The two fees on Skool
Every Skool community pays two things, as listed on Skool's pricing page:
- A subscription: $9 a month on Hobby, $99 a month on Pro. Billed yearly, the page shows $7.50 and $82 a month, with "2 months free!".
- A transaction fee on each sale: 10% on Hobby, 2.9% on Pro.
Both plans include unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls. Pro adds a custom URL and affiliates, which are crossed out on Hobby.
What the pricing page does not say
Two details are missing from Skool's pricing page as of October 22, 2026:
- No fixed amount per payment is shown. Some third-party articles mention one. We did not find it on the pricing page, so we do not count it here.
- It does not say whether card processing is included in the 10% or 2.9%, or charged on top.
In every example below, we count only what Skool shows: subscription plus percentage. If your payout statements show more, add the difference.
Example 1: $1,000 of sales in a month
Picture 20 members paying $50 each.
| Skool Hobby | Skool Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | $9.00 | $99.00 |
| Transaction fee | $100.00 (10%) | $29.00 (2.9%) |
| Total paid to Skool | $109.00 | $128.00 |
| You keep | $891.00 | $872.00 |
| Effective rate | 10.9% | 12.8% |
At $1,000, Hobby is the better deal by $19, because Pro's $99 subscription outweighs its lower percentage.
Example 2: $5,000 of sales in a month
Picture 100 members paying $50 each.
| Skool Hobby | Skool Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | $9.00 | $99.00 |
| Transaction fee | $500.00 (10%) | $145.00 (2.9%) |
| Total paid to Skool | $509.00 | $244.00 |
| You keep | $4,491.00 | $4,756.00 |
| Effective rate | 10.18% | 4.88% |
At $5,000, staying on Hobby costs $265 a month more than Pro, or $3,180 a year. The switch point is $1,267.61 of monthly sales; the full calculation is in Skool Hobby vs Pro.
Your effective Skool rate at each revenue level
Total paid to Skool divided by your sales:
| Sales per month | Hobby | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| $200 | 14.5% ($29) | 52.4% ($104.80) |
| $500 | 11.8% ($59) | 22.7% ($113.50) |
| $1,000 | 10.9% ($109) | 12.8% ($128) |
| $5,000 | 10.18% ($509) | 4.88% ($244) |
| $10,000 | 10.09% ($1,009) | 3.89% ($389) |
Hobby never drops below 10%, however much you sell. Pro keeps falling toward 2.9% as the $99 is spread over more sales.
Yearly billing: what it saves
"2 months free" means paying for 10 months instead of 12. By our math that saves $18 a year on Hobby (2 × $9) and $198 a year on Pro (2 × $99). It does not change the 10% or 2.9%, which is where most of the money goes once you sell more than a few hundred dollars a month.
Skool fees vs Learnea fees at $1,000 and $5,000
Learnea works differently: a lower commission than Skool Hobby (5% on Starter, 2% on Pro), but Stripe's card fees of 2.9% + 30¢ per payment come on top. Same examples, same $50 payments:
| Skool Hobby | Skool Pro | Learnea Starter | Learnea Pro | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subscription | $9 | $99 | $29 | $79 |
| Platform cut on $1,000 | $100 | $29 | $50 | $20 |
| Stripe on $1,000 (2.9% + 20 × 30¢) | not shown by Skool | not shown by Skool | $35 | $35 |
| You keep on $1,000 | $891 | $872 | $886 | $866 |
| Platform cut on $5,000 | $500 | $145 | $250 | $100 |
| Stripe on $5,000 (2.9% + 100 × 30¢) | not shown by Skool | not shown by Skool | $175 | $175 |
| You keep on $5,000 | $4,491 | $4,756 | $4,546 | $4,646 |
Read honestly: at $1,000, Skool Hobby leaves you the most ($891, $5 more than Learnea Starter). At $5,000, Skool Pro leaves you the most ($4,756, $110 more than Learnea Pro). Learnea keeps more than Skool Hobby once you pass about $1,333 a month, and Learnea Pro costs less than Skool Pro below about $769 a month, which matters if you need a custom URL or affiliates early.
Fees on a one-time course sale
Skool also lets you sell one-time course purchases. The same percentages apply. Say you sell a $497 course 10 times in a month, $4,970 in total:
| Skool Hobby | Skool Pro | Learnea Starter | Learnea Pro | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total fees | $506.00 | $243.13 | $424.63 | $325.53 |
| You keep | $4,464.00 | $4,726.87 | $4,545.37 | $4,644.47 |
With large payments, the 30¢ fixed card fee almost disappears (10 payments, $3), so the comparison comes down to percentages and subscriptions. Learnea Starter: $29 + $248.50 (5%) + $144.13 (2.9%) + $3 = $424.63.
How much you need to sell to keep a target amount
Turn the question around: what must you sell to take home a set amount? On Skool Hobby, you keep 90% of sales minus $9, so to keep $1,000 you need (1,000 + 9) / 0.90 = $1,121.11. Same logic for each plan, with Learnea at a $50 average payment:
| To keep | Skool Hobby | Skool Pro | Learnea Starter | Learnea Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000 a month | $1,121.11 | $1,131.82 | $1,124.59 | $1,141.80 |
| $5,000 a month | $5,565.56 | $5,251.29 | $5,496.17 | $5,374.60 |
At $1,000 the four options are within about $21 of each other. At $5,000, staying on Skool Hobby means selling $314 more each month than on Skool Pro for the same take-home pay.
Five ways to pay less in fees, on any platform
- Switch plans at the break-even, not months later. On Skool, that is $1,267.61 of monthly sales.
- Offer a yearly membership. One payment instead of twelve means one fixed card fee instead of twelve wherever a per-payment fee applies (on Learnea, 30¢ once instead of $3.60).
- Avoid very low prices. A 30¢ fixed fee is 3% of a $10 payment but 0.3% of a $100 one.
- Count the whole year, not one launch month. Fees follow your average month.
- Read your payout statements. The real cost is what lands in your bank account, not the headline percentage.
Want the side-by-side? See Skool vs Learnea, or try Learnea free for 14 days.