Skool alternatives: 8 community platforms compared

Why people look for a Skool alternative

Skool keeps things simple: 2 plans ($9/month Hobby and $99/month Pro), unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls, and a 14-day free trial. Its trade-offs are mostly about money and control:

• Fees: Hobby takes 10% + 30 cents per transaction; Pro takes 2.9% + 30 cents (3.9% + 30 cents above $900)
• Growth Boost: on by default, it takes a 30% commission on recurring charges from paying members Skool brings you
• No custom domain: your group lives on skool.com; Pro only adds a custom skool.com/your-name URL
• No own Stripe account: Skool is the merchant of record
• Pro-only tools: affiliates, Zapier and webhooks need the $99 plan

Our Skool pricing guide breaks down the math. Prices below are in USD as of October 2026.

Tip: Staying on Skool? Check your Discovery settings so you aren't paying the 30% Growth Boost commission by accident.

The 8 best Skool alternatives

CommentCamp

CommentCamp gives publishers, bloggers and WordPress sites free comments and community spaces on their own website, with member levels, quests and optional Q&A and reactions. It launches with a WordPress plugin and a universal embed script, is in private early access and is built for free communities, not courses.

Disclosure: CommentCamp is our product.

• Price: $0 for site owners, free forever
• Transaction fees: none, and readers never pay
• Best for: publishers who want a gamified community on their own pages

Circle

Circle is the closest all-in-one match: courses, live streams, gamification (points, 9 levels and a leaderboard) and a custom domain on every plan, with payments through your own Stripe account.

• Price: Professional $89/month billed annually ($99 monthly), Business $199 ($219), Scale $419; 14-day free trial, no credit card
• Transaction fees: 2% on Professional, 1% on Business and Scale, 0.5% on Circle Plus, plus Stripe
• Best for: creators who want Skool's features on their own domain

Mighty Networks

Mighty Networks includes unlimited members, free Mighty-branded iOS and Android apps and payments in hundreds of local currencies on every plan. Courses, a custom domain, points, badges and basic leaderboards start on Launch; your own branded apps need Mighty Pro, from $17,000/year.

• Price: Explore $29/month billed annually ($35 monthly), Launch $79 ($95), Scale $179 ($215), Growth $354 billed annually; 14-day free trial of Growth
• Transaction fees: 5% on Explore, 2% on Launch, 1% on Scale, 0.5% on Growth, plus Stripe
• Best for: paid communities that want mobile apps

Kajabi

Kajabi bundles courses, coaching, email marketing, a website builder and a community with challenges, points, badges and a leaderboard. Plans cap products (5, 50 or unlimited) and contacts (2,500, 25,000 or 100,000).

• Price: Basic $143/month billed annually ($179 monthly), Growth $199 ($249), Pro $399 ($499); 14-day free trial and 30-day money-back guarantee
• Transaction fees: 0% revenue share; Kajabi Payments processing is 2.7% to 2.9% + 30 cents, and third-party processors add 0.5% to 2%
• Best for: course businesses that want site, email and community on one bill

Heartbeat

Heartbeat puts a custom domain, unlimited courses and member badges on every plan. The catch is member caps: 350 on Build and 5,000 on Grow, with admins and moderators counted.

• Price: Build $40/month billed annually ($49 monthly), Grow $124 ($149), Scale $766 ($849); 14-day free trial, no credit card
• Transaction fees: 5% on Build, 2.5% on Grow, 1.25% on Scale, plus Stripe
• Best for: smaller paid groups that want courses on their own domain

Discord

Discord servers are free and hold up to 25 million members, with chat, voice and video built in. There are no courses, and leveling needs third-party bots.

• Price: $0
• Transaction fees: 10% on Server Subscriptions and Server Shop (US creators only)
• Best for: free real-time chat communities

Discourse

Discourse is built for threaded, searchable discussion and Q&A. Its hosted Free plan, launched July 14, 2026, includes unlimited members, 2 staff seats, 10 categories and 5GB storage.

• Price: Free $0, Pro $100/month (custom domain), Business $500/month (adds points and leaderboards); self-hosting from about $6/month for a 1GB DigitalOcean server
• Transaction fees: none listed; the official Subscriptions plugin uses your own Stripe account
• Best for: searchable forums and Q&A

Bettermode

Bettermode is built for brand and customer communities, with a custom domain, badges and leaderboards on every plan. It doesn't process payments and retired its free plan in January 2026.

• Price: Starter $149/month billed yearly ($199 monthly) for up to 10,000 members; Growth $1,500/month yearly ($1,750 monthly); 14-day free trial
• Transaction fees: none, since there are no payments
• Best for: SaaS and brand customer hubs

Skool alternatives compared

What 100 members at $20/month costs

Monthly totals for $2,000/month in revenue on monthly billing, including Stripe's 2.9% + 30 cents ($88/month) where the platform uses it:

• Skool Pro: $99 + $88 Skool fees = $187
• Mighty Networks Launch: $95 + $40 fee + $88 Stripe = $223 ($207 billed annually)
• Circle Professional: $99 + $40 fee + $88 Stripe = $227 ($217 billed annually)
• Heartbeat Build: $49 + $100 fee + $88 Stripe = $237
• Skool Hobby: $9 + $230 Skool fees = $239
• Kajabi Basic: $179 + $88 Kajabi Payments processing = $267 ($231 billed annually)

Note: At this size, Skool Pro is the cheapest course platform here, so switch for features, not fees. Skool vs Circle vs Mighty Networks compares the big 3 head to head.

Which alternative fits your reason for switching

• A free community on your own site: CommentCamp
• Your own domain: Circle, Heartbeat, Kajabi and Bettermode on every plan, Mighty Networks from Launch, Discourse from Pro
• Courses: Circle, Mighty Networks (from Launch), Kajabi or Heartbeat
• Gamification: CommentCamp's levels and quests for free, or Circle's points, 9 levels and leaderboard on every plan

The best free Skool alternative

CommentCamp is the best free Skool alternative for a blog or publication, with the community on your own site. Join the early-access waitlist.

Circle, Mighty Networks, Kajabi, Heartbeat and Bettermode have no free plan. For $0, Discord covers real-time chat and Discourse's hosted Free plan gives you a forum with unlimited members and 5GB of storage; more options are in free community platforms.