Heartbeat vs Skool
We give Heartbeat a 2.6 GPA and Skool a 2.4, out of 4.0. Heartbeat grades higher on features and platforms. Skool grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Heartbeat
Paid community platform with courses, events and member payments
Skool
Community platform with courses, events and paid memberships
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAHeartbeatGood | 2.4GPASkoolFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CGraded against its alternatives, community platforms. Build is $40 a month billed yearly but keeps 5% of payments, $100 on $2,000: $140 a month. Grow's 2.5% makes $174. Dearer than Skool Pro ($82.50), Mighty ($119) and Circle ($129), level with Kajabi ($143). | BGraded against its alternatives, community platforms. Pro is $99 a month, $82.50 with yearly billing's 2 months free, and its 2.9% + 30 cents is card processing; Hobby's 10% would add $200 on $2,000 of sales. $82.50 beats Mighty ($119), Circle ($129) and Heartbeat ($140). |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan, but a 14-day trial with no card needed, enough to set up channels and a first course. | CNo free plan. There's a 14-day trial of either plan, and the listing doesn't say it needs a card. Skool's payment policy gives no refunds on its fees after that. |
| Features | BChannels, threads, DMs, evergreen and cohort courses with quizzes, events with Zoom recordings, video rooms for 256, paid offers and waitlists, workflows and Pulse AI. Nothing in the listing shows a gap in the job; video hosting on Build is a $19 add-on. | CA feed, chat, a classroom of courses, a calendar, unlimited live calls on Skool itself, points and levels, payments with EU VAT and a discovery directory. It does the community job fully, but it's a smaller kit: no email, landing pages or quizzes in the listing. |
| Ease of use | CNo App Store rating on record. Pulse AI sets up the space and channels from a description, but you're still building a community and its offers. | C3.84 from 782 App Store ratings, just inside the C band. Starting a group looks simple, with a feed, a classroom and a calendar and nothing to wire up. |
| Platforms and integrations | AWeb, Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android, the widest spread in this category, with Stripe, Zapier, Zoom, Google and Outlook calendars and an API from Grow. | BWeb, iPhone and Android, so members can join from anywhere. Integrations are thin, though: Zapier only, and only on Pro. No desktop app, which an A needs. |
| Best for | paid communities on desktop and phone | a paid community with courses inside |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Heartbeat and Skool. How we grade
Price against what you get
Heartbeat starts at $40 a month and scores 3.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Skool starts at $9 a month and scores 2.3.
Heartbeat scores higher, and starts $31 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other course and community platforms on the chart, none scores higher than Heartbeat for less, and none scores higher than Skool for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Heartbeat starts at $40 per month, billed annually ($49 billed monthly). Skool starts at $9 per month, billed monthly.
- Only Heartbeat lists macOS, Windows and Linux apps.
- Heartbeat also covers workflow automation.
At a glance
| Heartbeat | Skool | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $40 per month, billed annually ($49 billed monthly) | $9 per month, billed monthly |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial, no credit card required | 14-day free trial of either plan |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Heartbeat Chat | Skool.com, Inc. |
| Price read from | heartbeat.chat | skool.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Heartbeat
- Coaches and creators charging a monthly membership for a community
- Communities that mix discussion, courses and live calls in one place
- Members who want desktop apps as well as web and mobile
Skool
- Creators building a paid community around a topic, with courses inside
- Coaches running group programs with live calls
- Owners who want members to find them through Skool's own directory
Worth knowing
Heartbeat
- Heartbeat keeps 5% of payments on Build, 2.5% on Grow and 1.25% on Scale, on top of Stripe's fee (typically 2.9% + 30 cents).
- Member limits count admins and moderators: 350 on Build and 5,000 on Grow.
- On Build, native video hosting is a $19 a month add-on with 50 hours; API access and removing Heartbeat branding start on Grow.
- The white-label branded mobile app is only on Scale, at $766 a month billed annually, which is sold through a call.
Skool
- Hobby keeps 10% plus 30 cents of every sale. Payments go through Skool only; your own Stripe account cannot be connected.
- Growth Boost is on by default and takes 30% of recurring charges from members Skool brings in; it can be turned off.
- A custom URL, the affiliate program and the Zapier integration need the Pro plan.
- Skool's payment policy gives no refunds on its subscription fees.
Key features
Heartbeat
- Channels, discussions and messages
- Organize the community into public and private channels with threaded posts and live chat, plus one-to-one and group DMs and a member directory.
- Courses and documents
- Evergreen courses with drip release or cohort courses with fixed dates, with quizzes, assignments and a discussion on every lesson, beside a document library.
- Events and video rooms
- Live events with RSVPs, reminders, calendar sync and Zoom recordings, plus voice and video rooms for up to 256 people at once.
- Payments and offers
- Sell subscriptions, one-time offers, tiered memberships and paid waitlists, with coupons, trials, upsells and ready-made checkout pages.
- Workflows
- Send emails and DMs, grant access or follow up automatically when members join, attend, finish a course or go quiet. Build allows 5 workflows.
- Pulse AI
- An AI co-builder that sets up the space, channels and first pages from a description of your community and builds landing pages.
Skool
- Community feed and chat
- A discussion feed organized by categories, with group rules, moderation tools, membership questions and member chat.
- Classroom
- Courses inside the group, which can be included in a membership, sold as one-time purchases, or unlocked as members reach a level.
- Calendar and live calls
- A group calendar of events and unlimited live calls hosted on Skool itself, from the browser or the mobile app.
- Points, levels and leaderboards
- Members earn a point for each like their posts and comments get, and climb levels and leaderboards; owners can lock courses until a level.
- Payments and payouts
- Monthly, annual, freemium or one-time pricing. Skool processes cards, adds and remits EU VAT, and pays out weekly in local currency.
- Discovery and Growth Boost
- Groups can appear in Skool's discovery search. Growth Boost promotes a group and runs ads for it in exchange for a cut of members it brings.
Plans
Heartbeat
Build$40
per month for up to 350 members, billed annually ($49 monthly)
Unlimited channels, courses, events and checkout pages, 5 automation workflows, 1 landing page, custom domain. Heartbeat keeps 5% of payments.
Grow$124
per month for up to 5,000 members, billed annually ($149 monthly)
Unlimited workflows, 50 hours of video hosting, 15 landing pages, affiliates, API access, white-label emails, no Heartbeat branding. 2.5% fee.
Scale$766
per month, unlimited members, billed annually ($849 monthly)
A white-label branded mobile app, advanced analytics, 50 landing pages, 200 hours of video and same-day support. 1.25% fee. Sold through a call.
Skool
Hobby$9
per month, billed monthly
Unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls. Skool keeps 10% plus 30 cents of each sale. No custom URL, affiliates or Zapier.
Pro$99
per month, billed monthly
Adds a custom URL, affiliates and Zapier. Fees fall to 2.9% plus 30 cents a sale up to $899, and 3.9% plus 30 cents above $900.
Ways to pay less
Heartbeat
- Annual discount
Save 17% with annual billing
Build is $490 a year instead of $49 a month and Grow $1,490 instead of $149, two months free; Scale saves 10% at $9,200 a year.
Skool
- Annual discount
2 months free with yearly billing
Skool's pricing page has a monthly and yearly switch and says yearly billing gives 2 months free.
