Skool Games (2026): How They Work and Should Coaches Join?
The Skool Games are Skool's community-growth challenge: owners of paid Skool groups compete on how much they grow their monthly recurring revenue (MRR), tracked on MRR leaderboards with monthly growth milestones and status tiers. They suit a coach whose main offer is a paid monthly community sold through Skool Payments. They do little for a coach whose income comes from 1:1 sessions, packages or programs sold somewhere else, because the Skool Games can only measure revenue that flows through Skool.
We make Coachful, a coaching platform that competes with Skool for some of the same coaches, so weigh our view with that in mind. Skool facts here come from Skool's pricing page and help center as listed in October 2026, from text inside Skool's own app that we read in October 2026, and from our September 2026 research profile where marked. We have not played the Skool Games ourselves, and nothing here claims hands-on testing. Where the rules are not published, we say so.
What is the short verdict on the Skool Games?
Join the Skool Games if a paid community is your business and you want a public scoreboard to push you; skip them if your coaching revenue lives in private client work. The Games reward one thing, recurring revenue growth inside Skool, and that is a narrow slice of most coaching businesses.
- Who it suits: coaches running a membership community at a monthly price, who already sell through Skool Payments and like competition, leaderboards and a public target.
- Who should skip: coaches who sell 1:1 sessions, high-ticket packages, agreements and multi-week programs with habits and check-ins, or who take payments through Stripe, PayPal or invoices outside Skool.
- Public rating: Skool holds 1.6 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 54 reviews, as seen on October 25, 2026. That rating covers Skool as a company, not the Games specifically. Our September 2026 profile also found Skool was not listed on G2 or Capterra.
If your practice is mostly private clients, a platform built around the client journey will serve you better than a revenue contest. That is the gap Coachful fills: booking, agreements, payments, programs with habits and check-ins, a website and email, and a client app in your branding, all included in your Coachful membership.
What exactly are the Skool Games?
The Skool Games are a recurring challenge inside Skool in which group owners try to grow their community's MRR and are ranked against each other. Skool's app text describes MRR leaderboards, monthly growth milestones with a countdown ("days left to hit" a growth target), and a Platinum status for owners who hit an MRR threshold, with the line "join a secret club".
Some details are visible in the product and some are not. Here is what we could confirm from Skool's own interface text in October 2026:
- MRR is the score. Labels such as "MRR growth", "New MRR", "MRR Retention" and "See MRR leaderboards" appear in the app, alongside "Grow your MRR to level up".
- Milestones run monthly. Messages read "You hit this month's milestone!" and count down the days left to reach a growth target.
- Staying in requires growth. One line reads "Meet the MRR growth milestones to remain a member", which suggests participation in at least part of the program depends on hitting targets.
- Skool credits its own traffic. A dashboard message reports how many members and how much new MRR "Skool sent you" in the last 30 days, which ties the Games to Skool's Discovery directory.
- Alex Hormozi is part of the story. Skool's app text includes "The platform to execute Hormozi's models in the real world" and references to Hormozi offers. The Games are widely associated with the business author Alex Hormozi's involvement with Skool.
What we could not confirm on a public page: the current prize list, the exact eligibility rules, how ties or refunds are handled, and whether rules differ by plan. Skool publishes these inside its own community spaces rather than on a public rules page we could read, and they have changed over time. Read the current rules inside Skool before you plan a launch around them, and treat any prize you see in a social media post as something to verify.
How do the Skool Games work in practice?
In practice, you open a paid Skool group, charge members a recurring price through Skool Payments, and try to raise that recurring revenue month over month while the leaderboard tracks you. Everything else, from content to calls, is a means to that number.
A typical loop looks like this:
- Create a group on Skool's Hobby or Pro plan. Each community is a separate subscription.
- Set a paid membership through Skool Payments, the only processor Skool supports.
- Fill the classroom with courses, schedule live calls in the calendar, and post in the feed to keep members active. Points, levels and leaderboards reward member activity.
- Acquire members from your own audience, from affiliates, and from Skool's Discovery directory.
- Watch your MRR on the dashboard and the leaderboards, and push to hit the month's milestone.
The important consequence: Skool can only see revenue that runs through Skool Payments. A coaching package you sell through a booking page elsewhere, a corporate contract paid by invoice, or a program sold on another checkout does not count toward your Skool Games standing. If you are tempted to move all of your offers into Skool to score higher, weigh that against the fees and the missing coaching tools covered below.
What does Skool do for each part of a coaching business?
Skool is a strong community and classroom tool with simple pricing and real discovery value; it is thin on 1:1 client work, marketing assets and payment choice. Here is how it covers each job a coaching business needs done.
Marketing
Skool's marketing strength is Discovery, the public directory where people browse and join groups, and the Games feed that by ranking active, growing communities. You also get a custom URL and an affiliate program on both plans. What Skool does not give you, per our September 2026 profile and the packet's vendor notes: a custom-domain website, sales funnels, email automation or a public API. Your group's About page is your landing page.
Selling
Selling happens through Skool Payments only, with monthly or annual memberships. Skool lists fees of 10% + 30¢ on all transactions for Hobby, and 2.9% + 30¢ up to $899 (3.9% + 30¢ above $900) for Pro. Skool's help center states these fees are non-refundable, and payouts arrive weekly on Wednesdays in local currency. There is no PayPal, no invoicing and no contract step.
Delivery
Delivery is where Skool earns its reputation: a community feed, a classroom for courses with unlocks by level or purchase, and a calendar for live calls, all in one group. Gamification (points, levels, leaderboards) keeps members posting. The limit is that delivery is one-to-many. There are no per-client programs, daily tasks, habits or check-ins, and no private client records with intake answers and notes.
Client experience
Members get a consistent, simple interface and a mobile app. Our September 2026 profile recorded app store ratings of 4.1 on Google Play from 6,099 ratings and 3.8 on the App Store from 714. Every group looks the same, which keeps things easy for members but means you cannot present your own brand beyond your group's name, images and content.
Admin
Admin is light because there is little to configure. The trade-off is data portability: our September 2026 profile found that member export is a CSV of name, email, join date and membership answers, while posts, DMs and course progress are not exportable. If you build a large community during the Games and later want to leave, plan for that. Our guide on how to migrate from Skool walks through it.
| Tool | Marketing | Selling | Delivery | Client experience | Admin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coachful | Website with blog and custom domain, funnels, email sequences, social planner, Instagram automations | Your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay; subscriptions, payment plans, coupons, 0% platform fee | Programs with habits and check-ins, courses, community, group calls, 1:1 booking | One app in your branding for sessions, programs, courses and community | Client records, agreements with e-signature, invoices, ICF hour tracking, full ZIP export |
| Skool | Discovery directory, custom URL, affiliates; no website, funnels or email automation | Skool Payments only; 10% + 30¢ on Hobby, 2.9% + 30¢ on Pro | Community feed, classroom, calendar, gamification | Simple, uniform group interface and mobile app | Members CSV export; no client records, intake forms or contracts |
How much does it cost to play the Skool Games?
Playing requires a paid Skool group: Hobby at $9 a month or Pro at $99 a month as listed in October 2026, plus Skool's transaction fees on every sale. Yearly billing is advertised as "2 months free!", which our September 2026 profile recorded as $90 a year for Hobby and $990 a year for Pro.
| Plan | Monthly | Annual, per month | Fee on sales | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coachful | Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients | Monthly plans cancel in one click | 0% platform fee; Stripe or Razorpay processing only | Flat plans; unlimited clients on Pro (Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients); team plans add seats; a free trial |
| Skool Hobby | $9 | $7.50 | 10% + 30¢ on all transactions | Unlimited members, courses, videos, live calls; custom URL, affiliates |
| Skool Pro | $99 | $82.50 | 2.9% + 30¢ up to $899; 3.9% + 30¢ above $900 | Same features as Hobby with lower fees |
Skool shows "TRY FOR FREE" buttons, but the trial length and card requirement were not stated on the pricing page or the help FAQ in October 2026. Each community is billed as a separate subscription, so two groups means two plans.
Which Skool plan makes sense for the Games?
Pro becomes cheaper than Hobby once your community collects about $1,270 a month. Here is the math, using Skool's listed fees. Hobby costs $9 plus 10% of revenue; Pro costs $99 plus 2.9% of revenue (the 30¢ per transaction is the same on both, so it cancels out). The two meet where 7.1% of revenue equals $90, which is roughly $1,268 of monthly revenue.
An illustrative example: a group charging $49 a month with 40 members brings in $1,960 a month. On Hobby, Skool keeps $9 plus $196 plus $12 in per-transaction fees, $217 in total. On Pro, Skool keeps $99 plus about $56.84 plus $12, about $167.84. These are example numbers; plug in your own price and member count. Our Skool pricing breakdown covers more scenarios.
Because the Games push you to grow MRR, most serious players will cross that line quickly. Budget for Pro from the start if you plan to compete.
What do public reviewers praise and complain about?
Public reviewers split sharply: people who use Skool inside the app tend to praise its simplicity and engagement, while the Trustpilot page is dominated by billing and support complaints. Trustpilot shows 1.6 out of 5 from 54 reviews as seen on October 25, 2026, up from 51 reviews at 1.7 in our September 2026 profile. Reviews are about Skool generally, not the Games alone.
What reviewers praise
- Simplicity. Owners and members say they can learn Skool in minutes. Every group looks the same, so members who know one group know them all.
- Low entry price. At $9 a month with unlimited members, Hobby is one of the cheapest ways to open a paid group.
- Engagement mechanics. Points, levels and leaderboards get members posting, and level-based lesson unlocks give people a reason to participate. The Games extend the same idea to owners.
- The mobile app. The app store ratings noted above are far more positive than the Trustpilot score, which suggests the in-app experience lands better than the billing side.
What reviewers complain about
- Unexpected charges. Several Trustpilot reviewers describe charges they say they did not authorize.
- A hard-to-find cancellation flow. Reviewers describe the path to cancel a group or membership as hidden or confusing.
- Slow or absent support. A recurring complaint is that support responses are slow or missing, especially on billing disputes.
- Low-quality groups on Discovery. Some reviewers report joining groups through Discovery that promised income and did not deliver, and feel Skool should police them more.
That last point matters for the Games. A contest that ranks owners by revenue growth rewards aggressive selling, and some reviewers feel the directory already surfaces too many "make money" groups. If you coach in a field where trust is everything, think about whose company your community keeps on the leaderboard.
What are the pros and cons of the Skool Games for coaches?
The main pro is focus: a public target and a community of owners pushing toward it. The main con is that the target counts only Skool revenue, which pulls coaches toward a community-first model that may not fit how they deliver results.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| A clear monthly growth target with a countdown and leaderboard | Only revenue through Skool Payments counts; 1:1 and off-platform sales are invisible |
| Possible extra members from Skool's Discovery directory | Prize and eligibility rules are not on a public page and change over time |
| Community, classroom and calendar in one simple group | No per-client programs, habits, check-ins, intake forms or client records |
| Low entry price and unlimited members on both plans | Transaction fees on both plans (10% + 30¢ on Hobby); fees are non-refundable |
| Gamification that keeps members active | No website, funnels, email automation, contracts or invoices |
| Learning from other owners chasing the same metric | Members CSV is the only export; posts, DMs and course progress stay behind (September 2026 profile) |
Who are the Skool Games best for, and who should skip them?
The Skool Games fit coaches whose product is the community itself, sold at a recurring price to many members. They fit poorly when the product is a transformation delivered one client at a time.
Good fits
- Membership communities at a monthly price, such as an accountability group, a skill community or a mastermind with a recurring fee.
- Coaches with an audience already, who can bring members in quickly and want a scoreboard to keep momentum.
- Group coaches who teach through courses and weekly calls, without needing private plans per member.
Poor fits
- 1:1 coaches who need booking pages, calendar sync, reminders and paid sessions. Skool has a group calendar, not a 1:1 booking system.
- Program coaches whose results depend on daily habits, check-ins and goals tracked per client. See our list of Skool alternatives with 1:1 coaching.
- Coaches who need agreements and invoices, for example executive and business coaches paid by companies.
- Coaches who want payment choice, such as their own Stripe account, Razorpay or PayPal. Our roundup of Skool alternatives with more payment options covers this.
- Health and wellness coaches who want a brand that feels calm and trustworthy rather than a leaderboard next to income-promise groups. Coaching is not treatment on any of these platforms; if a client describes symptoms, disordered eating, or a mental health crisis, refer them to a licensed professional.
What are the best alternatives to the Skool Games for coaches?
If the Games are not right for you, the real question is which platform runs your whole coaching business, not which contest to enter. We rank on four criteria that matter to coaches: one login for the whole client journey, delivery between sessions, total stack cost, and setup effort (including a free white-glove build).
| Rank and tool | Best for | Entry price, as listed October 2026 | Platform fee on sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coachful | Coaches running 1:1, programs and a community in one branded place | Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients | 0%; Stripe or Razorpay processing only |
| 2. Kajabi | Course and info-product businesses with a website and email | Basic $179/mo ($143/mo annual) | Kajabi Payments 2.7% to 2.9% + $0.30; extra 0.5% to 2% with other processors |
| 3. Circle | Branded communities with courses and events | Professional $89/mo billed annually | 0.5% to 2% plus Stripe processing |
| 4. Mighty Networks | Communities with courses, events and livestreams | Launch $95/mo ($79/mo annual) | 0.5% to 2% plus Stripe processing |
| 5. Systeme.io | Low-cost funnels, email and courses | Free plan; Startup $17/mo | 0%; Stripe or PayPal processing only |
1. Coachful
Coachful is a coaching platform where one subscription covers booking, payments, coaching agreements, program delivery with habits and check-ins, courses, a community, a website with funnels and email, and an AI assistant. Coaches use one login; clients use one app in the coach's branding. It is built for coaches who deliver programs, not just sessions, for solo coaches growing into a small team, and for coaches replacing four to six tools. Current plans: 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.
Where Skool gives you a group, Coachful gives you the whole client journey. Booking pages handle availability rules, buffers, minimum notice and time-zone detection, with two-way Google, Apple/iCloud and Outlook calendar sync and built-in video or auto-created Zoom, Meet or Teams links. Email reminders go out automatically, plus SMS 24 hours before and WhatsApp one hour before once messaging is enabled. Read more on our scheduling software page.
Coaching agreements with e-signature go out before the first call and are stored on the client record, alongside goals, check-ins, habits, notes, intake answers, tags, payments and sessions. Each client shows a status of thriving, active, quiet or at risk, so you see who needs a nudge. Our coaching contracts page explains the agreement flow.
Programs are the core: multi-week programs with weekly goals, daily tasks, habits, morning and evening check-ins, goals with progress bars and streaks. When a client enrolls in a program, Coachful creates a cohort group automatically, so the community part Skool is known for is there too, with a feed, group chat, direct messages, video events, group calls and webinars. Here is a short walkthrough of how programs work:
Payments run through your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account, with one-time payments, subscriptions, payment plans, order bumps, coupons, refunds, Apple Pay and Google Pay, and Stripe Tax. Coachful charges a 0% platform fee (since August 2026); you pay only Stripe or Razorpay processing. That is the clearest difference from Skool's per-transaction fees.
For marketing, the section-based website builder includes a blog, custom domain, SEO settings, 30 designed homepage templates and an Import website option. Booking, application, lead-magnet and checkout funnels support pixels and UTM tracking, and email lists, broadcasts and multi-step sequences handle follow-up. See the coach website builder page for more.
Michelle, the built-in AI assistant, works from your live practice data: it builds programs, drafts emails and content, summarizes recorded sessions and briefs you before sessions. Questions and planning are included in your Coachful membership; confirmed builds and changes use AI credits.
Why Coachful stands out: a free white-glove service. From Create, a coach can ask the Coachful team to build a website, funnel, sales page, program, course outline, email sequence, form, lead quiz or event inside their own account, usually within about 24 hours, attaching up to 8 reference links and up to 10 files. Nothing gets invented: no fake credentials, testimonials or prices, and gaps are left for you to fill. One recent example: a somatic coach leaving Kajabi had the homepage and About page rebuilt and the contact form connected. Another: a real-estate and money coach got a year-long cohort program with an application form, an eight-page site and a free nine-day bootcamp funnel. It does not include recording videos, logo design, ad management or ongoing marketing. Read the details in our white-glove service guide.
What Coachful does not do: it is not HIPAA-certified and is not for clinical records or insurance billing; it has no PayPal and no permanent free plan; the client app ships under the Coachful listing with your branding, not under your own App Store account; and it is not a course marketplace with a public directory like Skool's Discovery. If discovery traffic is the main reason you want Skool, that is a real trade-off.
How to start: open a free trial, request the free white-glove build for your site or first program, and your clients, programs and content are imported for you during onboarding. Compare the two directly on our Coachful vs Skool page.
2. Kajabi
Kajabi is a course, community, website, funnel and email platform for selling knowledge products. As listed in October 2026, Basic costs $179 a month ($143 annual) with 5 products, 2,500 contacts, 1 community and 0 AI credits; Growth is $249 ($199 annual); Pro is $499 ($399 annual). Kajabi Payments in the US charges 2.7% to 2.9% + $0.30 depending on plan, and other processors (excluding PayPal) add a 0.5% to 2% Kajabi fee. The standard trial is 14 days. Trustpilot shows 3.4 from 2,347 reviews as seen on October 25, 2026.
Kajabi gives you the website, funnels and email that Skool lacks, but coaching there is products and communities rather than per-client plans, with no habit tracking or daily check-ins. Our Kajabi vs Skool comparison goes deeper. Pick it over Coachful if you mainly sell courses and digital products at volume and rarely run private client programs.
3. Circle
Circle is a community platform with courses, events, live streams and paid memberships. As listed in October 2026, Professional is $89 a month billed annually, Business $199 and Scale $419, with a 14-day trial and no card required. Circle takes 2% on Professional, 1% on Business and Scale, and 0.5% on Circle Plus, plus Stripe processing. Trustpilot shows 4.1 from 129 reviews as seen on October 25, 2026.
Circle offers more branding and structure than Skool but no 1:1 scheduling, client back office or per-client habits and check-ins, and branded mobile apps only on custom-priced Circle Plus. See Skool vs Circle. Pick it over Coachful if your business is a large community with many spaces and moderators and you do not need booking or client programs.
4. Mighty Networks
Mighty Networks combines community, courses and events with Mighty-branded member apps. As listed in October 2026, Launch is $95 a month ($79 annual) and Scale is $215 ($179 annual), with a 14-day trial and no card required. Its platform fee is 2% on Launch, 1% on Scale and 0.5% on Growth and Mighty Pro, plus Stripe processing. Trustpilot shows 3.3 from 219 reviews as seen on October 25, 2026.
It has livestreams and events Skool members will recognise, but no 1:1 scheduling, invoicing or contracts, and own-branded apps only on custom-priced Mighty Pro. Our Skool vs Mighty Networks article compares them. Pick it over Coachful if you want livestream-heavy community events and a member app, and your coaching is entirely group-based.
5. Systeme.io
Systeme.io is a low-cost marketing suite with funnels, email, courses, community, a blog and an affiliate program. As listed in October 2026, its Free plan covers 2,000 contacts, 3 funnels and 1 course; Startup is $17 a month, Webinar $47 and Unlimited $97, with 0% transaction fees on every plan. Trustpilot shows 4.9 from 8,696 reviews as seen on October 25, 2026.
It fixes Skool's missing funnels and email for very little money, but community and course features are basic and there is no native 1:1 scheduling with client records, habits or check-ins (September 2026 profile). See Skool vs Systeme.io. Pick it over Coachful if your budget is close to zero and your priority is a funnel and email list before any client delivery.
How would a coach run a Skool-style challenge outside Skool?
You can keep the parts of the Skool Games that work, a public goal, a community and a monthly rhythm, without tying your score to one payment processor. The difference is that your scoreboard measures client results, not only MRR.
Here is how that looks in Coachful, step by step:
- Build a monthly program with weekly goals, daily tasks and habits. Start from one of more than 40 ready-to-film program templates.
- Turn on morning and evening check-ins so every member reports progress between calls.
- Sell it as a subscription or payment plan through your own Stripe or Razorpay account, with a checkout funnel and a coupon for founding members.
- Let enrollment create the cohort group automatically, then run weekly group calls and a community feed.
- Offer 1:1 sessions as an upgrade with paid sessions or session credits on your booking page.
- Watch client status (thriving, active, quiet, at risk) and streaks, and reach out to quiet members before they cancel.
Our guide to hosting client masterminds without Skool covers the group side in more detail, and the group coaching software page shows the features involved.
So, should a coach join the Skool Games?
Join if a recurring-price community is your core product, you already sell through Skool, and a leaderboard will make you work harder; budget for the Pro plan once you pass about $1,270 a month. Skip if your coaching depends on 1:1 sessions, agreements, programs with habits and check-ins, your own payment account or a branded website, because the Games will not measure that work and Skool will not support it.
Be clear-eyed about what is uncertain. Skool does not publish the full Games rules and prizes on a public page we could read, and they have changed over time. Its Trustpilot rating is low (1.6 from 54 reviews as seen on October 25, 2026), driven by billing and support complaints. And because posts, DMs and course progress were not exportable in our September 2026 profile, a community built to win the Games is hard to move later.
For most coaches, the better bet is a platform that runs the whole practice, with community as one part of it. That is what we built Coachful to do, and our full Skool review lays out the wider comparison.
Frequently asked questions about the Skool Games
What are the Skool Games?
The Skool Games are Skool's challenge for owners of paid Skool groups, ranked on growth in monthly recurring revenue. Skool's app shows MRR leaderboards, monthly growth milestones with a countdown, and a Platinum status for owners who hit an MRR threshold.
Do I need a paid Skool plan to join the Skool Games?
Yes, in practice. The score is MRR collected through Skool Payments, so you need a paid group on Hobby ($9 a month) or Pro ($99 a month) as listed in October 2026, and every sale carries Skool's transaction fee.
What are the Skool Games prizes?
We could not confirm the current prize list on a public page in October 2026. Skool shares Games details inside its own community spaces and has changed them over time, so read the current rules inside Skool and verify any prize claim you see on social media.
Does revenue from outside Skool count toward the Skool Games?
No. Skool only processes payments through Skool Payments, so it can only measure revenue collected there. Coaching packages, invoices or programs sold on other platforms are invisible to the leaderboard.
Is Hobby or Pro better for the Skool Games?
Pro becomes cheaper than Hobby at about $1,268 of monthly revenue, based on Skool's listed fees (10% + 30¢ on Hobby versus $99 plus 2.9% + 30¢ on Pro). Since the Games are about growing MRR, most serious players end up on Pro.
Are the Skool Games worth it for 1:1 coaches?
Usually not. Skool has no 1:1 booking system, client records, intake forms, agreements, habits or check-ins, and your private coaching income would not count toward the Games. A coaching platform such as Coachful handles 1:1 and group work together.
Can I export my community if I leave Skool after the Games?
Partly. Our September 2026 profile found Skool exports members as a CSV with name, email, join date and membership answers, but posts, DMs and course progress are not exportable. Plan your content so it also lives somewhere you control.
What is Coachful's free white-glove service?
Coachful's team builds a website, funnel, sales page, program, course outline, email sequence or similar asset inside your own account, usually within about 24 hours, at no charge on every plan. You describe what you want and attach up to 8 links and 10 files; nothing is invented, and gaps are left for you to fill.
Can Coachful run a group challenge like the Skool Games?
Coachful does not run a cross-platform revenue contest, but you can run your own challenge: a program with weekly goals, daily habits and check-ins, a cohort community created on enrollment, group calls, streaks and progress bars. You sell it through your own Stripe or Razorpay account with a 0% platform fee.
