Are there any extra costs beyond the $99?

Yes — Stripe + Skool's platform fee on member payments (around 5% of gross). No fees for member count, video bandwidth, or feature usage. Beyond the platform itself, plan for live call tools (Zoom: ~$15/mo), an email tool (often $0–$30/mo), and the automation layer (tools4skool: $0–$149/mo).

Does Skool cost more for larger communities?

The $99/mo base is flat regardless of community size. The fees on member payments scale with your revenue, but as a percentage of gross they don't increase — a $1K MRR community and a $100K MRR community both pay roughly 5% in fees. The flat base means small communities pay a higher percentage relative to revenue, large communities pay less.

Is there an annual Skool plan?

No publicly listed annual discount as of 2026. Billing is monthly. Some owners report renewal discounts on case-by-case requests, but there's no annual checkbox at signup. Plan for $99/month, every month, per community.

Can I host multiple communities for one fee?

No. Each community you own is a separate $99/mo subscription. Two communities = $198/mo, five = $495/mo. There's no volume or agency discount as of 2026. Some operators run multiple tiers within a single community using level-gating instead, which keeps the cost at $99 but constrains the membership structure.

What happens if I can't afford $99/mo?

Use the 14-day trial to test the platform. If $99 is genuinely a stretch, your community probably needs to charge enough that $99/mo is small relative to revenue — ideally under 10%. If your projected member fees can't cover $99 plus your time, the offer needs to be sharper before you launch. Free alternatives like Discord exist but trade away payments and the LMS layer.

Does Skool charge a per-member fee?

No per-seat or per-member pricing. The $99/mo is flat. The only fees that scale with members are the percentage fees on actual payments — not on member count. A community with 1,000 free members and 100 paying members pays the same base $99/mo as a community with 100 paying members.

Can I get a refund on Skool?

During the 14-day trial, cancellation = no charge. After the trial, refund policy is case-by-case. Mid-cycle refunds are usually denied (you keep access through the end of the billing period). For accidental renewals or trial mistakes, email support immediately — earlier requests are more likely to be granted.

Skool Monthly Cost: $99 Plus Fees — Here's the Real Math (2026)

On this page

The $99 base
Fees on top
Math at common MRR levels
vs other platforms
Hidden costs
Real stack cost

The $99 base — what it covers

Skool's monthly subscription is $99 per community. Billing is monthly; there's no annual discount publicly listed as of 2026. The 14-day free trial means you don't pay anything until day 15 if you keep the subscription.

What the $99 covers:

All Skool features — feed, classroom, calendar, leaderboard, members, chat.
Native iOS and Android apps.
Stripe Connect integration for member payments.
Custom domain support.
Built-in affiliate program.
Unlimited members and unlimited video bandwidth.

If you own multiple communities, you pay $99 per community separately. Two = $198/mo. There's no agency tier or volume discount.

See the pricing inside Skool itself.

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

Start Skool free trial →

Fees on top of $99

Two layers of fees apply to member payments:

Stripe processing: 2.9% + $0.30 per successful charge. Standard, unavoidable, applies to all card transactions.
Skool platform fee: a small percentage on top of Stripe — publicly described as 'small' rather than a fixed number. Modern accounts are commonly cited at around 2.9%, but it has varied over time.

So a $49/mo membership generates roughly $46–$47 in net revenue for the owner after fees. Plan for 5–6% of gross going to fees, not 3%.

There are no separate fees for video bandwidth, member count, or feature usage. The $99 base + ~5–6% on member payments is the entire cost picture.

Skool

$99/mo per community

All features
Unlimited members
14-day trial

Stripe + Skool fees

~5% of member payments

2.9% + $0.30 (Stripe)
Small Skool platform fee

tools4skool Pro

$59/mo

Multi-condition triggers
Churn Saver
Comment Miner
Pipeline

Math at common MRR levels

Per month, before any other costs (your time, ads, contractors):

30 members at $29/mo = $870 MRR. Skool $99 + ~5% fees ($43.5) = $142.5 in platform costs. Owner net: $727.5.
75 members at $49/mo = $3,675 MRR. Skool $99 + ~5% fees ($184) = $283. Owner net: $3,392.
150 members at $97/mo = $14,550 MRR. Skool $99 + ~5% fees ($728) = $827. Owner net: $13,723.
500 members at $199/mo = $99,500 MRR. Skool $99 + ~5% fees ($4,975) = $5,074. Owner net: $94,426.

The pattern: at small revenue, the $99 base dominates costs. At meaningful revenue ($5K+ MRR), Stripe + Skool's platform fee dominates and the $99 base becomes a rounding error.

How $99/mo compares to alternatives

Circle: $89–$399/mo across four tiers. Lower tiers cap features and add transaction fees.
Mighty Networks: $41–$179/mo with video bandwidth caps.
Kajabi: $149–$399/mo with broader feature set (email, funnels).
Teachable: $39–$199/mo with up to 5% transaction fees on lower tiers.
Whop: $0/mo plus 3% per transaction.

For 100+ paying members, Skool's flat $99 is one of the cheapest options after fees. For very small communities (10–20 members), Circle Basic or a free Discord is cheaper. The crossover where Skool wins on price is around $3,000 MRR.

The hidden costs people don't mention

What's not in the $99/mo:

Your own time. Manual welcome DMs, churn recovery, and comment follow-up easily consume 5–10 hours a week for a community past 100 members. At a $50/hour opportunity cost, that's $1,000–$2,000/mo of unbilled cost.
Live call infrastructure. Zoom, StreamYard, or Riverside add $15–$50/mo separately.
Email broadcasts. Skool doesn't have a native email engine, so a separate ESP (ConvertKit, Beehiiv, MailerLite) adds $0–$50/mo for community-sized lists.
Course assets. Camera, mic, editing software for video lessons.
Marketing. Ads, sponsorships, or content creation costs to acquire members.

The $99/mo gets your community live; the rest of the stack is what makes it actually run.

Real stack cost for a working Skool community

A realistic monthly stack for a Skool community at 100–500 paying members:

Skool subscription: $99/mo.
Stripe + Skool platform fees: ~5% of member revenue.
[tools4skool](/) Pro: $59/mo for the automation layer Skool doesn't ship.
Zoom Pro: $15/mo for live calls.
Email tool: $0–$30/mo (free tiers exist for small lists).
Editing tools: $20–$50/mo (Descript, Riverside, etc.).

Total platform cost: roughly $200–$250/mo plus 5% of member revenue. For a community at $10K MRR, that's about 7–8% of gross going to platform costs — competitive with any equivalent stack on Circle, Mighty, or Kajabi.

Where tools4skool earns its keep: the Kate Capelli case study — $59/mo subscription producing $4,000/mo additional revenue in two weeks (~7,000% ROI) by automating welcome and churn-recovery DMs Skool doesn't ship natively.

Stop leaving DMs, churn, and revenue on the table.

tools4skool plugs the holes Skool ships with. Free plan forever, paid tiers from $29/mo.

Book a demo →

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Frequently asked

$99/month per community for owners, with a 14-day free trial. All features are included. Plus Stripe (2.9% + $0.30) and a small Skool platform fee on member payments — roughly 5% of member revenue total in fees. Multi-community owners pay $99 per community separately; no volume discount.

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