Skool Hobby Plan in 2026: Price, Fees and What Coaches Pay

The Skool Hobby plan costs $9 a month as listed in October 2026, or about $7.50 a month if you pay yearly. It gives you the same community, classroom and calendar as the $99 Pro plan, with unlimited members, but Skool takes 10% + 30¢ of every sale you make on it. That fee is the whole story: Hobby is the cheapest way to run a free or low-revenue group, and it becomes the expensive option once you sell more than roughly $1,270 a month through Skool.

This guide is for coaches deciding whether the Skool Hobby plan is enough, when Pro pays for itself, and what you still have to buy beside Skool to run a coaching practice. We make Coachful, a coaching platform, so we also show where it fits. Every Skool figure below comes from Skool's own pricing page and help center as listed in October 2026, and the worked costs are labelled as examples.

What does the Skool Hobby plan cost in October 2026?

Hobby is $9 a month billed monthly, and Skool advertises yearly billing as "2 months free", which works out to about $90 a year (roughly $7.50 a month). Pro is $99 a month, or about $990 a year (roughly $82.50 a month).

Skool does not print the yearly totals on the pricing page itself. The annual figures here are ten months of the monthly price, which matches the "2 months free" headline and the yearly amounts Skool listed in September 2026. Here is every plan side by side.

Two things are missing from that table because Skool does not offer them: there is no permanent free plan, and there are no add-ons to buy. The pricing page shows "TRY FOR FREE" buttons, but in October 2026 neither the pricing page nor the subscriptions FAQ states how long the trial lasts or whether a card is needed. Check the sign-up screen before you start.

What do you get on Hobby, and what does Pro add?

On features, almost nothing separates the two plans. Skool's pricing page lists unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls on both, along with a custom URL and affiliates, and describes Pro as having the same features with a lower transaction fee.

That simplicity is one of the things Skool genuinely does well. Every Skool group combines three pieces:

• Community. A discussion feed where members post and talk to each other.
• Classroom. Courses made of modules and video lessons that members work through inside the group.
• Calendar. Scheduled live calls and events that members see in one place.

On top of that sits gamification, with leaderboards that reward member activity and give a group a reason to come back. Skool also has a discovery layer where people can find groups, which can bring in members you would not reach otherwise.

So the real question between Hobby and Pro is not "which features do I need?" but "how much will I sell through Skool?" If you charge nothing, Hobby gives you everything Pro does for a ninth of the price.

For the wider picture of Skool's strengths and weaknesses beyond price, see our Skool review, and for the full plan breakdown including Pro, our Skool pricing guide.

What fees does Skool charge on the Hobby plan?

On Hobby, Skool charges 10% + 30¢ on every transaction, and that fee already includes card processing. Payments run only through Skool Payments, so there is no separate Stripe or PayPal bill and no way to switch to a cheaper processor.

Here is how each type of cost works, as Skool lists it in October 2026:

• Transaction fee. Hobby: 10% + 30¢ on all transactions. Pro: 2.9% + 30¢ on transactions up to $899, and 3.9% + 30¢ above $900.
• Processing. Built into the fee above. Skool Payments is the only processor.
• Refunds. Skool's help center states that fees are non-refundable. If you refund a member, you return the full price and Skool keeps its cut.
• Payouts. Weekly, on Wednesdays, in your local currency.
• Add-ons and overages. None listed. Members, courses, videos and calls are unlimited on both plans.
• Seats. No per-admin seat pricing is listed.
• Extra groups. Each community is a separate subscription. Two groups on Hobby means two $9 plans.

The 30¢ per transaction matters more than it looks at low prices. On a $10 monthly membership, Hobby takes $1.30, which is 13% of the sale. On a $5 membership it takes 80¢, or 16%.

What does 10% + 30¢ look like on common coaching prices?

The figures above are worked examples using Skool's listed rates, before any tax that may apply in your country.

When does Pro become cheaper than Hobby?

On monthly billing, Pro becomes cheaper once you sell more than about $1,268 a month through Skool. Below that, Hobby's lower subscription wins; above it, Pro's lower percentage wins.

The maths is short. Pro costs $90 a month more than Hobby. Pro's fee on transactions up to $899 is 7.1 percentage points lower than Hobby's (10% minus 2.9%), and the 30¢ is the same on both. Divide $90 by 0.071 and you get roughly $1,268 of monthly sales. On yearly billing the gap is smaller (about $82.50 minus $7.50, so $75 a month), and the break-even drops to roughly $1,056 a month.

Two quick examples:

• A coach selling 20 memberships at $49 ($980 a month) pays about $9 + $104 = $113 on Hobby, and $99 + $34.42 = $133.42 on Pro. Hobby is still cheaper.
• The same coach at 30 memberships ($1,470 a month) pays about $9 + $156 = $165 on Hobby, and $99 + $51.63 = $150.63 on Pro. Pro now saves money.

If your sales swing around the break-even point, monthly billing keeps you free to switch. Once you are clearly above it, Pro on yearly billing is the cheaper of the two Skool options.

What does a coach actually pay at three sizes?

The subscription is the small part. At any real revenue level, the transaction fee and the tools you add beside Skool decide the total. The table below uses three illustrative coaching practices and Skool's listed rates in October 2026.

• Small: 10 members paying $29 a month, so $290 in monthly sales (10 transactions).
• Mid-size: 40 members paying $49 a month, so $1,960 in monthly sales (40 transactions).
• Larger: 100 members paying $49 a month plus two $1,500 coaching programs sold that month, so $7,900 in sales (102 transactions).

How the Skool numbers are worked out: Hobby fees are 10% of sales plus 30¢ per transaction. Pro fees are 2.9% + 30¢ on each $29 or $49 membership, and 3.9% + 30¢ on each $1,500 program because it is above $900. The larger example's Hobby fee is $790 plus $30.60 in per-transaction charges.

Look at the right-hand column. Skool has no 1:1 booking with client records, no contracts, no custom-domain website, no funnels and no email automation, so a coaching practice that runs on Skool usually pays for a scheduler such as Calendly, an e-signature tool, a site builder such as Squarespace, and an email tool such as Mailchimp or Kit. Those subscriptions sit on top of every Skool total above. Prices for those tools vary by plan, so add your own figures.

What hidden costs and gotchas come with the Hobby plan?

The biggest surprise is that the 10% fee scales with your success, not with your usage. A group that grows from $500 to $5,000 a month in sales goes from about $50 to about $500 a month in Hobby fees before the 30¢ charges, with no change in features.

Other things worth knowing before you commit:

• Fees are non-refundable. Refund a $1,500 program on Hobby and you are out $150.30 that Skool keeps.
• One processor only. Skool Payments is the only way to take money in Skool. There is no PayPal and no way to bring your own Stripe account. Our guide to Skool alternatives with more payment options covers platforms that let you choose.
• Every group is a separate plan. A free lead-generation group plus a paid client group is two subscriptions. On Pro, that is $198 a month.
• Selling off Skool avoids the fee but splits your records. Some coaches take payment elsewhere and invite buyers in manually. That works, but you then run two systems and reconcile members by hand.
• Limited data export. In September 2026, Skool let you export members to CSV (name, email, join date and membership answers), while posts, direct messages and course progress were not exportable. If you leave later, that history stays behind. Our guide to migrating from Skool shows how to plan for this.
• No 1:1 client tools. Skool has no per-client records, intake forms, habits or check-ins. Everything happens at the group level.
• No public API. Connecting Skool to your other tools is limited, which adds manual work as you grow.
• Unclear trial terms. The trial length and card requirement were not stated on the pricing page or subscriptions FAQ in October 2026.

Public reviewers have also been critical. Skool's Trustpilot score was 1.6 from 54 reviews when we checked on 25 October 2026. That is a small sample, and Skool is not listed on G2 or Capterra (as of September 2026), so it is one signal rather than a verdict.

Is the Skool Hobby plan worth it for your kind of coaching?

Hobby is worth it when your group is free or earns little, and when the group itself is the whole product. It stops being worth it when you sell more than about $1,268 a month through Skool, or when your coaching depends on 1:1 work that Skool does not handle.

If you are a 1:1 coach, the deciding issue is rarely the price. It is that you would be running your real client work in other tools anyway. Our list of Skool alternatives with 1:1 coaching goes through the options, and if you are just starting out and wondering whether a paid group is even worth building, our guide to turning a hobby into income covers the basics.

Where does Coachful fit when you outgrow the Hobby plan?

Coachful replaces Skool plus the four tools beside it for coaches whose work goes beyond a group feed. It covers the community and courses Skool does well, and adds the 1:1 side: booking, agreements, private programs with habits and check-ins, a website, email and payments through your own account.

What Coachful is, who it is for, and how to start

What it is. Coachful is a coaching platform. 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, with one login for the coach and one branded app for the client.

Who it is for. Coaches who deliver programs, not just sessions; solo coaches growing into a small team; and coaches replacing four to six separate tools.

What it does not do. Coachful is not HIPAA-certified, so it is not for clinical records or insurance billing. It does not take PayPal and has no permanent free plan. The client app ships under the Coachful listing with your branding, not under your own App Store account. It is not a course marketplace, and it has no Salesforce or HubSpot integration.

How to start. Start a free trial, then ask the Coachful team to build your site, funnel or program for you at no extra cost. 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.

How does Coachful handle the things Skool leaves out?

Booking. Booking pages with availability rules, buffers, minimum notice and time-zone detection, two-way sync with Google, Apple/iCloud and Outlook calendars, and built-in video or auto-created Zoom, Meet or Teams links. Email reminders are standard, with SMS and WhatsApp reminders once messaging is enabled. You can sell paid sessions and session credits and ask intake questions at booking. More on our scheduling software page.

Here is a short walkthrough of how scheduling works inside Coachful:

Programs with habits and check-ins. Multi-week programs carry weekly goals, daily tasks, habits, morning and evening check-ins, goals with progress bars and streaks. Each client record shows goals, check-ins, habits, notes, intake answers, payments and sessions, with a status of thriving, active, quiet or at risk. This is the between-session work that a Skool feed cannot track per person.

The check-in flows in action:

Agreements. Coaching agreements with e-signature go out before the first call and are stored on the client record. See our coaching contracts page.

Payments. Payments run through your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account: one-time sales, subscriptions, payment plans, order bumps, coupons, refunds, Apple Pay and Google Pay, and Stripe Tax, with an invoice per transaction plus manual invoices. Since August 2026 Coachful charges a 0% platform fee, so you pay only Stripe or Razorpay processing.

Community and courses. A community feed, group chat, direct messages and video events, with cohort groups created automatically when someone enrolls in a program. Courses have modules, lessons, drip and completion tracking, delivered into the client's branded home and app. See group coaching software.

Website and email. A section-based website builder with a blog, custom domain, SEO settings and 30 designed homepage templates; booking, application, lead-magnet and checkout funnels with pixel and UTM tracking; and email lists, broadcasts and multi-step sequences with triggers, delays, branching and A/B splits. More on the coach website builder.

Getting your data in and out. Clients, programs and content are imported for you during onboarding, and you can export full client data as a ZIP (roster, notes, check-ins, goals, habits, sessions and form responses) at any time.

Why Coachful stands out: a free white-glove service. On every plan, you can open Create and choose "We'll build it for you · FREE", describe what you need, and attach up to 8 reference links and up to 10 files such as logos, photos, brand guides or copy. The Coachful team then builds it inside your own account, usually within about 24 hours. That can be a website, a funnel, a sales page, a program, a course outline with written material, an email sequence, a form or a lead quiz. Nothing is 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. Read more about the free white-glove service.

For a direct feature comparison, see Coachful vs Skool.

How does the Skool Hobby plan compare with other platforms?

Among community and course platforms, Hobby has the lowest subscription of any paid plan here, but the highest transaction fee. The table compares entry plans as listed in October 2026, judged on the things that drive a coach's real cost: platform fee on sales, payment choice, and whether 1:1 client work fits in the same login.

A few notes on the alternatives, all from what each vendor lists:

• Kajabi bundles courses, community, website, funnels and email, but its Basic plan caps you at 5 products and 2,500 contacts. Our Kajabi vs Skool comparison goes deeper.
• Circle and Mighty Networks are community platforms with courses and events, closer to Skool in spirit, with a 0.5% to 2% platform fee depending on plan. Neither has 1:1 scheduling. See Skool vs Mighty Networks.
• Podia sells courses, downloads, coaching sessions and community from one storefront, with a 5% fee on Mover and 0% on higher plans. See Podia vs Skool.
• Systeme.io has a free plan and 0% transaction fees, with basic community and course features.

If cost is your main filter, our list of Skool alternatives that cost less runs the numbers across more tools.

How can you spend less on the Skool Hobby plan?

The cheapest Skool setup is the one where you pick the plan that matches your sales, pay yearly once you are sure, and keep the number of groups low.

1. Do the break-even sum every quarter. If you sell more than about $1,268 a month through Skool on monthly billing (about $1,056 on yearly), move to Pro.
2. Pay yearly once your plan is settled. Yearly billing gives two months free, about $18 a year saved on Hobby and about $198 on Pro.
3. Keep one group where you can. Each community is billed separately. Run several courses inside one group before opening a second.
4. Raise prices rather than adding cheap tiers. The 30¢ per transaction hurts most on small payments. A $5 membership loses 16% to Hobby fees; a $49 membership loses about 10.6%.
5. Bundle into fewer, larger payments. A quarterly membership is one transaction instead of three, so you pay the 30¢ once.
6. Be careful with refunds. Fees are non-refundable, so a clear sales page and a short onboarding call before high-ticket sales save money as well as goodwill.
7. Count the tools beside Skool. If you pay separately for scheduling, e-signatures, a website and email, add those to the comparison. Replacing several with one platform can save more than any Skool plan change.

Frequently asked questions about the Skool Hobby plan

How much is the Skool Hobby plan?

As listed in October 2026, the Skool Hobby plan is $9 a month on monthly billing. Yearly billing is advertised as "2 months free", which works out to about $90 a year, or roughly $7.50 a month. Each community you run needs its own plan.

What is the transaction fee on Skool Hobby?

Skool charges 10% + 30¢ on every transaction on the Hobby plan, and this includes card processing. Skool's help center states that the fees are non-refundable, so refunding a member does not return Skool's share.

What is the difference between Skool Hobby and Pro?

Skool lists the same features on both plans: unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls. The difference is price and fees: Hobby is $9 a month with a 10% + 30¢ fee, while Pro is $99 a month with 2.9% + 30¢ on transactions up to $899 and 3.9% + 30¢ above $900.

When should I upgrade from Hobby to Pro?

Upgrade when you consistently sell more than about $1,268 a month through Skool on monthly billing, or about $1,056 a month on yearly billing. Below that, Hobby costs less overall. These figures assume transactions under $900.

Does the Skool Hobby plan have a free trial?

Skool's pricing page shows "TRY FOR FREE" buttons. In October 2026, neither the pricing page nor the subscriptions FAQ stated the trial length or whether a card is required, so check the sign-up screen before you start. There is no permanent free plan.

Can I use Stripe or PayPal on the Skool Hobby plan?

No. Skool takes payments only through Skool Payments, with weekly payouts on Wednesdays in your local currency. If you need your own Stripe account, PayPal or more payment options, you would need a different platform or to sell outside Skool.

Can I book 1:1 coaching sessions with Skool Hobby?

Skool has a group calendar for live calls, but no 1:1 booking pages tied to client records, intake forms or agreements. Coaches who need it pair Skool with a separate scheduling tool, or move to a platform that includes booking, such as Coachful.

Can I export my members if I leave Skool?

In September 2026, Skool allowed a members export to CSV with name, email, join date and membership answers. Posts, direct messages and course progress were not exportable, so plan your move before you need it.

What is Coachful's free white-glove service?

On every Coachful plan, you can ask the team to build a website, funnel, sales page, program, course outline, email sequence or form for you inside your own account. You describe what you want and attach up to 8 links and 10 files, and the build is usually ready within about 24 hours. Nothing is invented; gaps are left for you to fill.

Is the Skool Hobby plan good for coaches?

It is good for coaches running a free or low-revenue community where the group is the product. It is a weaker fit for 1:1 coaches, high-ticket programs and coaches who want a branded website, email and per-client habits and check-ins, because those need extra tools or a different platform.