# Alternatives to Skool

Skool combines group discussions, courses, and a gamified points and leaderboard system in one simple community interface.

Skool ranks #6 of 7 in Community platforms, with an Alt Score of 76. It is proprietary, sold by subscription from $9/month and available on Web, iOS and Android. 13 of 13 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/skool/
Category: Community platforms

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: Creators, coaches, and experts who want a single simple platform to run a paid or free online community with courses, instead of stitching together Facebook Groups, a separate course host, and other tools.
- **What you get**: A community feed for discussions, a Classroom for hosting unlimited courses and videos, live calls/events, group chat and DMs, a points-and-levels gamification system with leaderboards, paid membership tiers, and a shared official mobile app, all under one flat monthly price.
- **How it works**: You create a group on skool.com, organize content into the feed, Classroom, and calendar, set it free or paid (with 1-3 membership tiers), and members join, post, chat, take courses, and earn points/levels for engagement; a 14-day free trial precedes billing on the $9/month Hobby or $99/month Pro plan.

## Profile

- **License**: Proprietary (verified 2026-07-17)
- **Pricing model**: Subscription (verified 2026-07-17)
- **Starts at**: $9/month (verified 2026-07-17)
- **Platforms**: Web, iOS, Android
- **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-17)

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [Circle](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/circle.md) | 93 | Proprietary | Web, Windows, macOS, iOS |
| 2 | [Mighty Networks](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/mighty-networks.md) | 89 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android |
| 3 | [Disciple](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/disciple.md) | 86 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android |
| 4 | [Discourse](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/discourse.md) | 83 | GPL-2.0 | Web, iOS, Android |
| 5 | [Hivebrite](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/hivebrite.md) | 83 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android |
| 6 | [Bettermode](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/bettermode.md) | 72 | Proprietary | Web |

Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/

## Feature comparison

Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified).

| Community platforms checklist | Skool | Circle | Mighty Networks | Disciple | Discourse | Hivebrite |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Subscription | Subscription | Subscription | Subscription | OSS + paid hosting | Subscription (enterprise, contact sales for full pricing) |
| Starts at | $9/month | $89/month | $79/month | $399/mo billed annually ($469/mo quarterly) | $100/month | $895/mo (billed annually) |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | GPL-2.0 | Proprietary |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android | Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android | Web, iOS, Android | Web, iOS, Android | Web, iOS, Android | Web, iOS, Android |
| Discussion forums / feed | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Courses / content hosting | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Partial |
| Live events / video | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Group chat / messaging | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Paid memberships / subscriptions | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Gamification (points/levels) | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | No |
| Branded mobile app | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Custom domain & branding | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Member analytics | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SSO / integrations | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Moderation tools | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| API / webhooks | Partial | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Free tier | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |

## Sources

Sources for Skool. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.

- **License**: Proprietary — <https://www.skool.com/about> (verified 2026-07-17)
  - Note: Skool is a closed-source commercial SaaS run by Skool.com, Inc.; no source code is published. No explicit copyright/proprietary-rights statement page was found (no /terms page at time of research), so
  - Quote: “Skool was founded in 2019 by Sam Ovens (CEO) and Daniel Kang (CTO). Skool has 30 employees and is based in Los Angeles, California.”
- **Pricing model**: Subscription — <https://www.skool.com/pricing> (verified 2026-07-17)
  - Note: No permanent free plan; only a 14-day free trial precedes paid monthly/annual billing.
  - Quote: “Simple pricing. Get started for $9/month with a 14-day free trial. Cancel anytime.”
- **Starts at**: $9/month — <https://www.skool.com/pricing> (verified 2026-07-17)
  - Note: Skool now offers two flat tiers: Hobby ($9/month, 10% transaction fee) and Pro ($99/month, 2.9% transaction fee). Both include unlimited members/courses/videos/live calls and a custom URL; this supers
  - Quote: “$9/month”
- **Platforms**: Web, iOS, Android — <https://apps.apple.com/us/app/skool-communities/id6447270545> (verified 2026-07-17)
  - Note: Also confirmed on Google Play (title "Skool - Apps on Google Play", https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.skool.skoolcommunities). This is one shared official app for all communities (not
  - Quote: “Skool Communities App - App Store”
- **Status**: active — <https://www.skool.com/careers> (verified 2026-07-17)
  - Note: Careers page lists open engineering/design roles and a 27-person remote team; pricing page also shows a recent product change (new two-tier Hobby/Pro pricing replacing the old flat $99 plan), indicati
  - Quote: “Open positions (all remote)”
- **Discussion forums / feed**: Yes — <https://www.skool.com/pricing> (verified 2026-07-17)
  - Note: "Set guidelines for discussion." also appears in the same page's app strings, confirming a discussion/feed feature.
  - Quote: “Post to feed”
- **Courses / content hosting**: Yes — <https://www.skool.com/pricing> (verified 2026-07-17)
  - Note: Pricing page also lists "Unlimited courses" as a plan feature for both Hobby and Pro.
  - Quote: “Classroom”
- **Live events / video**: Yes — <https://www.skool.com/pricing> (verified 2026-07-17)
  - Note: Both pricing tiers also list "Unlimited live calls" (rendered as "Unlimited" + " live calls" split across a span) as a plan feature, and app strings include "Update your app for the best call experien
  - Quote: “Go Live”
- **Group chat / messaging**: Yes — <https://www.skool.com/pricing> (verified 2026-07-17)
  - Note: App strings also include "Chats", "Chat on"/"Chat off" toggles, confirming group chat/DM functionality.
  - Quote: “Chat with members”
- **Paid memberships / subscriptions**: Yes — <https://www.skool.com/about> (verified 2026-07-17)
  - Note: Pricing page also references "2-3 paid tiers" and "Free to join with 1-2 paid upgrade tiers" for group monetization.
  - Quote: “Charge subscription memberships or 1-time course purchases”
- **Gamification (points/levels)**: Yes — <https://www.skool.com/pricing> (verified 2026-07-17)
  - Note: Also "Skool points", "Leaderboards", and "Check Level on Leaderboards" appear as app strings. Gamification is Skool's signature feature.
  - Quote: “As you gain points, you level up. Your level is shown at the bottom right of your avatar.”
- **Branded mobile app**: No — <https://www.skool.com/pricing> (verified 2026-07-17)
  - Note: Skool ships one shared "official Skool app" (Skool Communities on iOS/Android) used across all communities; there is no per-community white-label/branded app offering found on the pricing or app-store
  - Quote: “Get the official app”
- **Custom domain & branding**: Partial — <https://www.skool.com/pricing> (verified 2026-07-17)
  - Note: Both tiers include a "Custom URL" (a skool.com/yourname vanity slug claimable only on a paid plan), but no "custom domain"/CNAME or logo-upload branding terms were found anywhere in the fetched pages,
  - Quote: “Stand out with a custom URL”
- **Member analytics**: Yes — <https://www.skool.com/pricing> (verified 2026-07-17)
  - Note: App strings also reference "Active members", "Churned Members", and an "Advanced analytics" upsell bullet (rendered as "Advanced" + " analytics" split across a span), indicating a member analytics das
  - Quote: “% of active members retained after each month”
- **SSO / integrations**: Partial — <https://www.skool.com/pricing> (verified 2026-07-17)
  - Note: Zapier integration and a "Zapier integration" toggle exist, but no SSO/SAML/single-sign-on strings were found anywhere in the fetched pricing-page app strings, suggesting Skool has third-party integra
  - Quote: “Invite members by connecting Skool to over 500 tools using Zapier.”
- **Moderation tools**: Yes — <https://www.skool.com/pricing> (verified 2026-07-17)
  - Note: This describes the "Moderator" role; app strings also include "Set guidelines for discussion", "Approve/decline membership requests", and "Banned Members".
  - Quote: “Member that can help with membership requests and moderation.”
- **API / webhooks**: Partial — <https://www.skool.com/pricing> (verified 2026-07-17)
  - Note: App strings also include "API Key", "Generate new API key", and "Webhook URL" for member-invite automation, but this is a narrow, invite-focused API/webhook surface rather than a full public REST API.
  - Quote: “Invite members to your group with a simple webhook.”
- **Free tier**: No — <https://www.skool.com/pricing> (verified 2026-07-17)
  - Note: Skool has no perpetual free plan for creators, only a 14-day free trial before paid billing begins; app strings confirm "You can only claim a custom URL with a paid account. You're currently in a free
  - Quote: “Simple pricing. Get started for $9/month with a 14-day free trial. Cancel anytime.”

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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/