Skool Pricing 2026: Hobby $9 vs Pro $99, Fees and Free Trial Explained

TL;DR

Skool is a platform for building a paid community with courses, events and a discovery page where people find communities to join. It has two plans: Hobby at $9 a month and Pro at $99 a month, both with unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls. The transaction fee is 10% on Hobby and 2.9% on Pro, so Pro becomes cheaper once the community earns about $1,270 a month. There is a 14-day free trial, you can cancel anytime, and there is no free plan. Skool was founded in 2019 and is based in Los Angeles.

Plans: Hobby $9 a month, Pro $99 a month; yearly gives 2 months free
Transaction fee: 10% on Hobby, 2.9% on Pro (per Skool's pricing page)
Included in both: Unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls, custom URL, affiliates
Free trial: 14 days; cancel anytime
Free plan: None
Break-even: About $1,270 a month in community sales
Built for: Paid communities that mix discussion, courses and events
Company: Founded 2019 by Sam Ovens and Daniel Kang, Los Angeles

How Much Does Skool Cost in 2026?

The official pricing page lists two plans with the same feature set. Your monthly fee is fixed, and the transaction fee is what changes with the plan.

What you pay	Hobby	Pro
Monthly price	$9	$99
Yearly billing	2 months free (about $90 a year)	2 months free (about $990 a year)
Transaction fee on your sales	10%	2.9%
Members, courses, videos, live calls	Unlimited	Unlimited
Custom URL	Yes	Yes
Affiliates	Yes	Yes
Free trial	14 days	14 days

The yearly totals are our arithmetic: the page says "2 months free", which means ten months billed. Third-party guides also mention a flat 30 cents on each payment, a higher rate on large payments, and a "powered by Skool" label on Hobby. Skool's pricing page does not state those three, so confirm them in its help center before you rely on them.

Try Skool Free For 14 Days Hobby $9/month or Pro $99/month

14-Day Free Trial • Cancel Anytime • From $9/Month

Hobby or Pro: When Does the $99 Plan Pay Off?

Pro costs $90 more a month and takes 7.1 percentage points less from every sale (10% minus 2.9%). Divide one by the other and you get the break-even: about $1,270 of community sales a month. This is our arithmetic on the two published fees, before any payment-processor extras:

Monthly community sales	Hobby cost	Pro cost	Cheaper
$500	$59	$113.50	Hobby
$1,270	$136	$135.80	About even
$1,500	$159	$142.50	Pro
$5,000	$509	$244	Pro

The practical rule: start on Hobby, because you pay almost nothing until members pay you, and move to Pro once you reliably pass the break-even. Switching is not symmetrical, though. Skool's own screens say downgrading to Hobby is instant and the unused time on the plan is not refundable, so time the downgrade near your renewal date.

Does Skool Have a Free Trial or a Free Plan?

There is a 14-day free trial on both plans, and the page says you can cancel anytime. There is no permanent free plan for people who run a community. Joining a community as a member is a different thing: owners set their own prices, and the discovery page on October 2026 showed communities from $1 a month up to $249 a month.

When the trial ends the plan starts billing. Skool's pages do not make clear whether a card is requested up front, so look at the signup screen, and set a reminder for day 12 if you are only testing so you are not charged by surprise.

Start The 14-Day Free Trial Cancel anytime

14-Day Free Trial • Cancel Anytime • From $9/Month

What Does Skool Actually Do?

Skool describes itself as a place to discover communities or create your own. As an owner you build a community with a feed, courses and events, and you can charge either a subscription membership or a one-time course purchase. The pricing page lists unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls, a custom URL and affiliates on both plans.

One place for members: community, courses and events live together, which is the platform's main idea.
A discovery page: communities are listed by category, so strangers can find yours without you running ads.
Payments built in: members pay through Skool, and Skool takes the transaction fee from each payment.
Affiliates: both plans list an affiliates feature; the pricing page gives no detail, so read Skool's help center for how it works.

What the plan list does not mention is just as useful. It does not list a funnel builder, website pages or email marketing, so people who need those usually pair Skool with another tool. That is a reading of the pricing page, not a tested limitation, so check Skool's help center for your specific need.

Who Is Skool For, and Who Should Skip It?

A good fit if

The community is the product: you teach, coach or lead a group that benefits from talking to each other.
You want courses, events and payments in one low-cost tool instead of stitching several together.
You are starting small. Hobby at $9 a month keeps the cost close to zero until members pay.

Skip it, or add other tools, if

You need sales funnels, landing pages and checkout flows as the core of the business. Look at our ClickFunnels pricing guide.
You only want to sell a digital download, with no community. Our Payhip guide covers that route and its fees.
You need deep control over design, email sequences or a branded website around the community.
You expect members to find you with no effort of your own. The discovery page helps, but it is not a promise of traffic.

How Do You Start a Skool Community?

Open the signup page and create your account to begin the 14-day trial.
Pick Hobby or Pro. Start on Hobby unless you already expect to pass about $1,270 a month.
Create your community, set its name, cover and price, and decide between a subscription and a one-time course.
Add your classroom content and schedule your first live call or event.
Connect payouts, so the money from members reaches you, and invite your first members.

Set the day-14 reminder when you start. Everything after that is billed at the plan you chose.

Is Skool Legit? What Do We Know About It?

Skool is a real company. Its About page says it was founded in 2019 by Sam Ovens (CEO) and Daniel Kang (CTO), has about 30 employees and is based in Los Angeles. In 2024 it partnered with Alex Hormozi on The Skool Games. Those are Skool's own statements.

One honest limit: we could not load Skool's Trustpilot page directly, so we do not quote a score or paraphrase reviews we could not read. Before paying, search for recent reviews yourself and read the cancellation steps. And remember that the communities on Skool are run by independent owners, so what a community promises, charges and refunds is decided by its owner, not by Skool.

Skool: Common Questions

How much does Skool cost?

Skool has two plans: Hobby at $9 a month and Pro at $99 a month. Both include unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls, a custom URL and affiliates. The difference is the transaction fee on the money your community earns: 10% on Hobby and 2.9% on Pro. Choosing yearly billing gives 2 months free.

Does Skool have a free plan?

No. Skool offers a 14-day free trial on both plans and says you can cancel anytime, but there is no permanent free plan for community owners. Joining someone else's community is separate: those are priced by their owners, from $1 a month up to hundreds of dollars.

Which Skool plan should I choose, Hobby or Pro?

Pick Hobby while you are earning little, because it costs $9 and the fee only matters once you have sales. Switch to Pro when your community brings in more than about $1,270 a month, which is where the lower 2.9% fee beats the extra $90. Skool notes that downgrading to Hobby is instant and the unused time is not refundable.

What is the Skool transaction fee?

Skool's pricing page states 10% on Hobby and 2.9% on Pro. Third-party guides add a flat 30 cents per payment and a higher rate on large payments, but Skool's pricing page does not say so, so check its help center before you build a price model on those extras.

Is the Skool free trial really free?

The pricing page says 14 days free and cancel anytime. When the trial ends, the plan starts billing, so put the end date in your calendar. Skool's pages do not state clearly whether a card is requested at the start, so check at signup and cancel before the first charge if you are only testing.

What can you actually do on Skool?

Build a community with a feed, courses and events, and charge either a subscription membership or a one-time course purchase. Skool describes itself as a place to discover communities or create your own. Its plan list does not include funnels, website pages or email marketing, so those need other tools.

Is Skool legit?

Yes. Skool is a company founded in 2019 by Sam Ovens and Daniel Kang, based in Los Angeles with about 30 employees, and partnered with Alex Hormozi in 2024 on The Skool Games. Communities on it are run by independent owners, so quality and refund practice vary from one to the next. We could not read its Trustpilot page directly, so we do not quote a score.

Skool or ClickFunnels, which is better for a course?

They solve different problems. Skool is a community-first platform with courses and a discovery marketplace, from $9 a month. ClickFunnels is a funnel builder that also hosts courses and community, from $97 a month. If the community is the product, start with Skool; if sales pages and funnels are the point, look at ClickFunnels.

Is Skool Worth It, in One Paragraph?

If you want to run a paid community with courses and events and keep the cost near zero while you start, Skool's Hobby plan at $9 a month is hard to beat, and the 14-day trial lets you build before paying. Move to Pro at $99 only when your community earns more than about $1,270 a month, where the lower 2.9% fee wins. Skip it if funnels, a branded website or email marketing are the center of your plan, and treat any community's promises as the owner's, not Skool's.

How this was assessed: this page is based on Skool's official pricing and product pages, its terms, public ratings on review platforms and the pages that currently rank for these searches, all read in October 2026. Skool's pricing page, its About page and its signup page were read directly. Its Trustpilot page could not be read, and the 30-cent fee, the higher large-payment rate and the Hobby label come from third-party guides and are marked as such. It is not a report from inside a paid account, and it does not claim to be.

What Other Tools Have We Covered?

All tool guides

About the author

Carlos D.

I have worked in affiliate marketing since 2020, mostly on global product launches: the coordinated releases where a program opens for a fixed window and partners drive registrations and sales. Across those launches I have generated more than $1 million in tracked sales as an affiliate.

That is the lens these reviews are written through. I read the official pages and partner terms before writing, I cover programs I am a partner for, and I say so in the footer of every page. More about how these reviews are made.

These were our results. Your results will vary based on a variety of factors, including your education, effort, and market factors. There is no guarantee you will make any money.

This is an independent guide. It is not the official Skool website and it is not operated by, affiliated with or endorsed by Skool. Product names are trademarks of their respective owners. We may earn a commission from sign-ups and purchases made through links on this page, at no extra cost to you. Prices and plans were checked on the official pages in October 2026 and can change at any time: confirm them at checkout.