Achene vs Skool
There’s a better home for your online courses.
A community platform with courses attached: high transaction fees, no own-domain option, and email limited to one message to every member.
Get early access to AcheneKey differences
- 0%
- Commission on every student payment
- vs 10% on Skool Hobby, the plan most people start on
- Your domain
- Where your students learn
- vs a skool.com address on every Skool plan
- $14/mo
- Full course platform, 0% fees, your own brand
- vs $99/mo for Skool Pro (still charges 2.9% per sale)
Feature by feature
How Achene and Skool stack up on the things that matter most to independent educators.
| Feature | Achene | Skool |
|---|---|---|
| Commission on sales | 0% on all tiers | 10% (Hobby) · 2.9% (Pro) |
| Custom domain | All paid plans, yoursite.com | A custom skool.com address only; no own-domain option |
| Email broadcasts | Included on all tiers | One-click email to all members, with no segmenting lists or tags |
| CRM and contact segments | Every student a contact, with tags and saved segments | Not listed; email goes to all members |
| Automations and workflows | Workflows and broadcasts on every plan | Not listed on their features page |
| Student notes | Timestamp-linked notes in lesson player | Not listed on their features page |
| Progress tracking | Included, per lesson and course | Progress tracking in the Classroom |
| Community | Global + per-course forums | Community feed, chat and member profiles |
| Gamification | Points, levels and a leaderboard on every plan | Points, levels and rewards |
| Live classes | Built in on every plan, with RSVPs, reminders and recordings | Unlimited live calls |
| Video hosting | Included on all tiers, unlimited bandwidth | Unlimited videos on both plans |
| Student limit | Unlimited on all tiers | Unlimited members on both plans |
Prices and features checked on . Plans change, so confirm on Skool’s own pages before you decide. Sources:
Included on every plan
Everything you get with Achene.
Beyond the headline price, every Achene plan includes a built-in CRM with automations, live classes, community and a leaderboard, so you never pay extra to unlock a feature as you grow.
Get paid
Keep every penny, paid straight to your Stripe account.
- 0% commission on student payments
- Free, one-time and subscription courses, with free trials and bundles
- No payout holds and no annual lock-in
Build your courses
Everything to author, schedule and share your lessons.
- Rich lessons with video, audio and files
- Drip release, free preview lessons and recording in your browser
- A media library and automatic transcripts
Teach live
Classes and events inside your own site.
- Live video classes with your students
- RSVPs, reminders and calendar links
- Recordings saved to your library
Community
A place for students to talk, with the tools to keep it healthy.
- A forum for your whole academy and one for each course
- Points, levels and a leaderboard you can switch on or off
- Pin, lock and moderate, with reply notifications by email
Students and email
Know your students, then reach the right ones.
- Every student becomes a contact, with tags and saved segments
- Broadcasts, branded templates and automations
- Your own sending domain, GDPR tools and one-click unsubscribe
Your brand
Your name on everything, and a great day for your students.
- Your own domain, logo and colours
- Notes pinned to video moments, bookmarks and resume where you left off
- Passwordless sign-in and eight interface languages
Pricing, side by side
All prices in USD. No commission on student payments on any Achene tier.
Skool plans
Hobby
$9/mo- + 10% transaction fee on every sale
- Unlimited students
- Unlimited courses
- Email marketing: Not included
- Community: Included
- Custom domain: Not included
Pro
$99/mo- + 2.9% transaction fee on every sale
- Unlimited students
- Unlimited courses
- Email marketing: Not included
- Community: Included
- Custom domain: Not included
Achene plans
Seed
$14/mo- 0% commission on all sales
- Unlimited courses, unlimited students
- 100 GB video storage
- Unlimited bandwidth
- 2,000 emails/mo
- Live classes: 1,000 minutes/month included
- Community forums: Included
- Email broadcasts: Included
- Custom domain: Included
Taking RootMost popular
$70/mo- 0% commission on all sales
- Unlimited courses, unlimited students
- 500 GB video storage
- Unlimited bandwidth
- 10,000 emails/mo
- Live classes: 5,000 minutes/month included
- Community forums: Included
- Email broadcasts: Included
- Custom domain: Included
Thriving
$140/mo- 0% commission on all sales
- Unlimited courses, unlimited students
- 1 TB video storage
- Unlimited bandwidth
- 20,000 emails/mo
- Live classes: 10,000 minutes/month included
- Community forums: Included
- Email broadcasts: Included
- Custom domain: Included
See what you’d save
Enter your current plan and revenue to see your estimated annual saving with Achene.
Currency
Your estimated annual savings
Skool annually
$3,708
incl. 10% in fees
Achene annually
$840
0% commission
You save
$2,868
Estimates only. Skool prices are quoted in USD and converted at the same rates as Achene’s price list (£1 ≈ $1.40 ≈ €1.30). Does not include standard Stripe processing fees (2.9% + $0.30), which apply to all platforms.
Why educators move away from Skool
Skool Hobby looks cheap at $9/month, but the 10% transaction fee means at $1,000/month revenue your total bill is already $109. At $1,300/month it costs more than the $99 Pro plan. Most creators don't realise this until they're already paying.
Skool Pro still charges 2.9% on every sale on top of the $99/month plan fee. On $5,000/month revenue that's $244/month all-in, compared to Achene's $14/month with 0% commission.
Skool offers a custom skool.com address, but no way to attach your own domain. Your community lives on Skool's domain, not yours, and the address change is a Pro feature.
Skool email is one click to every member: no segmenting lists or tags, so targeted announcements and re-engagement need a separate tool, adding both cost and complexity.
Skool's single community feed mixes beginners, advanced members, paying clients and free users in one stream, which gets harder to manage as a group grows.
Skool scores 1.6 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 54 reviews.
Switching from Skool
- Export your student list from Skool.
- Import it into Achene as a CSV. Every student becomes a contact you can tag and segment.
- Rebuild your courses in the lesson builder. Video hosting is included on every plan.
- Connect your Stripe account, so payments go straight to you at 0% commission.
- Point your own domain at your school, then email your students to say you have moved from Skool.
Your next chapter starts here
Your teaching.
Your people.
Your proper home.
Claim your founding spot and help shape what comes next. We’ll be in touch with launch news, not a checkout page.
Built for teachers, not shareholders.