🔥 Skool $9 Hobby Plan vs $99 Pro Plan - 2026 Comparison

I did another comparison video with all the updates 🤗

If you're looking to start a Skool community get your free 14-day Skool trial here.

All links in this post are referral links.

Skool Hobby Plan vs Pro Plan — here's the breakdown (with the math Skool doesn't show you up front)

Just posted a full comparison video going through both plan comparison screens on Skool. Wanted to share the key things here too because a few of these surprised me when I first found them.

The big one nobody talks about:

It's not just 10% vs 2.9% transaction fees. There's also a 30 cent per transaction fee that isn't listed on the comparison screen. So if you're running a $1 community, on the Pro plan you're actually getting about 67 cents back per member. On 1,000 members paying $1 that's around $670 — not $1,000. Worth knowing before you set your pricing.

The financial tipping point:

Once you're bringing in around $1,200 a month from your community or courses, the fee savings from Pro roughly cover the cost of the plan. Before that, the Hobby plan at $9/month (or even cheaper annually) is honestly a solid place to start.

What you're actually giving up on Hobby:

* Webinars (one-to-many broadcasting with guests — Pro only)

* Affiliate program for your members (Pro only)

* Unlimited admins and moderators (Hobby caps you at one)

* Custom URL

* Auto DMs (this one I'd say is the biggest loss if you care about onboarding)

* Sidebar links

* Advanced analytics (blurred on Hobby)

* Suggested community ads shown to your members (competitors can show up there)

What I personally stay on Pro for:

Honestly it comes down to three things — the custom URL (skool.com/educate looks way cleaner than the default), the auto DMs for onboarding new members, and the sidebar links. That's it. The affiliate program and webinars are nice but I don't use them as much.

One underrated use for the Hobby plan:

You can use it as a blog. Public community, turn off posting permissions for members, use the classroom or posts for your own content. No servers to manage, no setup headaches, $9/month. If you're just getting started with content and want a home for it before you build a full community, this is actually a smart way to go.

If you have questions drop them here or in the video comments. Happy to help.

And if you're starting a new community, please consider using my referral link — you get 14 days free. Let me know if you use it and I'll send you some extras.

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