Skool vs Podia: Community or Creator Storefront?

Skool vs Podia comes down to what you sell. Skool is built around one thing, a paid community, with courses, a calendar and live calls inside it. Podia is a storefront on your own website, where a community sits next to courses, downloads, coaching, events, email marketing and a blog. This guide compares price, fees, tax, community, courses and marketing tools, using 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 business on Podia, so every Podia fact below comes from Podia's own pricing page, feature pages and help centre.

How do Skool and Podia compare at a glance?

How much does Skool cost compared with Podia?

Skool is cheaper to start, and Skool Pro costs the same as Podia's middle plan. Skool has two plans, Hobby at $9 a month and Pro at $99 a month. Skool's pricing page lists unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls on both, and marks a custom URL and affiliates as Pro only. Skool's help centre reserves more for Pro, including plugins such as Zapier and AutoDM. Yearly billing gets "2 months free", and Skool's help centre says both plans start with a 14-day free trial. Each group has its own subscription, so a second community means a second plan. Our Skool pricing guide has the full plan breakdown.

Podia has three plans. On monthly billing, Mover is $49, Shaker is $99 and Earthquaker is $179. On yearly billing they drop to $42, $84 and $150 a month, which is $504, $1,008 and $1,800 a year. Podia's pricing page offers 14 days free with no credit card and no plan to pick until you are ready.

What each Podia plan limits

Every Podia plan allows unlimited customers. The limits that bite are products, videos and email subscribers. Podia's FAQ says you can add more subscribers at any time if your list outgrows your plan.

If a paid community is the whole plan, you can start a Skool community (affiliate link) on the 14-day trial and see if the simple setup fits before you pay.

What does each platform take from every sale?

Skool charges one fee and processes the card itself, while Podia's fee depends on your plan and your card processor charges on top. 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". Skool lists no separate card fee.

Podia charges a 5% transaction fee on Mover and none on Shaker or Earthquaker. Its pricing FAQ adds that your payment processor, Stripe or PayPal, "will charge a standard transaction fee of 2.9% + 30¢, which may vary based on your location." That fee goes to the processor, not Podia.

A worked example

Say you charge $50 a month for your community. We worked out the total monthly cost from each company's listed rates. This assumes US cards, monthly billing, the 2.9% + 30c processor rate Podia quotes, no refunds and no sales tax.

Skool Pro and Podia Shaker cost exactly the same here: $99 a month plus 2.9% + 30c a sale. So for a simple monthly membership, the choice is about features, not price. Two more things stand out. Skool Hobby is the cheapest while you are small, but its 10% fee costs more than Pro once you sell about $1,270 a month. Podia Mover's 5% fee costs more than Shaker's extra $50 once you sell about $1,000 a month.

Skool has one fee Podia does not. If Skool finds you a paying member through its Discovery search or its own ads, Growth Boost takes 30% of that member's payments, plus fees, for as long as they stay subscribed. Skool's FAQ says 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.

Where Podia wins on fees

Big one-off sales. On a single charge above $900, Skool Pro moves up to 3.9% + 30c. Podia's pricing page lists no higher band for big sales. On a $2,000 program, Skool Pro takes $78.30 and Podia Shaker plus a 2.9% + 30c processor fee takes $58.30.

Who takes the payment, and who handles sales tax?

On Skool, Skool is the seller and handles the tax. On Podia, you are the seller and the money lands in your own payment accounts. That one difference shapes a lot of your admin.

Skool. Skool's payments FAQ says "Skool is a 'merchant of record'" and that it is responsible for all sales tax collection, filing and payments. In the EU it adds VAT on top of your price. Members pay in US dollars. You cannot use your own Stripe account: Skool creates a Stripe Express account only to send your payouts, which arrive every Wednesday in your local currency. The first payout can take up to 14 days. For buyers, Skool's help centre recommends Visa, MasterCard or Amex and says prepaid cards are not supported. We found no Skool help page that lists PayPal for members.

Podia. You connect your own Stripe account, PayPal account or both. Podia's help centre says the money from each sale goes straight into that Stripe or PayPal account, and you withdraw it from there. PayPal needs Shaker or Earthquaker. Through Stripe, buyers can also pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay, iDEAL and Stripe Link, and Podia accepts payment in more than 20 currencies. On tax, Podia's tax article says it collects sales tax at checkout for the places where you are registered to collect it. You add each place yourself, with a valid tax ID, and buyers outside those places are not charged tax.

Skool takes the tax job off your desk. Podia gives you your own payment accounts, more currencies and PayPal.

Which has the better community, Skool or Podia?

Skool, if the community is the product. On Podia, the community is one part of a bigger shop. On Skool, each group has a main 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. You can set a course to unlock at a level. Live calls run inside Skool, in the browser or the app, with screen sharing and recording, and Skool's pricing page lists unlimited live calls on both plans.

Podia's community is built around spaces. You set up spaces by topic or by tier, and members get group chats, direct messages to each other, direct messages from you, search and profiles. Podia also lists custom badges for milestones, a welcome message for new members, pinned posts, ten built-in themes and an upgrade button so free members can move to a paid plan. Paid tiers can gate whole spaces. Community comes with every plan, but spaces are capped at 25 on Mover and 100 on Shaker, and only Shaker and Earthquaker let you add assistants to help run it.

For live sessions, Podia connects to Zoom, Google Meet or YouTube Live, sends the link to registered people, and then hosts the replay. Podia's community page lists badges, but no points or levels like Skool's.

Which is better for selling courses, Skool or Podia?

Podia, if the course is the main thing you sell. Podia lists drip lessons, quizzes, completion certificates, cohort courses, lessons that unlock only after earlier ones, preview lessons, video captions, access that expires after a set time, and a cap on seats. The limit is the product count: 50 products on Mover and 150 on Shaker.

Skool's courses live in a tab called Classroom. You add pages, turn them into lessons with video, 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, or lock a course until a member reaches a level. Skool's help article on Classroom does not mention quizzes or certificates. In return, courses and videos are unlimited on both Skool plans.

Can you sell more than memberships on Skool or Podia?

Yes on both, but Podia sells far more kinds of things. Podia sells digital downloads, one-to-one and group coaching, tickets to online and in-person events, and bundles that mix any of these with community access. It also lists coupons, payment plans, upsells and affiliate marketing, the last two on Shaker and Earthquaker.

Skool mostly sells access to your group. Its help centre lists five ways to price a group: a free group, a monthly or yearly subscription (with an optional 7-day free trial for members), freemium with a free and a paid plan, tiers with several paid plans, and a one-time payment for things like lifetime-access courses. Inside a group, you can also sell a single course for a one-time price with the Buy Now option. Member affiliates, where your members earn a cut for referring others, are Pro only.

Does Skool or Podia include email marketing and a website?

Podia includes both, and Skool includes neither. This is Podia's clearest win.

• Email. Podia includes newsletters, multi-email campaigns, automations, segments, sign-up forms and a custom sending domain, with 100, 500 or 1,000 subscribers included by plan. Skool's pricing page lists no email marketing tool. On Skool you can ask for an email address in one of up to three membership questions, and on Pro send member data to other tools through Zapier.
• Website and domain. Podia has a website builder, a blog, landing pages and your own domain. 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.
• Your address. Skool's custom URL is your group's address on skool.com, like our own skool.com/consulting. Changing it is Pro only. The first change is free, and each change after that costs $100.

How do new members find you on Skool or Podia?

On Skool, partly through Skool itself. Skool Discovery lists groups once they pass a minimum level of members, posts and activity, and Skool's Discovery FAQ says it ranks them by member growth, engagement and retention. Growth Boost can also show your group in Skool's own off-site ads, for the 30% cut above.

On Podia, people find you through your own website, blog, email list and landing pages. We found no directory of creators like Skool Discovery on Podia's features page. So on Podia, more of the marketing is on you.

When is Podia the better pick?

Podia is the better pick if you sell more than a community. Choose it if you:

• Sell downloads, coaching or event tickets next to your community or course.
• Want email marketing, a website and a blog in the same tool.
• Want your own domain and your own brand, not a page on skool.com.
• Want sales paid into your own Stripe or PayPal account, or need PayPal at checkout.
• Sell to buyers who want to pay in their own currency.
• Need quizzes and certificates in your courses.
• Sell programs above $900 in one payment.

When is Skool the better pick?

Skool is the better pick if the community is the product. Choose it if you:

• Run a paid group, with courses as part of it.
• Want Skool to handle sales tax and EU VAT as the seller.
• Want points, levels and a leaderboard built in.
• Want live calls inside the platform, not through Zoom.
• Want a shot at new members through Skool Discovery, and accept the Growth Boost cut on them.
• Want to start at $9 a month, with no cap on courses or videos.

If you are weighing more than these two, our Skool alternatives guide covers other platforms, and Skool vs Kajabi compares Skool with another all-in-one creator tool.

For most people choosing between Skool vs Podia, it comes down to one question: is the community the product, or one shelf in a bigger shop? If it is the product, try Skool free for 14 days (affiliate link) and build your group before you pay.

FAQ

Is Skool cheaper than Podia?

At the low end, yes. Skool Hobby is $9 a month and Podia's cheapest plan is $49. At the top, Skool Pro and Podia Shaker are both $99 a month, and on US cards both take 2.9% + 30c a sale, so a simple membership costs the same. Podia Earthquaker is $179 a month.

Does Podia have a community like Skool?

Yes, on every plan. Podia's community has spaces by topic or tier, group chats, member messages, profiles, badges and paid tiers. It does not list Skool-style points and levels, and live sessions run through Zoom, Google Meet or YouTube Live. Skool's community is the whole product, with built-in live calls and a leaderboard.

Does Podia charge transaction fees?

Only on the Mover plan. Podia takes 5% of each sale on Mover and nothing on Shaker or Earthquaker. Your payment processor still charges its own fee, which Podia's pricing page puts at 2.9% + 30c through Stripe or PayPal, varying by location. Skool charges 10% + 30c on Hobby and 2.9% + 30c on Pro.

Can buyers pay with PayPal on Skool or Podia?

On Podia, yes, if you are on Shaker or Earthquaker and connect your PayPal account. Through Stripe, Podia buyers can also use Apple Pay and Google Pay. On Skool, we found no help page that lists PayPal for members. Skool's help centre recommends Visa, MasterCard or Amex and says prepaid cards are not supported.

Who handles sales tax on Skool and Podia?

Skool handles it for you. Its payments FAQ says Skool is the merchant of record and is responsible for collecting, filing and paying sales tax, and it adds EU VAT on top of your price. Podia collects sales tax at checkout only for the places where you are registered and have added a valid tax ID.

Will Podia help me move my courses from another platform?

Yes. Podia's pricing FAQ says it moves up to 50 products on Mover and up to 150 on Shaker and Earthquaker. That covers course content, digital downloads, customer emails for those products, and your free community and membership subscribers. For more than that, Podia asks you to email its team.

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.