Brutally Honest Skool Review 2025: DEMO, Pros & Cons

If you’re looking for a platform to create online courses and build a strong community, you might have come across Skool. 

Stick with me, because in this Brutally Honest Skool Review, I’m going to share my experience with Skool’s platform, and reveal the features that impressed me, along with the areas I think could be improved in 2025.

In this detailed review of the Skool platform, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know. 

Here’s what I’ve covered:

• What is skool?
• Key features 
• Things I like and don’t like
• Pricing breakdown
• Skool versus Circle
• Skool versus Kajabi
• Skool versus Facebook groups
• Who should and shouldn’t use Skool
• My experience with Skool.com platform

Product Name	Skool
Use For	Creating online community and course
Good For	Course creators, trainers, coaches, businesses
Pricing	One Plan: $99/mo (Know more)
Discount	No discount is available even on the yearly plan
Money-back Guarantee	N/A
Free Trial	Available (Click here to try it for FREE)
Our Rating	4.7/5

I’ll highly recommend you to check this post by Rafeh Qazi 👇

Skool Quick Summary

If you’re confused about whether Skool is worth the price, here’s a detailed look at its pros and cons.

What I Like About Skool 👍

• Unlimited Members and Courses: You can scale your community without limitations on the number of members or courses.
• All-in-One Platform: Skool combines community features, course hosting, and event management in one space, making it easier to manage everything.
• Gamification: Leaderboards and levels encourage interaction and keep members engaged, helping to build a more active community.
• Easy Course Creation: Setting up courses is quick and easy, with built-in transcripts and discussion threads for each lesson.
• Powerful Search Tool: The search feature helps you and your members find posts, videos, and discussions quickly, even within courses.
• Event Scheduling: The calendar lets you schedule webinars, events, and more, keeping your community involved.
• Low Transaction Fees: The 2.9% transaction fee is lower than most competitors like Patreon (14%) and Gumroad (14%).
• Mobile App: Skool’s iOS and Android apps allow members to access the community from anywhere, ensuring constant engagement.

What I Don’t Like About Skool 👎

• Price: At $99 per month, it can be costly for smaller creators or communities just getting started.
• No Built-In Video Hosting: Skool doesn’t offer native video hosting, so you’ll need to use external platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, or Loom to host videos. You can then embed the video links into your courses, which adds an extra step to the process.
• Transaction Fees: While the transaction fee is lower than some competitors, the 2.9% fee on every sale may still add up for users selling a large number of courses or memberships.
• Limited Customization: Design flexibility is somewhat restricted, so if you’re looking for deep customization options, Skool may fall short.
• No Tiered Pricing: Skool offers only one pricing plan, which may limit options for smaller businesses or creators looking for lower-cost alternatives.
• Basic Analytics: While Skool provides some metrics, its reporting and analytics features are not as advanced as platforms like Kajabi or Teachable.
• External Payment Integration: Payments require integration with external processors like Stripe, adding complexity for users unfamiliar with setting up such systems.

Is Skool Worth It?

Skool is an excellent option for creators who want a simple, scalable platform for building communities and offering courses. 

The unlimited members and courses, combined with its engaging gamification features, make it a strong contender. 

However, the lack of built-in video hosting (requiring external platforms like Loom, YouTube, or Vimeo) and the $99 per month cost may be a downside for some users, especially those just starting out or on a tighter budget.

What is Skool?

Skool is the best online community and course-building platform. 

Skool was founded by Sam Ovens in 2019 after he noticed that platforms like Facebook groups and Kajabi didn’t focus enough on building strong communities. 

Before Skool, Sam founded consulting.com and ran the popular Consulting Accelerator program, helping thousands of coaches and consultants. 

Seeing the need for a better way to build communities, he made Skool, which became more popular than similar platforms like Circle. 

Even entrepreneur Alex Hormozi made his biggest-ever investment in Skool. 

With Alex’s smart growth strategies, Skool is now #1 online learning and community-building platform.

NOTE: I’ve created a full review video of Skool platform on my YouTube channel

User Interface

Skool’s user interface is designed to be simple and easy to use. 

When you log in, the dashboard has five key sections: Community, Classroom, Leaderboard, Calendar, and Members.

1. The Community tab allows users to post, comment, and interact, similar to Facebook groups. Posts are organized into categories, making it easy to find discussions.
2. In the Classroom tab, you can host your courses, complete with videos and transcripts, giving students a seamless learning experience.
3. The Calendar tab displays upcoming events, such as webinars, and allows members to join with a simple click.
4. The Members tab shows all community members, with details like when they joined and their activity levels. You can also see who’s currently online.
5. The Leaderboard Tab adds a gamification element, showing members’ progress and rankings, which encourages engagement.

Overall, the interface is clean, and organized, and makes managing your community and courses straightforward.

Adding Members to Skool Community

Adding members to your Skool community is easy and straightforward. 

There are 4 different methods of inviting members to your group:

• Invite people by sharing an invite link 
• Import members from a CSV file
• Use Zapier integration to automate member invitations by connecting to over 500 tools. 
• Invite by email address

This is particularly helpful if you’re running a large community or if you want to streamline the process of adding new members without manually sending invites.

Once members are added, they can start interacting with the community right away.

Creating Posts in Skool Community

Posting in Skool’s community feels just like posting in a Facebook group. Y

You can share updates, ask questions, or start discussions. 

Skool lets you add options like links, attachments, YouTube videos, polls, emojis, GIFs, and action buttons to your posts, giving you plenty of ways to share content.

Admins and moderators have an extra feature—the ability to send email notifications to all members when posting important updates, ensuring everyone stays informed. (as shown in the above screenshot)

Also, community members can like and comment on each other posts.

In the comment section, users can also add links, attachments, emojis, and GIFs, making conversations even more interactive.

Plus, members can DM each other as shown below.

It also has a notification bar in the top that helps you to keeps you up-to-date with replies, likes, you have received in your post. Plus, you can follows anyone’s post.

Skool Gamification Features Review

Skool uses gamification to make the community experience more engaging and fun for members. 

One of the key features is the Leaderboard, which tracks members’ activity and progress. 

As members interact within the community—by posting, commenting, or completing courses—they earn points and can move up in levels.

There are currently nine levels in total, and reaching higher levels unlocks special rewards. 

For example, you can set it up so that members unlock free courses or exclusive content when they hit a certain level, such as level 5. (as shown below)

This not only motivates members to stay active but also encourages friendly competition.

Additionally, the leaderboard can be viewed over different time periods, such as the past 7 days, 30 days, or all time, making it easy to see who the most active members are. 

The gamification features help boost engagement and build a stronger, more involved community.

Member Profile

Skool offers a detailed Member Profile feature, allowing each user to create a customized profile within the community. 

Members can add personal information like a bio and upload a profile picture, giving a personal touch to their presence in the community.

The “Members” tab allows you to see who is part of the community, including details like when they joined and their country. 

You can also view their activity level, making it easy to identify active contributors.

Additionally, Skool shows who is currently online, making it easier to interact with other members in real-time.

Skool Online Course Creation Review

Skool makes creating and hosting online courses simple and effective. 

With its easy-to-navigate Classroom feature, you can organize, present, and manage your courses without needing any technical expertise. 

Here’s how Skool helps you create courses step by step.

1. Setting Up Your Course

Once you log in, head to the “Classroom” tab where you can start organizing your course materials. 

Just click on the “+ New Course” button to add a new course

Now, you can enter your course name, description and cover image.

And you can decide who can access the course (as shown above):

• All members will get access
• Members who unlocked a certain level in your community can access
• Member can buy this course by paying a 1-time fee
• Course will unlock for members after x days
• Members you select can get access

NOTE: Skool allows unlimited courses, so you can create as many courses as needed without any extra fees.

2. Adding Course Content

Now, you can click on three dots “…” to add Folder (i.e. Module) and Page (i.e. Lesson) as shown below.

Just click on the video icon as shown in the above screenshot to add your course video.

Currently, you can upload video through YouTube, Vimeo, Loom and Wistia.

Skool also offers a resource link and transcript feature for each video, allowing students to read along or search for specific information within the lesson. 

3. Interacting with Students

Skool allows students to engage directly with the course material. 

They can comment on lessons, ask questions, or share feedback within the course itself.

This builds a more interactive learning experience, where students and teachers can engage in real-time discussions.

Calendar & Online Event Features Review

Skool’s Calendar tab helps you keep your community informed about upcoming events, webinars, or live sessions as shown below.

This feature ensures that members can easily stay updated and join events directly from the platform.

Creating an event in Skool is simple. 

You can go to the Calendar tab, click on the “+” to create an event.  

fill out the event details such as the title, description, and link to the live session or webinar.

Once the event is created, members can see it on the calendar and click to join.

There’s an option to send email notifications to all community members when scheduling an event as shown in the above screenshot.

This feature helps ensure that important events don’t go unnoticed, keeping your members engaged and informed about what’s happening in the community.

Customizing Your Skool Community

In Skool, customizing your group is easy. 

By clicking the Settings button on your dashboard.

Now, click on the general option from the left as shown below.

Here, you can update the group name, add a detailed description, and upload a logo and cover image to personalize your community as shown below.

These features help create a professional look for your group. 

You can also choose whether your group is public or private, controlling who can see and interact with the community. 

Plus, you can create category for your group if you want. Just go to “Category” option and click on the “Add Category”

Just give your category a name, write description and set permission like who can post in this particular category as shown below.

Here is one cool setting to show or hide “Classroom” and “Calendar” tab from your group.

Just go to “Tabs” option and:

• If you don’t want to host course in your community then disable “Classroom” option
• Similarly, If you don’t want to do any event with your students then disable “Calendar” option.

You can change your skool community URL anytime by going to “Custom URL” option as shown below.

If you want to convert your community to paid community then just go to “Pricing” option and click on “ADD PRICE” button to add pricing for your community.

Plus, if you want to show some links just below your group name and description then go to “Links” option and the links.

From “Dashboard” option you can see all your paid members, MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue), Course sales, traffic, conversion rate and more.

You can go to “Payout” tab to check your current balance and payout hisory.

In this way, you can customize your community within a few minutes.

Integrations

Skool offers several useful plugins to help you manage and automate your community.

These integrations allow you to streamline processes like member onboarding, messaging, and even marketing. 

To access these integration, go to “Setting” from your community sidebar and click on the “Plugins” section.

Here’s a breakdown of the key plugins available:

• Membership Questions: This plugin lets you ask new members specific questions when they request access to your group. It’s perfect for gathering important information during onboarding.
• Zapier Integration: With this plugin, you can connect Skool to over 500 different apps through Zapier. This allows you to automate tasks like inviting members, unlocking courses, and sending membership questions to your CRM.
• Webhook: The Webhook plugin allows you to automate member invitations by linking Skool to external systems through simple webhooks.
• Auto DM to New Members: Automatically send a welcome message to new members when they join your community. This feature makes onboarding smoother and ensures new members feel engaged right away.
• Unlock Chat at Level 2: To reduce spam and encourage active participation, this plugin unlocks the direct messaging feature for members only when they reach Level 2 in the community.
• Unlock Posting at Level 2: This plugin requires members to reach Level 2 before they can post, ensuring higher quality contributions from members who are actively engaged.
• Meta Pixel Tracking: Skool’s Meta Pixel plugin lets you run targeted Facebook and Instagram ads. You can retarget visitors, track signups, and optimize your marketing efforts by adding pixel tracking to your group.
• Instant Membership Approval: Automatically approve membership requests, allowing new members to get immediate access to your community without waiting for manual approval.

These integrations make it easier to manage your community, automate repetitive tasks, and ensure that your members stay engaged while also giving you tools to track and grow your audience.

Skool Mobile App Review [2025 Version]

Skool makes it easy for your community members to stay connected on the go with its official mobile app, available for both iOS and Android. 

Through this app, your students can access courses, participate in discussions, and keep up with announcements—right from their mobile devices.

The mobile app offers the same core features as the desktop version, so members can:

• Access to all courses and learning materials.
• Full participation in community discussions.
• Notifications for important announcements and events.

However, it’s important to note that this is not a branded app. 

Your members will access the community through the Skool app, not an app customized with your community’s branding. 

Despite this, it’s still an easy and user-friendly way for members to engage with your content wherever they are!

Skool Pricing Review 2025

Skool keeps things simple with one pricing plan—no complicated tiers or hidden fees. 

For $99 per month, you get access to all of Skool’s features, making it easy to build and manage your community without worrying about extra costs.

Here’s what the $99 plan includes:

• Unlimited members: Grow your community without worrying about caps on member numbers.
• Unlimited courses: Create as many courses as you want, all included in the monthly fee.
• All features: Gamification, integrations, mobile access, and more—everything comes with the base plan.

However, there is a 2.9% transaction fee on any sales you make through the platform, like course purchases or subscriptions. 

This is relatively low compared to other platforms like Patreon (14%) or Gumroad (14%).

With Skool, you can also try the platform risk-free with a 14-day free trial, giving you time to see if it’s the right fit for your community before committing.

Skool Games by Alex Hormozi

Ever wondered how you can grow and monetize your Skool community faster? 

That’s where Skool Games by Alex Hormozi comes in. 

Alex, a major investor in Skool, launched this program to help community builders like you scale up quickly.

The best part? Skool Games is completely free.

It focuses on practical strategies to:

• Boost engagement by encouraging active participation.
• Grow your community with the right tactics.
• Monetize your group by creating income through courses or other offers.

What’s even better?

Skool Games includes a leaderboard where you can see how much other users are earning from their communities. 

The leaderboard shows earnings over the last 24 hours, and some people are making thousands of dollars a day through Skool!

If you’re serious about building a community and making it profitable, Skool Games is completely free and a great way to get started. 

Just check out this link and join for FREE —it could help you grow your community and income faster than you thought possible.

Skool Customer support Review

Skool offers three types of support, but honestly, I was hoping for more. Here’s what they currently provide:

1. Skool Community: You can ask questions and get help from other users.
2. Guides: Step-by-step instructions on using different features.
3. Support Form: By visiting this link https://www.skool.com/support you’ll see a form on their website where you can describe your problem and attach screenshots.

While these options are helpful, I really missed having a live chat for quick assistance. 

It would make problem-solving so much faster compared to waiting for replies in the community or filling out a form. Hopefully, live chat is something they’ll add soon!

Skool vs Competitors

Choosing the right platform for your community can be tough. 

You want something that works for both you and your members, right? 

Let’s take a look at how Skool compares to some of its biggest competitors like Kajabi, Circle, and Facebook Groups to help you decide.

Skool vs Kajabi

If you’re familiar with Kajabi, you know it’s a strong platform for creating and selling courses. 

It also has built-in video hosting, which Skool doesn’t offer. 

But if your focus is more on building an engaged community rather than just selling courses, Skool is a better option. 

Skool combines community and learning with features like gamification (leaderboards and levels) that keep members coming back. 

Kajabi, while powerful, lacks those engagement tools and leans heavily towards marketing and selling.

Skool vs Circle

Both Skool and Circle are great for community building, but they take different approaches. 

Circle offers more customization and flexibility, letting you tailor the experience however you like. 

However, this can make Circle feel a bit more complex to use. 

Skool is more straightforward, with an all-in-one dashboard that’s simple to navigate, making it easier for both you and your members. 

Plus, Skool’s gamification features (like leaderboards) add a fun way to boost interaction, something Circle doesn’t focus on as much.

Skool vs Facebook Groups

We’ve all used Facebook Groups at some point, right? 

It’s free, and everyone already knows how to use it. 

But the downside is that Facebook can be distracting, and the features are pretty basic. 

Skool offers a more professional and focused environment where your members can access courses, join discussions, and engage without the noise of social media. 

Plus, Skool lets you organize posts by categories, has built-in gamification, and provides tools for monetizing your community—features Facebook Groups just don’t have.

Check the detailed comparison here

Skool FAQs

Conclusion: Is Skool Right for You?

Let’s Summarize this entire review.

So, is Skool worth it? 

If you’re building a learning-focused community, the answer is yes! 

Skool makes it easy to combine courses and community engagement with features like gamification. 

For $99/month, you get unlimited members and courses, making it a great value.

Here’s a quick breakdown.

Who Should Purchase Skool?

• You want fun gamification tools to keep your community engaged
• You need unlimited courses and members with no extra fees
• You’re looking to monetize your community easily through courses or memberships
• You prefer a simple, all-in-one dashboard that’s easy to navigate
• You want to keep your community free from distractions like social media
• You need an option where members can access your community via mobile apps
• You want easy course creation without complicated setups or tech knowledge

Who Might Skip Skool?

• You need more control over customization and design options
• You want built-in video hosting for your courses (Skool relies on external video links)
• You prefer a branded mobile app for your community, not the Skool app
• You need advanced features or more flexibility (Circle or Kajabi may be a better fit)

The good news? You can try Skool with a 14-day free trial and see if it’s right for you!

NOTE: There is no other deal. It offer a simple pricing plan i.e. just $99/mo.