Nathan FieldSkool vs LearnWorlds comes down to what you sell: a paid community, or courses and training. Skool is a community first, with a feed, a course area, a calendar and live calls, for $9 or $99 a month. LearnWorlds is a course platform first, with quizzes, certificates, a website builder and your own payment account, plus a built-in community, for $29 to $299 a month on monthly billing. We checked every fact below on each company's own pages on 12 October 2026.
Pick Skool if the community is your product and you want simple monthly memberships with tax handled for you, for $9 or $99 a month. Pick LearnWorlds if courses come first and you need quizzes, certificates, your own domain and your own Stripe or PayPal. LearnWorlds costs $29 to $299 a month on monthly billing.
We run our own Skool community, so we know Skool from the owner's side. We have not run a school on LearnWorlds, so every LearnWorlds fact here comes from LearnWorlds' own pricing and plan comparison pages, not from our own use.
How do Skool and LearnWorlds compare at a glance?
| Skool | LearnWorlds | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Paid communities, with courses inside | Courses and training, with a community inside |
| Price, monthly billing | Hobby $9, Pro $99 | Starter $29, Pro Trainer $99, Learning Center $299, Corporate custom |
| Price, yearly billing | "2 months free" | $24, $79 or $249 a month ("Save 20%") |
| Free trial | 14 days | 30 days |
| Platform fee per sale | Hobby 10% + 30c. Pro 2.9% + 30c (3.9% + 30c above $900) | $5 per paid enrollment on Starter. None on other plans |
| Card processing | Inside Skool's fee | Your payment gateway's own fee, on top |
| Member limit | Unlimited members | 1,000 or 2,000 active learners a month, custom on Corporate |
| Quizzes and certificates | Not mentioned in Skool's Classroom article | Quizzes on every plan. Certificates from Pro Trainer |
| Live calls | Built into Skool, unlimited on both plans | Calendly sessions on every plan. Zoom, Meet, Teams or Webex from Pro Trainer |
| Your own domain | Custom URL on skool.com, Pro only | Yes, every plan |
| Who processes payments | Skool, as merchant of record | You, through Stripe, PayPal or Shopify |
| Sales tax and EU VAT | Skool collects, files and pays | Tax tools through Quaderno or Stripe Tax |
How much does Skool cost compared to LearnWorlds?
Skool costs $9 or $99 a month, and LearnWorlds costs $29, $99 or $299 a month on monthly billing, plus a custom Corporate plan.
Skool's pricing page lists unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls on both plans. It marks a custom URL and affiliates as Pro only, and Skool's help centre reserves more for Pro, including Zapier, AutoDM and having more than one admin. Yearly billing gets "2 months free". Skool's help centre says both plans start with a 14-day free trial, and you pay per group, so a second community means a second subscription. Our Skool pricing guide covers Hobby vs Pro in detail.
LearnWorlds has four plans. LearnWorlds' pricing page shows these, and its plan comparison page fills in the details:
| Starter | Pro Trainer | Learning Center | Corporate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly billing | $29 | $99 | $299 | Custom |
| Billed yearly | $24 a month | $79 a month | $249 a month | Custom |
| Fee per paid enrollment | $5 | None | None | None |
| Active learners a month | 1,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | Custom |
| Admins | 1 | 5 | 25 | Custom |
| Subscriptions and payment plans | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Certificates | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mass email credits a month | No | 2,000 | 5,000 | 10,000 |
| Full white-label | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Branded mobile app | No | Add-on | Add-on | Add-on |
LearnWorlds says its free trial runs 30 days with access to all the core features. Its prices exclude VAT, which is added for EU customers unless they give a valid EU VAT number. Each extra school needs its own subscription, the same way Skool bills per group.
Which LearnWorlds plan matches Skool?
Pro Trainer, for most community owners. Skool is built around a monthly membership, and LearnWorlds' pricing page lists "Subscriptions, memberships, and payment plans" as part of Pro Trainer, not Starter. Pro Trainer also drops the $5 enrollment fee. So the fair match is Skool Pro at $99 against Pro Trainer at $99 a month, or $79 a month billed yearly.
The other big gap is size. Skool lists unlimited members on both plans. LearnWorlds counts monthly active learners, meaning learners who access the school that month, and caps them at 1,000 on Starter and 2,000 on Pro Trainer and Learning Center. Past that you are on the custom Corporate plan.
If a simple paid community is what you want to test, you can start a Skool community (affiliate link) on the 14-day trial and see whether the simple setup suits you before you pay.
What do you pay on each sale?
On Skool you pay one fee that includes card processing. On LearnWorlds you pay your payment gateway's fee, plus $5 per paid enrollment on Starter.
Skool's payments FAQ says "All payment processing happens on the Skools merchant." Hobby is "10% + 30c /transaction for all transactions". Pro is "2.9% + 30c /transaction for transactions up to $899 USD" and "3.9% + 30c /transaction for transactions above $900 USD". All Skool prices are in US dollars, and members pay in US dollars.
LearnWorlds says "There are no hidden or extra fees." Starter adds $5 for each paid enrollment, and the other plans have no enrollment fee. You connect your own Stripe, PayPal or Shopify, and that provider charges its own fee. LearnWorlds' FAQ gives Stripe and PayPal's 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction as the example. Your real rate depends on your provider and your buyers, so check your provider's pricing.
Skool has one fee LearnWorlds does not. If Skool finds you a paying member through Discovery or its own ads, Skool's Growth Boost takes 30% of that member's payments, plus fees, for as long as they stay. Growth Boost is on by default, and you can turn it off under SETTINGS, then Discovery. Members you bring yourself only pay the normal fee.
A worked example
Say you charge $50 a month for a membership. We worked out the monthly total from each company's listed rates. This assumes monthly billing, US cards, LearnWorlds' own 2.9% + $0.30 gateway example, no refunds, no tax and no Growth Boost members. Starter is left out because it does not list subscriptions.
| Plan | 100 members ($5,000 a month) | 500 members ($25,000 a month) |
|---|---|---|
| Skool Hobby | $539 | $2,659 |
| Skool Pro | $274 | $974 |
| LearnWorlds Pro Trainer | $274 | $974 |
| LearnWorlds Learning Center | $474 | $1,174 |
At these numbers, Skool Pro and Pro Trainer cost the same. Both get cheaper on yearly billing: LearnWorlds shows $79 a month for Pro Trainer, and Skool gives 2 months free. Pro Trainer costs more than Skool Pro if your gateway charges more than LearnWorlds' example. Skool Hobby only makes sense while you are small, because its 10% fee costs more than Pro's extra $90 a month once you sell about $1,270 a month.
Where LearnWorlds wins on fees
Big one-off sales. On a single charge above $900, Skool Pro moves up to 3.9% + 30c. LearnWorlds charges no platform fee from Pro Trainer up, so there is no higher band for big sales, and it offers installments from Pro Trainer, plus Klarna and Afterpay through Stripe. On a $2,000 course, Skool Pro takes $78.30. On Pro Trainer, LearnWorlds' gateway example works out to $58.30.
How do the courses compare?
LearnWorlds is the stronger course tool. Skool's courses are simpler and sit inside the community.
Skool's courses live in a tab called Classroom, which Skool's help centre calls "a section of your Skool group to assist you in organizing useful information". You add pages, turn them into video lessons, attach files and links, add transcripts so videos are searchable, and group pages into folders. You can drip a page so it opens a set number of days after someone joins, and you can lock a course until a member reaches a level. Skool's Classroom article does not mention quizzes, certificates or assignments.
LearnWorlds lists much more:
- Quizzes. An AI course builder and quizzes on every plan.
- Certificates. From Pro Trainer up.
- SCORM. Up to 20 packages on Pro Trainer, unlimited on Learning Center and Corporate.
- Learning paths. Courses in a set order, from Pro Trainer up.
- Drip. For courses on Starter, and for courses and learning programs on the higher plans.
- Interactive video. Basic on Pro Trainer, advanced on Learning Center and Corporate.
If courses are your main product, LearnWorlds gives you far more to work with. If courses are a bonus inside a paid community, Skool's Classroom covers the basics: video lessons, files, drip and level locks.
How do the communities compare?
Both have one, but on Skool the community is the whole product, and on LearnWorlds it is one part of a school.
Skool gives every group a feed, a Classroom, a Calendar and a leaderboard. Members earn one point for each like on their posts, comments and replies, and climb nine levels, from 0 points at level 1 to 33,015 points at level 9. Live calls run inside Skool, in the app or the browser, with no outside streaming tool, and the pricing page lists unlimited live calls on both plans.
LearnWorlds lists a built-in social network on every plan, with posts, comments and likes. It adds private, invite-only groups, learner profiles, a People page to find and follow other learners, private messages, and a gamification engine with badges. For live sessions, every plan can connect Calendly for 1:1 and group bookings. Live meetings and webinars through Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams or Webex start on Pro Trainer, inside the course player, with recording and replay.
The difference is focus. Skool puts the feed front and centre and builds the course area and calendar around it. LearnWorlds puts the courses and the school website first, and the community sits alongside them.
Which one lets you use your own website and brand?
LearnWorlds. Your school runs on your own domain on every plan, and Skool keeps your group on skool.com.
LearnWorlds lists a custom domain on every plan, 50+ site templates, a code-free site builder, and page funnels: 15 on Pro Trainer and unlimited on Learning Center and up. Starter gets three customizable pages (home, course catalog and after-login), and Pro Trainer and up add unlimited landing pages. Full white-label, with no LearnWorlds logos, starts on Learning Center. A branded mobile app is a paid add-on from Pro Trainer. Pro Trainer also includes 2,000 mass email credits a month.
On Skool, your sales page is your group's About page, which Skool calls "essentially a landing/checkout page for your group". Links in the About page description do not work. Skool's 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 later change costs $100, and Skool's help article on it does not mention connecting a domain you own. Skool's pricing page lists no email marketing tool.
Who handles payments and sales tax?
Skool is the seller and handles the tax. On LearnWorlds, the payment account is yours and you set up the tax tools.
Skool's payments FAQ says "Skool is a 'merchant of record'" and that it handles "all sales tax collection, filing, and payments". It also says "Skool handles EU VAT for you. We add the VAT rate on top of the price." You cannot use your own Stripe account. Skool pays out every Wednesday in your local currency, and the first payout can take up to 14 days.
LearnWorlds connects to Stripe, PayPal and Shopify. Buyers can check out with Apple Pay or Google Wallet, or with Klarna or Afterpay through Stripe. For tax, LearnWorlds lists integrations with Quaderno or Stripe Tax to apply taxes at checkout and to calculate, collect and report them. It also has built-in invoicing and lets you manage recurring plans, including retrying a failed charge, without leaving LearnWorlds.
Skool takes the tax work off your plate. LearnWorlds gives you your own payment account and your own brand. Neither gives you both.
Which is easier to set up?
Skool, because it does less. There are two plans, one layout and no payment account to connect. You set a price, write your About page, add a course and invite people.
LearnWorlds asks more of you. You pick a plan by its limits, connect a payment gateway, set up tax, and build a site from templates. That is the price of the extra control. If you will never use the site builder, certificates or SCORM, you are paying for tools that sit idle.
When is LearnWorlds the better pick?
LearnWorlds is the better pick when courses and training are the product, not the community. Pick it if:
- You need quizzes, certificates, SCORM files or learning paths.
- You want your own domain, your own site and, on Learning Center, full white-label.
- You sell high-ticket courses and want installments, Klarna or Afterpay.
- You train client companies. Learning Center lists training for up to 10 client groups.
- You want your own Stripe or PayPal account rather than Skool's.
When is Skool the better pick?
Skool is the better pick when the community is the product. Pick it if:
- You sell a monthly membership, with courses as part of it.
- You want no cap on members. Skool lists unlimited members on both plans.
- You would rather Skool handle sales tax and EU VAT for you.
- You want live calls built in, with no Zoom account.
- You want members to find you through Skool's Discovery, and you accept the 30% Growth Boost cut on those members.
- You want to start small. Hobby is $9 a month.
Weighing other platforms too? Our Skool vs Kajabi and Skool vs Thinkific guides compare Skool with two more course-first tools, and our Skool alternatives guide covers the rest.
For most people choosing between Skool vs LearnWorlds, the question is simple: is the community the product, or is the course? If it is the community, start a Skool community here (affiliate link) and use the 14-day trial to test it before you pay.
FAQ
Is LearnWorlds cheaper than Skool?
Not at the plans most owners compare. Skool Pro and LearnWorlds Pro Trainer both cost $99 a month on monthly billing, and Pro Trainer drops to $79 a month billed yearly. LearnWorlds Starter is $29 but adds $5 per paid enrollment and does not list subscriptions. Skool Hobby is $9 but takes 10% + 30c per sale.
Does LearnWorlds have a community like Skool?
Yes. LearnWorlds lists a built-in social network on every plan, with posts, comments, likes, private invite-only groups, learner profiles, private messages and badges. Skool's community has a feed, a leaderboard with nine levels, and live calls built in. On Skool the community is the core of the product, while on LearnWorlds it sits beside the courses.
Does Skool have quizzes and certificates?
Skool's help article on Classroom does not mention quizzes, certificates or assignments. It covers pages, video lessons, files, links, transcripts and folders, plus drip and level-locked courses. LearnWorlds lists quizzes on every plan and certificates from Pro Trainer up, so it suits courses that need testing or proof of completion.
Does LearnWorlds take a cut of my sales?
Only on Starter, which charges $5 per paid enrollment. Pro Trainer, Learning Center and Corporate have no enrollment fee. You still pay your payment gateway's own fee, and LearnWorlds gives Stripe and PayPal's 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction as an example. Skool's fee already includes card processing, so there is no separate gateway fee.
Can I use my own domain on Skool?
Not the way LearnWorlds allows. Skool's custom URL is your group's address on skool.com, and Skool's help article on changing it does not mention connecting a domain you own. Changing it needs Pro: the first change is free and later changes cost $100 each. LearnWorlds lists a custom domain on every plan.
Which is better for coaches, Skool or LearnWorlds?
Skool, if you coach a group in a community with live calls and monthly fees. LearnWorlds, if your coaching is built around structured courses with quizzes and certificates, or you book 1:1 sessions. LearnWorlds connects Calendly for 1:1 and group sessions on every plan. Skool runs live calls inside the group with no outside tool.
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.