.

Currency conversion happens on the way to your bank, so creators outside the US should expect the amount that lands to vary slightly with exchange rates.

Other Costs to Budget For

Growth Boost Commission

Growth Boost is on by default. Skool promotes your group in its Discovery directory and in Facebook and Instagram ads it pays for, and charges a 30% commission only on paid members it brings you. Members you bring yourself pay only the normal fee.

The commission applies to recurring charges for as long as that member stays subscribed. Skool attributes members with last-touch attribution and a 14-day window. You can turn Growth Boost off under Settings, Discovery.

Custom URL Changes

Both plans include a custom Skool URL. Skool's interface notes that changing the URL again later carries a charge, and its payment terms say that purchase is non-refundable.

Tools Skool Does Not Include

Skool has no email sequences, sales pages, order bumps or upsells. Many owners add an email or funnel tool, which is a separate monthly cost. A free option such as Systeme.io (free plan, paid from $17 a month) can cover email and funnels while Skool hosts the community.

Skool Cost at Different Community Sizes

Here is what Skool costs in a month at a $49 membership price, using the cheaper plan at each size and excluding Growth Boost.

The costs above include the 30c per payment. Compared with flat-priced platforms, Skool is cheap for small groups and grows with your revenue, which is the trade-off of a percentage fee.

Skool Pricing vs Other Platforms

Skool is the cheapest place to start a paid community. Course-focused platforms cost more up front but charge little or no platform fee; compare them in our LearnWorlds pricing breakdown and the best online course platform guide.

Free Trial, Cancellation and Refunds

How the Trial Works

Both plans are recurring subscriptions after a 14-day free trial. Billing starts automatically when the trial ends, monthly or yearly depending on your choice, and renews for the same term unless you cancel.

How to Cancel

After cancelling, you keep access until the end of the paid period. The group is then archived: existing content stays read-only and nothing new can be added. Skool says everything is saved, so you can reactivate the group later.

Refunds

Skool's payment terms say no refunds are given for full or partial billing periods or for non-use. Downgrading from Pro to Hobby is instant and you lose the remaining time on Pro, so downgrade close to your renewal date.

For your own members, refunds are at your discretion as the creator, and Skool will not refund on your behalf in most cases.

Is Skool Expensive?

It depends on your stage. For a new or free community, Skool is one of the cheapest options available: $9 a month with no member limit, no course limit and native live calls. Few platforms with built-in courses start that low.

For a large paid community, the percentage fee becomes the main cost. A group taking $10,000 a month pays about $389 a month on Pro, which is more than some flat-priced course platforms charge. That is the price of Skool's simplicity, its app and its discovery network. If those matter to your members, the fee is usually worth it; if your members rarely post, a flat-priced platform may cost less.

Which Skool Plan Should You Choose?

Our Verdict

Skool's pricing is simple on the surface and fair for small communities: $9 a month gets you every core feature with unlimited members. The real cost is the transaction fee, which makes Hobby expensive once revenue grows and makes Pro the better deal past roughly $1,270 a month.

Factor in the Pro-only features and the Growth Boost commission before you choose, and remember there are no subscription refunds. Use the 14-day trial to build the group and test checkout before the first bill.

Frequently Asked Questions