SchoolMaker

The short version

SchoolMaker is the closest thing to Skool with a proper course builder bolted on. Community with spaces, a 30-day XP leaderboard, levels that unlock bonuses, step-by-step programs with milestones, and 0% transaction fees.

It's French-built, English-ready, and it's the platform most likely to show up when you search "Skool alternative." That's not an accident. They write a lot of those articles themselves.

Pricing we checked

Four plans, all billed in USD plus local taxes. No free plan. 14-day free trial on every plan.

• Lite: $29/mo. 100 members, 1 course, 100 GB storage, SchoolMaker badge stays on. New customers only.
• Starter: $99/mo. 500 members, 15 courses, 5 team seats, badge removed, free migration.
• Pro: $165/mo. 2,500 members, 30 courses, 10 team seats, priority support.
• Business: $249/mo. 5,000 members, unlimited courses, extra member packs.

Annual billing knocks off $120 to $600 a year depending on plan. The page shows the savings, not the annual price, so the effective monthly rates are ours: roughly $19, $79, $131 and $199.

Here's the catch with Lite. One course, 100 members, and it's only for new accounts. It's a trial on a monthly plan, not a place to live. Most creators will land on Starter at $99, which puts SchoolMaker in the same bracket as Circle and Mighty, not Skool's $9 Hobby plan.

Transaction fees

0%. Every plan says "No transaction fee" and the comparison table confirms it. You pay Stripe's standard processing fees and nothing else.

That matters next to Skool, which takes 10% on the $9 plan and 2.9% on the $99 plan on top of processing.

Payments

Stripe only. The help centre's "Connect Stripe to SchoolMaker" article lists a Stripe account as the prerequisite and names no other processor. No PayPal, no in-house payments.

There is a ThriveCart integration if you'd rather sell from your own cart and push buyers into an offer automatically. That's the route for anyone already selling elsewhere.

Community and gamification

Spaces with permissions, so you can give each program its own space or share one. Posts, replies, reactions, polls, pinned and scheduled posts, private messages you can switch off.

Gamification is the real thing: a 30-day leaderboard ranked by XP, and levels you can attach bonuses to once a member reaches them. There's even a Zapier trigger for "a member reaches a gamification level," so you can fire a reward from outside the platform. This is Skool's engagement loop without Skool's fee.

Courses

Step-by-step programs with milestones, quizzes, forms, drip, and a certificate of completion. You can mix programs, community, coaching, lives and consultations into one offer, which is more than Skool or Circle give you natively.

The three email questions

Does it send members a digest? No. Members get in-app or email notifications for new posts, replies and reactions in the spaces they follow, and you can switch on an automatic "you've been inactive" email that links back to their last lesson. No daily or weekly summary.

Can you email your members from inside it? Not really. There's no broadcast or newsletter tool. The automations are notifications, not campaigns.

Can you get your list out? Yes, two ways. Export the full member list as CSV from Users, or send new members to your email tool via Zapier, Make, n8n or the API. The "a member joins an offer" trigger is the one you want. There's no one-click Mailchimp or Kit app.

Getting in and getting out

Members in: CSV import, up to 500 per file, utf-8 with at least an email column. Bigger lists get split into several files. Free done-for-you migration on Starter and above.

Members out: The strongest export we've seen on a community platform so far. Full member list, member progress per program, step answers, onboarding answers, and an activity log with timestamps. We couldn't confirm an export of community posts and comments, so we've rated it on the member data only.

Courses in: No self-serve import from Teachable, Kajabi or anyone else. Either rebuild by hand or let SchoolMaker's team migrate it for you on Starter and up.

Mobile app

A PWA, installed from the browser with your school's name and logo. It's not an App Store or Play Store app. Members won't find you by searching the store, but they also won't have to use a shared "SchoolMaker" app the way Skool and Circle members do.

Who it's for

• Skool users who want courses that actually teach, not a feed with lessons attached.
• Coaches selling programs plus calls plus a community in one offer.
• Anyone who refuses to pay a platform cut on their own sales.

Who should skip it

• Anyone who needs a free tier. The Lite plan is cheap but it's a one-course cage.
• Anyone who wants to email their list from inside the platform.
• Anyone who needs PayPal or a non-Stripe country.

Known limitation

No broadcast email, Stripe only, and the $29 plan is new customers only with one course. Budget for Starter at $99 if you're serious.

Sources

Checked 16 Oct 2026 against the SchoolMaker pricing page, homepage and community feature page, and these help centre articles: Add members manually to my offers (CSV import), Connect Stripe to SchoolMaker, Export all datas of all your members, Activate Gamification in my Community, Manage my notifications as an administrator, Notify inactive members, and the Zapier category index.