Skool vs Whop
We give Skool a 2.4 GPA and Whop a 3.4, out of 4.0. Whop grades higher on the free plan, features and ease of use. They get the same grade on value for money and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Skool
Community platform with courses, events and paid memberships
Free trial · from $9/mo
How we grade them
| 2.4GPASkoolFair | 3.4GPAWhopVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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). | BNo monthly fee: 2.7% + 30¢ a domestic card sale, so $1,000 costs $27 plus 30¢ a sale, and that is the card processing, with nothing on top. Cheaper than anything else here at this size, but not an A: tax handling adds 2% and faster payouts cost extra. |
| Free plan and trial | 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. | ANothing to pay until you sell, with no monthly fee and no plan to upgrade to. Each sale's card fee is the only charge, and the value grade counts that. |
| Features | 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. | BStorefront and checkout in 195 countries, plus chat, courses with quizzes, forums, paid events, files and bookings for each product, license keys, a marketplace and affiliates. It covers the whole job. |
| Ease of use | 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. | A4.82 from about 58,000 App Store ratings, among the best here. Building a product means picking apps such as chat or courses to add to it, rather than designing pages. |
| Platforms and integrations | 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. | BWeb and iPhone, with Klarna, Afterpay, Splitit, SeQura and Venmo, an embeddable checkout and SDKs in TypeScript, Python and Ruby. No Android or desktop app is listed. |
| Best for | a paid community with courses inside | selling access to paid communities |
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: Skool and Whop. How we grade
Where they differ
- Skool starts at $9 per month, billed monthly. Whop is free.
- Whop has a free plan. Skool does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only Skool lists an Android app.
- Whop also covers affiliate tracking and digital downloads.
In commonWebiOSOnline coursesCommunity
At a glance
| Skool | Whop | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free |
| Starts at | $9 per month, billed monthly | Free |
| Free plan | None | No monthly fee is listed. Whop charges 2.7% + $0.30 per domestic card sale, plus 1.5% for international cards and 1% for currency conversion. |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial of either plan | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Skool.com, Inc. | Whop |
| Price read from | skool.com | docs.whop.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Who each one suits
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
Whop
- Creators selling paid community access with courses and chat
- Sellers who want marketplace exposure through affiliates
- Developers embedding checkout and payouts in their own app
Worth knowing
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.
Whop
- Optional extras stack on the 2.7% + $0.30 card fee: payment routing 0.8%, billing 0.5%, tax collection 2%, or 6% + $0.30 with all on.
- Products listed on Discover are promoted by affiliates at a default 30% commission unless you change the rate.
- Purchases under $700 made in Whop's iOS app go through Apple, which takes 30%; subscriptions and web checkout avoid that fee.
- Fast payouts cost extra: instant bank deposit 4% + $2.50, crypto 5% + $1 and Venmo 5% + $2.50 per payout.
Key features
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.
Whop
- Apps for each product
- Add chat, courses with quizzes, forums, events with paid tickets, file sharing, rich content pages and calendar bookings to what you sell.
- Checkout and payment methods
- Checkout in 195 countries and 135+ currencies with 100+ payment methods, ACH debit, and Klarna or Afterpay financing.
- Discover marketplace and affiliates
- List products on Whop's marketplace, where global affiliates can promote them for a default 30% commission; custom affiliates are also supported.
- Payouts
- Withdraw by next-day ACH, instant bank deposit, crypto, Venmo, wire or local bank transfer, each with its own fee.
- Tax options
- Whop handles tax on Discover sales; for direct sales it can collect tax for you, or collect and remit it in the US, EU and UK, for 2%.
- Developer tools
- Embeddable checkout, wallet and chat components, license keys for downloadable software, and SDKs in TypeScript, Python and Ruby.
Plans
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.
Whop
Payments$0
Per-sale pricing: 2.7% + $0.30 for domestic cards, +1.5% international, +1% currency conversion; ACH 1.5% up to $5; financing 15%.
Ways to pay less
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.
Whop
No public discounts listed.
