See how Skool's community and course platform works, what the Hobby and Pro plans cost, and how it stacks up against Circle and Mighty Networks in 2026.
Skool is a community and course platform built around a simple idea: put discussion, learning content, and engagement mechanics on one page so members do not have to jump between a Facebook Group, a course host, and a calendar tool. Every community gets a single feed, a classroom area for courses, a calendar for events, and a members directory, all under one custom URL.
Founded in 2019 by Sam Ovens and Daniel Kang, Skool grew quickly among online coaches, agency owners, and info-product creators who wanted a simpler alternative to Circle, Mighty Networks, Kajabi communities, or a bare Facebook Group paired with a separate course host. The company is based in Los Angeles and has expanded its team as usage has grown.
Skool is deliberately narrow in scope compared to broader community suites: there is no deep custom branding, no native email marketing, and no complex permission system. The trade-off is a fast, focused product that is easy for non-technical creators to set up and for members to actually use.
The core of Skool is its community feed, which works like a cross between a forum and a social network: members post, comment, and react, and the community owner can pin announcements or organize discussion by category.
Courses live inside the same community as modules and lessons with embedded video, so a creator can bundle a paid course and its discussion community into a single product instead of licensing a separate learning management system.
Skool's most distinctive feature is gamification: members earn points for participating, which move them up a level system and onto a public leaderboard. Community owners commonly unlock perks or recognition at higher levels to reward engagement.
Other included tools cover live calls and events with a shared calendar, an affiliate program that lets members earn a commission for referring new paying members, and a mobile app so communities stay active outside the browser.
Skool uses a flat two-tier pricing model rather than per-member pricing. The Hobby plan costs $9 per month and the Pro plan costs $99 per month, with roughly two months free on annual billing for either tier.
Both tiers include the same core feature set, unlimited members, unlimited courses, unlimited video, and unlimited live calls, so the meaningful difference between plans is the transaction fee Skool takes on paid membership revenue: 10 percent on Hobby versus 2.9 percent on Pro.
Because the fee is charged on revenue rather than the flat subscription, creators running a paid community with meaningful monthly recurring revenue tend to break even on the Pro plan quickly, while hobbyists or free-community owners can stay on Hobby indefinitely. A 14-day free trial is available before either plan is billed.
Skool is used to run an online community that combines discussion, paid or free courses, live events, and member engagement in one place, commonly for coaching businesses, course creators, and membership programs.
Skool has two plans: Hobby at $9 per month with a 10 percent transaction fee on paid community revenue, and Pro at $99 per month with a 2.9 percent transaction fee. Annual billing gives roughly two months free.
Skool was founded in 2019 by Sam Ovens and Daniel Kang and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.
Yes, Skool offers a 14-day free trial before either the Hobby or Pro plan is billed.
Skool trades deep customization and branding for simplicity and a built-in gamification system (points, levels, and a leaderboard) that Circle and Mighty Networks do not offer natively.
Yes, courses can be bundled with community access and sold through Skool's built-in checkout, with Skool taking a transaction fee based on the subscriber's plan.
Yes, Skool has iOS and Android apps so members can browse the feed, message, and watch course content on mobile.
Yes, community owners can run a completely free community and only pay the flat monthly subscription fee, since the transaction fee only applies to paid membership revenue.