Skool vs Heartbeat: Which Community Platform Fits?

Skool vs Heartbeat comes down to simple and cheap against flexible and branded. Skool gives every group the same layout, two low prices, unlimited members, and payments it runs for you, sales tax included. Heartbeat gives you your own domain, chat channels, voice rooms, scheduled posts and cohort courses, but its entry plan caps you at 350 members and you handle tax through Stripe. Below we compare them on price, fees, member limits, community tools, courses, live calls, branding and support. Every fact comes from each company's own pages, checked on 12 October 2026.

We run our own Skool community, so we know Skool from the owner's side. We have not run a community on Heartbeat, so every Heartbeat fact below comes from Heartbeat's own pricing page and help centre, not from our own use.

What is the difference between Skool and Heartbeat?

Skool is one fixed product: a feed, a Classroom, a Calendar and a leaderboard, with Skool processing every payment. Heartbeat is a toolkit: you build a community from thread channels, chat channels, voice rooms, courses, events and documents, and payments run through a Heartbeat-managed Stripe account. Here is the side by side.

How much do Skool and Heartbeat cost per month?

Skool costs $9 or $99 a month, and Heartbeat costs $49, $149 or $849 a month. Skool's pricing page lists unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls on both plans, and marks a custom URL and affiliates as Pro only. Skool's help centre reserves more for Pro, including Zapier, AutoDM, webhooks and the cancellation video. Yearly billing gets "2 months free", and both plans start with a 14-day free trial. Our Skool pricing guide covers the two plans in detail.

Heartbeat's pricing page has three plans, each with a 14-day free trial and no card needed:

Grow also adds conversion tracking, email white-labeling, DM auto-responders and API access. Scale adds a branded mobile app and a dedicated onboarding expert, and you start it by booking a call. One warning: if you do not upgrade by the end of Heartbeat's trial, Heartbeat says your community is deactivated, and communities left inactive for 30 days are deleted.

If Skool's two-plan setup sounds like enough, you can try Skool free for 14 days (affiliate link).

How many members can you have on each?

Skool has no member limit on either plan. Heartbeat's Build plan holds up to 350 members, and Heartbeat says everyone counts toward that, admins and moderators included. Grow holds 5,000, and only Scale is unlimited.

This matters more than the headline price. A Heartbeat community that passes 350 members has to move from $49 to $149 a month. One that passes 5,000 has to move to Scale at $849. A Skool community pays $99 on Pro whether it has 50 members or 50,000.

Which takes a bigger cut of each sale?

Skool Pro takes less per sale than any Heartbeat plan, because Skool's fee includes card processing and Heartbeat's does not.

Skool runs payments itself. Skool's payments FAQ says "All payment processing happens on the Skools merchant" and calls Skool a "merchant of record". Hobby is "10% + 30c /transaction for all transactions". Pro is "2.9% + 30c /transaction for transactions up to $899 USD" and 3.9% + 30c above $900. You cannot use your own Stripe account. Payouts go to your bank every Wednesday in your local currency, and the first one can take up to 14 days. Members always pay in USD.

Heartbeat runs payments through Stripe. Heartbeat's payments setup guide says you must create a new "Heartbeat-managed Stripe account" and cannot connect an existing one. Heartbeat takes 5%, 2.5% or 1.25% by plan, shown on Stripe as an "application fee". Stripe then charges its own fee, which Heartbeat's pricing page puts at "typically 2.9% + 30 cents". Heartbeat says Stripe typically pays out in 2 to 7 business days. Heartbeat uses Stripe for all payments, so PayPal is not built in. You set the currency per offer, and Heartbeat lists 23 currencies, including USD, euros, pounds and Australian dollars.

Skool Pro's 2.9% + 30c is the whole fee. Heartbeat's 5%, 2.5% or 1.25% sits on top of Stripe's own fee.

A worked example

Say you charge $50 a month. We worked out the total monthly cost from each company's listed rates, assuming US cards, monthly billing, no refunds, no tax and Stripe's typical 2.9% + 30c on Heartbeat.

Skool Pro is the cheapest in both cases. Skool Hobby only makes sense while you are small: its 10% fee costs more than Pro's extra $90 once you sell about $1,270 a month. On Heartbeat, Grow costs less than Build once you sell more than $4,000 a month, because its fee is 2.5% lower and it costs $100 more.

Skool has one cost Heartbeat does not. If Skool finds you a paying member through Discovery or its own ads, its Growth Boost takes 30% of that member's payments, plus fees, for as long as they stay. It is on by default, and you can switch it off under Settings, then Discovery.

Sales tax and VAT

Skool's FAQ says "Skool is responsible for all sales tax collection, filing, and payments", and that it adds EU VAT on top of your price. On Heartbeat, you set up Stripe Tax yourself. Heartbeat's tax article says you first confirm your business address in Stripe, pick a tax category and "Register to collect taxes in the appropriate jurisdictions". It also says Stripe Tax covers memberships only, not one-time payments. That is work Skool does for you and Heartbeat leaves with you.

Which has better community tools?

Heartbeat has more ways for members to talk. It offers two kinds of channel: threads, which look like posts with replies, and chat, which works like a group text. It adds 24/7 voice rooms, direct messages, member match-ups that pair people for intros, and private channels for tiers or cohorts. Heartbeat's pricing page lists scheduled posts on every plan, and its help centre shows how to schedule one from the Post button.

Skool keeps it to one feed with categories, plus Skool Chat for direct messages. Admins can pin posts and set who can chat or post by level. None of the 122 articles in Skool's help centre covers scheduling a feed post. If you want members talking in real time in many rooms, Heartbeat wins this one.

Does Heartbeat have points and leaderboards like Skool?

Not in the same way. On Skool, one like on a post, comment or reply is one point. Members climb nine levels, from 0 points at level 1 to 33,015 at level 9, a leaderboard shows who is ahead, and you can lock a course until a member reaches a level. This sits at the center of every Skool group.

Heartbeat's pricing page lists "Member badges & gamification". Its help article on gamifying a community builds rewards from access groups, badges and workflows: a member who attends 2 events and leaves 5 comments gets a badge and a course, for example. We found no Heartbeat help article on points, levels or a leaderboard. Heartbeat's approach takes more setup but lets you reward the actions you choose.

Which is better for courses?

Heartbeat has more course formats. Its pricing page lists evergreen, drip and cohort courses with modules, lessons and assignments, and cohort courses run with fixed start and end times. Native video hosting is included on Grow and Scale, and Heartbeat's pricing FAQ lists it as a $19 a month add-on with 50 hours.

Skool's Classroom holds pages you turn into lessons, with video, files, links and transcripts, grouped in folders. You can drip a page so it opens a set number of days after someone joins, lock a course by level, or sell a course as a one-time purchase. Video upload is included in both Skool plans, with automatic English captions. Skool's help centre does not mention quizzes, certificates or assignments.

Which is better for live calls and events?

Skool records live calls and Heartbeat does not. Skool says you can go live "natively in the app or on the browser", record the call, and download the recording within 14 days. Events can repeat daily, weekly, monthly or yearly, and can use a Skool Call, Zoom, Meet or a real address.

Heartbeat's calls hold up to 256 people with up to 16 video feeds and no time limit. But its help centre says "Heartbeat calls aren't recorded", the mobile app is audio only for calls, and there is no one-to-many live streaming. To get a recording, you use Zoom as the event location. Heartbeat's events do add public event pages that non-members can RSVP to, and calendar sync with Google and Outlook.

Can you use your own domain and brand?

On Heartbeat, yes. Heartbeat's help centre says any plan can use your own root domain or a subdomain, such as community.yoursite.com. Grow removes Heartbeat branding and lets you send member emails from your own domain. Scale includes a branded iPhone and Android app with your name in the stores, which Heartbeat says goes live in about six weeks.

On Skool, your custom URL is your group's address on skool.com, like our own skool.com/consulting. Changing it is a Pro feature: the first change is free, and each change after that costs $100. Every group uses Skool's look. Members use the Skool app on iPhone and Android, which the App Store lists as needing iOS 13.0 or later.

When is Heartbeat the better pick?

Heartbeat is the better pick if your community runs on conversation and you want it to look like your brand. If you need chat channels and voice rooms, your own domain, scheduled posts, cohort courses or prices in your members' own currency, and you will stay under 350 members or can pay for Grow, Heartbeat fits better than Skool. It also publishes support reply times by plan and links a public status page. We found neither for Skool.

Pick Skool if

• You want the lowest monthly bill: $99 on Pro, or $9 while you test.
• You expect more than 350 members and do not want your price to jump.
• You would rather Skool handle payments, sales tax and EU VAT.
• You want points, levels and level-locked courses at the center of your group.
• You want recorded live calls without paying for Zoom.

Pick Heartbeat if

• You want your own domain and no platform branding.
• You want chat channels, voice rooms and member match-ups.
• You want scheduled posts and automation workflows built in.
• You run cohort courses with fixed dates and assignments.
• You sell in a currency other than US dollars.

Weighing other options too? See how Skool compares with Circle, another platform with spaces and your own domain, or read our Skool alternatives guide.

For most owners weighing Skool vs Heartbeat, it comes down to price and simplicity against control. If you want a paid community running this week with no member cap and the lowest bill, start a Skool community here (affiliate link) on the 14-day free trial.

FAQ

Is Heartbeat cheaper than Skool?

No. Heartbeat starts at $49 a month on Build, against Skool's $9 Hobby and $99 Pro plans, and adds a 5% fee on top of Stripe's card fees. In our example of 100 members paying $50 a month, Skool Pro costs $274 and Heartbeat Build costs $474. Heartbeat's Build plan also stops at 350 members.

Does Heartbeat take a cut of sales?

Yes. Heartbeat charges 5% on Build, 2.5% on Grow and 1.25% on Scale, shown in Stripe as an application fee. Stripe's own fee comes on top, which Heartbeat puts at typically 2.9% plus 30 cents. Skool's fee already includes card processing, because Skool processes every payment itself as the merchant of record.

Does Heartbeat have a member limit?

Yes, on two of its three plans. Build allows up to 350 members and Grow up to 5,000, and Heartbeat counts admins and moderators toward the limit. Only Scale, at $849 a month, is unlimited. Skool has no member limit on either its $9 Hobby plan or its $99 Pro plan.

Does Heartbeat have a free plan?

No. Heartbeat's pricing page lists no free plan, only a 14-day free trial with no credit card needed. If you do not upgrade, Heartbeat deactivates the community and deletes it after 30 days inactive. Skool also has no free plan for owners, but both of its plans start with a 14-day free trial.

Can I schedule posts on Skool like on Heartbeat?

Not according to Skool's help centre. Heartbeat lists scheduled posts on every plan and shows the steps in its help centre. None of the 122 articles in Skool's help centre covers scheduling a feed post. Skool's Calendar lets you schedule events, including repeating ones, but not posts to the community feed.

Who handles sales tax on Skool and Heartbeat?

Skool does it for you. It says it is responsible for all sales tax collection, filing and payments as the merchant of record, and adds EU VAT on top of your price. On Heartbeat, you set up Stripe Tax and register in each place you must collect tax. Heartbeat says Stripe Tax covers memberships only.

We may earn a commission if you start a Skool community through a link on this page. It costs you nothing extra, and it does not change what we write.