How much does Skool cost per month? The full breakdown

Owner monthly cost: $99 flat

Skool charges every community owner $99/month. Flat. There are no plan tiers, no per-seat fees, no feature unlocks at higher prices. You pay $99 whether your community has 5 members or 5,000.

The $99 includes unlimited members, unlimited posts, unlimited courses, unlimited DMs, video hosting, and Stripe Connect billing. The 14-day free trial gives you full access before the first $99 charge hits.

Annual billing isn't published as a default option, though Skool sometimes runs annual deals. Most owners run monthly because cancellation is cleaner.

Need a Skool community to begin with?

14-day free trial — no card required. Most community owners decide whether Skool fits within the first week.

Start Skool free trial →

Stripe processing fees on member payments

If you run a paid community, every member's monthly charge runs through Stripe. Standard rate in the US: 2.9% + $0.30 per successful charge. International cards add ~1%; currency conversion adds another ~1%.

These come out of the gross charge before payouts. Example: a member pays $99 → Stripe takes ~$3.17 → you net ~$95.83 → Skool's $99/mo platform fee comes out of your bank separately, not from member charges.

What members pay each month

Member-side cost depends entirely on what the owner set. Free communities cost members $0. Paid communities range from a few dollars to several hundred per month — the owner sets the price.

Members don't pay Skool directly. They pay the owner (via Stripe), and the owner pays Skool's $99 separately. There's no per-member fee from Skool to either side.

Other monthly costs to budget for

Beyond the visible fees:

• Stripe Tax if enabled: ~0.5% on top of base processing
• Stripe disputes: ~$15 per chargeback
• Currency conversion: ~1% if applicable
• Third-party tools: most operators add automation tooling — tools4skool is $0/$29/$59/$149/month
• Your time: 15–25 hours/week of manual member ops if not automated

The last one is the biggest hidden cost. Automation tooling typically pays for itself within the first week.

How $99/month compares to competitors

At a $50/mo community with 500 members ($25k/mo gross):

• Skool: $99 to platform, ~$725 to Stripe = ~$24,176 net
• Mighty Networks Business: $99 platform + 3% × $25k = ~$849 to platform = ~$23,426 net
• Patreon Pro: 8% × $25k = $2,000 to Patreon
• Substack: 10% × $25k = $2,500 to Substack

Skool's flat fee starts winning meaningfully once your community clears about $3,000–$5,000/month gross.