Top 7 Skool Alternatives With More Payment Options in 2026
The best skool alternatives with more payment options let you choose your own processor, sell payment plans and subscriptions side by side, and keep the platform's cut of each sale at or near zero. Skool takes money one way only: through Skool Payments, with a per-transaction fee on both of its plans, as listed in October 2026. If you coach clients for a living rather than run a hobby group, the deciding question is simple. Where do you want your money to flow, and what do you want to pay for the privilege?
Our pick is Coachful (we make Coachful, so weigh that). It charges a 0% platform fee on sales, runs payments through your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account, and puts one-time payments, subscriptions, payment plans, coupons, order bumps, Apple Pay, Google Pay and invoices in the same place as your booking, agreements, programs and community. The other six tools below each beat Skool on payment flexibility in a specific way, and we say plainly where each one beats Coachful too.
What do coaches leaving Skool need from payment options?
Coaches leaving Skool usually need three things it does not offer: a processor they control, more ways to structure a price, and payments that connect to the client record. Skool is good at what it was built for. It gives you a community feed, a classroom, a calendar and gamified leaderboards in one group, a discovery directory, and two simple plans. Plenty of coaches run a profitable membership on it.
The friction starts when a coaching business grows past a membership. Here is what we hear from coaches who have outgrown it, set against what Skool documents:
- Processor choice. Skool lists Skool Payments as its only payment route. Payouts arrive weekly, on Wednesdays, in local currency. You cannot plug in your own Stripe account, PayPal or a regional processor such as Razorpay.
- Fees that scale with revenue. On Hobby ($9/month as listed in October 2026), Skool takes 10% + 30¢ on every transaction. On Pro ($99/month), it is 2.9% + 30¢ up to $899 and 3.9% + 30¢ above $900. Skool's help center states these fees are non-refundable. A coach selling a high-ticket program in full pays the higher tier on every one of those sales.
- Price structures beyond a membership. Coaching revenue often mixes a monthly retainer, a 12-week program paid in three instalments, single paid sessions, and a discounted bundle. A community subscription is only one of those shapes.
- Payments tied to the work. When a client misses an instalment, you want to see it next to their sessions, notes and agreement, not in a separate dashboard. Skool has no 1:1 client records, intake forms, habits or check-ins.
- Paperwork. Invoices for clients who expense coaching, a signed coaching agreement before the first call, and tax handling for international buyers.
- A front door you own. Skool has no custom-domain website, funnels or email automation, so the checkout lives inside Skool rather than on your own branded site.
If your main frustration is Skool's price list rather than its payment model, read our full breakdown in Skool pricing in 2026 first. For the wider field, including tools chosen for community features rather than payments, see our parent list of Skool alternatives for coaches.
Which Skool alternatives have the most payment options? The list at a glance
Ranking criteria: payment flexibility (processors, plans, subscriptions, invoices), platform fee on sales, one login for the whole client journey, between-session delivery, total stack cost and setup effort, including Coachful's free white-glove build.
| Rank | Tool | How it takes payments | Entry price (October 2026) | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coachful | Your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account; 0% platform fee | Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients | Coaches who sell sessions, programs and community from one place |
| 2 | Kajabi | Kajabi Payments, PayPal, or other providers with an added Kajabi fee | $179/month ($143/month annual) | Course-led businesses with a large email list |
| 3 | Systeme.io | Stripe or PayPal; 0% transaction fees | Free plan; paid from $17/month | Tight budgets that need funnels and checkout |
| 4 | Podia | Stripe or PayPal; 5% fee on Mover only | $49/month ($42/month annual) | A simple storefront with community |
| 5 | Ruzuku | Stripe or PayPal; 0% on every plan | Free plan; Core $99/month | Cohort courses sold with payment plans |
| 6 | Teachable | Teachable Payments (cards and PayPal), optional BackOffice | $39/month ($29/month annual) | Course sellers who want tax and payout admin handled |
| 7 | Stan Store | Stripe or PayPal; 0% Stan fee | $29/month ($25/month annual) | Selling paid calls and products from a link in bio |
How did we choose and rank these tools?
We started from one test: does the platform give a coach more payment options than Skool does? Every tool on this list either lets you bring your own processor, adds PayPal, removes the platform fee, or does several of those at once. Tools that only offer their own built-in processor with a higher fee than Skool Pro did not make the cut.
From there we weighted what matters to a coaching business rather than a pure course seller:
- Payment structures. One-time, subscriptions, payment plans, coupons, invoices, refunds.
- Cost of taking money. The platform fee on top of card processing, at the plan a working coach would actually use.
- Connection to the client. Whether a payment sits next to bookings, agreements and progress, or lives in a separate silo.
- What clients get between sessions. Programs, habits, check-ins, community.
- Setup effort. How much you have to build yourself before the first sale.
Vendor prices and fees come from each vendor's pricing page and help center as listed in October 2026. We did not run test purchases on these platforms; where we describe behaviour, it is what the vendor documents or what public reviewers report. Trustpilot scores are as seen in October 2026.
1. Coachful: the most complete payment setup for coaches
Coachful is a coaching platform where one subscription covers booking, payments, contracts, program delivery with habits and check-ins, courses, a community, a website with funnels and email, and an AI assistant. You get one login, and your clients get one branded app. For a coach leaving Skool over payments, the important part is that money moves through your processor and connects to everything else you do with a client.
Payments. Coachful connects to your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account. From there you can sell one-time purchases, recurring subscriptions and payment plans, add order bumps at checkout, run coupons, issue refunds, and accept Apple Pay and Google Pay. Stripe Tax is supported for coaches who sell across borders. Every transaction produces an invoice, and you can raise manual invoices for clients whose employer reimburses coaching. Since August 2026, Coachful charges a 0% platform fee on sales; you pay only Stripe's or Razorpay's processing. Razorpay matters if you coach clients in India, where it is the familiar way to pay.
Here is a short walkthrough of how invoices and payments look inside the app:
Payments attached to sessions and programs. Booking pages support paid sessions and session credits, so a client can buy a five-session pack and book against it. Availability rules, buffers, minimum notice and time-zone detection are built in, with two-way Google, Apple/iCloud and Outlook calendar sync and built-in video or auto-created Zoom, Meet and Teams links. Reminders go out by email, plus SMS 24 hours and WhatsApp one hour before, once messaging is enabled. Intake questions can be asked at booking, which means the person paying has already told you what they want help with.
Agreements before the first call. A coaching agreement with e-signature goes out before the first session and is stored on the client record. When a payment plan has a missed instalment, the agreement that set the terms is one click away. Our guide to coaching contract payment terms covers what to put in it, and the coaching contracts page shows the feature.
What clients get for their money. This is where Coachful separates from the course and community tools on this list. Multi-week programs carry weekly goals, daily tasks, habits, morning and evening check-ins, goals with progress bars and streaks. The client record pulls goals, check-ins, habits, notes, intake answers, tags, payments and sessions together and flags each client as thriving, active, quiet or at risk. Courses with modules, drip and completion tracking sit alongside downloads, videos, books, events and bundles in the client's branded home.
Community, so you do not lose what Skool did well. You get a community feed, group chat, direct messages and video events. Cohort groups are created automatically when someone enrolls in a program, so a paid group program arrives with its own space. Group calls and webinars are included in your Coachful membership.
A front door you own. The section-based website builder includes a blog, custom domain, SEO settings and 30 designed homepage templates. Booking, application, lead-magnet and checkout funnels support pixels and UTM tracking, and email lists, broadcasts and multi-step sequences handle follow-up. Michelle, the built-in AI assistant, works from your live practice data and can draft an email sequence for a new offer or brief you before a session.
Why Coachful stands out: a free white-glove service. From Create, choose "We'll build it for you · FREE" and describe what you want: a website, a checkout funnel, an offer page, a program, an email sequence and more. Attach up to 8 reference links and up to 10 files, such as your logo, brand guide or existing copy. The Coachful team builds it inside your own account, usually within about 24 hours. Nothing gets invented: no fake testimonials, credentials or prices, and gaps are left for you to fill. One recent example: a business mentor for beauty professionals received a 12-week mentorship sales page, a free start-up-guide funnel and rewritten follow-up emails. Read more in how the white-glove service works.
Limits to know. Coachful does not support PayPal. It is not HIPAA-certified, so it is not for clinical records or insurance billing. There is no permanent free plan, though there is a free trial. The client app ships under the Coachful listing with your branding rather than under your own App Store account. The affiliate program tracks links, clicks, conversions and revenue, but payouts are recorded manually rather than sent by Coachful. Coachful is also not a course marketplace, so there is no discovery directory like Skool's.
Price. Plans are flat monthly, lower plans cap the number of clients, Pro is unlimited, and team plans add coach seats (Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients; Solo: $49/month for up to 20 clients; Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients; Studio: $199/month with unlimited clients). Monthly plans cancel in one click. The full feature set for payments is on the coaching payment software page, and a head-to-head is in Coachful vs Skool.
2. Kajabi: the widest processor menu, at a price
Kajabi gives you more ways to get paid than Skool and pairs them with a full marketing stack. It is a course, community, website, funnel and email platform for selling knowledge products, and many coaches weigh it directly against Skool (see our Kajabi vs Skool breakdown).
The payment picture
You can take payments through Kajabi Payments, through PayPal, or through other providers. In the US, Kajabi Payments costs 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic, 2.8% + $0.30 on Growth and 2.7% + $0.30 on Pro. Use a provider other than Kajabi Payments or PayPal and Kajabi adds its own fee on top of that provider's: 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth, 0.5% on Pro, as listed in October 2026. So the flexibility is real, but bringing your own processor on the entry plan costs you 2% of revenue.
Plans as listed
Basic is $179/month ($143/month billed annually) with 5 products, 2,500 contacts, 1 community, 1 website, 2 admin users and 0 AI credits. Growth is $249/month ($199/month annually) with 50 products and 25,000 contacts. Pro is $499/month ($399/month annually). The standard trial is 14 days; a card is optional, and if you enter one Kajabi places an authorization hold. Some features, such as bulk contact import and some automations, stay locked until a paid plan is active. Trustpilot shows 3.4 from 2,347 reviews as of October 2026.
Where it falls short for coaches
Coaching in Kajabi is built from products and communities rather than per-client plans. There is no habit tracking or daily client check-in, so the between-session layer you would build in Coachful has to be simulated with course lessons or another tool. Basic's 5-product cap fills quickly if you sell a membership, a course, a program and two session packs.
Pick it over Coachful if PayPal is non-negotiable for your audience, you run a large email list and a catalogue of courses, and the monthly cost of Growth or Pro is small next to your revenue.
3. Systeme.io: zero fees on a free plan
Systeme.io is the cheapest way off Skool Payments. It is a low-cost marketing suite with funnels, email, courses, community, a blog and an affiliate program, and it charges 0% transaction fees on every plan, including the free one, as listed in October 2026. You connect Stripe or PayPal and pay only their processing.
What the free plan really covers
The Free plan includes 2,000 contacts, 3 funnels, 1 course, 500 students, 1 blog, 1 affiliate program, 1 custom domain, 1 automation rule and 1 email campaign. It never expires and needs no credit card. Paid plans step up to Startup at $17/month (5,000 contacts, 10 funnels, 5 courses), Webinar at $47/month and Unlimited at $97/month. Trustpilot shows 4.9 from 8,696 reviews as of October 2026.
The trade-offs for a coaching practice
The cost advantage is hard to argue with, and Systeme.io's affiliate program is built in. What you give up is the coaching layer. Our earlier profile found no native 1:1 scheduling with client records, habits or check-ins, and community and course features are basic, with no branded mobile app. A coach selling a 1:1 program would still need a booking tool, a contract tool and a way to track client progress, which brings back the multi-tool stack many coaches are trying to leave.
Pick it over Coachful if you mainly sell low-ticket courses and digital products through funnels, need PayPal, and want to spend nothing until revenue arrives.
4. Podia: a tidy storefront with PayPal and Stripe
For coaches who mostly want a clean shop, Podia is the gentlest step up from Skool. It is a storefront for courses, downloads, webinars, coaching sessions and a community, and it processes payments through Stripe and PayPal at their standard rates (2.9% + 30¢ is the standard card rate Podia cites).
Fees by plan
Mover is $49/month ($42/month annually) and carries a 5% Podia fee on sales. Shaker at $99/month ($84/month annually) and Earthquaker at $179/month ($150/month annually) drop that to 0%, as listed in October 2026. That makes Shaker the plan most coaches should compare against Skool Pro, which is the same $99 but keeps a 2.9% + 30¢ (or 3.9% + 30¢) cut. The 14-day trial needs no card or plan selection. Trustpilot shows 4.1 from 153 reviews as of October 2026.
Where you will hit walls
Email subscriber allowances are small: 100 on Mover, 500 on Shaker and 1,000 on Earthquaker. Our earlier profile found no mobile app and no native video calls, so sessions run through outside tools. There are no client habits, check-ins or per-client plans, which leaves a coach with a shop rather than a delivery system.
Pick it over Coachful if you sell a handful of products and the odd coaching session, your list is small, and you want PayPal with a very simple setup.
5. Ruzuku: payment plans with no platform cut
Ruzuku is an online course platform whose audience includes coaches alongside creatives, nonprofits, consultants and teachers. Its pricing page, as read on October 27, 2026, lists 0% transaction fees on every plan, including Free, with only Stripe or PayPal processing on top ("typically 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction").
Why it belongs on a payment-options list
Ruzuku sells one-time, subscription or membership, and payment-plan access, all at the same 0% platform fee. For a coach whose Skool group is really a cohort course, that combination covers the most common pricing shapes without a revenue share. Built-in live video meetings (up to 60 in conference mode or 250 in presentation mode) plus Zoom support, community discussions and direct messaging come on every plan.
Plans and guarantee
Free allows up to 5 students enrolled at a time and videos up to 2 GB each; email course invitations need a paid plan. Core is $99/month ($83.08/month annually) with unlimited students and courses. Pro is $199/month ($166.42/month annually) with larger video uploads and 4K streaming. There is no time-limited trial; instead there is a 30-day money-back guarantee on paid plans. Ruzuku's site shows a G2 badge of 4.4; we could not verify the review count.
The gap
Ruzuku has no booking calendar, so paid 1:1 sessions need another tool. It does not document client habits, check-ins or agreement signing, so those would come from other tools.
Pick it over Coachful if you run cohort courses that clients pay for in instalments, you need PayPal, and 1:1 booking is not part of your offer.
6. Teachable: more payment admin handled for you
Teachable suits coaches who want someone else to handle payment admin. It is a course and digital-product platform with student mobile apps, and Teachable Payments accepts cards and PayPal. An optional BackOffice service (2% to 2.8%) takes on more of the payout and tax paperwork for creators, as listed in October 2026.
Reading the fee table
Card processing through Teachable Payments is 2.9% + 30¢ for US cards and 3.9% + 30¢ for international cards. PayPal costs 3.49% + 49¢ in the US and 4.99% + 49¢ internationally. Each chargeback costs $15. On top of that, Starter ($39/month, $29/month annually) adds a 7.5% platform fee, while Builder ($89/month, $69/month annually) and Growth ($189/month, $139/month annually) charge 0%. Plan cards mention a 7-day free trial plus a 30-day guarantee. Trustpilot shows 3.3 from 1,110 reviews as of October 2026.
What coaches should weigh
Starter's 7.5% fee is close to Skool Hobby's 10%, so it only makes sense for testing. Builder is the realistic plan. Teachable has no native scheduling or calendar sync; our earlier profile found coaching calls rely on Calendly or Zoom. There are no client habits, daily check-ins or per-client plans, and Builder caps you at 10 products with 1 admin.
Pick it over Coachful if you sell courses first and coaching second, you want PayPal plus optional tax and payout admin, and a student mobile app for course content matters more than 1:1 delivery.
7. Stan Store: link-in-bio checkout for paid calls
If your clients find you on Instagram or TikTok, Stan Store turns a link in bio into a checkout. It sells digital products, courses, memberships and paid calls, takes 0% of sales ("keep 100% of every sale"), and runs payments through standard Stripe or PayPal processing, as listed in October 2026.
Two plans, one important split
Creator costs $29/month ($25/month annually) with unlimited products and customers in one store. Creator Pro costs $99/month ($79/month annually). The split matters for payment options: email marketing, upsells, discount codes and affiliates are only on Creator Pro. If you want to run a launch coupon, you are on the $99 plan. Both plans have a 14-day free trial, and the first month is charged when it ends. Trustpilot shows 4.7 from 2,205 reviews as of October 2026.
What it is not
Stan Store is not a CRM. It has no contracts, invoices or client records, no programs with client tasks, habits or check-ins, and no team seats advertised. It is a fast way to get paid, not a place to deliver coaching.
Pick it over Coachful if social media is your whole funnel, you sell small offers and paid calls, and you want PayPal with a store live in an afternoon.
How do the payment features compare side by side?
Coachful is the only tool here that combines processor choice, a 0% platform fee and a client delivery system with habits and check-ins. The others win on PayPal or on a free entry plan.
| Tool | Processors | PayPal | Platform fee on sales | Community | Client habits and check-ins | Way to start |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coachful | Your Stripe Connect or Razorpay | No | 0% | Feed, chat, DMs, events, auto cohorts | Yes | A free trial |
| Skool (baseline) | Skool Payments only | No | Hobby 10% + 30¢; Pro 2.9% + 30¢ (3.9% above $900), processing included | Yes, with leaderboards | No | Trial; length not stated |
| Kajabi | Kajabi Payments, PayPal, others | Yes | 2% / 1% / 0.5% extra on other providers (not PayPal) | Yes | No | 14-day trial |
| Systeme.io | Stripe, PayPal | Yes | 0% | Basic | No | Free plan |
| Podia | Stripe, PayPal | Yes | 5% on Mover; 0% above | Yes | No | 14-day trial |
| Ruzuku | Stripe, PayPal | Yes | 0% | Discussions and DMs | No | Free plan (5 students) |
| Teachable | Teachable Payments (cards, PayPal) | Yes | 7.5% on Starter; 0% above | Not verified | No | 7-day trial |
| Stan Store | Stripe, PayPal | Yes | 0% | Not verified | No | 14-day trial |
Payment structures matter as much as processors. Coachful documents one-time sales, subscriptions, payment plans, order bumps, coupons, refunds, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Stripe Tax, automatic invoices and manual invoices. Ruzuku documents one-time, subscription and payment-plan access. Stan Store keeps discount codes and upsells on Creator Pro. If you sell high-ticket programs in instalments, our guide to high-ticket coaching payment plans walks through the terms.
What does each option cost at 5, 15 and 40 clients?
Most of these tools do not price by client count, so the monthly plan stays flat while the platform fee grows with revenue. Coachful prices by client tier, with no cut of sales.
| Tool (plan a coach would use) | 5 clients | 15 clients | 40 clients | Platform fee on top |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coachful | Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients | Solo: $49/month for up to 20 clients | Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients | 0%; Stripe or Razorpay processing only |
| Skool Pro | $99/month | $99/month | $99/month | 2.9% + 30¢, or 3.9% + 30¢ above $900 |
| Skool Hobby | $9/month | $9/month | $9/month | 10% + 30¢ |
| Kajabi Basic | $179/month | $179/month | $179/month | Kajabi Payments rate, or +2% on other providers |
| Systeme.io | $0 (Free) | $0 (Free) | $0 (Free) | 0%; upgrade to $17/month for more courses and funnels |
| Podia Shaker | $99/month | $99/month | $99/month | 0% (Mover at $49/month adds 5%) |
| Ruzuku | $0 (Free, 5 enrolled) | $99/month (Core) | $99/month (Core) | 0% |
| Teachable Builder | $89/month | $89/month | $89/month | 0% (Starter at $39/month adds 7.5%) |
| Stan Store Creator Pro | $99/month | $99/month | $99/month | 0% |
Monthly list prices as of October 2026. Card or PayPal processing is extra on every tool except Skool, whose listed fee already includes it. The plan prices above leave out the tools you would add for booking, contracts or client tracking, which is where the totals diverge most.
An illustrative example. Suppose 15 clients each pay a hypothetical $300 a month (an example figure, not a market rate). That is $4,500 in monthly revenue. On Skool Hobby, 10% + 30¢ per payment comes to $454.50 a month in fees. On Skool Pro, 2.9% + 30¢ per payment comes to $135.00, plus the $99 plan. On Podia Mover, the 5% platform fee alone is $225 before processing; on Teachable Starter, the 7.5% fee is $337.50. On Kajabi Basic with a non-Kajabi processor, the extra 2% is $90 a month. On a 0% platform, you pay only your processor's rate. If one client pays $1,500 upfront instead, Skool Pro's higher tier applies: 3.9% + 30¢ is $58.80 on that one payment.
Taxes on digital services vary by country and state. Check with an accountant before you decide whether you need automatic tax calculation.
How would a coach leaving Skool set up payments in Coachful?
A typical move takes a few focused sessions, and the white-glove team can build much of it for you. Here is the order we suggest for a coach who runs a paid Skool community and wants to add 1:1 and program revenue.
- Export your Skool members. Skool exports members to CSV with name, email, join date and membership answers. Posts, DMs and course progress were not exportable in our earlier profile, so save anything you need. Our Skool migration guide covers the timing so members are not double-billed.
- Connect your processor. Link your own Stripe Connect account, or Razorpay if your clients are mainly in India. Turn on Apple Pay and Google Pay, and Stripe Tax if you sell internationally.
- Rebuild your offers in pricing shapes. Recreate the community membership as a subscription. Add your signature program with both a pay-in-full price and a payment plan. Add a session pack sold as session credits, and an order bump at checkout for a related course or workbook.
- Attach an agreement. Set the coaching agreement to go out before the first call, with your payment-plan and refund terms written in. Our article on payment plans and late fees has wording to adapt.
- Set up booking. Create session types with availability rules, buffers and intake questions, linked to the session credits from step 3.
- Move your community. Recreate your Skool spaces as community channels. Program enrollments will create cohort groups automatically.
- Build the program layer. Load your program with weekly goals, daily tasks, habits and morning or evening check-ins. More than 40 ready-to-film program templates help if you are starting from a blank page.
- Put a site and checkout funnel in front. Pick a homepage template, connect your domain, and add a checkout funnel with your pixel and UTM tracking.
- Plan for failed payments. Decide what happens when a card fails on a subscription or instalment. See payment retry and dunning for a workable sequence.
- Invite members with a clear switch date. Email your Skool members the new checkout link and the date their Skool subscription ends.
If steps 3, 6 and 8 feel like a week of work, send them to the white-glove team instead. From Create, pick "We'll build it for you", attach your Skool community link and your current sales page as references, and describe your offers. Clients, programs and content are also imported for you during onboarding.
What mistakes do coaches make when switching for payment options?
The most common mistake is comparing headline fees and ignoring the tools you still have to bolt on. A few others come up again and again:
- Choosing an entry plan with a fee. Podia Mover (5%), Teachable Starter (7.5%) and Skool Hobby (10%) all look cheap until you multiply the fee by a month of revenue. Run the numbers at your real sales volume.
- Forgetting PayPal subscribers. If some of your current members pay by PayPal elsewhere, check whether your new platform supports it. Coachful does not, so plan to move those clients to card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.
- Selling payment plans without written terms. A payment plan without an agreement is an argument waiting to happen. Put missed-payment, refund and pause rules in writing; our guide on default and acceleration clauses explains the options. This is not legal advice, so have a local lawyer review your agreement.
- Ignoring chargebacks. A chargeback reverses a card payment and often carries a fee (Teachable lists $15 each). A signed agreement, booking records and session notes are your evidence. See how to handle a payment dispute.
- Cancelling Skool too early. Keep the Skool group open until members have moved, so nobody loses access mid-billing cycle.
- Treating checkout as the whole system. A link-in-bio store gets you paid, but clients who pay for coaching expect sessions, progress and follow-up. Count the cost of the extra booking, contract and tracking tools.
Which Skool alternative with more payment options should you choose?
For most coaches, Coachful is the right move: it removes the platform fee, lets you use your own Stripe or Razorpay account, supports every common pricing shape from subscriptions to payment plans to session credits, and ties each payment to the client's sessions, agreement and progress. You keep a community like Skool's and add the 1:1 and program delivery that Skool lacks, with a free white-glove build to get there faster.
The others fit narrower cases. Kajabi is the choice for a course-heavy business that needs PayPal and can absorb its plan price. Systeme.io wins on cost if you sell low-ticket products through funnels. Podia and Stan Store suit simple shops, Ruzuku suits cohort courses sold in instalments, and Teachable suits course sellers who want payout and tax admin handled. For a broader look at processors themselves, see the best payment platforms for coaches.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use my own Stripe account on Skool?
No. Skool lists Skool Payments as its only payment route, as of October 2026. Fees are 10% + 30¢ per transaction on Hobby and 2.9% + 30¢ on Pro, rising to 3.9% + 30¢ above $900. Payouts arrive weekly on Wednesdays.
Does Skool support PayPal or payment plans?
Skool documents Skool Payments only, so PayPal is not an option. If you need PayPal, Kajabi, Systeme.io, Podia, Ruzuku, Teachable and Stan Store all support it. For payment plans, Coachful and Ruzuku both document them directly.
Which Skool alternative has the lowest fees?
Coachful, Systeme.io, Ruzuku and Stan Store all charge a 0% platform fee on every plan, and Podia Shaker and Teachable Builder do on their middle plans. You still pay card or PayPal processing. Systeme.io and Ruzuku also have free plans, with limits on courses or enrolled students.
Does Coachful support PayPal?
No. Coachful runs payments through your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account, with Apple Pay and Google Pay available at checkout. If many of your clients insist on PayPal, one of the other tools on this list may suit you better.
What is Coachful's free white-glove service?
It is a done-for-you build available on every plan. You describe what you need, such as a website, checkout funnel, program or email sequence, attach up to 8 links and 10 files, and the Coachful team builds it in your account, usually within about 24 hours. It does not include recording videos, logo design or ad management.
Can I keep a community like Skool's on Coachful?
Yes. Coachful includes a community feed, group chat, direct messages and video events, and creates cohort groups automatically when someone enrolls in a program. It does not have Skool's public discovery directory or leaderboards, so new members come through your own site and funnels.
Can I move my paying Skool members without double-billing them?
Yes, if you plan the switch date. Export members from Skool, set up the new subscription, invite members with a clear date, and let their Skool subscription lapse on that date. Our Skool migration guide covers the sequence.
Do I need automatic tax calculation when I sell coaching online?
It depends on where you and your clients are, and on whether you sell digital products alongside live coaching. Coachful supports Stripe Tax, and Teachable offers an optional BackOffice service. Check with an accountant about your obligations.
Is Kajabi worth it just for more payment options?
Usually not on its own. Basic costs $179/month and adds a 2% fee if you use a processor other than Kajabi Payments or PayPal. Kajabi makes sense when you also need its course catalogue, email list size and marketing tools.
Who is Coachful not a good fit for?
Coachful is not for clinical practices that need HIPAA compliance or insurance billing, coaches who must take PayPal, or anyone who wants a course marketplace. It is built for coaches who deliver sessions and programs, from solo practices to small teams. You can start with a free trial and ask the team to build your setup.
