Looking for a Skool alternative?
Skool's simplicity is real and it is the reason people like it — one feed, a leaderboard, near-zero setup. If that is enough, it is cheap and it works, and its $99 Pro tier at 2.9% is honestly priced. Two things are worth knowing before you commit. The $9 Hobby tier carries a 10% transaction fee, which is Patreon's rate. And the ceiling arrives quickly: one group, no second community, no custom domain or white-label, no API, no events ticketing, no certification layer, and no way for your members to sell services to one another. Ziion is what you move to when the group has outgrown being a group.
Skool pricing read from their own pricing page on 2026-10-02. If they have changed it since and we have not caught up, tell us and we will fix it.
What each one charges
Every plan on both sides — no picking their most expensive tier against our cheapest. Platform fee is the cut taken off each sale, separate from card processing.
| Plan | Monthly | Annual / mo | Platform fee on sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ziion | |||
| Ziion Starter | $59 | $49 | 10% network due |
| Ziion Growth | $99 | $82 | 0% — keep 100% |
| Skool | |||
| Skool Hobby | $9 | — | 10% transaction feeIncluded in the 10% |
| Skool Pro | $99 | — | 2.9% transaction feeIncluded in the 2.9% |
Ziion's member-to-member services marketplace takes a flat 10% on both plans, and Ziion absorbs the card processing on those sales — the seller keeps a clean 90%.
What it actually costs you
Platform fee and card processing together, because some of these bundle processing and some don't. Comparing headline rates alone would hide the ~2.9% you pay Stripe either way. Ziion figures use the Growth plan.
| Your sales / month | Ziion Growth | Skool Hobby | Skool Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000 | $128 | $109 | $128 |
| $2,000 | $157 | $209 | $157 |
| $8,000 | $331 | $809 | $331 |
Skool is cheaper than Ziion at these volumes, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. If price is the only thing deciding it, they are the better buy. The rest of this page is about what the money is buying.
What Skool does well
- Genuinely simple — very low setup effort
- Gamification drives real engagement
- Cheapest way to open a paid group
Deliberately minimal community + course product with one feed and a gamified leaderboard.
Where it stops
- The $9 Hobby plan carries a 10% transaction fee — the same cut Patreon takes.
- One feed, one group. There is no multi-community or multi-tenant structure.
- Members cannot sell services to each other — the only commerce is your own subscription.
- No white-label, no custom domain beyond a skool.com custom URL, and no API.
- No events or ticketing, and no credential or certification layer.
What Ziion adds
Four things that none of the platforms in this comparison offer — not cheaper versions of them, none at all.
Members who sell to each other
A services marketplace inside your community: citizens list what they do, other citizens hire them, and the nation takes a cut of a transaction that would not otherwise exist. Not one platform in this comparison has an equivalent — every one of them is built for a single creator selling to an audience.
Real multi-tenancy
Nations with their own staff roles, permissions and passports. No cap on administrators, no metered spaces. Structure is a billable resource almost everywhere else.
A credential layer
Learning paths that issue verifiable certificates and a passport ladder members carry with them. None of these platforms can certify anyone — a membership ends when the subscription does.
A native mobile app, included
A branded app is $199/mo at Kajabi, a $199/mo add-on at Thinkific, and custom-priced at Circle. Ziion ships one as part of the product.
Build the institution instead of renting the audience
Nations are by application — we are selective about who gets one. Fourteen-day trial once you're in.