Skool vs Mighty Networks: Price, Fees and Features

Skool vs Mighty Networks is a match between two community-first platforms, and most of the gap is in the bill. Both put the community at the center, with courses, events and points built in. Skool is cheaper, has one fixed layout, and handles payments and sales tax itself. Mighty Networks costs more, pays you through your own Stripe account, leaves tax to you, and gives you far more building blocks: unlimited spaces, chat, livestreams, deeper courses and your own domain. Every fact below comes from each company's own pages, checked on 29 September 2026.

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

Skool vs Mighty Networks at a glance

Same idea, two ways to get paid

On the surface these two look alike. Both are built for paid communities, not course stores. Both mix posts, courses, events and points. Both have apps.

The real split is who sells to your members. On Skool, Skool does. It is the "merchant of record", so it runs the card, adds the tax, files the tax, and sends you what is left every week. On Mighty Networks, you do. Payments land in your own Stripe account, Mighty takes its percentage from there, Stripe takes its own, and the tax rules in each country are yours to follow.

Skool sells to your members for you. On Mighty Networks, you are the seller, with Mighty's tools around you.

The second split is how much you can build. Skool gives every group the same simple layout. Mighty lets you shape your network out of many spaces, each with its own feed, chat, events or course.

Price per month

Skool has two plans. Hobby is $9 a month and Pro is $99 a month. Both include unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls. Skool's pricing page marks Custom URL and Affiliates as not included on Hobby, and Skool's help centre reserves more for Pro, including webinars, group ownership transfer, and plugins such as Zapier, AutoDM and the cancellation video. Yearly billing gets "2 months free", and both plans start with a 14-day free trial. Our Skool pricing guide has the full breakdown.

Mighty Networks' pricing page opens on yearly billing, so the first prices you see are the yearly ones. Switch to Monthly Billing and they go up. Here are both, with the limits that change by plan.

Mighty Pro is custom priced and adds your own branded apps and Mighty's community services. Every plan has unlimited members and unlimited spaces. Extra livestream hours, viewers and storage cost more, through add-ons Mighty calls Engagement Boosts.

Mighty also has a smaller Explore plan. Its help centre lists it at $35 a month on monthly billing, or $29 billed yearly, with a 5% transaction fee and one host. It has no plan card on the main pricing page, each space does one thing only, and courses start on Launch.

Every Mighty trial is 14 days of the Growth plan with no card needed. Sales made during the trial carry a 5% fee. If you want the cheaper route to a paid group, you can try Skool free for 14 days (affiliate link).

Transaction fees, Stripe and Apple

Skool

Skool's payments FAQ sets one fee: 10% + 30c on Hobby, or 2.9% + 30c on Pro (3.9% + 30c above $900). Skool processes the card, so no card fee is listed on top, and you cannot use your own Stripe account. Payouts go to your bank every Wednesday, in your local currency, and the help centre lists more than 150 payout countries. Members pay in US dollars.

Mighty Networks

Mighty's fee article says its fee is taken from your earnings in Stripe, not charged to members: 2% on Launch, 1% on Scale and 0.5% on Growth. Stripe then takes its own processing fee, which Mighty puts at typically 2.5% to 5% a transaction. Stripe's standard US rate is 2.9% + 30c for a domestic card, plus 1.5% for international cards and 1% if currency conversion is needed.

Mighty uses Stripe for all web payments, which it says is supported in 46 countries, and it does not support PayPal. Every plan can charge in hundreds of currencies.

There is one twist Skool does not have. When a member buys inside Mighty's iPhone app, the payment goes through Apple. Mighty's help centre says Apple takes 15%, Mighty adds no fee of its own, and you can set a higher iOS price to cover it. That money reaches your Stripe account 8 to 12 weeks later, because of Apple's payout schedule.

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, web sign-ups only, monthly billing on both platforms, no refunds and no sales tax.

Skool Pro is the cheapest at both sizes. On Mighty, each $50 payment costs $2.75 on Launch (2% plus Stripe's $1.75), against $1.75 on Skool Pro. Yearly billing takes $16, $36 or $71 a month off the three Mighty rows, which does not change the order. Among Mighty's plans on monthly billing, Scale beats Launch once you sell more than $12,000 a month, and Growth beats Scale above $42,000 a month.

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

Sales tax and VAT

On Skool, tax is handled. Skool's payments FAQ says it collects, files and pays sales tax, and adds EU VAT on top of your price.

On Mighty Networks, Mighty's tax article says you are responsible for any taxes on your business, where you are based and where your members buy from. To help, Mighty connects to Quaderno, a separate tax service you sign up for and pay for yourself. Quaderno works out, collects and reports tax through your Stripe account, but you must register with each tax authority before you collect there. Purchases in the iPhone app are the exception, because Apple handles those taxes.

Community and spaces

Mighty is built out of spaces, and every main plan gets unlimited ones. A space can hold an activity feed, a chat with threads and emoji reactions, events, web pages or a course. On top of that, every main plan has private groups and cohorts, questions and polls, direct messages, voice notes, a People Explorer for finding members with shared interests, and a built-in member referral program. You add your logo, colors and banners, and your network can sit on your own domain.

Skool has one community feed per group, with the Classroom, Calendar and leaderboard beside it. There is less to set up and less to decide. For many owners that is the point. For owners who want separate rooms for cohorts, topics or tiers, Mighty gives more room.

Gamification

Gamification is the feature Skool is known for, and Mighty now has its own version. On Skool, each like on a post or comment gives the author one point. Points move members through 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. Levels are per group.

Mighty's gamification starts on Launch and has four parts: daily streaks with milestone emojis, points for taking part, recognitions for members who live your community values, and a leaderboard. Advanced leaderboards are on Growth and up. Mighty's courses can also award badges and certificates automatically.

Courses

Mighty's courses go further than Skool's. Its pricing table lists, on every main plan, on-demand courses, cohort-based courses, live courses and challenges, quizzes and tests, native video, sequential, timed and dripped lessons, automatic badges and certificates, an AI course outline, and embedded SCORM content. Course video counts toward your storage limit.

Skool's Classroom covers the basics. You write pages, add video to make them lessons, attach files and links, add transcripts so videos are searchable, and group pages into folders. Skool hosts video and adds English captions automatically. You can drip a page by days after joining, lock a course to a level, or sell a course for a one-time price inside the group. Skool's Classroom article does not mention quizzes, certificates or assignments.

Events and livestreams

Skool's Calendar holds events that can repeat daily, weekly, monthly or yearly. They default to a Skool Call, included on both plans, and you can switch to Zoom, Meet or a real address. You can go live in the app or the browser, record, and download the recording within 14 days. Skool's pricing page lists unlimited live calls. Webinars, for one-to-many talks, are Pro only.

Mighty has online and in-person events, a Zoom integration and built-in livestreaming, with limits. Launch includes 20 streaming hours a month for up to 100 viewers, Scale 30 hours for 200, and Growth 40 hours for 1,000. Each livestream can run up to two hours, and unused hours do not roll over. Letting space hosts and moderators go live needs Growth, and charging for one-time events needs Scale.

Apps, branding and integrations

Mighty's apps are free on iOS and Android on every plan. Members download the Mighty Networks app, then sign in or search for your network inside it. If you want your own app with your own name in the app stores, that is Mighty Pro only, which is custom priced.

Skool has its own app, and you can go live from it. Skool's pricing page lists no branded app option. For more on it, see our guide to the Skool app.

For connections to other tools, Mighty's Launch plan has Zoom and embeds, but Zapier, Kit, Google Analytics, marketing pixels, affiliate integrations and its API start on Scale. On Skool, the Zapier, webhook and Google Ads plugins are Pro only.

Pick Skool if, pick Mighty Networks if

Pick Skool if

• You want the lowest bill: $99 a month on Pro, or $9 while you test.
• You want Skool to run the card, the sales tax and EU VAT for you.
• You like one simple layout that members already know.
• You want points, levels and level-locked courses at the center of your group.
• You want members to find you through Discovery, and accept the 30% Growth Boost cut on those members.

Pick Mighty Networks if

• You want many spaces, chat rooms and cohorts in one network.
• You want payments in your own Stripe account and are ready to handle tax.
• You want deeper courses: quizzes, certificates, cohorts and SCORM.
• You want built-in livestreams and your own domain.
• You want a branded app in the app stores and can afford Mighty Pro.

If you are also looking at Circle, which works in a similar way to Mighty with your own Stripe account, read our Skool vs Circle comparison. For more options, see our Skool alternatives guide.

For most owners weighing Skool vs Mighty Networks, it comes down to cost and control. Mighty gives you more rooms and more tools, and more to pay and manage. Skool gives you less to set up and a smaller bill. If you want a paid community running this week, start a Skool community here (affiliate link) on the 14-day free trial.

FAQ

Is Mighty Networks more expensive than Skool?

Yes. Mighty's main plans cost $95, $215 or $425 a month on monthly billing, or $79 to $354 billed yearly, against Skool's $9 and $99. Mighty also adds a 0.5% to 2% fee on top of Stripe's card fees. For 100 members paying $50, Skool Pro costs $274 a month and Mighty Launch $370.

Does Mighty Networks take a transaction fee?

Yes. Mighty takes 2% on Launch, 1% on Scale and 0.5% on Growth, and 5% on the smaller Explore plan and during the free trial. Stripe's own fees come on top. Purchases in Mighty's iPhone app go through Apple, which takes 15%, with no Mighty fee.

Does Mighty Networks have leaderboards like Skool?

Yes. Mighty's gamification, from the Launch plan up, includes streaks, points, recognitions and a leaderboard, with advanced leaderboards on Growth. Skool builds points, nine levels and a leaderboard into every group, and lets you lock courses until a member reaches a level. On Skool, one like earns one point.

Can I have my own branded app on Skool or Mighty Networks?

On Mighty Networks, only on Mighty Pro, which is custom priced. Every other Mighty plan uses Mighty's own free iOS and Android apps, where members find your network by name. Skool's pricing page lists no branded app option. Members use Skool's own app.

Does Mighty Networks have a free trial?

Yes. Every Mighty trial is 14 days of the Growth plan, and no credit card is needed. Sales during the trial carry a 5% transaction fee, and if the trial lapses, Mighty says the network moves to a limited free plan. Skool gives a 14-day free trial on both the Hobby and Pro plans.

Who handles sales tax on Skool and Mighty Networks?

Skool does it for you. It is the merchant of record and collects, files and pays sales tax, including EU VAT. On Mighty Networks, tax is your job. Mighty connects to Quaderno, a separate paid service, and you must register with each tax authority before collecting tax there.

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.