Skool is cheap to start at $9 a month, but the fees, the US dollar pricing and the same look for every group push some coaches to look around. We checked the official pricing pages of seven alternatives in October 2026, including Circle, Mighty Networks, Kajabi, Whop and Discord. For each you get who it suits, the catch, the price and the fees.
The best Skool alternative depends on what your members come for. Circle (from $89 a month yearly) suits branded communities, Mighty Networks ($79) suits courses and events, and Heartbeat ($49) is a cheaper Circle-style option. Discord and Whop are free to start but take a cut of sales. Skool costs $9 or $99 a month.
Who this is for: Coaches and creators running or planning a paid community who want to compare Skool with other platforms.
Skool has two plans. Hobby is $9 a month and Pro is $99 a month, and both include unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls, a custom URL and affiliates, per Skool's pricing page. You pay per community you run.
The fees matter more than the plan price. Hobby takes 10% + 30¢ of every sale. Pro takes 2.9% + 30¢ on charges up to $899 and 3.9% + 30¢ above $900, according to Skool's payments FAQ. Growth Boost is on by default: when Skool's discovery page brings you a paying member, Skool keeps 30% of that member's payments for as long as they stay. You can switch it off under Settings, then Discovery.
So why do people look elsewhere? The fair reasons are these. Every Skool group looks the same, so it is hard to make it feel like your brand. Members are priced and pay in US dollars only. There is no branded app, no sales pages and no proper email tool for people outside the group. And some coaches simply outgrow one feed and want spaces, events and courses laid out more like a membership site.
Here are seven alternatives, each with who it suits, the catch, the starting price and the fees. All prices are in US dollars.
Circle suits coaches who want their community to look like theirs, with separate spaces, courses, events and live streams under their own domain. Professional is from $89 a month billed yearly, Business is $199 and Scale is $419, per Circle's pricing page. There is a 14-day free trial with no card.
The catch is cost creep. Circle takes 2% on Professional and 1% on Business and Scale, plus Stripe's card fees. Email is a $99 a month add-on for 10,000 contacts. Live streams on Professional cap at 100 attendees and 10 hours a month, and a branded app needs the custom Circle Plus plan. There is no discovery page, so every member comes from your own marketing.
Price from: $89 a month (yearly). Fees: 2% on Professional, plus card fees.
Mighty Networks suits coaches who run cohorts, challenges and live sessions alongside a community, and who may want their own app later. Launch is $79 a month, Scale is $179 and Growth is $354, according to Mighty's pricing page. Launch includes 20 live streaming hours a month with up to 100 viewers per stream, and the 14-day trial gives you Growth features.
The catch is that the branded app sits on Mighty Pro, which has no published price. Fees are 2% on Launch, 1% on Scale and 0.5% on Growth. The pricing page does not make it clear which course formats sit on which tier, so check with Mighty before you commit. It also has more settings to learn than Skool.
Price from: $79 a month. Fees: 2% on Launch.
Kajabi suits coaches who sell courses and coaching with launches, sales pages and email sequences, and who want the community as one part of that. Basic is $179 a month ($143 yearly), Growth is $249 and Pro is $499, per Kajabi's pricing page. Basic includes unlimited funnels and landing pages, 1 community and email to 2,500 contacts.
The catch is price and feel. Kajabi costs far more than Skool Pro, and its community is less lively than a Skool feed. The branded app is on Pro. With Kajabi Payments there is no platform cut, only card fees from 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic in the US. We cover the full trade-off in Skool vs Kajabi and the cheaper options in Kajabi alternatives.
Price from: $179 a month ($143 yearly). Fees: card fees only with Kajabi Payments.
Whop suits coaches and creators who want to sell access to a course, a chat or live sessions without a monthly bill. There is no subscription. You add free apps such as Courses, Chat and Livestreaming to your page, and you can list products on the Whop marketplace, which Whop says reaches 22 million monthly users.
The catch is that the fees stack. Domestic card payments cost 2.7% + $0.30, international cards add 1.5%, currency conversion adds 1%, and payouts cost from $2.50 for next-day bank transfer, per Whop's fees page. Optional billing and tax tools add more. Members use the shared Whop app, so it does not feel like your own brand.
Price from: free. Fees: 2.7% + $0.30 per domestic sale, plus extras.
Discord suits coaches whose members want to chat in real time, drop into voice rooms and hang out. Running a server is free. If you sell Server Subscriptions, Discord keeps 10% and you keep 90%, per Discord's Server Shop guide. Many coaches instead charge elsewhere and give buyers a role.
The catch is real. Discord's selling tools require the owner to be based in the US with a US bank account. Apple takes a further 30% on subscriptions started in the iOS app. There is no course area, so lessons end up as links in a channel. And busy servers get noisy, which some coaching clients find stressful rather than helpful.
Price from: free. Fees: 10% on Server Subscriptions, plus processing.
Heartbeat suits coaches who want structured channels, courses and lots of events without Circle's price. Build is $49 a month ($40 yearly) for up to 350 members, Grow is $149 for up to 5,000 and Scale is $849, per Heartbeat's pricing page. Every plan has unlimited courses and unlimited events, with voice and video rooms for up to 256 people and no cap on room hours.
The catch is the fee and the member cap. Heartbeat takes 5% on Build and 2.5% on Grow, on top of Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢. Build stops at 350 members, so a growing group jumps to $149. The branded app needs Scale. If your trial ends without upgrading, the community is switched off.
Price from: $49 a month ($40 yearly). Fees: 5% on Build, plus card fees.
Podia suits coaches who sell courses, downloads and coaching and want a community and email list in the same place, without a steep learning curve. Mover is $49 a month ($42 yearly), Shaker is $99 ($84 yearly) and Earthquaker is $179, according to Podia's pricing page. Community spaces come with every plan.
The catch is that the community is a side feature, not the main event, so it feels quieter than Skool. Mover takes a 5% fee and includes only 100 email subscribers. Shaker removes the fee and covers 500 subscribers. Stripe or PayPal fees apply on top. There is no discovery page and no branded app.
Price from: $49 a month ($42 yearly). Fees: 5% on Mover, none from Shaker.
We checked each price and fee on the vendor's official pricing or fees page at the time of writing (October 2026). Starting prices are for the cheapest paid plan, and card processing fees apply on top unless the row says they are included.
| Platform | Price from | Fees | Courses | Live events | Branded app | Discovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skool (for reference) | $9 a month (Hobby), $99 (Pro) | 10% + 30¢ (Hobby); 2.9% to 3.9% + 30¢ (Pro) | Yes | Unlimited live calls | No, shared Skool app | Yes, 30% on members Skool brings |
| Circle | $89 a month (yearly) | 2% on Professional, plus card fees | Yes | Yes, 100 attendees and 10 hours on Professional | Circle Plus only | No |
| Mighty Networks | $79 a month | 2% on Launch | Yes, check tier | Yes, 20 hours and 100 viewers on Launch | Mighty Pro only | No |
| Kajabi | $179 a month ($143 yearly) | Card fees only with Kajabi Payments | Yes | Through the community | Pro plan | No |
| Whop | Free | 2.7% + $0.30, plus extras | Yes, Courses app | Yes, Livestreaming app | No, shared Whop app | Yes, Whop marketplace |
| Discord | Free | 10% on Server Subscriptions | No | Voice and video rooms | No | Limited |
| Heartbeat | $49 a month ($40 yearly) | 5% on Build, plus card fees | Yes, unlimited | Yes, unlimited, rooms up to 256 | Scale plan | No |
| Podia | $49 a month ($42 yearly) | 5% on Mover; none from Shaker | Yes | Not a core feature | No | No |
Two columns decide most choices. Discovery only exists on Skool and Whop, so everywhere else you bring every member yourself. A branded app is only on higher or custom plans, so if it matters, price that plan, not the entry one.
Skool vs Circle. Skool is cheaper and simpler: one feed, one classroom, one calendar, $99 a month on Pro. Circle costs from $89 a month yearly but adds spaces, your own branding and more control, and email costs extra. Pick Skool to get going fast; pick Circle if the community needs to look and feel like your brand.
Skool vs Mighty Networks. Mighty suits cohorts, challenges and a path to a branded app. Skool suits a single, busy group with a simple course. Mighty's 2% fee on Launch is lower than Skool Hobby's 10% but close to Skool Pro's 2.9%.
Skool vs Discord. Discord is free and great for live chat, but it has no course area and its selling tools are US only. Skool gives you courses, a calendar and payments in one place for $9 to $99 a month.
Skool vs Whop. Whop has no monthly fee and a large marketplace, which suits creators selling to a young online crowd. Skool is better for coaching groups where the feed and calls are the product. On a $50 membership, Whop's 2.7% + $0.30 is close to Skool Pro's fees, before Whop's payout and international extras.
Skool is the right call more often than review sites admit. If your offer is a paid group with calls and a course, and you want it live this week, nothing on this list is faster or cheaper to start. The leaderboard and levels nudge members to post, which keeps a small group feeling busy.
Stay on Skool if your members are already active and your fees are under control. Move to Pro as soon as you take real money: on $3,000 a month in sales, Hobby's 10% costs about $300 in fees, while Pro costs $99 plus about $87 in fees, before the 30¢ per charge. And turn off Growth Boost if you would rather not give up 30% on members Skool sends you.
Look elsewhere if you need your own brand and app, sales pages and email in the same tool, or pricing in pounds or euros. If you need to price your group first, our guide to coaching packages shows how to put sessions, length and support into one clear offer.
Start with your members, not the software. Ask five of them what they use the group for: calls, the course, chat or accountability. Then pick the platform that does that job best, and run a free trial with a real piece of content before you move anyone.
If the group is quiet, a new platform rarely fixes it. The usual problems are an unclear offer, no path from free content to paid, and nobody inviting people in. Our guide on how to turn your audience into customers walks through those gaps.
A done-for-you studio fits when you want the move, the offer and the follow-up handled for you rather than learning a new tool on top of coaching. We find where you are losing members, then build and run the fix with you. If that helps, book a free audit and we will tell you plainly whether to stay or switch.
Discord and Whop are free to start. Discord keeps 10% of Server Subscriptions and its selling tools are US only, while Whop charges 2.7% + $0.30 per domestic sale plus payout fees. Among paid platforms, Heartbeat and Podia start at $49 a month.
Circle is better if you want your own branding, separate spaces and more control over the layout. Skool is better if you want a simple, busy group running fast and cheaply. Circle starts at $89 a month billed yearly and charges extra for email.
Yes. Hobby takes 10% + 30¢ per sale, and Pro takes 2.9% + 30¢ on charges up to $899 and 3.9% + 30¢ above $900. If Skool's discovery brings you a paying member, Growth Boost keeps 30% of that member's payments unless you switch it off.
You can, and many coaches do, but there is no course area and Discord's own selling tools need a US-based owner and US bank. A common setup is to take payment elsewhere and give buyers a role in the server.
Circle (on Circle Plus), Mighty Networks (on Mighty Pro), Kajabi (on Pro) and Heartbeat (on Scale) all offer a branded app. In every case it sits on a higher or custom plan, not the entry price.
Send us your setup and we will tell you honestly where it is leaking customers and what to fix first. Free, no pitch.