Skool review, pros and cons of the community platform

Skool is an all-in-one community platform where creators run a discussion feed, online courses, a calendar of live events and paid memberships in one place, with points, levels and leaderboards built in. This Skool review covers how the Skool platform works, the two Skool plans and their transaction fees, what members and owners report, and the main alternatives to Skool.

Who should use Skool for an online community

Skool suits coaches, course creators, consultants and hobby experts who want to charge a monthly membership (or a one-time course price) and keep members engaged through a busy community. It also suits small businesses that want a simple customer or team community without stitching together a forum, course host and payment tool. Building a community on Skool makes most sense when you already have an audience to bring with you, since the platform gives you the tools but not the members.

Skip Skool if you need a branded website, advanced sales funnels, email marketing, detailed course quizzes or certificates, or full control over design. Skool's About page says it is all-in-one so "you don't need to integrate any tools", which also means there is less to customize. Skool doesn't offer a website builder, email campaigns or checkout pages of its own beyond the group's About page.

Skool feature overview, how the community platform works

You create a group, set it as free or paid, add courses and events, and share a link to invite members. Skool lets owners set this up in under 30 minutes, according to its About page. Members see the same layout in every Skool group, on desktop or in the mobile app, which keeps things simple for them and is one of the main benefits of using Skool for learning communities.

Community feed and member engagement

The community tab of each Skool community is a discussion feed with posts, comments, categories, rules and moderation tools. Owners can add admins, moderators and billing managers. Members can chat by DM, and Skool's plugins include membership questions for new joiners and an automatic welcome DM.

Gamification and the leaderboard

Skool's gamification is its best-known feature. Members earn one point for each like their posts and comments receive, and points move them up nine levels (level 2 at 5 points, level 9 at 33,015 points). Each group has its own leaderboard, and owners can lock courses until a member reaches a certain level, which pushes members to take part rather than just watch.

Skool classroom, course, calendar event and live call tools

The Skool classroom holds video and text lessons with unlock rules, so Skool courses can be free to all members, unlocked at a level, or sold as one-time purchases. Every plan includes unlimited courses, unlimited videos and unlimited live calls. The Skool calendar lists community events, and the help center covers Skool Call and Go Live for hosting live sessions inside the platform rather than on a separate video tool.

How to make money on Skool, affiliates and discovery

To make money on Skool, owners can charge subscription memberships or one-time course purchases. Skool handles the payments as the merchant of record: members pay in USD, Skool adds and remits EU VAT, and payouts go to your bank in your local currency every Wednesday through a Stripe Express connection (you cannot use your own Stripe account). Owners can turn on affiliates so members earn commission for referring new members. Groups can also be listed in Skool's discovery directory, and an optional Growth Boost promotes your group in search and off-site ads in return for 30% of revenue from members Skool brings in. Growth Boost is on by default and can be switched off in Settings.

Skool pricing, Hobby vs Skool Pro

Prices checked 29 Oct 2026 on the Skool pricing page (USD). Skool offers two plans for group owners. Both plans start with a 14-day free trial, so you can try Skool for free before paying, but there is no free plan for group owners. Members can join free groups at no cost.

Yearly billing gives two months free. Renewal and refund terms: subscriptions renew automatically each month or year until you cancel. Skool's payment policy says fees are non-refundable, with no refunds for full or partial billing periods. When you cancel, you keep access until the end of the period, then the group is archived and becomes read-only. Transferring a group to a new owner requires the Pro plan.

What running a paid community on Skool costs

Take a group of 100 members paying $50 a month, so $5,000 in monthly revenue. On Hobby you pay $9 plus 10% and 30c per charge, about $539 a month. On Pro you pay $99 plus 2.9% and 30c per charge, about $274 a month. Using Skool's published fees, Pro becomes the cheaper plan once member revenue passes roughly $1,270 a month. If Skool's Growth Boost brought those members in, it would take another 30% of their payments.

Skool review scores from members and owners

On the Apple App Store (US), the Skool Communities app holds 3.9 out of 5 from 792 ratings (Oct 2026). Positive App Store reviews praise how a Skool community feels cleaner and more focused than Facebook groups or Discord. On Trustpilot, recent reviews from August to October 2026 are largely negative and mostly come from members of paid groups: several describe community owners refusing refunds and Skool support being unable to force one, one says cancelling a membership was hard to find, and one owner criticizes support and a new review feature. Trustpilot notes Skool has not invited reviews, so the sample may not be representative. If you run a group on Skool, set out your own refund policy clearly, because buyers see Skool as part of the deal.

Company facts, Alex Hormozi and the Skool Games

• Skool was founded in 2019 by Sam Ovens (CEO) and Daniel Kang (CTO). Based in Los Angeles, California, with 30 employees, according to its About page.
• Alex Hormozi partnered with Skool in 2024 to create the Skool Games. The Skool Games is a competition for community owners, and several groups on the discovery page advertise themselves as past winners.
• Platforms: web, plus the Skool Communities app for iPhone and iPad (version 1.1.21, July 2026).
• Integrations: Skool's help center has no integrations section, and its About page says you don't need to integrate any tools, so plan on linking out for email and CRM work in your business.
• Payments: up to $100,000 per charge, weekly payouts, EU VAT handled by Skool as merchant of record.

What changed recently

Skool updated its payments FAQ on 29 Sep 2026, including the list of supported payout countries and the Growth Boost terms. The payment terms and policy article, which sets out the 14-day trial and no-refund rule for both plans, was updated on 19 Feb 2026.

Skool pros and cons

The pros are the simplicity, the engagement tools and the fact that payments, VAT and payouts are handled for you. The cons of Skool are mostly about cost and control:

• The Hobby plan's 10% fee gets expensive quickly once you charge members.
• No refunds on Skool's own subscription fees.
• Limited branding and design control, since every group uses the same layout.
• No built-in email marketing, funnels or website pages.
• Member complaints about refunds on paid groups can reflect on your brand.

Skool alternatives, the best alternative for each need

• Circle: pick it if you want more control over branding, spaces and community structure than Skool's fixed layout allows.
• Mighty Networks: pick it if you want communities, courses and events with branded mobile apps.
• Kajabi: pick it if courses, sales funnels, email marketing and a website matter more than the community feed.
• Thinkific: pick it if structured online courses are the core product and community is an add-on.
• Discord: pick it for a free, chat-first community when you don't need courses or built-in billing.

Verdict, should you try Skool?

Skool is worth it for creators and small businesses who want a simple community, courses and paid memberships in one place, and who value engagement tools like leaderboards over design control. Most paid communities should go straight to Pro, because the Hobby plan's 10% fee costs more once revenue passes about $1,270 a month. I would pick Kajabi or Circle instead if you need your own branded site, email marketing or more flexible layouts.