Skool Review 2024: Best online community platform?

Tired of Facebook groups that bury your important posts and need more engagement? You’re not alone.

Many creators and entrepreneurs are turning to dedicated community platforms like Skool.

But is it worth the hype?

In this Skool review, we’ll dive deep into its features, pricing, and limitations to help you decide if it’s the right online community platform for you in 2024.

Let’s get started!

Skool

Ditch the Facebook group chaos! Build a thriving community with powerful features like gamification and challenges.

Try Skool FOR FREE

What is Skool?

Skool is a platform where you can build an online community and host online courses.

Imagine a dedicated space, free from the distractions of social media, where your members can easily access your content, connect, and participate in discussions.

It’s designed to streamline your online courses and build deeper relationships with your audience.

Instead of relying on messy Facebook groups or other social media platforms, Skool provides a centralized hub for all your community activities.

This means you can share announcements, host live events, and offer challenges all in one place.

Skool also provides tools to increase engagement within your Skool community, such as gamification with points and badges.

Which can motivate community members to participate and contribute.

Who Created Skool?

Sam Ovens created Skool in 2019.

He was already a successful entrepreneur who helped people build online communities.

He knew how important community building was for businesses. But he also knew that existing platforms could have been better.

They could have been more neat and easier to use. Sam wanted something better, so he built Skool.

His vision was to make it easy for anyone to create their own community and connect with their audience.

He wanted to make online communities more organized and engaging.

Top Benefits of Skool

Skool stands out in the online course platform market by combining courses with a thriving community.

Here’s why it might be a good fit for you:

• Ultimate community-building platform: Skool is more than just a platform for courses; it is designed for community building. It gives your audience a dedicated space to connect, free from social media distractions.
• Community engagement: Boost community engagement with gamification (points and badges!), challenges, and interactive group discussions. This encourages members to participate actively.
• Create courses: Easily create courses with videos, text, and resources—host unlimited courses to provide diverse learning paths for your audience.
• Community feature: The community feature is central to Skool. Seamlessly blend your courses with community interaction for a dynamic learning environment.
• Skool mobile app: The Skool mobile app lets you manage your community from anywhere.

Best Features

Skool offers a range of features designed to help you build and manage a thriving online community.

But what truly sets it apart is the seamless integration of community elements with online courses.

Let’s explore some of the standout features that make Skool unique:

1. Community

This is the heart of Skool. It’s where your members can connect with you. Think of it like a social media platform without distractions and algorithm limitations.

Here’s what makes it special:

• Organized discussions: Say goodbye to messy Facebook group threads! Skool keeps conversations organized with topics and easy-to-follow replies.
• Direct messaging: Members can easily connect through private messages, fostering collaboration and support.
• Rich content sharing: Share various types of content, including text, images, videos, and files, to keep your community engaged and informed.

2. Classroom

Skool makes it incredibly easy to create and deliver online courses. Here’s what you can do:

• Structure your content: Organize your courses into modules and lessons with videos, text, and downloadable resources.
• Deliver a clear learning path: Guide your students through your courses with a structured curriculum and progress tracking.
• Offer various content formats: Engage students with diverse content, including videos, quizzes, and downloadable worksheets.

3. Calendar

Keep your community informed and engaged with the built-in calendar feature.

• Schedule events: Plan and announce live sessions, workshops, or challenges directly within Skool.
• Send reminders: Automated reminders ensure members don’t miss important events or deadlines.
• Boost participation: A clear calendar helps members stay organized and encourages them to participate in community activities.

4. Leaderboard

Tap into the power of gamification to motivate your members.

• Encourage engagement: Award points for activities like completing courses, participating in discussions, and attending events.
• Spark-friendly competition: The leaderboard displays top members, fostering a sense of achievement and encouraging participation.
• Recognize and reward: Identify and acknowledge your most active members, creating a sense of belonging and appreciation.

5. Challenges

Skool helps you create engaging challenges to motivate your community and drive specific actions.

• Boost participation: Design challenges around specific goals, like completing a course module, attending a live event, or contributing to discussions.
• Increase engagement: Encourage friendly competition and collaboration among members as they work towards a common goal.
• Drive results: Use challenges to encourage desired behaviors, such as increased course completion rates or active participation in the community.

6. Events Calendar

Skool includes a built-in Events Calendar that takes the hassle out of scheduling live calls, webinars, and other gatherings.

You can easily create an event and set the time and date. The calendar automatically adjusts for different time zones, so no one gets confused.

This feature is perfect for keeping your community up-to-date and making sure everyone knows when to show up for a live Q&A, a group coaching call, or a special workshop.

It’s a simple but powerful tool for boosting engagement and making your community feel more connected.

Pricing

Skool keeps its pricing simple with a single plan that includes all features. Here’s a breakdown:

Pros and Cons

Every platform has its strengths and weaknesses. To help you make an informed decision,

let’s take a balanced look at the pros and cons of Skool.

Alternatives to Skool

Skool Compared

Personal Experience with Skool

When we set out to create a new online education program, we needed a platform that could handle both our course creation and our community.

We knew from experience that relying on a separate Facebook group for our coaching programs wasn’t ideal.

As it led to disengaged members and a fragmented experience. After discovering Skool and its intuitive platform, it became a game changer for us.

Our team used Skool to:

• Build a vibrant community: The user friendly interface and rich member profiles made it easy for us to create a successful community where group members could connect. The interactive discussions and ability for other community members to ask questions helped us build a truly active community.
• Create and host interactive courses: With Skool’s native video hosting and simple course creation tools, we were able to upload our course content without any technical headaches.¹ We could easily create as many courses as we needed and organize all our course material in one place.
• Gamify the learning process: We used the Skool games and leaderboard to make learning fun. Our community member engagement soared as they earned points and leveled up. This feature alone was a game changer for us.
• Simplify event scheduling: The Skool calendar feature was a lifesaver. It automatically adjusted for everyone’s time zone, so our live Q&A sessions and workshops were always a breeze to organize and attend. We didn’t have to use a separate email marketing system for event reminders.
• Centralize everything: Skool replaced multiple tools for us. We had complete control over our educational content and could manage our members, courses, and discussions all from one single search box. It was a complete solution that made our work much more efficient.

Benefits we experienced:

• Increased engagement: Members became more active and participated more frequently in discussions and challenges.
• Improved course completion rates: The structured learning environment and gamification helped motivate members to finish our courses.
• Stronger community bonds: Skool facilitated deeper connections and fostered a sense of belonging among our members.
• Reduced administrative overhead: Managing our community became much easier with Skool’s streamlined tools and organized interface.

Overall, Skool has been instrumental in helping us build a thriving and engaged online community.

It’s a powerful platform that combines the best of online courses and community building.

Final Thoughts

Skool offers a powerful blend of community and online courses, making it a compelling choice for creators and entrepreneurs looking to build engaged audiences.

Its streamlined features, focus on community interaction, & affordable pricing make it a strong contender in the online platform market.

However, consider the limitations, like basic customization and lack of built-in webinars, before making your decision.

If you’re looking for a dedicated space to foster a thriving community and deliver online courses, Skool is definitely worth exploring.

Start your free 14-day trial and see if it’s the right fit for you.

You might be surprised at how quickly you can build a connected and engaged community around your passion.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Facts about Skool

• Earning Rewards: Members can earn points and special badges by finishing tasks and chatting with others in the group.
• Making it a Game: Skool uses game-like features to make learning fun and to encourage people to show up every day.
• Leveling Up: When members are active, they gain points and reach higher levels, which helps them feel important in the community.
• Video Lessons: To share videos, you usually paste links from sites like YouTube or Vimeo rather than uploading large video files directly to Skool.
• Classroom Setup: Users can build their own courses and coaching programs in a special tab called “Classroom.”
• Easy to Use: The website looks clean and modern, so it is very easy to organize your lessons and find what you need.
• Library of Help: You can create a library of files and links so students can easily find all the materials they need to learn.
• Checking Progress: Skool shows you basic numbers to see how many students are joining and finishing your course.
• Phone Access: There is a mobile app that lets you do everything on your phone that you can do on a computer.
• Famous Investor: A well-known business expert, Alex Hormozi, invested in Skool to help it grow.
• Simple Pricing: Skool charges a flat $99 monthly fee to run a community.
• Making Money: Users can earn money by charging people to join their group or by selling courses.
• Getting Paid: Skool integrates with Stripe to make it easy to collect payments from your members.
• Free or Paid: You can choose to make your group free for everyone or charge a fee to join.
• Full-Time Jobs: Many people make enough money running their Skool communities that it has become their full-time job.
• Referral Bonus: If you invite other leaders to start a group, Skool pays you 40% of their monthly fee as a thank-you reward.
• Community Chat: There is a main feed where members can post, comment, and share pictures or videos.
• All-in-One Tool: Skool is a single place where you can host courses, connect with members, and hold live events all at once.
• Focus on People: Unlike some other school websites, Skool focuses more on people talking to each other than just watching videos alone.
• App Store: You can download the Skool app on both iPhones and Android phones to stay connected wherever you go.
• The Founder: Skool was founded by Sam Ovens, who wanted to build a single tool that handles everything a community needs.