Skool pricing comes down to two plans for community owners: Hobby at $9 a month with a 10% transaction fee, and Pro at $99 a month with a 2.9% transaction fee, both with unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls, according to Skool's pricing page. The Skool Payments FAQ adds what that page leaves out: a 30-cent charge on every transaction on both plans, a higher Pro rate of 3.9% plus 30 cents on charges above $900, and a 30% Growth Boost commission on members that Skool's own discovery brings you, which is switched on by default.
This guide covers Skool as a place to sell a paid community: what each plan costs, how fees stack up per member, payouts, refunds, pricing models, and when Skool fits better than a membership site. For a wider comparison of membership platforms, see our Patreon alternatives guide; for designing the community itself, read how to build a community as a creator.
Skool's two plans side by side
| Plan | Plan price | Fee on the pricing page | Fee in the payments FAQ | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobby | $9 a month | 10% transaction fee | 10% plus 30 cents on every transaction | Payments FAQ |
| Pro | $99 a month | 2.9% transaction fee | 2.9% plus 30 cents up to $899; 3.9% plus 30 cents above $900 | Payments FAQ |
The FAQ's own example shows the effect at the low end: a $9 monthly membership pays out $8.4 on Pro and $7.8 on Hobby. Note that the FAQ wording sets the lower Pro rate for transactions up to $899 and the higher one above $900, which leaves prices in between undefined; if you plan to charge in that gap, ask Skool which rate applies before you launch.
Skool's payment terms and policy say both plans become recurring subscriptions after a 14-day free trial, that plan fees are non-refundable, and that if your payment method declines Skool may suspend or cancel your access without notice. A custom URL is included with Pro, transferring a group requires Pro, and when you cancel, the group is archived as read-only at the end of the billing period.
How the transaction fee really works
The payments FAQ sets several rules that change the maths more than the headline percentage does:
- Every subscription price on Skool is in US dollars, and members pay in US dollars wherever they live.
- Payouts arrive in your local currency, and Skool does not deposit US dollars outside the United States.
- Skool acts as merchant of record, adds EU VAT on top of your price and remits it, and says it does not collect UK VAT because it is registered as a virtual training business.
- Payouts run through a Stripe Express connection that Skool creates; an existing Stripe account cannot be used.
- Each charge has a ceiling, which the payments FAQ puts at $100,000.
Refund rules disagree between two Skool pages. The payments FAQ says transaction fees are non-refundable, while Skool's article on refunding a member's payment says that on a full refund, Skool's network fees and VAT are returned from Skool's balance. Partial refunds are not addressed either way, and every refund needs enough available balance to cover it. If refunds are a regular part of your offer, ask Skool how the fee is treated before you write your refund policy.
Growth Boost: the commission that stays on
Growth Boost puts your group higher in Skool's Discovery results and lets Skool run off-site ads for it. In return, Skool takes a commission only on members it brings in. The payments FAQ puts that commission at 30%, says Growth Boost is on by default, and says the cut applies to recurring charges for as long as that member's subscription stays active. Members you bring yourself carry only the normal fees.
That makes Growth Boost a lifetime cost per member rather than a one-off finder's fee, so decide on it deliberately; it can be switched off under Settings, then Discovery. Skool's Discovery FAQs add that groups need a minimum level of members, posts and activity, plus a description, about page and cover image, before they appear in Discovery, and that penalties apply for bots, spam, payments taken off-platform, poor support and an inactive owner.
A Skool fee worksheet
Fill this in with your own prices and member counts for a typical month. Each Skool rate is linked to the page it comes from; recheck them before you rely on the result.
| Line | What to enter | Formula or rate | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| A. Charges this month | Paying members renewing or joining, plus one-off course sales | Your count | Your records |
| B. Price per charge | Your membership or course price in US dollars | Your price | Your settings |
| C. Gross sales | Everything members paid before fees | A multiplied by B | Calculated |
| D. Plan fee | Your Skool subscription for the month | $9 on Hobby or $99 on Pro | Pricing page |
| E. Percentage fee | The rate for your plan and price band | C multiplied by 10%, 2.9% or 3.9% | Payments FAQ |
| F. Per-charge fee | The flat amount on each transaction | A multiplied by 30 cents | Payments FAQ |
| G. Growth Boost | Revenue from members Skool brought you | That revenue multiplied by 30%, if Growth Boost is on | Payments FAQ |
| H. Total Skool cost | What Skool takes this month | D plus E plus F plus G | Calculated |
| I. Net before tax | What reaches your payout balance | C minus H | Calculated |
To choose a plan, compare lines D and E for both. Because the 30-cent charge is the same on either plan, it cancels out, and for charges under the high-ticket band Pro becomes cheaper once your monthly gross sales exceed the plan price gap divided by the rate gap: ($99 minus $9) divided by (10% minus 2.9%), using the rates on Skool's pricing page. Work it out once with the prices current on the day you decide, and again if Skool changes them.
Pricing models, courses and price changes
Skool's guide to setting up group pricing lists five models: a free group, a subscription group billed monthly or annually with an optional 7-day free trial, freemium with one free and one paid plan, tiers made up only of paid plans, and a one-time payment for lifetime access, pop-up groups or seminars. Separately, you can sell a single course inside a free or paid group with a Buy Now price, following Skool's guide to one-time course purchases.
Raising your price only reaches new joiners: the payments FAQ says existing members are grandfathered on whatever they pay today, even if that is nothing, so test a new price on new members rather than expecting it to lift existing revenue. When you want to stop new sign-ups for a while, Skool's close doors feature blocks new members while existing members keep their access and keep being billed.
Payouts, declines and tax records
Skool's article on how Skool payouts work says payouts go to your bank automatically every Wednesday, that funds take around 8 to 14 days to become available after your first payment, and that the first payout gets extra verification before payouts settle into a 7-day rhythm. An easily missed detail sits in the same article: your group's own Skool subscription has to be active for a payout to start, and archived or payment-error groups will not initiate one. Keep your plan's card current, or your members' money sits still.
When a member's card fails, Skool's guide to checking declines shows the reason on the declined invoice, how many retries Skool has made, and a button to retry manually. It notes that Skool does not receive detailed decline reasons from banks, so the guide suggests members contact their bank directly, which it says is often quicker than contacting Skool support.
For records, Skool issues a reverse invoice for each weekly payout. Its guide to reporting Skool income explains when US creators receive a Form 1099-K and says to total the net amounts on your payout invoices, and to report income even when no form arrives. Creators elsewhere should keep the same invoices for their tax agent.
Fit checklist: Skool or a membership site?
Skool suits some creator businesses and frustrates others. Tick through these before you move members over:
- Your offer is mainly discussion, courses, events and live calls, rather than a feed of individually paywalled posts.
- You are comfortable pricing in US dollars for every member, including local ones.
- What you sell is allowed: Skool's acceptable use policy bars a long list of businesses from Skool payments, including sexually oriented content, consulting firms and business-opportunity schemes.
- You will take every payment on Skool, since payments off-platform count against you in Discovery.
- You have decided whether Growth Boost's commission is worth the members it brings.
- You can keep the Skool plan paid without gaps, because payouts pause for archived or payment-error groups.
- You are on Pro if you want member affiliates, which Skool's affiliate setup guide restricts to that plan, with owners and admins unable to refer.
- You do not depend on physical merch, tips or single paid posts, which a store or membership platform handles more directly.
Skool's growth tools are Discovery, Growth Boost and member affiliates. Paying people per view to clip and repost your content is a different model, covered in our guide to Whop Content Rewards clipping campaigns. If you also sell downloads, our digital products checklist covers that side, and more platform guides sit in the Patreon and other platforms hub.
Limitations of this guide
Prices, fees and rules here come from Skool's pricing page, help centre and legal pages as they read on 1 October 2026, and those pages do not always agree: the pricing page omits the per-transaction charge and the high-ticket rate, and two help articles treat refunded fees differently. Skool can change any of it, and its Discovery thresholds are not published, so we cannot tell you when a group will appear there. Nothing here predicts how many members a group will attract or keep.
Skool's statements about VAT and income reporting describe its own position, not your obligations. Whether you need to register for tax, and how to record payouts in another currency, depends on where you live and how your business is set up, so check with a registered tax agent or accountant.