This is based on my personal experience. I’m sharing what most people won’t tell you, and hopefully, it’ll help you make the right decision before moving forward. It’s a little long, but I promise it’ll be worth your time.
The biggest difference is $90 every month.
Here are two things you should consider before upgrading:
✅ CONSIDERATION 1: Transaction Fees
Skool charges you:
- Hobby: $9/month + 10% transaction fee
- Pro: $99/month + 2.9% transaction fee
Let’s compare the TOTAL COST, including both the monthly plan and transaction fees:
💰 If you make $10,000/year:
- Hobby: $108 plan fee + $1,000 transaction fee = $1,108
- Pro: $1,188 plan fee + $290 transaction fee = $1,478
- The Hobby plan saves you $370 => HOBBY WON
💰 If you make $20,000/year:
- Hobby: $108 plan fee + $2,000 transaction fee = $2,108
- Pro: $1,188 plan fee + $580 transaction fee = $1,768
- The Pro plan saves you $340 => PRO WON
The break-even point is approximately $15,200/year. If you expect to earn more than that, upgrading may make more sense financially.
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✅ CONSIDERATION 2: The Affiliate Feature
If one of your main reasons for upgrading is to let members promote your community, think carefully:
How confident are you that people will actively promote it?
Your intention may be good: you want people to earn money by promoting your products. But simply having an affiliate program doesn’t mean everyone will promote.
There are already SOOOOOOO many products and communities available. People can even create or rebrand their own digital products. So, why should they choose to promote yours?
Affiliates can absolutely help, but don’t upgrade expecting every member to promote just because the option exists.
Only do it because you truly believe in your products, their value, and their sales potential.
Look at your expected sales, be realistic about your affiliate strategy, and choose the plan that makes sense for your business.
My Skool community only upgraded to the Pro plan after I had happily used the $9 plan for almost a year and grown the community to around 2,500 members. Even then, I thought very carefully about the commitment before finally offering the affiliate option.
If you’re not ready to create your own community, don’t have strong products yet, or most importantly, can’t fully commit to it, I highly recommend finding a good community that aligns with you and building alongside its members first.
Before fully committing to my own community, I spent a lot of time contributing to free communities and sending members to other community owners. That experience helped me understand how communities work and what people truly need.
At the end of the day, choose the plan you can comfortably maintain, not the one you hope will magically bring you more affiliates or sales. Start with what makes sense now, and upgrade when your numbers prove you’re ready.
I have a whole Skool guide for FREE you can check it here
