Skool vs Systeme.io: Fees, Features and What You Keep
Short answer
Skool is a community platform: $9 a month plus 10% per sale, or $99 plus 2.9%, with processing included. Systeme.io is an all-in-one funnel, email, course and community tool with a free plan for 2,000 contacts, paid plans from $17 a month and 0% transaction fees, but you pay your own Stripe or PayPal fees.
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On this page 8 sections
At a glance
| Plan | Skool Hobby$9/moVisit site (opens in new tab, affiliate link) | Skool Pro$99/moVisit site (opens in new tab, affiliate link) | Lowest fees at $5kSysteme.io Free$0/moVisit site (opens in new tab, affiliate link) | Systeme.io Startup$17/moVisit site (opens in new tab, affiliate link) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platform fee | 10.0% + $0.30 | 2.9% + $0.30; 3.9% + $0.30 (txn ≥ $900) | 0% | 0% |
| Card processing | Included in platform fee | Included in platform fee | Stripe 2.9% + $0.30 (US cards) | Stripe 2.9% + $0.30 (US cards) |
| Entry price | Hobby $9/mo | Hobby $9/mo | Free (2,000 contacts) | Free (2,000 contacts) |
| Next plan up | Pro $99/mo | Pro $99/mo | Startup $17/mo (5,000 contacts) | Startup $17/mo (5,000 contacts) |
| Platform transaction fee | 10% + 30¢ (Hobby), 2.9% + 30¢ (Pro), processing included | 10% + 30¢ (Hobby), 2.9% + 30¢ (Pro), processing included | 0%; you pay your payment processor | 0%; you pay your payment processor |
| Payment processing | On Skool's own merchant account | On Skool's own merchant account | Your own Stripe, PayPal, Razorpay and others | Your own Stripe, PayPal, Razorpay and others |
| Community | Yes (Core product: unlimited members) | Yes (Core product: unlimited members) | Yes (Communities listed in the plan table) | Yes (Communities listed in the plan table) |
| Courses | Yes (Unlimited) | Yes (Unlimited) | Partial (1 (Free), 5 (Startup), 20 (Webinar), unlimited (Unlimited)) | Partial (1 (Free), 5 (Startup), 20 (Webinar), unlimited (Unlimited)) |
| Sales funnels | No | No | Yes (3 (Free) up to unlimited) | Yes (3 (Free) up to unlimited) |
| Email marketing | Partial (1-click email broadcast of a post to all members; no segmenting or tags) | Partial (1-click email broadcast of a post to all members; no segmenting or tags) | Yes (Unlimited email sends on all plans) | Yes (Unlimited email sends on all plans) |
| Live calls and webinars | Yes (Unlimited live calls) | Yes (Unlimited live calls) | Partial (Evergreen webinars from the Webinar plan) | Partial (Evergreen webinars from the Webinar plan) |
| Growth from the platform | Yes (Growth Boost: Skool search placement and off-site ads, 30% of members it brings) | Yes (Growth Boost: Skool search placement and off-site ads, 30% of members it brings) | No | No |
| Fees at $5k/mo | −$539 | −$274 | −$175 | −$192 |
| You keep at $5k/mo | $4,461 (89.2%) | $4,726 (94.5%) | $4,825 (96.5%) | $4,808 (96.2%) |
| $5k/mo = $5,000 gross from 100 one-time sales, US cards, monthly billing. Sources: www.skool.com (opens in new tab) · help.skool.com (opens in new tab) · help.skool.com (opens in new tab) · systeme.io (opens in new tab). | ||||
Skool vs Systeme.io at a glance. Prices checked 21 Oct 2026. At $5,000 from 100 one-time sales, US cards.
Skool Hobby
$9/mo
- Platform fee
- 10.0% + $0.30
- Card processing
- Included
- Entry price
- Hobby $9/mo
- Next plan up
- Pro $99/mo
- Platform transaction fee
- 10% + 30¢ (Hobby), 2.9% + 30¢ (Pro), processing included
- Payment processing
- On Skool's own merchant account
- Community
- Yes (Core product: unlimited members)
- Courses
- Yes (Unlimited)
- Sales funnels
- No
- Email marketing
- Partial (1-click email broadcast of a post to all members; no segmenting or tags)
- Live calls and webinars
- Yes (Unlimited live calls)
- Growth from the platform
- Yes (Growth Boost: Skool search placement and off-site ads, 30% of members it brings)
- Fees
- −$539
Skool Pro
$99/mo
- Platform fee
- 2.9% + $0.30; 3.9% + $0.30 (txn ≥ $900)
- Card processing
- Included
- Entry price
- Hobby $9/mo
- Next plan up
- Pro $99/mo
- Platform transaction fee
- 10% + 30¢ (Hobby), 2.9% + 30¢ (Pro), processing included
- Payment processing
- On Skool's own merchant account
- Community
- Yes (Core product: unlimited members)
- Courses
- Yes (Unlimited)
- Sales funnels
- No
- Email marketing
- Partial (1-click email broadcast of a post to all members; no segmenting or tags)
- Live calls and webinars
- Yes (Unlimited live calls)
- Growth from the platform
- Yes (Growth Boost: Skool search placement and off-site ads, 30% of members it brings)
- Fees
- −$274
Systeme.io Free
$0/mo
- Platform fee
- 0%
- Card processing
- Stripe 2.9% + $0.30
- Entry price
- Free (2,000 contacts)
- Next plan up
- Startup $17/mo (5,000 contacts)
- Platform transaction fee
- 0%; you pay your payment processor
- Payment processing
- Your own Stripe, PayPal, Razorpay and others
- Community
- Yes (Communities listed in the plan table)
- Courses
- Partial (1 (Free), 5 (Startup), 20 (Webinar), unlimited (Unlimited))
- Sales funnels
- Yes (3 (Free) up to unlimited)
- Email marketing
- Yes (Unlimited email sends on all plans)
- Live calls and webinars
- Partial (Evergreen webinars from the Webinar plan)
- Growth from the platform
- No
- Fees
- −$175
Systeme.io Startup
$17/mo
- Platform fee
- 0%
- Card processing
- Stripe 2.9% + $0.30
- Entry price
- Free (2,000 contacts)
- Next plan up
- Startup $17/mo (5,000 contacts)
- Platform transaction fee
- 0%; you pay your payment processor
- Payment processing
- Your own Stripe, PayPal, Razorpay and others
- Community
- Yes (Communities listed in the plan table)
- Courses
- Partial (1 (Free), 5 (Startup), 20 (Webinar), unlimited (Unlimited))
- Sales funnels
- Yes (3 (Free) up to unlimited)
- Email marketing
- Yes (Unlimited email sends on all plans)
- Live calls and webinars
- Partial (Evergreen webinars from the Webinar plan)
- Growth from the platform
- No
- Fees
- −$192
Fees at real revenue levels
| Plan | You keep at $1,000/mo | You keep at $5,000/mo | You keep at $20,000/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skool Hobby | $885fees −$115 | $4,461fees −$539 | $17,871fees −$2,129 |
| Skool Pro | $866fees −$134 | $4,726fees −$274 | $19,201fees −$799 |
| Systeme.io Free | $965fees −$35 | $4,825fees −$175 | $19,300fees −$700 |
| Systeme.io Startup | $948fees −$52 | $4,808fees −$192 | $19,283fees −$717 |
Assumes one-time sales at a $50 average price (so $1,000 = 20 sales), US cards, monthly billing, each platform's native payments. Excludes taxes, refunds and payout fees.
Change the numbers to match your business:
What you keep, by platform
Keeps the most
You keep $4,825.00 (96.5%)
Systeme.io Free keeps the most at $5,000.00/mo gross.
1. Systeme.io Free
$4,825.00 kept · 96.5%
- You keep $4,825.00
- Platform fee $0.00
- Processing $175.00
- Plan cost $0.00
Total fees $175.00 · effective fee 3.5%
Visit Systeme.io (opens in new tab, affiliate link) ↗2. Systeme.io Startup
$4,808.00 kept · 96.2%
- You keep $4,808.00
- Platform fee $0.00
- Processing $175.00
- Plan cost $17.00
Total fees $192.00 · effective fee 3.8% · −$17.00/mo vs Systeme.io Free
Visit Systeme.io (opens in new tab, affiliate link) ↗3. Skool Pro
$4,726.00 kept · 94.5%
- You keep $4,726.00
- Platform + processing $175.00
- Plan cost $99.00
Total fees $274.00 · effective fee 5.5% · −$99.00/mo vs Systeme.io Free
Visit Skool (opens in new tab, affiliate link) ↗4. Skool Hobby
$4,461.00 kept · 89.2%
- You keep $4,461.00
- Platform + processing $530.00
- Plan cost $9.00
Total fees $539.00 · effective fee 10.8% · −$364.00/mo vs Systeme.io Free
Visit Skool (opens in new tab, affiliate link) ↗
- Skool Pro's fee tier (2.9% vs 3.9%) is chosen from your average transaction size ($900+ uses 3.9%).
Estimates only. Excludes taxes/VAT, refunds, chargebacks and payout fees unless stated. Not financial advice.
Last checked 21 Oct 2026 · Prices from skool.com/pricing, Skool’s payments FAQ and systeme.io/pricing
What you keep at $3,000 a month
Example: 100 members paying $30 a month. Stripe’s standard US card rate (2.9% + 30¢) is used for Systeme.io; international cards add 1.5% and currency conversion 1% (Stripe pricing).
- Skool Hobby: $9 + 100 × ($3.00 + $0.30) = $339 in costs. You keep $2,661.
- Skool Pro: $99 + 100 × ($0.87 + $0.30) = $216 in costs. You keep $2,784.
- Systeme.io Startup: $17 + Stripe 100 × ($0.87 + $0.30) = $134 in costs. You keep $2,866.
Skool’s figures include card processing and leave out Growth Boost, the 30% Skool takes on members it brings in. Systeme.io’s figures leave out Stripe’s international-card and currency-conversion surcharges, and any Stripe Billing fee (Stripe lists 0.7% of Billing volume) if your recurring payments run on Stripe Billing. Run your own numbers in the calculator above.
Plans and limits
Systeme.io has four plans based mainly on contacts (pricing FAQ, last updated April 2026):
- Free: 2,000 contacts, 3 sales funnels, 1 course, 1 automation rule, 1 email campaign, 500 students. It never expires and needs no card.
- Startup, $17 a month: 5,000 contacts, 10 funnels, 5 courses.
- Webinar, $47 a month: 10,000 contacts, 50 funnels, 20 courses, evergreen webinars.
- Unlimited, $97 a month: unlimited contacts, funnels, courses and automation rules.
All plans include unlimited email sends, unlimited sub-accounts and 0% transaction fees. Annual billing is offered and marked “2 months free”; check the page for the annual amounts.
Skool has two plans with the same listed features apart from fees, custom URL and affiliates: unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls on both. Pro adds a custom URL and the affiliates feature (skool.com/pricing). Yearly billing shows Hobby at $7.50 a month and Pro at $82 a month.
Community vs all-in-one
Skool is built around one community feed, with a classroom for courses, a calendar for events, gamification (points and levels that can unlock courses) and one-click email broadcasts to members (Skool features). Systeme.io is a marketing stack: funnels, email campaigns and newsletters, automation rules and workflows, courses, communities, a CRM with pipelines and checkout (systeme.io/pricing).
Payments
Skool processes payments on its own merchant account, handles EU VAT and sales tax as merchant of record, and pays you every Wednesday in local currency (Skool payments FAQ). Systeme.io connects to your own processors, including Stripe, PayPal, Apple Pay and Razorpay, so you choose the checkout but also manage the processor account, its fees and your tax setup.
Who each fits, based on published features and pricing
This is a reading of each vendor’s published plans and prices, not a tested recommendation. Neither product has been tested hands-on for this page.
- Skool’s published features fit communities where members talk to each other, group coaching with live calls, and creators who want payments and sales tax handled by the platform.
- Systeme.io’s published features fit creators who sell through funnels and email, want to start on a free plan, or need their own processor such as Razorpay, with no platform transaction fee.
What this page doesn’t cover
This comparison is based on official pricing and help pages. It doesn’t rate ease of use, member engagement or support quality, because those need hands-on use.
See Systeme.io plans (opens in new tab, affiliate link)
See Skool plans (opens in new tab, affiliate link)
Frequently asked questions
Is Systeme.io cheaper than Skool?
On published prices, usually. Systeme.io charges no transaction fee and has a free plan, so you pay only your processor (Stripe's standard US card rate is 2.9% + 30¢). At $3,000 a month from 100 members, Systeme.io Startup works out at about $134 in total vs $216 on Skool Pro and $339 on Skool Hobby.
Does Systeme.io have a community feature like Skool?
Yes. Systeme.io's plan table lists communities and community members alongside courses, funnels and email. Skool's community is its core product, with a classroom, calendar, gamification and live calls built in.
Can I use Razorpay with Systeme.io or Skool?
Systeme.io's pricing page lists Razorpay among its payment integrations, with Stripe, PayPal and others. Skool processes payments on its own merchant account and pays out every Wednesday in local currency; India is on its list of supported payout countries.
Does Skool have email marketing?
Only for announcements. Skool can email a post to all members in one click, with no segmenting lists or tags. Systeme.io includes email campaigns, newsletters and automation rules, with unlimited sends on every plan including Free.
Can I use both together?
Yes. Some creators run funnels and email on Systeme.io and the paid community on Skool. You then pay Skool's fee on the payments Skool processes.